While opposition parties welcomed the inquiry into national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, they questioned why she should be given time to motivate against being suspended.

The Democratic Alliance said it was worried Phiyega would “use her powerful position to tamper with the inquiry as the NPA found she had already done” in Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer’s case.

“That she isn’t suspended already is inexplicable,” DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said in a statement.

She said the party had noted the terms of reference for the inquiry was limited to her conduct which led to the Marikana shooting.

The DA was hoping it would include her entire career as police commissioner.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma announced that a board of inquiry into Phiyega’s fitness to hold office would be made up of Judge Cornelis Johannes Claassen, who would chair it, and advocates Bernard Sakhile Khuzwayo and Anusha Rawjee.

He also gave her until Monday to motivate why she should not be suspended, pending the inquiry into her fitness to hold office.

The Economic Freedom Fighters said it was worried about the extension.

“This is disheartening and seems like a merry-go-round when Zuma has already given her enough time to explain herself since the publication of the Farlam Commission report,” national spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.

The Farlam Commission, headed by retired judge Ian Farlam, investigated the deaths of 44 people killed during strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana, Rustenburg, in August 2012.

It recommended in its report, released in June, that Phiyega face an inquiry into her fitness to hold office. News24