Lincoln stepped out of line, Fivaz tells court

FORMER national police commissioner General George Fivaz told the Western Cape High Court that he had experienced “numerous hiccups” relating to the reporting of the Presidential Investigative Task Unit (Pitu), during its existence in 1996.

Fivaz was called as a State witness in the civil trial in which top cop Andre Lincoln is suing the State for R15 million, alleging that he was maliciously prosecuted.

Fivaz confirmed a letter from former president Nelson Mandela in which he requested the formation of Pitu, and that Lincoln was requested by the president to head the unit.

However, Fivaz said that Lincoln attempted to create the impression that he was not reporting to police structures.

“There was no arrangement between Mandela and myself that we would be the command structure of the unit. It clearly stated that people must report to me. The president was aware that he could not be the operational commander of a unit – the law does not allow it.

“The constitution is clear who the operational commander of the police force is, the police act is also clear on this,” said Fivaz.

He said he was “irritated” when Lincoln bypassed him with operational complaints.

“It was not standard practice to write to the president or deputy on minor issues that could have been easily resolved. He created a political cloud over issues that should have been dealt with internally. This wasted unnecessary time, because the complaints would be sent back to me anyway. It also created unnecessary animosity and suspicion. I was not in agreement with that,” he said.

Lincoln’s advocate, Johnny Nortje, questioned Fivaz about Lincoln’s knowledge on running the unit according to police structures, when Lincoln had come from uMkhonto weSizwe structures.

“MK was not properly trained. They did not have the privilege of a junior management course or senior management course; they did not have that luxury,” said Nortje.

“It is true, but they were included in later training. Tim Williams and others had the same disadvantage, but they made it their mission to know.

“It is a lame excuse. And being old MK people, they were very disciplined, they knew stepping out of their command structure was not tolerated,” responded Fivaz.

He said complaints about the unit’s operations “running like a rogue unit, doing what they want”, prompted him to conduct an efficiency evaluation.

He said that after the report of that evaluation, allegations of misconduct that could mean criminal conduct came about, which led to an investigation.