Riah Phiyega was appointed to the office by South African President Jacob Zuma on 12 June 2012 and was the first woman to hold the post.
16 Facts About Riah Phiyega
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Riah Phiyega was born on 29 May 1958 in the village of Leolo near Burgersfort and received her primary and secondary education at various schools in Limpopo.
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Riah Phiyega received a BA degree in Social Work from the University of the North.
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Riah Phiyega received BA Hons degree in Social Sciences from Unisa, an MA degree in Social Sciences from the University of Johannesburg and a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration from the University of Wales in Cardiff.
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Riah Phiyega was a Group Executive at Absa Bank Limited, a board member of Absa Actuaries and trustee of the Absa Foundation.
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Riah Phiyega was a Group Executive at Transnet and served on numerous Transnet subsidiaries.
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Riah Phiyega was part of a team of senior executives who were responsible for the restructuring of the old Portnet into two major separate entities: Port Operations and Port Authority.
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Riah Phiyega served as Director for Development at the National Council for Child Welfare.
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Riah Phiyega spent a few years at the Chamber of Mines as an employee well-being consultant.
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Riah Phiyega was the vice chairperson for the Independent Commission for Remuneration of Public Office Bearers.
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Riah Phiyega chaired the Road Traffic Management Corporation Investigation Task Team which looked into maladministration, corruption and poor corporate governance.
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Riah Phiyega has served in other significant national structures, which included serving as a board member of the 2010 Bid Committee that managed the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup by South Africa and as commissioner for the Road Accident Fund Commission led by Judge Satchwell.
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Riah Phiyega was appointed commissioner of the South African Police Service in 2012.
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In 2012 Riah Phiyega's wearing of police medals was scrutinized by Democratic Alliance party spokeswoman Dianne Kohler Barnard The police ministry responded that they were satisfied that Riah Phiyega met the requirements for the medals.
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Riah Phiyega responded by noting she had only been on the job for two months at the time the killings occurred, having inherited an unworkable agency from her fired predecessor Bheki Cele.
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Subsequent to her suspension an investigation by a "reference group" appointed by police minister Nkosinathi Nhleko found Riah Phiyega to have committed perjury and ignored internal processes when demoting, suspending and removing several senior officials.