S.Africa Police Chief Under Investigation

South Africa's police watchdog Wednesday said it had opened a probe into the country's top police officer, who is accused of tipping off a key lieutenant that he was under investigation.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) will establish if National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega told her Western Cape police boss about an investigation being carried out into his links to a local businessman.

"We will conduct an independent and impartial investigation," the watchdog's acting executive director Koekie Mbeki said in a statement.

Phiyega said she welcomed the probe, and "still maintains that she committed no crime," according to a police statement.

Amid allegations of a smear campaign, national police spokesman Solomon Makgale told AFP that the Western Cape police boss, Arno Lamoer, was aware of the investigation because he asked for it in order to clear his name.

Phiyega is the first woman to head South Africa's deeply troubled force.

She was appointed in June last year, with no previous police experience, but with management experience that was expected to help rejuvenate the force.

Two of her immediate predecessors left the job amid allegations of graft.

But under her watch, the 198,000-strong force has been battered by crisis after crisis.

It was pilloried for shooting dead 34 striking miners last August.

And it was again humiliated over its handling of the murder case against star sprinter Oscar Pistorius when it emerged the investigating officer himself faced charges of attempted murder for shooting at a taxi.

Nine police officers currently face trial for the February murder of a Mozambican taxi driver who was dragged through the streets tied to a police van and then beaten to death.

At least one person died every day last year at the hands of police, most of them during arrest, according to IPID.

The police watchdog said it would fast-track the Phiyega probe, which should be completed within months.