by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG – STRONG allegations that politicians, including the police minister and members of parliament (MPs), are linked with dangerous figures in the crime underworld depicts South Africa as a mafia state.
The disgraced politicians’ alleged connivance with members of the judiciary and some police officers, in a force with a reputation for corruption, is a harrowing state of affairs in a country that has among the worst rates of violent crimes in the world.
It points to a fresh twist to the infamous state capture but this one is of a more dangerous form. The previous kind mainly consisted of corruption and connected individuals influencing cabinet decisions and improperly securing tenders from the government.
The current form reveals how the implicated minister and some unnamed MPs are in cahoots with the criminals, reportedly aided by corrupt members of the bench, are behind the proliferation of violent crimes and a thriving illegal drugs industry in the troubled country.
Among such crimes are politically-motivated killings, murder of whistleblowers, kidnappings and drug trafficking.
South Africans have for long resigned themselves to the reality that their government would never win the war against crime and corruption but this one has sent shockwaves.
It is also the latest in a series of stern tests to the coalition government that has been in power since June 2024 but has been rocked by infighting, with the African National Congress (ANC) again implicated.
It was the ruling party since the demise of apartheid in 1994 but lost its majority as the public grew restless of the party because of a myriad of scandals.
South Africa has been shocked and angered since last Sunday when KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, made stunning allegations against Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu, of links with some controversial business figures accused of serious crimes and corruption.
He alleged the minister’s interference in police investigations, to shield the alleged crime kingpins-cum businessmen.
Among these are Brian Magotsi and Vusumuzi “Cat” Matlala.
Mkhwanazi has claimed he and his team have evidence the alleged crime kingpins, among others, also fund politicians and have access to confidential police intel that police leaders do not have.
Mchunu, a former premier of the KZN, is accused of disbanding a provincial unit that the government established to investigate political killings in KZN. Some members of the team had been deployed to investigate a syndicate at the request of the Gauteng provisional organised crime investigation unit.
From the days leading to independence in the 1990 to current times, KZN is the epicentre of political killings. Gauteng is also synonymous with violent crime and in addition is seen as the illegal drug capital of South Africa.
The dissolution of the police task force on December 31, 2024, allegedly done without consultation with the police top brass, reportedly was in a bid to shield criminal syndicates from prosecution, as the police unit was closing in on the suspects.
Major-General Shadrack Sibiya, the national Deputy National Police Commissioner: Crime Detection, is also implicated.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), ANC’s biggest partner in the coalition government, and other opposition parties including former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have laid criminal charges against Mchunu.
The bombshell dropped while President Cyril Ramaphosa was in Brazil for the BRICS annual meeting.
He was under pressure to swiftly take action upon his return last week but the public was left frustrated when Ramaphosa was not prioritising the matter as days passed by without him addressing the nation.
Ramaphosa addressed the anxious nation on Sunday evening.
Typical of him, he was late for the latest “family meeting”, as his addresses to the nation on pressing issues are informally called.
The delay by 37 minutes, reminiscent of his addresses during COVID-19 times, further fueled the anger gripping the nation.
Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry, chaired by Acting Deputy Chief Justice, Mbuyiseli Madlanga, to investigate allegations relating to the infiltration of law enforcement, intelligence and associated institutions within the criminal justice system by criminal syndicates.
The institutions to be investigated are the South African Police Service (SAPS), National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), State Security Agency (SSA), the Judiciary and Magistracy as well as the metropolitan police departments of economic powerhouse Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and the administrative capital, Tshwane.
The commission will also investigate whether any members of the National Executive responsible for the criminal justice system, were complicit, aided and abetted, or participated in the alleged criminal acts.
Ramaphosa has put Mchunu on leave of absence with immediate effect.
“I welcome and respect the President’s decision and pledge my commitment to the process (probe),” Mchunu responded.
Prof. Firoz Cachalia, a law professor who is neither a member of the National Assembly nor a cabinet minister but a figure of the ANC, assumes the role of police minister on an acting basis.
Ramaphosa called on South Africans to support the commission in its work and, where appropriate, provide information or assistance the commission may require.
“In establishing this Commission of Inquiry, we are affirming our commitment to the rule of law, to transparency and accountability, and to building a South Africa in which all people are safe and secure,” he assured.
There is however skepticism at the establishment of yet another commission.
The most recent was the State Capture Commission, established in January 2018 to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud in the public during the presidency of Jacob Zuma (2009-2018).
The commission cost the state about R1 billion (US$66 million) but despite evidence of state capture the low pace and limited number of convictions, especially for high-profile cases, remains a worry.
John Steenhuisen, Leader of the DA, said, “The President has taken a step, but not the leap that this moment demands.”
He believes if Ramaphosa truly wanted to root out criminal syndicates from the state, he must start with his cabinet, where more members of his party have been implicated in wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa is no saint either, as indicated by his struggling to shake off the multiple scandal at his game farm, bordering on undeclared foreign currency, theft and torture.
“South Africans deserve action, not more commissions,” Steenhuisen said.
Analyst, Collen Sambo, is wary of the establishment of yet another commission.
“At some point, we will end up appointing a commission of inquiry to investigate another commission of inquiry,” he said.
– CAJ News
