Watching two of our former police ministers — Bheki Cele and Senzo Mchunu — obfuscating and making light of consorting with criminals in parliament last week made one realise that we are a country that has handed a grenade to a baby.
The tiny child called the ANC, at least the ANC of today, has no clue what danger it is in, what peril it has placed the country in, and what the consequences of its actions could be.
Cele and Mchunu came across as unserious, unethical and quite frankly should not have been appointed to any position of authority let alone the police portfolio. In their hands, it is no wonder we have the very serious crime problem that faces South Africa today. We are neither safe nor secure in these politicians’ hands, and we will not be safe or secure in the future so long as we give them and their handlers the reins.
It is particularly depressing that these men represent the “renewal” wing of the ANC. If these are the good guys, can you imagine what the bad guys are like?
Let us, however, think beyond Cele and Mchunu. Think about the intelligence structures and the police. These entities are so politicised and so factionalised that we face serious instability.
What is even more extraordinary is that we had or were supposed to have fixed these entities after we were given a bright red warning light in July 2021. Does anyone remember that? Does anyone remember how close we came to Armageddon when looting, murder and mayhem were loosed upon the country and at least 350 people died, hundreds were injured, and billions of rand were lost to the economy?
That means that currently no one is watching the spooks. As we know, crime intelligence is where the looting of billions of rands has taken place over the years. It is where gangsters have compromised police top brass. And right now, there is little or no oversight of their activities.
Following those riots Prof Sandy Africa was commissioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa to make recommendations on how to stabilise the police service and clean up the various crime intelligence operations. Nothing was done to implement Africa’s recommendations.
Eighteen months ago, the current acting police minister, Prof Firoz Cachalia, produced a report specifically for the president on how to neutralise police factions which were turning the SAPS into a breeding ground for gangsterism. Nothing was done to implement it.
What is emerging from the Madlanga Commission, and even beyond the grandstanding that is happening at the ad hoc committee in parliament looking into these matters, is that we do not have a police service or a crime intelligence capability. What we do have are factions in the police. I use the word factions reluctantly because I am afraid to use the word that I really, truly, want to use.
The police services are made up of three sets of gangs: a few good cops still fighting for the integrity of the service, some rotten apple cops, and numerous very bad gangs at national and provincial levels. Then there are the politicians such as Cele and Mchunu, men who are happy to look the other way while eating, drinking, taking funds from gangsters and sleeping in those gangsters’ houses.
If you don’t believe that we are in trouble, think about what happened just two weeks ago. Out of the blue, President Ramaphosa suspended Inspector-General of Intelligence Imtiaz Fazel. Ramaphosa said Fazel, whom he appointed in November 2022, had been suspended with immediate effect pending an investigation by parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence into his conduct.
That means that no-one is watching the spooks. As we know, crime intelligence is where the looting of billions of rands has taken place over the years. It is where gangsters have compromised police top brass. And right now, there is little or no oversight of their activities.
That is not all. In the police, deputy police commissioner Francinah Vuma is suspended and at home. Dumisani Khumalo, the head of crime intelligence who gave powerful testimony at the Madlanga commission, is also suspended. So is another deputy police commissioner, Shadrack Sibiya.
And of course, the police minister who last week could not adequately explain why he was writing letters dismantling the Political Killings Task Team on December 31 2024 when the police commissioner was on leave, is also suspended.
Who, then, is running this thing?
The consequences for the fact that we have handed our safety and security to men who lack seriousness, dedication and principle has brought us to where we are today. Over the past two decades crime has spiralled to the extent that rape, murder, corruption and other serious crimes are normalised.
We need to act urgently to clean out the Augean stables. Ramaphosa failed to do it, but the country now needs it or else faces the very real prospect that, come the next July 2021 riots, we will not be prepared, and our country will explode.
We cannot leave the grenade in the child’s hands any longer.
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