South Africa police clash over political murder probes

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s focus at the BRICS summit in Brazil was jolted back home Sunday after a top police officer made allegations implicating the country’s police minister.

Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi accused Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and other senior officials of interfering in investigations into political assassinations to shield politically connected people.

Mkhwanazi, who oversees police operations in KwaZulu-Natal province and previously served as acting national police commissioner, also accused other officials of obstructing police work against organized crime.

Mchunu has denied the allegations as “insinuations made without evidence or due processes,” the AFP news agency reported.

Ramaphosa described the matter as one of “grave national security concern” and said it was “receiving the highest priority attention.”

“It is vital that the integrity of the country’s security services is safeguarded and that the rule of law is affirmed,” the president said in a statement late Sunday.

South African lawmakers demand Ramaphosa act

Politicians across the political spectrum have called on the president to take action.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party in Ramaphosa’s governing coalition, has called for an urgent debate in Parliament on corruption in the South African Police Service (SAPS).

“Our country will never win against violent crime, and our streets will never be safe, until the SAPS has robust integrity management inside and out,” said the DA’s Ian Cameron, who also chairs Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police.

Another lawmaker on the committee, David Skosana of the uMkhonto weSizwe party, urged Mkhwanazi to lay charges against Mchunu within 24 hours.

The Economic Freedom Fighters called for the immediate suspension of Mchunu and Deputy National Police Commissioner for Crime Detection Lt. Gen. Shadrack Sibiya, who has also been implicated.

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The Inkatha Freedom Party, whose deputy chief whip in Parliament, Khethamabala Sithole, was shot dead in what appeared to be a political killing in May, wants the president to appoint an independent commission of inquiry.

“The collective integrity of the SAPS has been alleged to be wholly compromised, and the country has every reason to be worried,” the party said.

What has South Africa’s crime rate recently been like?

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world.

A report released last year by the Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime documented a 108% increase in targeted killings, particularly political killings at the local municipal level, over the past decade.

In 2018, SAPS formed a task team to focus on political killings. The team has investigated more than 600 cases, arrested 436 suspects, and recovered 156 firearms, at least 55 of which were linked to political crimes, according to the Daily Maverick, a local media outlet.

At the end of last year, Mchunu requested that the unit be disbanded. When that did not happen, the unit’s dockets containing information on political killings were seized, effectively freezing investigations.

Mkhwanazi said Mchunu shut down the task team because it had uncovered links between drug cartels, politicians, police, and prosecutors, the Mail&Guardian newspaper reported.