Opinion: The ANC and the Mkhwanazi allegations - DefenceWeb

Jonathan Katzenellenbogen

President Cyril Ramaphosa has faced one of his most severe tests of his leadership and resolve over the allegations made by Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkwanazi, the KwaZulu-Natal Commissioner of Police.

The allegations by Mkhwanazi of interference by politicians and crime syndicates in law enforcement in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng called for far tougher and immediate action by Ramaphosa.

Mkhwanazi’s most serious allegation is that the Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, colluded with gangs to disband a police task team into political killings. He also alleged that murder case documents were withdrawn under political pressure. And in Gauteng, Mkhwanazi alleged that investigators uncovered a syndicate controlled by a drug cartel involving politicians, the police, the metro cops, prison officials, prosecutors, and business. That is Mafia State-like stuff.

If there was ever an opportunity for a massive and speedy crack down on wrongdoing by politicians, organised crime, and law enforcement officials this was it. Ramaphosa would have had massive support at going after those pushing the country toward a Mafia state.

He could have used the crisis to push for quick prosecutions and a wholesale reform of policing institutions. So far it has all been a waste of a crisis, but there might just be a chance at redemption.

White House

Just weeks ago at the White House, President Donald Trump made farm murders the central issue, and Ramaphosa and the SA team replied that high crime is the real problem. Mkhwanazi’s allegations gave him a chance to prove that the ANC is serious about tackling high crime.

Instead, Ramaphosa flopped on this. The President appointed a judicial commission of inquiry into the allegations, which will only issue an interim report in three months and its full report in six months’ time. And instead of firing Mchunu, he put him on leave, and only appointed an acting police minister.

The acting police minister, Firoz Cachalia, a Wits law professor with strong ANC connections who has written a report on police corruption, is meant to bring credibility to the job as somewhat of an outsider. But he lacks experience for such a tough job and, as an acting minister, will be without much political authority.

Over the years we have had a string of judicial inquiries into corruption, and none has resulted in convictions. That is probably more of a reflection of the willingness of the authorities to prosecute rather than the mechanism of a judicial inquiry itself. A judicial inquiry is also a mechanism for dissipating the political fallout from the allegations. The ANC is likely to say “just wait” whenever the opposition raises the Mkhwanazi allegations.

They should not wait, there is no reason a lot of answers cannot be given now.

Charitable

It might be overly charitable to Ramaphosa, but he could be in a bit of a bind on this entire episode. Can he trust the police to investigate themselves and their former minister who probably has extensive ties within the service?

If Ramaphosa handed the case over to a special internal investigative unit within the police it is unlikely to have been taken very far. Group allegiance and fear of retribution could even frustrate the judicial inquiry. Besides the hollowing out of the police and the justice department might mean that many big cases are botched.

Handing the case over to a select group of retired cops and prominent lawyers, might have been difficult, without a good prosecution team in place.

This path of a judicial inquiry was certainly the politically safe option for Ramaphosa, but it might also tragically reflect the reality in South Africa that it is difficult to just go ahead and do the job.

What Ramaphosa could still do is to use the crisis to push for a wholesale reform of law enforcement institutions in South Africa. He could still use the judicial inquiry as a launch pad for reform.

But this might be a leap of faith as Ramaphosa has displayed a high aversion to making big changes with potentially adverse political fallouts.

Priority

Reforming the police, intelligence agencies, and judiciary and making sure we do not become a Mafia state should be the overriding priority that emerges from this crisis. If we do join the Mafia state league, we can pretty much forget about our democratic and economic future.

One of the often-cited options for reform of the police as a means to ensure greater political independence at least from national government would be to break up the national force into provincial or even city forces. Decentralising the police would have the advantage that failure at a single point does not become a national problem.

Centres of excellence in the police like the Special Task Force might be put under a national policing body, somewhat similar to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.

But decentralisation might be only a partial solution. After all, one of Mkhwanazi’s allegations is that Johannesburg Metro cops and prisons’ officials were involved in a Gauteng drug cartel.

Better leadership, prosecutions of bad cops, improvement of morale would all help. Key would be putting all records kept by the police online. Case files could not then suddenly be lost. But all that takes political will. It is really the ANC politicians, the ones who control the police, who need the political will. That is where it all starts and ends.

Like other branches of government the police become an instrument of ANC power, and inevitably the battleground between factions.

Transition

South Africa’s transition from apartheid policing was heralded in much of the world as an example of police reform, which could be copied internationally. But it has failed miserably and is not an example that should be copied. The missing ingredient was sound leadership.

Community policing has just not worked, because of the widespread distrust of the police, which means people don’t even bother to report crime. In much of the world crimes are mostly solved due to tip offs from the community.

The political fallout from the Mkhwanazi bombshell could hurt all parties in the government of national unity (GNU). Non-ANC parties are powerless over the police and other agencies implicated in this mess. But getting this across to the voters is difficult.

That is why the opposition is duty bound to push the Parliamentary inquiry and put pressure on the ANC for a greater say over the police and law enforcement agencies.

Come the time when the ANC has a reduced share of cabinet seats in a future GNU, opposition parties will have to ensure that the police will respect the government of the day and not its former political masters.

A police force still aligned to the ANC could emerge as a massive threat to democracy.

Given the malaise over much of the force, the best hope is that many in the police are also looking forward to an end to political and gang interference in their work.

Jonathan Katzenellenbogen writes for the Daily Friend

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/governance/governance-governance/opinion-the-anc-and-the-mkhwanazi-allegations/

This article was first published on the Daily Friend.