South Africa’s state security is once again in turmoil. The suspension last week of intelligence inspector general Imtiaz Fazel by President Cyril Ramaphosa is the latest in a series of skirmishes that have hamstrung the country’s security apparatus.
And the timing couldn’t have been worse. Since that July press briefing by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, allegations of the capture of the security and justice system by criminals working closely with rogue top cops and crooked politicians have kept citizens on the edges of their seats.
The testimony at the Madlanga commission and at the ad hoc committee in parliament, both probing the capture of the police service by criminals, is frightening.
Claims by suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu Ramaphosa agreed to the disbanding of the political killings task team are as shocking as Mchunu’s admission he secretly recorded a conversation between chief of staff Cedrick Nkabinde and Mkhwanazi. That the police minister doesn’t know he is breaking the law by recording someone without permission is concerning.
On the face of it, Mchunu’s testimony confirms political interference in the work of the police.
The infighting in the crime and justice sector as top cops jostle for positions and wrestle power to protect criminals, points to bogeymen of state security destroying every pillar of the system for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver.
Drug cartels and crime syndicates have made South Africa their playground, turning it into a Mafia state. Meanwhile, we are not safe even in the house of The Lord, with armed gangs preying on worshippers, robbing them in broad daylight.
For many years now, and through the leadership of presidents Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and now Cyril Ramaphosa, the criminal justice system has known no stability, hobbling from one scandal to another.
The disbanding by the Zuma administration of the elite crime-fighting unit, the Scorpions, will remain a sad chapter in post apartheid history.
Add to that the instability in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which has had its leaders, such as Bulelani Ngcuka, Vusi Pikoli, Shaun Abrahams, Menzi Simelane and Mxolisi Nxasana, sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.
The current head Shamila Batohi has three months before she reaches her mandatory retirement age and there is no indication of who will replace her. The call for nominations for her successor closes on 7 November and the country holds its breath, hoping that Ramaphosa will appoint a credible replacement.
The time has come, not only to restore credibility to the NPA, but to rein in errant security chiefs and politicians to end political interference in the crime and justice system.