/ 14 July 1997

Mbeki: ‘Some crime politically motivated’

MONDAY, 5.00PM

SOUTH Africa’s democracy could collapse if the corruption of the police and the judicial system by organised crime syndicates is not stopped, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki warned on Monday.

Speaking after the weekend meeting of the African National Congress’s national executive committee, Mbeki also said elements of the previous apartheid government’s security forces are contributing to the crime problem for political reasons. “[The NEC] looked at the crime trends, focusing particularly on organised, syndicated crime, domestically and internationally, and on the links between domestic and international criminals.

“Part of the problem is the corruption of the criminal justice system by organised crime. It’s quite clear that if the corruption in the police, the judicial system, the prisons service and at the Department of Home Affairs is not stopped, you could have a collapse of the entire democratic system.”

ANC secretary-general Cheryl Carolus said the NEC meeting noted and expressed serious concern about evidence that elements from the old state security machinery were involved in drug dealing, money laundering, car hijacking, taxi violence and in organised crime syndicates. “Some of these appear to be deliberately engineered and politically motivated criminal actions,” said Carolus. “There are also clear links between South African and international syndicates, and a racist thrust in the agitation of certain political parties on the question of crime.”

“The arrests that take place within the police indicate the extent of the corruption within the criminal justice system. Our view is that some of that is not mere greed, but arises from a lack of commitment to a democratic South Africa,” Mbeki added.