South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and launched a judicial inquiry into claims that high-ranking officials have been collaborating with criminal syndicates. The announcement, made during a nationally televised address on Sunday, signals one of the most serious corruption crackdowns to emerge from within the country’s own security structures.
The suspension comes in the wake of damning allegations by KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner, Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who publicly accused Mchunu and Deputy Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya of obstructing critical investigations. Among the claims: that the two men disbanded a crime-fighting unit probing a wave of politically motivated killings, allegedly linked to organized criminal networks.
According to Mkhwanazi, findings from the disbanded unit revealed a disturbing level of institutional compromise, with “politicians, law enforcement, SAPS (South African Police Service), metro police and correctional services, prosecutors, judiciary” all allegedly “controlled by drug cartels and as well as businesspeople.”
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In response, Ramaphosa appointed Firoz Cachalia as acting minister of police and announced that a full commission of inquiry would be headed by a judge.
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“The commission will investigate the role of current or former senior officials in certain institutions who may have aided or abetted the alleged criminal activity, failed to act on credible intelligence or internal warnings, or benefited financially or politically from a syndicate’s operations,” Ramaphosa said.
He added that the investigation’s scope would reach across several key pillars of South Africa’s justice system, including the National Prosecuting Authority and the State Security Agency.
But the president’s decision to suspend rather than outright dismiss Mchunu drew swift criticism from opposition parties, who accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of being too cautious in the face of escalating violence.
“This was an opportunity to take South Africans into confidence and to deal with these issues decisively,” said MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela in an AP report. “Instead, he calls for a commission of inquiry and expects South Africans to be patient when people are dying on a daily basis.”
