Japan’s agriculture minister, Taku Eto, resigned two months ago after joking that he never buys rice because he gets it for free from his supporters. His remark caused a public outcry in a country facing high food prices. Eto made a fulsome apology, and promptly resigned.
Last year Norwegian minister of health and care services Ingvild Kjerkol left her job after it was found she had plagiarised her master’s thesis. “To continue as health minister, I have to be a trusted person,” she said.
South Africans love to compare themselves with the best in the world — best constitution blah blah — and yet our actions often betray such sentiments. If these ministers were South African, the thought of quitting would not even have crossed their minds. They could even have copped promotions.
But there could be no more serious charge than the minister of police — the man supposed to curb our sky-rocketing crime rate — being accused by a senior police officer of making common cause with the criminals. Senzo Mchunu should have fallen on his sword. But he won’t. That’s not how we roll.
The president, meanwhile, is waiting for a report — after which he’ll probably appoint a task team to look into the report.
Politicians from KZN serving as ministers of police have tended to leave with sullied reputations. Nathi Nhleko told us that the kraal and so-called fire pool at Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead were necessary security features which should be paid for by the taxpayer. Nathi Mthethwa bequeathed us the Marikana massacre.
Always missing in action, our president. He was tracked down in faraway Brazil this time, where he was seemingly attending to more important matters. After taking office in 2018 President Cyril Ramaphosa abandoned a Commonwealth summit in London to attend to violent protests in North West. He was hardly able to douse the violence, but dashing home in such a dramatic fashion had the unintended consequences of drawing international attention to his internal difficulties.
Three years ago he left an AU meeting in Egypt in a hurry after South Africa was plunged into stage six load-shedding. After a meeting with Eskom executives, he promised the public there would be no load-shedding during the festive season. That turned out not to be true.
This time, told about the most serious threat facing the country’s security, he shrugged his shoulders and told people to wait; he’ll come back in his own time. He’ll address the nation this evening, a week after the public was pole-axed by these revelations. He either doesn’t appreciate the seriousness of what the country is facing, or he doesn’t care. The people in charge of protecting the public from rampant crime, including his police minister, are themselves allegedly a danger to society. We’re sitting ducks.
As far as Mchunu is concerned, the public would be forgiven for asking: “Et tu Brute?” He’s supposed to be one of a few good eggs in a rotten establishment. Breaking away from his KwaZulu-Natal colleagues to support Ramaphosa’s candidacy as ANC president was a courageous decision. And when he was cheated out of the election as ANC secretary-general by Ace Magashule in Nasrec in 2017, even neutrals were tempted to cry into their beer. His appointment as police minister, ending the Bheki Cele clown show, was well received. But if Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the KZN police commissioner, is to be believed, Mchunu is the don of the underworld.
Politicians from KZN serving as ministers of police have tended to leave with sullied reputations. Nathi Nhleko told us that the kraal and so-called fire pool at Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead were necessary security features which should be paid for by the taxpayer. His career seemed to drown in the pool. Nathi Mthethwa bequeathed us the Marikana massacre. But that didn’t affect his career prospects one bit. He’s now lording it over as our ambassador to France. Bheki Cele achieved the extraordinary feat of being fired for corruption by Zuma, only to be recalled and given a far superior job by Ramaphosa, who claims to be fighting corruption.
Now we have Mchunu, the new broom that was supposed to sweep clean, but who, if Mkhwanazi is to be believed, is actually in the pocket of criminals — a hyena in sheep’s clothing. That province also seems to produce an ample supply of hitmen for hire.
The party of Tambo, Mandela and Luthuli — they’re spinning in their graves — has become nothing short of a crime syndicate, and Ramaphosa, their fumbling successor, is running what appears to be a gangster state. The surviving patriarchs, among them Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, have maintained a studious silence. They’re still catching their breath, I guess. Zuma, the old dog, is tearfully roaring with the laughter that has come to define his public persona. He’s morbidly enjoying the spectacle.
Mchunu should not be suspended. He should be fired. Cabinet ministers serve at the pleasure of the president. They can be — and often are — removed without cause. But Ramaphosa has made matters difficult for himself — in fact, he has encouraged wrong-doing among his ministers — by failing to act against those who err. Thembi Simelane is sitting in cabinet despite egregious allegations against her. So is the arrogant gum-chewing Nobuhle Nkabane. And yet Ramaphosa was quick to dismiss a DA deputy minister for leaving the country without his permission. He’s deploying his presidential powers to settle political scores.
The police top brass too need urgent and total cleansing. The national police commissioner, the statuesque Fannie Masemola, is clearly a waste of oxygen. He happily confirms that he didn’t sign the letter disbanding the political killings task team as if that absolves him from the scandal. What’s he there for if such major decisions can be taken without his involvement? And there’s the case of Shadrack Sibiya who was fired from the Hawks in 2015, only to be reinstated years later and is now deputy national commissioner. He and Mchunu are at the centre of this imbroglio. Something is clearly rotten in the state of Denmark.
When Ramaphosa speaks tonight, there should be no prevarication — or another inquiry intended to kick the can down the road. He needs to thoroughly clear the Augean stables, as it were. In its hour of need, the country demands nothing but leadership from you, Sir.
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