SA can’t afford the public spat between senior police and Idac

Revelations from the Madlanga commission confirm what many have suspected for a long time — that there are corrupt police and other senior officials in the country’s criminal justice system.

From the commission and the parliamentary ad hoc committee established as a result of KwaZulu-Natal police chief Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s explosive press conference last July, we have heard testimonies indicating systematic state capture, political interference in law enforcement, and collusion between senior police officials and violent criminal cartels.

Senior police officers and municipal officials have either been suspended while facing investigations or arrested for suspected corruption which ranges from irregularities in procurement practices and colluding with and receiving kickbacks from criminal syndicates.

While the meticulous probing, especially by the Madlanga Commission, has laid bare the sordid details and betrayal of the state by those entrusted with protecting the people, having such an inquiry in which no one is spared or exempt from scrutiny is a welcome development.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government could have otherwise dismissed Mkhwanazi’s allegations and looked the other way.

South Africans are tired of crime. They deserve a police service that will not only protect them but will restore confidence in the state.

As Ramaphosa said when establishing the commission: “It is vital that we safeguard the integrity and credibility of the police and other law enforcement agencies.”

The president said the commission will not only make findings and recommendations for criminal prosecutions and disciplinary actions, but also propose institutional reform.

The unprecedented crackdown on police corruption has brought hope that we will soon see systemic changes which will bring an end to impunity in the police force and ensure direct consequence management for offenders.

As the work of the Madlanga commission continues against the backdrop of a process to rebuild and strengthen the country’s law enforcement agencies and security services following the state capture years, this is also an opportune time for the “good guys” in the system to refocus their energies on effective crime fighting.

South Africans are tired of crime. They deserve a police service that will not only protect them but will restore confidence in the state.

This brings us to the public spat this week between Mkhwanazi and the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), which was established to tackle high-level and complex corruption and has the authority to investigate, arrest and prosecute perpetrators of grand corruption.

There have been tensions, accusations and counter accusations between Idac and Mkhwanazi for some time, with Mkhwanazi telling the parliamentary ad hoc committee last year that the directorate wanted to disrupt the work of the Political Killings Task Team which was led by his friend, Criminal Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo.

Mkhwanazi’s accusation came after Idac, in June last year, arrested Khumalo and other police intelligence officials for fraud and corruption.

Those tensions reemerged last week amid reports that Idac had again arrested Khumalo, and Mkhwanazi, who now also heads the national organised crime task team, was in their sights.

In response, Mkhwanazi told journalists that he and Khumalo received intelligence that Idac wanted to get them behind bars, adding “we are at war” and “blood will flow”.

These remarks have seen Idac head Andrea Johnson coming out to strongly rebuke the KwaZulu-Natal police general.

This kind of infighting, with public confidence in the criminal justice system at such a low, is the last thing that South Africa needs. Such internal battles between crime fighting agencies can only disrupt efforts to combat crime.

We need Mkhwanazi, Khumalo and Johnson to sit around the table to thrash out their differences. So far, indications are that they are on the same side in the war against the capture of the state by bad elements.