SAPS turmoil another test for a dithering Commander-in-Chief

Prof. Bheki Mngomezulu

When President Ramaphosa ascended to power in 2018, he punched above his weight by making huge promises that would propel South Africa to stardom. He promised to correct what he called “nine wasted years” under President Jacob Zuma, whom he deputised in the ANC and government. He also promised to deliver “The New Dawn.” Once the wheels started rolling, they quickly fell off and sent the car in all directions.

One of the areas where challenges have been witnessed is the security cluster, which was accused of dropping the ball in the Nkandla matter. The expectation was that the security cluster would install security features at Zuma’s private home in line with its mandate. Later, it was discovered that many things went wrong. Zuma was accused of squandering public funds instead of blaming the security cluster for failing to execute its mandate.

Under Ramaphosa, in July 2021, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng went ablaze as public protests engulfed these provinces following Justice Sisi Khampepe’s emotional ruling that Zuma must be incarcerated for 15 months at the Estcourt prison.

The security cluster could have prevented the riots, which had devastating effects from which people have not fully recovered. Many lives were lost, people lost jobs, and several businesses closed. This led to a trust deficit between the public and the security cluster.

Worried about potential public backlash and determined to redeem the image of the cluster, Ramaphosa made some changes in the security cluster. Among them was the removal of Minister Ayanda Dlodlo from her position, while others were left untouched. Ramaphosa was indeed hailed by some for taking action to address the embarrassment. But others blamed him for not being decisive and doing enough to curtail future occurrences of something similar.

Continuing challenges in the South African Police Service (SAPS) have been a cause for concern. Some police members are arrested for criminal activities, accused of contaminating crime scenes, not treating complainants properly, raping some of the complainants, opting to ridicule those who come to open cases, accused of making dockets disappear and either protecting or working with criminals. Such stories have been in the public domain. While the incidents do not involve all SAPS members since others are honest and professional, they do tarnish the image of the service.

The country’s defence force has also been in the media for the wrong reasons. Reports of defence force members killing their colleagues or being implicated in other wrongdoings, either individually or collectively, are concerning.

Immigration is another sector where problems have occurred. Apart from complaints about long queues, which could be avoided, there are other serious matters. Reports about bribery have been in the media. The miraculous exit of Shepherd Bushiri back to Malawi while he was facing charges, together with his wife, raised eyebrows. The increasing number of illegal immigrants raises concerns. This has in the past triggered Afrophobia, which was wrongly dubbed xenophobia.

In a nutshell, the security cluster has been receiving bad publicity. This is not to say that there are no honest and professional South Africans in these units. Sadly, their good work is overshadowed by the wrongs of their colleagues.

As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the president (whoever it may be) is inevitably drawn in. Ramaphosa is the incumbent. Therefore, the buck stops with him. What has he done to protect the image of the security cluster? If he has not done enough, why is that the case? Importantly, how does his inaction breathe life into the “New Dawn” promise?

Recent revelations made by General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi are damning. While these allegations are yet to be tested, verified and authenticated, they paint a dark picture about the top brass at SAPS. What makes these allegations plausible is that they speak to some of the concerns the public has expressed in the past.

Since assuming his current position, Mkhwanazi has been accused of leading gun crazy police officers. Some human rights groups even confronted him, arguing that the suspects have rights. Interestingly, they were silent about the police officers who were assassinated while on duty defending innocent South Africans.

Putting SAPS protocol aside, Mkhwanazi has given the nation a taste of what could be happening behind the scenes. Given the seriousness of the allegations he made during the media briefing, the onus is on Ramaphosa to show astute and decisive leadership. The call is not for him to summarily dismiss those implicated in Mkhwanazi’s public statements. What is expected from the president is to suspend those individuals pending the investigations.

If it is true that people who are not members of SAPS have a say in what happens there, this would make a mockery of the accusations levelled against the Gupta family. What happened to the recommendations of the Sydney Mufamadi Report? Did Ramaphosa implement those? If nothing was done, what difference would it make to set up another investigation to verify the statements made by Mkhwanazi?

 In other words, has Ramaphosa demonstrated astute and decisive leadership in the past? If not, is this not an opportune moment for him to do so to regain public trust, both for his political image and that of the country? To what extent does his action and/or inaction impact the ANC’s performance in the polls? These are very critical questions.

Considering the above, if the security cluster is not performing at the expected level, where does that leave the DA’s proposal about the devolution of powers to provincial governments? More importantly, what does that say about South Africa’s status of being a unitary state as opposed to being a federal state? Should the country embark on a constitutional amendment to address weaknesses in the security cluster?

In a nutshell, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s revelations have tacitly invoked important discussions about the state of our country’s security. Implicitly, it implores the president to self-reflect on how he has performed his function as Commander-in-Chief.

* Prof. Bheki Mngomezulu is Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy at Nelson Mandela University.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.