Mchunu accepts ‘Special Leave’; DA, EFF and Good not happy

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has taken a leave of absence from his duties following serious allegations implicating him in organised crime and political interference, levelled by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he will be on leave on Sunday, after announcing that a Judicial Commission of Inquiry will investigate the allegation.

Minister Mchunu welcomed the decision.

“[I] pledge my commitment to the process. Honour and integrity are the virtues I personally subscribe to… I stand ready to respond to the accusations against me and account to the citizens of the Republic, fully and honestly so.”

Meanwhile, Mchunu may also be investigated for fraud, for allegedly lying in Parliament about not knowing a man believed to be linked to a criminal syndicate, whom he later admitted to knowing. The DA brought that case against him last week.

Political parties react

The Democratic Alliance (DA) criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for apparently shifting executive responsibility by establishing a commission of inquiry into corruption allegations against policing and political leadership.

“[Ramaphosa] has once again outsourced executive responsibility to a commission, and South Africans have grown cynical of talk shops, task teams and commissions which they see as buying time and avoiding accountability,” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.

While DA leader, John Steenhuisen, welcomed the announcement of leave of absence for Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, he says the DA will not allow damning evidence to amount to no accountability.

“The country cannot afford another elaborate filing cabinet of findings that gather dust while the politically connected escape justice. The DA will hold the president to account on every finding and recommendation made by this committee, and we will fight in cabinet and parliament for swift and visible action. Parliament must not be sidelined and the work of parliament to hold the executive to account must continue unabated and undeterred.”

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) strongly opposed the move to place Mchunu on special leave, describing it as cowardly and a deflection.

“[The special leave is] designed to shield a corrupt Minister whose involvement in organised crime has been laid bare,” read the party’s statement on the matter.

The party further questioned the constitutionality of appointing an acting minister from outside Cabinet, calling the decision “not just unlawful, but a deliberate abuse of the supreme law of the land”.

Referring to Section 98 of the Constitution, which reads that the President may appoint any member of the cabinet to hold a power or function in place of an absent minister, the party says this does not make room for an appointment outside of the cabinet. This is in light of the appointment of Law Professor, Firoz Cachalia, as interim Police Minister.

They demand his removal, arrest, and prosecution, and call for a parliamentary Ad-Hoc Committee to investigate.

Meanwhile, the GOOD party expressed disappointment, having said that the commission is not good enough. The party’s Secretary-General, Brett Herron, says the commission will be too slow, cumbersome and costly. He says a commission, like the Zondo Commission on allegations of State Capture, cannot replace a criminal investigation.

“South Africans have grown tired of commissions that reveal what we already know, while those implicated continue to operate with impunity.”