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In response to the President’s address, ActionSA expresses concern over President Ramaphosa’s delayed action, which amounts to kicking the can down the road in confronting the deepening crisis within the South African Police Service and the broader criminal justice system, following explosive allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

While ActionSA notes that Minister Senzo Mchunu has been placed on a leave of absence, effectively a paid holiday, the President’s announcement, which inexplicably required a week of deliberations, raises serious concerns about the lack of urgency in confronting unprecedented allegations of widespread criminal infiltration and corruption at the highest levels of SAPS, including his own Minister of Police.

What the President failed to acknowledge is that South Africans have long warned of the deep rot within SAPS and its impact on safety and security. Government inaction has allowed this decay to worsen, further eroding the integrity of law enforcement leadership and deepening a national security crisis that can no longer be ignored.

Tragically, while police leaders are consumed by corruption and internal power struggles, it is ordinary South Africans who are gunned down in broad daylight, as criminals grow ever more brazen in the face of a police service that is compromised, weakened, undermined and incapacitated. 

ActionSA sees no logic in yet another commission of inquiry carrying out work that law enforcement and agencies like IPID should be doing, especially as the R1 billion Zondo Commission Report into State Capture gathers dust while those who committed treason continue to evade justice.

ActionSA will continue to support all legitimate and lawful efforts to root out corruption and address South Africa’s rampant crime rate, but this must take a decisive focus on rooting out those who actively undermine the fight against crime and corruption.

Issued by ActionSA Member of Parliament Dereleen James