Do we need deputy ministers if one of two couldn’t take over police ministry?
The famous Mkhwanazi press briefing has left the nation with more than a mouthful to chew over the state of affairs in policing and the state of the criminal justice system. It has also exposed that there is more to chew on almost everywhere the nation dares to look.
Two weeks ago today, KwaZulu-Natal commissioner of police Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told a stunned nation through a media briefing that the hitherto trusted Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu was for all intents and purposes, in cahoots with the criminal underworld, and was even doing their bidding in some instances.
Mkhwanazi said he had evidence that suggested that the minister orchestrated the removal, without due process, of a crack team of sleuths that was fighting the never-ending political killings in KwaZulu-Natal. He went further to quote purported WhatsApp communication between a notorious thug, now awaiting trial for attempted murder and accused of a slew of other serious crimes.
Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala appears at face value to indeed have connections in high places. Many would argue that to be true seeing that someone characterised anything like him would indeed need such lofty links to score hundreds of millions of rands’ worth of contracts with the government.
It seems it is simply how the rotten tender system works.
But it should all come out in the wash now that President Cyril Ramaphosa – to the disappointment and chagrin of many who wanted him to put Mchunu to pasture – announced last Sunday that he was appointing a commission of inquiry to probe the allegations, and more, which Mkhwanazi rattled off at the speed of a machine gun two weeks ago.
In taking the steps, Ramaphosa announced that he was appointing Prof Firoz Cachalia as an interim minister of police while Mchunu served his leave of absence on full pay and perks, while the commission shines the light into some of the dark and murky affairs of the police and the ministry.
In the meantime, Mchunu’s cabinet colleague Gwede Mantashe will fill in for two weeks as acting minister of police while Cachalia wraps up his work at Wits University and retires.
All this while we have two sitting deputy ministers of police, who bizarrely were not called upon in to fill the void Mchunu left. Why?
Now, broke as SA is, the taxpayer is asked to pay two police ministers for however long the commission, while at the same time continuing to pay two deputy ministers for whom we could get gainful work.
It raises the question, why do we need deputy ministers? There were legitimate questions raised when Ramaphosa’s predecessor Jacob Zuma swelled the cabinet, meaning even more deputy ministers. The call then was that we needed a leaner and meaner executive for more efficient governance and service delivery.
SA has a bloated cabinet, and if anything else, the announcement by the president last week brought it into sharper focus. Do we need deputy ministers if one of the two in a portfolio can’t fill in in the absence of their minister?
