May more Mkhwanazis emerge to expose corruption

Today marks the first anniversary of KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s extraordinary media conference.

Since that day, we have never looked at SA, especially its police service, the same.

Though opinions were initially divided as to Mkhwanazi’s objective as well as the optics of him addressing the live media event in a camouflage police uniform with heavily armed cops flanking him, it would be no exaggeration to say the vast majority of South Africans today consider him a national hero.

Since that media conference, police corruption skeletons have been tumbling out of the cupboard before the Madlanga commission as well as the parliamentary ad hoc committee.

The two bodies were appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and parliament, respectively, to probe the serious allegations made by Mkhwanazi during the media conference.

The two processes, though still incomplete, have laid bare the extent of the rot in the SA Police Service, the Ekurhuleni Metro Police department, the Ekurhuleni municipality as well as the Tshwane metro.

They have exposed how senior cops, some holding the highest police rank of general, have colluded with drug syndicates and other criminal networks at the expense of citizens.

For all of this, we owe a lot of gratitude to Mkhwanazi and his bravery.

Without him taking the extraordinary step he took, the president and parliament would not have set up the investigations and the nation would have remained in the dark about the shenanigans going on among the people who are paid by the taxpayer to protect us.

We also thank the other whistleblowers and police officers who have appeared before the Madlanga commission to flesh out details of Mkhwanazi’s initial claims, often at great risk to their lives.

Arrests are now being made as a direct result of the evidence being presented before the commission.

This is encouraging as it shows that the country is headed in the right direction, though it remains a sore point that the president has so far been reluctant to act against his police minister, Senzo Mchunu, whose letter disbanding the KwaZulu-Natal Police Killings Task Team precipitated Mkhwanazi’s action.

Mchunu has been home on paid gardening leave for almost a year now, while an acting minister, Feroz Cachalia, has been doing the job.

As we remember the day, may more Mkhwanazis emerge in other sectors to shine the light on the corruption that is crippling many of our municipalities and other public institutions.