South Africa: Indian-origin activist appointed Police Minister

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday appointed veteran Indian-origin activist Firoz Cachalia as Minister of Police after putting the current minister, Senzo Mchunu, on special leave. Ramaphosa made the announcement in a nationally broadcast address in the wake of serious allegations by a top police commissioner that Mchunu had colluded with criminal cartel leaders. Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service, shocked the country last Sunday with a nationally televised media briefing in which he made a wide range of allegations, including that Mchunu and other high-ranking police officers were involved in aiding and abetting criminals.

The president announced a Commission of Inquiry, which would look into the allegations and provide an interim report within three months. Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga will head the Inquiry.“Lt Gen Mkhwanazi alleged that the Minister of Police allegedly interfered with sensitive police investigations and colluded with business people, including a murder accused, to disband the Political Killings Task Team based in KwaZulu-Natal," Ramaphosa said. The president said that these allegations raised serious concerns around the constitution, the rule of law and national security. “These allegations, if proven true, threaten to undermine the confidence of South Africans in the ability of the South African Police Service to protect them and to effectively fight crime and corruption,” he said.

Hailing from a family steeped in the struggle against apartheid, Cachalia made an active and public contribution to the opposition movement to Apartheid until the transition to democracy and subsequently to the consolidation of democratic institutions. He also played an important role in the multi-party negotiations that led to the first democratic elections in 1994 which installed Nelson Mandela as President in 1994 after 27 years as a political prisoner. Cachalia represented the Transvaal Indian Congress at the talks, termed Codesa. After 1994, Cachalia held a wide range of positions in government, including as provincial minister for Economic Development in the province of Gauteng, South Africa’s economic hub. He later also served as provincial minister of Community Safety. Cachalia also served as Speaker in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.