A senior ANC member in KwaZulu-Natal said that the claims of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s alleged relationship with crime syndicates will negatively impact the party’s renewal project in the province.

On Sunday, provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi claimed that Mchunu allegedly abused his ministerial powers to shield a member of a crime syndicate in Gauteng who was arrested for three attempted murders.

The ANC insider said that if these allegations proven to be true, the party’s renewal campaign will suffer a serious political blow in the province. The regional leader, who has been appointed to one of the task teams that were recently announced by the provincial party leadership, said if there was evidence to back these claims and if the president chose not to remove Mchunu from his position, the party will suffer serious consequences.

“This is a serious problem for us in the province, particularly as regional task teams. The party is banking on us to bring back all the party members that voted for other parties in the last year’s general elections.

“The problem we will face will be how to defend Mchunu and dismiss such serious allegations coming from a credible person like Mkhwanazi. It will be difficult not to believe what Mkhwanazi has said but let’s wait for the national leadership to see how it handles the matter. I’m sure they will also think about the political implications of this,” said insider.

The ANC in the province has recently appointed all 11 regional task teams and marshalled them to win municipalities for the party in the next year’s local government elections.

The party’s top brass has reportedly summoned Mchunu to Luthuli House to explain his side of the story. President Cyril Ramaphosa was reportedly enroute from the BRICS summit in Brazil to deal with the matter which he described as a grave national security concern. 

Mkhwanazi on Sunday claimed Mchunu’s real reason for disbanding the police’s political killings unit was because it assisted in dismantling a drug cartel in Gauteng.

He said last year he received a request from Gauteng’s police organised crime unit for assistance in arresting drug cartel suspects whom the unit had discovered were working with top politicians in parliament.

He stated that the unit arrested a businessman and police discovered text messages between the minister and the suspect. He further stated that the Minister’s associate, also sent a message to the suspect informing him that he had arranged  a meeting between the minister and the Deputy National Commissioner from Crime Prevention, Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya to find a solution. 

Mchunu and Sibiya both dismissed the rumours as baseless.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za

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