Knives out for Senzo Mchunu

OUTA demands immediate axing of police minister

- BONGANI HANS

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa must just fire Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, instead of keeping him on special leave while enjoying salary and ministerial benefits at the expense of taxpayers.

That's the view of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) and political analysts after Ramaphosa announced in a statement this week that action would be taken against government employees, including police officers, implicated in the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

“The president must make a decision because he cannot keep him on paid leave all the time,” said OUTA chief executive officer Wayne Duvenage.

Duvenage said that delaying the decision on Mchunu until the final report - since there are still further questions he must answer before the commission might create the impression that Ramaphosa was protecting him.

“The fact that this minister has already compromised himself by interfering in operational matters is enough for the president to dismiss him.

“There is far too much smoke and questions for someone who needs to head up an entity that is rotten and needs extremely strong discipline and leadership to fix the SAPS,” Duvenage said.

The commission, in which retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga is assisted by Advocate Sesi Baloyi, SC, and Advocate Sandile Khumalo, SC, is probing allegations of criminality, political interference, and corruption in the criminal justice system.