Why another Cabinet reshuffle is not off the table yet

There are limits to how the president could respond

- NKOSIKHULULE NYEMBEZI

IT IS the week after. Last week was a ball, at least for the anti-corruption and anti-organised crime advocates.

But it was like a lightning flash before a thunderstorm; now, the real battle must commence.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's July 13 announcement of a judicial commission of inquiry headed by Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga to probe KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's allegations against Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and other senior figures did not rewrite the country's anti-corruption and crime combating strategies as many expected.

It merely enforced the conventions of the existing one.

This followed Mkhwanazi's explosive claims that a high-level criminal syndicate has infiltrated the SAPS, the Ministry, Parliament, official prison structures, the judiciary and other law-enforcing authorities. It symbolically reasserted, 'Be ye never so high, the law is above you' - though it cited no particular law; rather the 'rule of law' as interpreted by itself.

Ramaphosa said: "The allegations made... raise serious concerns around the Constitution, the rule of law and national security," and added that "in establishing this Commission of Inquiry, we are affirming our commitment to the rule of law, to transparency and accountability, and to building a South Africa in which all people are safe and secure."