Ramaphosa announces new acting Police Minister

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the formation of a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of corruption and political interference in South Africa’s policing authorities.

In addition, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has been placed on leave with immediate effect.

Firoz Cachalia, a former ANC politician and current professor of law at the University of the Witwatersrand, will serve as acting Police Minister in the interim.

He is a non-member of parliament, and will take up one of the two positions that the president is allowed to appoint to cabinet from outside parliament.

Ramaphosa made the announcement in a national address on Sunday evening (13 July 2025).

The announced actions come after KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi accused Mchunu of sabotaging a probe into political killings by seizing 121 open case files in March and pushing to disband the team tasked with the probe. Mchunu rejected the allegations.

The accusations were followed by calls from various political parties and other stakeholders for Mchunu to be suspended, fired, or in some cases, arrested.

Ramaphosa said the allegations agaisnt the police and related agencies are serious and raise concerns around the Constitution, rule of law and national security.

If true, they threaten to undermine the entire police service and their ability to fight crime and corruption, he said.

“As we intensify the fight against crime, it is vital that we secure the credibility of the police and other law enforcement agencies,” he said.

For this reason, the judicial commission of enquiry will be set up to fully investigate the claims.

The commission will investigate allegations relating to the infiltration of policing authorities, including threats, political influence and various other matters tied to the allegations.

It will also investigate the potential role of any leaders and individuals that may have been involved and aided and abetted in these alleged activities.

Ultimately, the commission will make recommendations on further actions, including, but not limited to, criminal prosecutions.

The commission is expected to produce interim reports at three months and six months after being set up, with the final report being presented thereafter.

The allegations against Mchunu by Mkhwanazi highlight the desperate state of policing in South Africa, where law enforcement has become politicised and often dysfunctional.

Since 2000, of the five national police commissioners permanently appointed to the post, four have been removed for infractions ranging from corruption to incompetence.

Between 2000 and 2015, the three people who held the post had no prior policing experience.

South Africa is plagued by violent crime including one of the highest recorded murder rates in the world, while corruption is blamed — alongside mismanagement — for handicapping economic growth that has been anemic for the past 15 years.

With Bloomberg