Calls for KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to be appointed as the national commissioner have gained momentum, underscored by a recent poster campaign and planned march by the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA).
The march, aimed at showcasing support for Mkhwanazi’s leadership and advocating for his promotion to the top national position, highlights his notable efforts in tackling crime and his rising profile in South African law enforcement.
In his latest high-profile achievement, Mkhwanazi led the team that tracked town suspects who at the weekend had allegedly shot five people execution-style, killing four of the victims, in Siyaphambili Road in Tshelimnyama, Mariannhill.
On Monday, a poster bearing Mkhwanazi’s picture and members of the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association made rounds on social media following reports that a march to Durban City Hall would take place, but it never did.
Speaking to the media, police spokesperson Robert Netshiunda said the police in the province had nothing to do with the planned illegal march.
“As police in KwaZulu-Natal, we are distancing ourselves from such a march. Our records also indicate that there was never any notice given to law enforcement for the hosting of such a march, and as a result, the hosting of such a march will be outside the ambit of the law.”
Netshiunda also warned the organisers against using Mkhwanazi’s picture in their poster.
“Police are pleading with individuals to refrain from using the photograph of the provincial commissioner for their ulterior motives. Police in KwaZulu-Natal have also employed the services of Legal Services and are contemplating legal actions against those responsible,” he said.
This comes as the much-talked about commissioner on Monday commended his men and women in uniform for their bravery in apprehending the suspects in the Mariannhill shooting. The victims were seated on the side of the road, drinking alcohol, when the suspects, armed with pistols and a rifle, arrived in a vehicle and ordered them to lie down before shooting them in the back of their heads.
“We again commend the hard work of the SAPS members in this province. It was on the news that in the area of Mariannhill there was a shooting of five people. In fact, four them died on the scene and the other one is in the hospital.
“It is alleged that a vehicle stopped when these youngsters were sitting on the street in the middle of the night. The people in the vehicle came out of the car and made them lie on the road and shot them in the head,” he said.
In March this year, the no-nonsense provincial commissioner arrested seven suspects who had been on the run for more than a year after allegedly killing rapper AKA (real name Kiernan Forbes). But that is not where Mkhwanazi’s effective policing started.
This year, Mkhwanazi has single-handedly raised the tempo, with KZN police officers gunning down some of the province’s hard-core violent criminals.
A Twitter user this week wrote: “This is the same Mkhwanazi who in 2021, during the protest outside former president Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home, when many lunatics were smelling blood, managed to defuse the situation without a drop of blood being spilt. A promotion to national commissioner, maybe?”
While the Eastern Cape has welcomed their new acting provincial commissioner, Major-General Zithulele Dladla, South Africans have been critical of the commissioner following spades of extortionist mafia syndicates in that province.
According to Jenni Irish Qhobosheane, a researcher at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, “extortion is the practice of obtaining money, goods, or services through the use of actual or implied violence or force”.
He said criminal syndicates in Mthatha are demanding protection money from businesses, schools, and healthcare facilities, which has resulted in these businesses, schools, and others closing their doors after being threatened for not paying.
Last month, Gauteng provincial police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni revealed that at least 772 people alleged to be extortionists across the country had been arrested in the last five years, with 58 of them successfully convicted.
Yesterday, Mkhwanazi indicated that most citizens were happy with the police’s efforts to eliminate crime, adding that only a minority of people would refer to the police as a “vigilante group”.
In March, the KZN police reported that at least 80 suspected criminals had been killed between April 2023 and April 2024, and while local communities celebrated the police work, analysts warned about the legal framework of such shoot-outs.
On the weekend, the SAPS honoured 39 police members who died in the line of duty between April 2023 and March 2024.
Parliament’s chairperson of the police committee, Ian Cameron, said: “May these names be a reminder to all of us, of the enormous responsibility in our corners to work towards reducing the scourge of crime and ensuring a safer South Africa. The commemoration also reminds us of the work we must undertake to protect our women and men in blue because they sacrifice so much to protect us.”
Also yesterday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said the new wave of extortion mafias must be brought to an end.
Mchunu briefed Parliament on his department’s comprehensive strategy to tackle the escalating crisis of extortion rackets, which has reached epidemic proportions in South Africa. Mchunu told Parliament: “The wave of extortionist and other crimes in parts of the country and the four provinces including Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape currently carry 73% of the crime levels in South Africa.”
The Star