The most powerful aspect of Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the part that makes our leaders break out in a sweat in the middle of the night, is that he represents what the new South Africa could have been. He is the antithesis of what the ANC and South Africa have become. He forces you to ask why South Africa is not a winning nation, why it is in perpetual crisis, and to confront the truth that we have allowed the ANC to misgovern for too long.
Mkhwanazi’s three days on the stand before the Madlanga commission last week showed the people of South Africa what has been stolen from them by ANC incompetence and collusion with the forces of greed and corruption.
Mkhwanazi reminded us of the ANC’s shiftiness. When he said he does not creep up on anyone but confronts them head-on, he reminded us how the past 31 years have been characterised by avoidance of hard truths and neglect of challenges facing the country.
Mkhwanazi was clear, articulate, open, principled and unflustered — and he knows his organisation and its work backwards. And so, every time he opened his mouth, we saw a rebuke of what successive ANC police ministers have been: venal, dishonest, incompetent, shameless.
“This is the man who should have been leading the police all along,” one thought. Those sentiments were expressed to me again and again last week by people from all walks of life. Could the same be said of suspended minister of police Senzo Mchunu? Or Bheki Cele, his predecessor?
Frankly, no. Mchunu has so thoroughly dissembled over his ties to Brown Mogotsi, his ANC comrade who presented himself as a conduit to Mchunu and other police top officers, that he is going to be embarrassed and exposed at the commission.
Mkhwanazi’s testimony underlines what mining minister Gwede Mantashe told ANC councillors at a conference last week: “You sing well, but capacity — dololo [zero].”
Instead of elevating talented professionals such as Mkhwanazi, the ANC has opted to install politically loyal but professionally inadequate people in positions. Cadre deployment did not allow talent to rise to the top. Instead, the ability to sing loudest and display loyalty to party leaders became paramount.
Thus, the best candidate to head Eskom or Transnet had no chance. People who would deliver tenders to their political masters got the jobs instead. In this world, the likes of Mkhwanazi — who should have been appointed police commissioner 14 years ago — were sidelined, while those who would let case dockets disappear rose.
There are many Mkhwanazis in South Africa. They mourn as their organisations are captured. Yet every so often, someone says “no”.
Mkhwanazi’s “no”, represented by his calm posture on the stand, reverberated across the country. It struck a chord with citizens witnessing the destruction caused by the ANC’s patronage networks.
To a populace battered by corruption and incompetence, Mkhwanazi is a symbol
To a populace battered by corruption and incompetence, Mkhwanazi is a symbol: good men and women can take back their country. He is a reminder that the state capture whistleblowers of the 2010s wanted clean government and the whistleblowers of the 2020s want the same thing. His example could set off a revolution.
Where is Mkhwanazi’s evidence, some ask. It’s there for all to see. For example, there is now ample evidence in the public sphere that Cele was friends with tenderpreneur and alleged crime kingpin Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. The calls between the two and Cele’s use of Matlala’s penthouse paint a compelling portrait of the closeness between our former top law enforcement politician and a man accused of attempted murder.
At the same time, the digital trail connecting Mchunu and Matlala is compelling. These ministers should be prosecuted.
What does this mean? It is yet another demonstration of just how far off its historical mission the ANC has drifted. Electorally, it will continue to slide. Will it try to take the country down with it, or try to cling to power? This is a risk we must factor into our scenarios for the next five years.
Yet Mkhwanazi’s testimony is cause for hope for South Africa. If there is one Mkhwanazi, there are many others. Mkhwanazi’s professionalism, principles and competence are dangerous for the corrupt politicians because they remind us of the kind of leader we really want and deserve.
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