John Matisonn: Mkhwanazi hearings tilt presidential stakes

Key topics:Ramaphosa faction loses ground in Mkhwanazi hearings.Mashatile emerges as likely winner amid scandals.Mchunu's evasive testimony weakens his presidential bid..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By John Matisonn.In the increasingly sordid politics of the 2027 ANC leadership race, the Ramaphosa faction has been the main loser in the Mkhwanazi hearings so far.Deputy President Paul Mashatile, the heir apparent many consider disqualified by the whiff of scandal around his name and his extravagant lifestyle despite a lifetime as a public servant, is the likely main winner.That’s because Ramaphosa’s ally, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, emerging as the default candidate that might just have been able to stop him, performed so badly. On Tuesday his own Deputy Minister, Cassel Mathale, was the latest to throw him under an increasingly crowded bus. Mathale told the parliamentary committee Mchunu did not inform him in advance that he planned to disband the Political Killings Task Team, did not consult properly beforehand, made the wrong decision, and could have stopped its escalation if he had only agreed to General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s request for a meeting..Read more:. John Matisonn: Is this fight about Mchunu for president? .Both Mchunu and his predecessor as police minister, Bheki Cele, are members of the ANC NEC, where the two increasingly antagonistic factions vying for their presidential candidate square off. As Zulu-speakers, the roles of Mchunu and Cele carry added importance because KwaZulu-Natal province, once the ANC’s largest, fell below 50% in last year’s election. Winning back votes there is key to the ANC’s survival.In his evidence to the parliamentary committee, Cele admitted he backs an unnamed presidential candidate, who is widely asserted in social media to be Mashatile.Conventional wisdom about the two has substantially changed during the hearings.Going in, Cele was widely viewed as the loose cannon, too quick to grab media attention, and willing to accept excessive force by the police. When Mchunu replaced him, the service seemed to fall into safer hands. Mchunu had worked well with DA Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink as water affairs minister. Mchunu is mild-mannered, an ally of Ramaphosa, a Zulu-speaker who was not aligned with disgraced former president Jacob Zuma, thought to be one of the few ANC ministers with a clean record. Yet in the hearings, Mchunu soon stood alone, except for deputy national police commissioner General Shadrack Sibiya, who would likely benefit if Mchunu gained power.Mchunu was a serious candidate for either president or deputy president of the ANC and the country after the term-limited Ramaphosa retires, which is in 2029 at the latest. No more.When he spoke, Mchunu did not help himself. He was vague and evasive, but also unprepared. He knew he had to defend the key decision that sparked the crisis, closing the PKTT. To do that he needed to justify his claim that it was “no longer adding value” with figures on its success rate, its wastage of money on luxuries or corruption, and its cost relative to other crime hotspots with far higher murder rates. Yet he came without any such proof or statistics.His first answer when asked about his relationship with the shadowy businessman Brown Mogotsi had been that “I am no associate” of Mogotsi. It was a careful and suspicion-arousing answer. Mkhwanazi had alleged he was his “associate”, and Mchunu’s denial chose the narrowest of definitions of the word.Everyone took that to mean the minister didn’t know him. It turned out he knew him well. Before the ad hoc parliamentary committee he admitted he’d interacted with him for eight years, but added his interactions were “in the presence of other comrades”. Even that is far-fetched. Evidence keeps emerging of private encounters.Mkhwanazi’s narrative gets increasingly plausible.He chose to close the PKTT at 5.15pm on new year’s eve away from his offices alone at his KwaZulu-Natal residence. The crux of his letter was that it must be done “immediately” because it “no longer provides any value.”Neither of these points stood up to scrutiny.Under questioning he said that immediately did not mean right away, only for Julius Malema to point out that “immediately” can only mean immediately.Then he admitted that “provides no value” was harsh. It did provide value, but it did not justify the high expense he said, belatedly correcting himself.He justified acting alone by saying the Inter-ministerial Committee that set up the PKTT was automatically disbanded at the end of an administration, only for examples to show this is not the case..Read more:.Behind Mkhwanazi’s pre-emptive strike: John Matisonn.If his reason was cost, he should have been ready to show their vast over-expenditure on overtime, luxury accommodation and even laundry.Instead, he was left with egg on his face. “Immediately” means let’s talk, he should have used “softer language” about the task team’s efficacy, and his claim that IMCs die with administrations is in tatters.In the same order Mchunu laid out a timeline for close-out reports which was impossible to meet. Police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, the recipient of the order, was on year end leave, he gave him 20 days for a preliminary report and another ten for the final report – on a highly sensitive operation involving investigations and prosecutions at various stages of readiness.Does the ANC have another candidate against Mashatile?

John Matisonn: Mkhwanazi hearings tilt presidential stakes

Key topics:

Related Stories