Snl24 | Mzansi lives in fear

New Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. Photo by GCIS/Flickr

SENZO Mchunu was announced as the new police minister on Sunday, 30 June.

The announcement, along with that of other ministers, was made by President Cyril Ramaphosa for the seventh administration term.

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has welcomed the appointment and urged Mchunu to address the issue of police killings.

Popcru spokesman Richard Mamabolo expressed concern about the killings of law enforcement officers in the country.

“We reaffirm our call to publicly declare war against cold-blooded criminals by amending current legislations to classify this barbaric act as treasons and expect the newly appointed minister to push for legislative amendments in this regard,’’ Mamabolo said.

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Mamabolo highlighted that this national crisis could threaten the country’s peace and stability as the majority of the law officers are killed on duty.

Daily Sun spoke to specialist investigator for serious violent, economic and cyber-crime Mike Bolhuis, who shared his view on the new change in the police force.

“Our authorities in the country should not be influenced by any political agendas in a sense that it prohibits them from investigating the men on the street to the president,’’ Bolhuis said.

Bolhuis said the charge of a crime should not be decided by position, money, fear or intimidation.

“The minister should not interfere with the authority of the police, Hawks and special unit forces. But he should address crime issues, corruption, investigation and prevention of these issues,’’ he said.

Bolhuis also mentioned that appointing unqualified individuals for specific jobs but expecting them to produce good results, despite their failures in previous posts, is problematic.

“You cannot hire a beautician to perform brain surgery,” he said.

Kgakgamatso Sekoto, one of the Diepsloot Community Forum leaders, voiced the residents’ needs from the new minister, including more resources for the police. 

“We live in fear in this community because almost every night there are gunshots. Sometimes when we call the police, they don’t come to the area because they tell us that they don’t have vehicles,’ Sekoto said.

Sekoto said they’d be happy if the minister would personally visit the area to see the issues that they deal with almost every day. 

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