
The ANC is not enabling syndicates, it is the syndicate
ANC supporters. Picture: Alpha Ramushwana/EWN
The disturbing revelations made by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi recently, have once again confirmed what the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have long warned this country about: South Africa is not under threat from criminals hiding from the law, the real danger comes from criminals inside the state.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) does not merely turn a blind eye to criminal syndicates, it is the syndicate, and Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu, has now been directly implicated as one of its key protectors.
Commissioner Mkhwanazi's briefing laid bare the collapse of law enforcement under ANC rule. He detailed how the highly effective Political Killings Task Team, responsible for prosecuting over 600 politically motivated cases and recovering weapons tied to political assassinations, was actively dismantled by political instruction, not because it failed, but because it succeeded too well.
The task team's investigations began uncovering links between organised crime and senior government officials, exposing a vast criminal network involving drug cartels, corrupt police officers, members of the judiciary, business elites, and political figures. Rather than receiving support for his work, Mkhwanazi has been targeted, discredited, and politically isolated.
What he revealed was damning. Minister Mchunu, through Deputy National Commissioner Sibiya, allegedly ordered the withdrawal of over 120 sensitive case dockets and orchestrated the disbandment of the entire Task Team, undermining years of critical investigative work. These instructions are said to have come without authority from either the National or Provincial Commissioners and coincided with the exposure of individuals linked to criminal syndicates who were also deeply connected to the ANC. It has emerged that Vusimuzi 'CAT' Matlala, a businessman facing serious charges, held over R360 million in SAPS contracts and was simultaneously funding political activities of Mchunu and his associate Brown Mogotsi as well as many ANC aligned political events.
This should not surprise any South African. The ANC, since its near defeat of 2024, has shed any previous pretence of governing for the people. It is an organisation desperate to deploy loyalists into state institutions, because its electoral decline means less seats in Parliament and in Cabinet.
It is for this reason that the ANC has gone unhinged and into a cadre deployment frenzy. It has now fully transformed into a mafia network that loots, recycles, and protects its own.
This is evident not only in Mchunu's alleged sabotage of SAPS investigations but across the appointments and patronage-based deployments we have seen this year alone. It has become characteristic of every government department at the behest of the ANC and its ministers.
Take for example the recent appointment of former Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, as a non-executive Director at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). This is the same Makhura who presided over, and was found liable for the infamous R42,8 million PPE looting during the COVID-19 pandemic and who failed dismally to combat corruption in his administration.
Now, instead of being prosecuted, he is rewarded with a seat on one of the country's key development finance institutions, where he will have influence over billions of rands in funding and infrastructure projects. This is the ANC's idea of accountability: recycling failure into privilege.
At the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the pattern continues. Two ANC stalwarts, former Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo and former KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, were appointed to the board. These are not individuals with clean hands. Ayanda Dlodlo oversaw a collapse in the intelligence sector during her time in office and was central to the failure of foreseeing and preventing the 2021 unrest in KZN.
Nomusa Dube-Ncube, whose name keeps reappearing in suspect appointments, was Premier while state resources were quietly redirected to ANC-aligned networks. Their appointments serve no developmental purpose; they exist only to keep the syndicate well-fed.
Perhaps the most brazen example of the ANC's recent criminal consolidation is the awarding of the National Lottery operating licence, a contract worth R180 billion, to Sizekhaya Holdings, majorly owned by Goldrush Consortium led by ANC allies Sandile Zungu and KZN businessman Moses Tembe. Additionally, the award was not without conflicts of interests between the selection committee and the awardees, to which Minister Parks Tau has defied several calls to account before Parliament.
In fact, this deal has since been linked to the twin sister of Deputy President Paul Mashatile's wife Khumo Bogatsu who is the co-owner of Bellamont Gaming, also a shareholder in Sizekhaya Holdings. The National Lottery is meant to serve the interests of the poor and vulnerable, not to fund political agendas and enrich the families of ANC leaders. Yet here we are, watching billions of public money handed over to a closed circle of insiders without shame or resistance.
Even skills development institutions, which should be preparing the youth of this country for a productive future, are not spared despite youth unemployment well over 45%, and students continuing to struggle to get their dues from NSFAS. The ANC recently attempted to appoint Gwede Mantashe's son and once again Nomusa Dube-Ncube to chair key Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
These are not technocrats or experts. These are political royalty being planted in strategic positions to guarantee the continued extraction of wealth from the state, far away from public scrutiny. At this point, every institution that should serve the people is being turned into a front for family enrichment, and this is more than worrying.
Furthermore, while the country battles hunger, rising levels of the cost of living due to increasing prices of service delivery and taxes, unemployment, and violence, the ANC is further preparing to burn R700 million on a so-called National Dialogue. This unnecessary dialogue is an evident exercise in futility designed to create salaries for unemployed ANC cronies and political veterans who offer nothing. They have recruited 'eminent persons' such as longtime ANC allies Manne Dipico, Bhuti Ntshalintshali, Ela Ghandi, and Nomphendulo Mkhatshwa, not to mention former racist National Party minister Roelf Meyer, and mining executive Bobby Godsell.
This is not a dialogue for the future; it is a last supper for a dying elite desperate to eat what remains before they are permanently removed.
Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi's revelations are, therefore, not an isolated incident, they are the blueprint. The ANC has no interest in good governance, justice, or economic freedom for the majority. Its leadership is entangled in a web of dirty money, state capture, and violent suppression of dissent. This is highlighted even by their behaviour in Parliament which should be the platform of democratic accountability but has been transformed into a hostile battlefield where the ANC enforces silence through intimidation, arrogance, and even physical violence.
Their Portfolio Committee Chairpersons behave like gatekeepers of corruption every time a department of government is called in to account. They are unwilling to entertain scrutiny, allergic to transparency, and openly hostile to any input that challenges their collapsing departments.
When cornered by facts, they resort to silencing opposition through procedural manipulation or outright force. We have witnessed EFF MPs violently removed from sittings simply for demanding accountability.
This was clear during the many tablings of the national budget and the debates on the fiscal framework and monetary policy, where meaningful debate was bulldozed to rubber-stamp decisions that serve elite interests, only to be reversed by appeals to the courts. The ANC has essentially turned Parliament into a syndicate safehouse, where oversight is treated as sabotage and the truth is met with aggression.
This is not a political party managing a government, it is a criminal syndicate in possession of the state. Therefore, South Africans must understand: if we do not act now, there will be no institutions left to protect. We are watching the final decay of a liberation movement that has lost its moral centre and long replaced it with greed. The only way to cleanse the state is to remove the ANC.
Sinawo Thambo is the EFF National Spokesperson and a Member of Parliament

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Maverick
3 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
It wasn't about power, ‘it was a conversation between two adults', Mbenenge tells hearing
Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge says he believes judges are not subject to labour laws or employee workplace relations regulations. Proceedings at the Judicial Conduct hearing into allegations of sexual harassment against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge were briefly disrupted before lunch on Wednesday, 9 July by placard-waving protesters. They were swiftly removed. The protesters are evidence of the widespread interest and anger surrounding this seminal South African case dealing with modern power relations in the workplace and how these affect unwanted approaches of a personal nature. Explaining the short interruption, tribunal chair, retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe, said while the proceedings were open to anyone from the public, 'you may not perform on this stage'. At the core of this complaint of sexual harassment lodged against the Judge President with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) by court secretary Andiswa Mengo is whether the unequal power relations in the matter are relevant. Mbenenge has denied the charges and has maintained that the contact with Mengo was consensual. Late on Tuesday evening, during cross-examination by evidence leader advocate Salomé Scheepers, Mbenenge revealed to the panel his view that judges were not subject to the country's labour and workplace employee relations laws. 'I see it my way' In Mbenenge's mind, the fact that he is one of the most senior judges in the division and its head, had no effect on how he moved through life or the world, or how he was perceived by others, he told the tribunal on Wednesday. Judges, he said, were appointed by the President after recommendations by the JSC. Salaries are paid from the National Revenue Fund, which is separate from the Department of Justice. As independent operatives, they were therefore not subject to the ordinary rules of the workplace. However, the tribunal has been reminded, this does not give Mbenenge a status above other citizens of the country, as the Constitution upholds the rights of all. By way of example, Mbenenge set out to explain an occasion when he felt his status had played no role. This was when he had tried to reconcile a court manager who had allegedly insulted the complainant, Mengo. In that instance, he said, he had not acted as a judge, but as a 'social human'. 'Unless there is a theory or a notion that judge presidents should only talk to other JPs, this flies in the face of social reality.' Mbenenge added, 'even if I had been a watchman, I would have intervened in any matter where there was conflict between two people in a workplace.' While it is highly likely that Mbenenge has never been a watchman, it appears his intact self-esteem enabled him to project, into the mind of a 'watchman', a confident and level-headed mediator such as himself. When it came to how Mengo might have read or interpreted Mbenenge's behaviour differently, as suggested by Scheepers, Mbenenge's responses became a pattern through the morning: 'That is your interpretation. I see it my way. Or I see it differently.' In January, Mengo testified that she had to show respect towards Mbenenge – this was after he had first begun WhatsApping her in June 2021 after a personal interaction in the workplace. 'I have to respect him as someone who is also in charge. Even the manner in which I responded to him, I had to be very cautious,' Mengo testified. Scheepers said this, as well as the fact that Mengo had lodged a complaint of sexual harassment (at great personal cost to both parties, it turns out), was evidence of how she perceived the JP's advances differently. Mbenenge replied to Scheepers: 'So be it. What I need to say is simply that she might harbour this understanding, but I never understood it that way. 'I never imposed myself on her. You don't deal with people from the perspective that 'you know I am a JP'. When I was conversing with the complainant, and remember I am a top lawyer, according to some and the media understanding, when I was chatting with her I was being a social being.' To which Scheepers shot back, 'but you are the Judge President! You do not have to impose that on her. She knew that!' Mbenenge replied, 'I never imposed myself as a JP. The conversation was not between a JP and a junior staff member. I was simply a social being when talking to her in this instance. It was a conversation between two adults…'. Multi-tasking while pummeling Scheepers began her cross-examination late on Tuesday in a pugnacious mood which continued throughout Wednesday as she drilled down into uncomfortable territory. At several points, Mbenenge objected to her 'tone'. This was after complaining earlier in the week about the quality of her work and complaining often that he was being treated as someone 'guilty until proven innocent'. The JP was also angered when he believed that Scheepers was not focusing exclusively on him while he gave evidence or provided replies to questions. He told Judge Ngoepe that he objected to her side consultations with Mengo's counsel, advocate Nasreen Rajab-Budlender. Mbenenge stated he had found this 'disrespectful', at which point Ngoepe intervened, saying that 'advocate Scheepers does not mean disrespect. Perhaps a problem will arise only when she says you need to repeat your answer, then that could be the point. 'But if she feels she can manage to pick up a word or two and still be receptive to your answer, it should not be a problem. The weight of the matter Judge Ngoepe, as chair of the tribunal, has clearly understood the enormous significance of this matter and has tried to navigate this as an older man and retired judge, allowing evidence by gender expert, Lisa Vetten, which Mbenenge's legal team, advocates Musi Sikhakhane and Griffiths Madonsela, had sought to have excluded. When Mbenenge lashed out on Wednesday, saying the matter had rendered him almost a 'pariah' who would never again be invited to give lectures at illustrious universities such as Fort Hare as a result of the stigma, Ngoepe again intervened in even tones to calm him: 'No matter the court of public opinion, in this tribunal there is no point of departure which says the person is guilty, otherwise the proceedings would be a charade. 'Otherwise the outcome would have been determined already. Irrespective of public opinion, irrespective of what everybody thinks… We are going to decide this case on the facts before us and in terms of the law, irrespective of who said what.' Mbenenge said he was not attacking the tribunal. 'I would never do that.' With regard to Scheepers' relentless cross-examination, Judge Ngoepe told Mbenenge that 'you need to understand advocate Scheepers' job, and she is doing her best and she is trying to be as fair as she can possibly be. 'For the rest, this remains with us. We can read and write. That is why we are here. We are going to read every single message and understand it in the way we are capable of understanding.' Whosoever diggeth a pit It has not been pleasant for anyone watching Mbenenge squirm under the weight of deeply intimate and personal details being made public. Under attack is his very worldview, which appears to contain so many halls and mirrors, it has detached him from self-reflection or control. At one point, while searching for a piece of evidence, he looked up and said 'I am lost', which certainly sums up to some extent his foray into his ill-considered advances to Mengo and the Earth-shattering consequences. Mbenenge had told the tribunal of his talent for 'being able to read a room' and that in his interpretation of all the WhatsApps between himself and Mengo, she was a 'willing participant'. This was regardless of initial rebuffs, which were followed by his relentless persistence, which he claimed was 'flirtation' and which he had hoped would become physical. Scheepers shot back that 'you intentionally did not read the room. You read what you wanted to read. You asked her 11 times for photographs, you even begged. And still she did not send any nude pictures.' Scheepers put it to Mbenenge that 'the dominant clause here is you asking for pictures.' The JP shot back angrily, 'No! The dominant clause is the taking of more pictures. She had already sent one [of her WhatsApp profile pictures, according to evidence]. ' He agreed that his messages were sent after hours, a time, he told the tribunal, that was more 'convenient' for him as a busy court head. He said he had been steering 'things in a direction, seeing as I had developed an interest in her'. There were many occasions when it appears Mbenenge's messages were not convenient for Mengo, who would either not respond, or when she did, she would say she was exhausted, or at the gym or cooking, or sleeping, or preparing for work. Scheepers asked Mbenenge why he had not informed or established with the court secretary up front that she might want this intimate relationship. 'I have yet to read a book where when you are interested in a woman, these are the steps you must take. You greet them, go for pleasantries, buy her a chocolate. I have not been charged here for flirting in one manner or another. Were the chats welcome? I say they were.'


Daily Maverick
8 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Western Cape Hawks boss appointed as acting Crime Intelligence commissioner
The appointment follows the arrest of the unit's commissioner, Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, last month. There's been a change in the leadership of the Crime Intelligence division, with the appointment of Major General Mathipa Solomon Makgato as acting divisional commissioner of Crime Intelligence. This follows the arrest of the division's commissioner, Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, last month on charges of fraud and corruption relating to the appointment of an unqualified civilian in a senior post within the SAPS. Before Khumalo's arrest on 26 June, the South African Police Service (SAPS) had warned that Khumalo was being targeted for cleaning up Crime Intelligence. According to the SAPS, the targeting involved ' fake news ' and accusations that Khumalo was appointing people aligned with him. Khumalo had been head of the unit since December 2022. Makgato was the head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (also known as the Hawks) in the Western Cape. National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola announced Makgato's appointment at a press conference on Wednesday, 9 July. 'He brings to this position a wealth of experience and knowledge in the intelligence and detective space, with 36 years' service in both environments in SAPS. He holds a BTech degree in Policing as well as a National Diploma in Police Administration. 'We have full confidence in Major General Mokgato and we trust that his leadership will enhance sufficiency and maintain stability within crime intelligence,' said Masemola. Masemola said that Khumalo, along with the other six Crime Intelligence officers who were arrested last month, had been temporarily moved from the unit. 'Following the arrest of the Divisional Commissioner of Crime Intelligence, Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, and six others, on Thursday, 26 June … the human resource division of the SAPS has processed the matter in line with the SAPS disciplinary regulations of 2016. 'All seven senior officers have been temporarily transferred out of the division of Crime Intelligence, pending more information which we have requested from Idac [Investigating Directorate Against Corruption], that will indicate to us as to what further course of action we can take,' said Masemola. 'Highly politicised and secretive' Underpinning Masemola's announcements were the remarkable revelations of KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on Sunday, which exposed serious divisions in South Africa's law-enforcing arena. Mkhwanazi inferred that the Crime Intelligence arrests had been intentionally driven by individuals keen to see the unit implode. The head of Justice and Violence Prevention at the Institute for Security Studies, Gareth Newham, told Daily Maverick the Crime Intelligence unit had become ' highly politicised ', largely because of its secretive nature and 'the vast resources' at its disposal. 'There's hard evidence, over many years, that that agency has largely been seen as a tool to support political agendas as opposed to actually tackling organised crime, and because of that, it hasn't been providing necessary intelligence to a range of different structures. 'Crime Intelligence has played an active and destabilising role in politics and policing for a long time,' he said. The division itself, Newham said, was very large, with an annual budget of nearly R4-billion. 'It operates with high levels of secrecy, and doesn't even report to the police portfolio committee [in Parliament] — it reports to the Standing Committee on Intelligence, whose meetings are closed and who hardly ever releases reports,' he said. Newham said what was needed to address the challenges in the Crime Intelligence area was a high-level review panel, similar to the one that was set up in 2018 and headed by former safety and security minister Sydney Mufamadi, to probe the organisational integrity of the State Security Agency. 'You would need quite a strong and well-protected structure, that has the necessary clearance and expertise, to do a deep, thorough drive over a period of time to find out exactly what it is doing and how those resources are being used, and then to make recommendations about whether we need such a single, massive, unaccountable division, or whether a large part of that should be decentralised to specific components,' he said. Newham said that, in an acting role, Makgato was essentially in the position to provide 'some kind of leadership stability'. 'It's highly unlikely that any one person can make much of a difference,' he said. DM


Daily Maverick
8 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Watch – Manufactured praise: The strange campaign around Senzo Mchunu
Senior journalist Rebecca Davis highlights a disturbing trend on South African social media: fake accounts, copy-paste tweets, and manufactured praise for politicians. From the ANC to ActionSA, online manipulation is simulating public support and it's already impacting political discourse. With the 2026 elections around the corner, this could be a threat to democracy.