The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) notes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to address the nation on Sunday evening regarding the explosive allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
We do not welcome this address as a cause for optimism. We view it as the product of public pressure, not leadership. President Ramaphosa has a long record of reacting late, feigning shock, and then doing nothing. The workers and poor of this country cannot afford another pantomime of concern while the rot continues unchecked.
The allegations by General Mkhwanazi are extremely serious. They suggest that the rot in policing, intelligence, and political interference runs far deeper than the public has been told. If even half of what has been alleged is true, it reveals a total breakdown of constitutional governance in key organs of state.
But let us be clear: President Ramaphosa is not a neutral actor who can credibly clean house. His own presidency is tainted by the unresolved Phala Phala scandal, involving hidden foreign currency, illegal conduct, and an abuse of state resources for personal matters. Instead of facing accountability, the President was shielded by the ANC majority in Parliament, who buried the report of the Section 89 panel, led by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, a panel that found the President had a case to answer.
This was not the first time the ANC placed factional loyalty above principle. The ANC shielded former President Jacob Zuma no fewer than eight times, blocking motions of no confidence and accountability, until factional interests shifted, and Zuma was removed not on principle, but to consolidate internal ANC power. Ramaphosa today benefits from the very same politics of impunity.
We are therefore not surprised that so many recommendations from commissions, inquiries and task teams have been ignored:
• The High-Level Panel on Intelligence, chaired by Dr Sydney Mufamadi and appointed by Ramaphosa himself in 2018, found that the State Security Agency had been repurposed into a tool of ANC factionalism and personal enrichment, with parallel intelligence structures, off-books financing, and a collapse of oversight. Its core recommendations, to reform and depoliticise intelligence, abolish rogue units, and restore constitutional oversight, were never fully implemented.
• The Davis Tax Committee, led by Judge Dennis Davis, exposed the shocking scale of illicit financial flows, base erosion, profit shifting, and corporate tax avoidance. Its reports urged immediate legislative action to tighten tax loopholes, introduce wealth taxes, and reform global tax cooperation. Yet the state has dragged its feet, allowing billions to be looted while austerity is imposed on the working class.
• The SARS Commission of Inquiry, chaired by Judge Robert Nugent, laid bare how SARS was captured by a criminal cabal under Tom Moyane and Bain & Co. It recommended urgent prosecutions, public service bans for enablers, and a clean-up of procurement and IT systems. Yet many of the central actors remain untouched, and Bain continues to operate freely in South Africa.
• The Zondo Commission, which exposed the industrial scale of State Capture, recommended the criminal prosecution of numerous ministers, SOE executives, and business collaborators. Yet most of those named have not even been questioned, let alone charged, and many remain in Cabinet or Parliament, shielded by ANC structures.
Each of these commissions gave the President a golden opportunity to act. He chose delay. He chose protection of allies. He chose rhetoric over reform.
SAFTU demands that this moment must not be wasted. We call on President Ramaphosa to immediately:
1. Establish an independent judicial commission of inquiry into the allegations raised by General Mkhwanazi. The terms of reference and oversight of such a commission must to be decided with and overseen by trade unions and civil society formations. It must have full powers to subpoena and without involvement of compromised state agencies.
2. Suspend or remove all those implicated, including Ministers and senior officials, pending the outcomes of proper investigations. This includes names from the Zondo, Nugent, Mufamadi, and Public Protector reports.
3. Implement, without further delay, the recommendations of the Mufamadi Panel, the Davis Tax Committee, the SARS Commission, and the Zondo Commission.
4. Conduct an integrity audit of the entire executive, removing those implicated in corruption, state capture, political interference in the criminal justice system, and failure to perform.
We warn the President: this is not a moment for reshuffling chairs or issuing vague commitments. If the address on Sunday is not accompanied by clear, immediate, and irreversible action, the people will treat it as yet another insult.
SAFTU and its allies in the working class and civil society will not sit back while this country is looted, its institutions captured, and the rule of law destroyed. If there is no justice, we will mobilise. If there is no accountability, we will act.
A Statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU by General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For more details, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
066 168 2157
Newtonm@saftu.org.za
