CoJ's Tshwaku says there is some credence to allegations that Gauteng’s drug dealers are protected

JOHANNESBURG - Johannesburg's Public Safety Department said there was some credence to allegations that Gauteng’s drug dealers are protected.

During a crime-fighting operation in Midrand on Tuesday, MMC Mgcini Tshwaku raised concerns over the prevalence of drugs in the city.

This comes just days after KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Provincial Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made jaw-dropping allegations of a drug cartel operating in Gauteng with links to high-ranking politicians and members of the judiciary.

The middle-class town of Midrand is considered in law enforcement circles as one of the country’s biggest drug distribution hubs.

But Tuesday’s raid resulted in only two plastic packets worth of drugs, including crystal meth, marijuana and illegal cigarettes.

Three years into the job as MMC for Public Safety, Mgcini Tshwaku said that it had been difficult to infiltrate the city’s drug underworld.

"All the druglords that are being arrested, their cases don’t make it to court, they are struck off the roll, so Mkhwanazi’s allegation that this thing is deep, from the police, investigation and judiciary, is correct. No one has done anything about it."

Tshwaku has also joined the many calls for an independent investigation to thoroughly probe Mkhwanazi’s allegations.