Ramaphosa’s positioning of Mchunu as his potential successor has backfired - Steinberg

Writer and scholar Jonny Steinberg has described President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to appoint Senzo Mchunu as Minister of Police as a strategic but risky move that has largely backfired.

In his recent News24 column, Steinberg wrote that Ramaphosa appeared to be killing two birds with one stone - tasking Mchunu with reforming the deeply corrupt police service while quietly positioning him as a potential successor.

Steinberg adds that international experts in police reform warned that placing a presidential hopeful in charge of a tainted institution would inevitably invite attacks on his integrity.

"I started talking to a group of veteran police reform practitioners and experts whose expertise comes from the end of the Cold War around the world. So, these were people with many decades of experience. They said that's a terrible idea, because the one thing that a presidential candidate needs to protect is his reputation, and that is going to be his weak point going into a corrupt police force. You can be certain that he's going to be attacked for his integrity by a dirty police force."

Their prediction was confirmed when Mchunu faced corruption allegations shortly after disbanding the political killings task team.

The fallout, Steinberg noted, has weakened both the reform agenda and Mchunu’s prospects of succeeding Ramaphosa.

Despite widespread allegations of corruption within the South African Police Service (SAPS), Steinberg insists that reform is still possible but only if the minister commands full presidential backing.

"Once that happens, it is possible to pick out decent police leaders, and there are, and to work with them and to give them courage to allow them to be brave. They are not going to be brave if they do not know that the police minister is strong and is backed by the President. If they doubt that, they're not going to put up their hands, and then the police are unreformable. I worry that Ramaphosa has two years to do this; after that, there's a new ANC president. His political authority is dwindling."

To listen to Steinberg in conversation with CapeTalk's John Maytham, use the audio player below: