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Anti-corruption stances, an apartheid abduction and death penalty calls — SA’s security ministers have textured pasts

Anti-corruption stances, an apartheid abduction and death penalty calls — SA’s security ministers have textured pasts
Angie Motshekga on the red carpet prior to the State of the Nation Address, 9 February 2023. She is now the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans . (Photo: Shelley Christians)
Caryn Dolley
By Caryn Dolley
2 Jul 2024
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South Africa has new ministers in the critical security sector, which means they now play a role in our safety. Each comes with experiences that are likely to affect how policing and prosecuting processes are carried out in a country grappling with high crime levels.

The new ministers in South Africa’s security sector, an arena that was significantly weakened during the State Capture years under Jacob Zuma’s presidency, have their work cut out for them.

And while they may not always see eye-to-eye, their intention to steer the country to sounder ground is hopefully shared.

Some of them, given their backgrounds, have experience that should serve them well in their new positions.

Brand-GNU Cabinet


On Sunday, 30 June, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the government of national unity’s Cabinet.

Senzo Mchunu (66) was named new police minister, taking over from Bheki Cele.

The role of police minister is especially critical in South Africa which is grappling with violent crime and lawbreaking, ranging from money laundering to gangsterism, extortion and mass murders.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Very big, very bloated, but will the government of national unity Cabinet be better?

The police ministry comes loaded with baggage and inevitable controversy given how extreme South Africa’s crime situation is.

It has been the police minister who has delivered difficult news – in the form of the national crime statistics – to the country every few months.

Mchunu is no stranger to tough tasks though.

‘Act urgently on corruption’


He previously filled other posts including minister of public service and administration and minister of water and sanitation.

Over the years Mchunu has remained vocal about corruption, which bodes well for what he is now up against as police minister.

Mchunu, in his capacity as KwaZulu-Natal premier in October 2014, a period during which plans to capture South Africa were unfolding during Zuma’s presidency, stated: “Fighting corruption is about the restoration of the integrity [of] government. 

“We need to act urgently because fraud and corruption have a potential to cause a massive drain on resources, undermine service delivery and cause our democracy to flounder.”

In retrospect, Mchunu’s words were spot-on.



In 202o, he reiterated his stance on state corruption: “There will always be people who want to corrupt and expropriate certain resources for their own personal benefits and aggrandisement at the expense of other people, and this is greed.

“It’s a criminal offence for which governments need to garner part of their resources to ensure they prevent… those amongst us who want to be greedy.”

Mchunu is now in a position enabling him to actively ensure measures around crime fighting are tightened.

security ministers Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni at the media briefing on the state of public transport at Sanral Central Operations Centre on 18 June 2024 in Centurion.  (Photo: Gallo Images / OJ Koloti)


‘ANC equals new apartheid’


Back when he was still KZN premier, and in his 2014 speech, Mchunu also said that “this government is clearly different from the apartheid regime”.

This is where Mchunu and the Freedom Front Plus’ Pieter Groenewald (68), who is now the new correctional services minister, probably do not see eye-to-eye.

Last year, Groenewald was outspoken about the state of South Africa under ANC rule.

“After 29 years in power, the ANC has not only succeeded in destroying the country’s economy, but has also established a new form of apartheid,” he said.

“This ANC-apartheid is also based on race. It is implemented by means of racially motivated policy, like affirmative action (AA) and black economic empowerment (BEE).”

Groenewald also referred to issues relating to water and South Africa’s crime situation.

Death penalty and ‘golden opportunity’


These happen to touch on the position Mchunu filled as minister of water and sanitation minister and which he now fills as police minister.

Groenewald had said: “The police’s latest crime statistics… show that violent crime has risen sharply. Murder and contact crimes, in particular, are getting out of hand… 

“The water issue is equally serious. People can still survive without power, but not without water. Government must not allow the water crisis to escalate as the power crisis [reference to electricity cuts and related problems] did.”

Groenewald has also spoken about “farm murders”.

He previously called for the reinstatement of the death penalty in relation to “farm murders”, saying such incidents were “politically motivated”.

The Freedom Front’s 2024 manifesto seems to have a more toned-down approach to this issue and other lawbreaking. It says: “Restore law and order by creating specialised units for violent crime, child and human trafficking, organised crime, gang violence, drug trafficking and farm murders.”

On Sunday, when Groenewald was announced as correctional services minister, the FF+ issued a statement saying this was recognition of the role the party has played in South Africa over three decades. 

“This is an opportunity to bring about change to the ANC’s majority rule of the past 30 years,” it said. “This is a golden opportunity for opposition parties, in particular, to play an active role from within the engine room so as to steer the South African ship in the right direction.”

When Ramaphosa announced the new Cabinet on Sunday, he also explained that the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development would be separated from the Ministry of Correctional Services.

‘Forcibly disappeared’ sister


As such, while Groenewald now heads the Correctional Services Ministry, Thembi Nkadimeng was named minister of justice.

She was previously minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs.

Nkadimeng has first-hand experience, in the form of tragedy, that may enhance her work as justice minister. Her older sister, Nokuthula Simelane, was a member of the ANC’s armed wing, uMkhonto weSizwe, and went missing in 1983.



According to a website about unfinished Truth and Reconciliation Commission matters, Simelane was “abducted, tortured, and forcibly disappeared by members of the Security Branch of the South African Police”, and some individuals were later granted amnesty for her abduction.

In a 2022 video posted to the Facebook page of the Foundation for Human Rights, Nkadimeng said the foundation assisted with a private investigation into what happened to her sister as the state effectively once betrayed her family.

The Simelane matter is now a court case that is set to resume in Gauteng this month.

Education to defence


Nkadimeng’s previous experience as a minister, as well as how she has had to cope with issues surrounding her sister and the state’s reaction to it, mean she may have a more textured understanding of the justice sector.

And she may use that to her advantage in her new post.

Ramaphosa also named Angie Motshekga (69) as minister of defence and military veterans.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Dysfunctional database, slow pension payout, no comms — plight of military veterans Part 1

She was previously the basic education minister.

Her transition from one post to another, at first glance, appears to be the steepest, but she might have a fresh take on how to improve South Africa’s defence sector.

Angie Motshekga on the red carpet before the State of the Nation Address on 9 February 2023. She is now minister of defence and military veterans. (Photo: Shelley Christians)


Steering State Security


As for the intelligence arena, in August 2021 Ramaphosa announced “that the Ministry of State Security would be done away with and political responsibility for the State Security Agency would reside in The Presidency”.

This means Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni (47) remains responsible for State Security, as has been the case since her appointment to the post in March 2023.

Before that the State Security Agency was the focus of State Capture accusations.

Read more in Daily Maverick: State Capture ghost haunts Ramaphosa’s security cluster reshuffle

Arthur Fraser was previously at the helm of the agency when it was allegedly subverted to support Zuma.

He became the national commissioner of correctional services and authorised Zuma’s release on medical parole in September 2021.

This occurred after the Medical Parole Advisory Board advised against the release, and Zuma had served just two months of a 15-month jail sentence relating to contempt of court after refusing to appear before the State Capture Commission.

The appointment of the government of national unity’s security sector ministers this week therefore hopefully means that South Africa is moving further away from the individuals and situations that have steered it towards capture. 

McKenzie eyed policing post


Deciding on a Cabinet was clearly a tough task, with different political parties now involved in the government of national unity wanting to head specific portfolios.

Among those who had eyed posts including that of police minister was the Patriotic Alliance’s Gayton McKenzie.

Read more in Daily Maverick: What do a gangster, a pastor and sushi have in common? The Patriotic Alliance

He once told a journalist that as an ex-gangster he had an authentic understanding of certain crime issues.

Hard Livings gang boss Rashied Staggie, who was murdered in a shooting in Cape Town in 2019, was once a member of McKenzie’s party.



In 2013 the Sunday Times reported that the founding members of the Patriotic Alliance included a daughter of William “Red” Stevens, reputed to have been one of the most seasoned 27s gangsters, as well as a daughter of former 28s gang boss Ernie “Lastig” Solomon.

South Africa’s crime scene


Stevens was murdered in a shooting in Cape Town in 2021, while Solomon was killed in a shooting in Gauteng the previous year.

Their killings, of course, fit into the much broader matrix of crime gripping the country.

On Sunday it became apparent that McKenzie was not South Africa’s new police minister and that his past may have been viewed as too controversial and perhaps rooted too far on the flipside of policing.

McKenzie was instead named minister of sports, arts and culture, and on Monday he said this showed that despite one’s past, “your destiny is in the hands of God”. DM

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