by Likho Mbuka | Aug 6, 2025 | Opinion
In the space of just a few weeks, South Africa has been shaken by a flurry of political scandals, arrests, assassinations, and suspensions that read like the script of a crime thriller. But this is not fiction. From the corridors of government to the backrooms of political parties, we are witnessing either the collapse of our democratic institutions or the long-overdue reckoning with the criminalisation of politics. The real question is: is the rot finally being exposed?
One of the explosive claims made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was that when Vusumuzi “Cat” Matlala was arrested, police discovered messages on his devices indicating he was receiving inside information from police “fixers”, including meetings arranged with suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.
Cat Matlala, a name tied to shady tenders, including one linked to murdered whistleblower Babita Deokaran, has most recently received a tender with Tshwane SAPS. His case is not an outlier. It is part of a wider, disturbing pattern: police officials enabling criminal syndicates, with political figures complicit in the cover-up.
The suspension of Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu following Mkhwanazi’s damning claims is only the beginning. It is alleged that Mchunu protected criminal networks within the police turning the justice system into the very problem it should be solving. Journalist Mandy Wiener has called the positions of police minister and national commissioner a “poisoned chalice” and these revelations seem to prove it. Yet the idea of high-ranking police figures colluding with criminals is not new. Think Jackie Selebi and Radovan Krejcir. This is a cycle we have seen before.
Shortly after Mchunu’s suspension, Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy leader Kenny Kunene, until recently a PR councillor in the City of Johannesburg, was found in the company of Katiso “KT” Molefe, the alleged mastermind behind DJ Sumbody’s assassination. Kunene claimed he was escorting a journalist – yet that journalist has never reported on what would have been the scoop of a lifetime: Kunene being found at Molefe’s house during the arrest.
Kunene resigned, and the mayor has claimed the city’s “hands are tied.” This incident is yet another glimpse into the entanglement of political office and gangsterism.
Meanwhile, Gauteng Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola is reported to have attempted to intervene in Matlala’s arrest corroborating Mkhwanazi’s assertion that parts of the police are proverbially in bed with criminals. The system is protecting itself.
This past week, the Minister of Higher Education, Nobuhle Nkabane, resigned after being accused of lying to Parliament’s portfolio committee regarding the appointment of SETA board members. Her resignation means she escapes the very accountability that parliamentary oversight was supposed to ensure.
These are not isolated incidents. The list grows longer: the assassination of whistleblowers and construction mafia figures, allegations within the ANC, U.S. Treasury sanctions, and a justice system that increasingly appears either captured or hollowed out.
It is no coincidence that as state capacity erodes, criminal networks rise. The ANC, weakened and divided, can no longer police its own ranks let alone govern ethically. Political office is being used to legitimise criminal empires. Today’s councillors were yesterday’s construction mafia bosses. And tomorrow’s ministers? Who knows.
So what? This erosion of the line between politics and crime puts South Africa on the brink. As citizens lose faith in democratic systems, they may begin to embrace authoritarianism or strongman figures who promise order through force. The Patriotic Alliance’s recent calls to reinstate the death penalty while its leaders are under scrutiny are telling.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has responded by firing some implicated officials and promising yet another commission of inquiry. But after years of unattended recommendations gathering dust on his desk, society has little reason to believe that justice will follow.
Firoz Cachalia, a former ANC politician and now a Wits law professor, has been appointed interim Police Minister. He enters a poisoned environment, one where few believe the rule of law still applies evenly. Will he win public confidence in a country where institutions seem broken?
This last month has exposed a web of criminality so vast and interconnected that each new scandal feels less shocking than the last. Viewed in isolation, these incidents may appear as individual failures but step back, and the picture becomes clearer: a democracy under siege from within.
We cannot afford to normalise this rot. The fight against corruption must be unrelenting – not just for the sake of good governance, but for the survival of our democracy.
by Sfundo Parakozov | Jan 22, 2024 | News
SASCO president Vezinhlanhla Simelane passionately declared that “SASCO does not endorse, support nor facilitate any form of corruption or misappropriation of public funds.”
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) failed to pay 20 000 allowances in 2023, leaving students hungry and unable to focus on their studies, which saw and some dropping out of university.
The student bursary scheme said all outstanding payments would be made by January 15, 2024. But so far, only 9 128 issues have been resolved, leaving 10 872 students in limbo. An issue that the South African Students Congress (SASCO) said needs to be dealt with urgently in a press briefing held on Friday, January 19.
Simelane said all payment balances must be made before the closure of the registration period in February 2024, and failure to do so will result in the implementation of mass action or mobilizing students for a protest.
Simelane also spoke to recent corruption allegations against the minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande. NSFAS board chairperson, Ernest Khoza and Nzimande were accused of defrauding the student bursary scheme according to a leaked audio recording and an investigation report by Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA).
He said if true, this kind of self-enrichment by politicians is ‘disgusting’. “We call for the harshest form of consequence management to be meted against any NSFAS or Department of Higher Education representative found embezzling funds destined for destitute and poor students,” said Simelane.
Second-year Bachelor of Arts student, Lindelwa Khanyile is a NSFAS recipient who went over the R45 000 accommodation cap imposed by NSFAS in 2023. This led to historical debt of R101 00, owed to Wits University. The institution has since demanded that she pay a minimum of R30 000 to register for her third year. “My question is, where will I get R30 000 as a NSFAS recipient – it doesn’t make sense,” she said.
“This is such a depressing experience for me, student organisations such as EFF and SASCO need to meet with Wits management and plead with them to allow students to complete their studies,” said Khanyile, whose hopes of graduating and pursuing a postgraduate degree in journalism remain suspended.
Similarly, postgraduate student Lesego Makinita owes Wits R50 000. Not being able to raise funds forced Makinita to return to their hometown, Rustenburg in the North West province. “I have made peace with the fact that I can’t go to school even if I want to. I’ve always wanted to go to Business School to study business administration, I’m very good at marketing and I know I would do a great job,” they said.
On the question of free education in South Africa’s current landscape, Kamtshe told Wits Vuvuzela that it is indeed attainable, but there is a lack of political will to implement it. He criticized the current system which is a mix of bursaries, scholarships, and student loans, “that is not free education, free education must be entirely free,” he said.
In closing, Simelane urged activists to take decisive action to ensure that “the doors of learning are forcefully opened in 2024.”
FEATURED IMAGE: A photo of SASCO’s president, Vezinhlanhla Simelane giving a press briefing at Albert Luthuli House. Photo: Sfundo Parakozov
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by Riante Naidoo | Nov 9, 2015 | Featured 1
The editor of London’s Sunday Times Insight team opened the 2015 Power Reporting Conference by reflecting on one of the most controversial corruption stories in the past year. Speaking in front of a packed auditorium at Wits University, Jonathan Calvert recounted the intricacies of an undercover investigation with fellow journalist, Heidi Blake, that resulted in an expose of bribery and coruption at Fifa, the world football authority.
The pair went undercover in 2010 to investigate alleged corruption that surrounded 2020 World Cup-winning bid from Qatar.
Going undercover has become a crucial tactic in investigative journalism and has enabled more stories to materialise successfully.
Calvert and Blake who were tipped off by an insider, decided to go undercover and pose as lobbyists with interests on behalf of the United States.
UNDERCOVER: Jonathan Calvert, editor of the Insight Team at the Sunday Times, was the keynote speaker at the opening session of the 2015 Power Reporting Conference in Johannesburg. Photo: Reuven Blignaut.
Kitted out with minute cameras hidden in their clothing, the pair recorded meetings with six people on the bid committee. They formed part of the discussions on how to structure the campaign to lobby for support for the American bid. Eventually, two of the committee members (voters), agreed to “sell their votes”.
Calvert said that each World Cup brings in approximately four million pounds but added that, “We don’t know how they spend their money or where it goes to.”
With corruption presenting itself at the outset of their investigations, the pair pressed on and eventually presented their findings to Fifa which did not act on the allegations.
Calvert said when Qatar was announced as hosts for the 2020 soccer World Cup, “It was a surprise to everyone, but not really a surprise to us.”
Calvert said he feels that Fifa is “burning itself to death at the moment,” and has a strong feeling that “a big revelation” will be made public by February 2016 by journalists in the US who are continuing the investigations.
The pair have since co-written a book on their expose called The Ugly Game: The Qatari plot to buy the World Cup.
by Boipelo Boikhutso | Aug 8, 2015 | News
The Unite Against Corruption Coalition made a demonstration outside the Johannesburg Constitutional Court yesterday.
By Boipelo Boikhutso
SONG AND DANCE: A man dances to the chants made by the crowd against corruption. Photo: Boipelo Boikhutso
“Phansi ne corruption phansi!” Using chants, music and dance, South Africans stood together against corruption.
The newly formed coalition, Unite Against Corruption, organized pickets outside Parliament and the Constitutional Court in response to Police Minister Nathi Nhleko presenting his Nkandla report to the National Assembly.
In Johannesburg, a crowd of protestors, including people from various organizations, trade unions and ordinary South Africans, stood outside the Constitutional Court. The people formed a human chain by holding hands as a symbol of the campaign’s mission, which is to defend the Constitution.
UNITY: The crowd forms a human chain to signify solidarity against corruption. Photo: Boipelo Boikhutso.
According to Mark Heywood, one of the organisers of the protest, the demonstration was not only to support social justice and to seek accountability, but it was also to argue that Nhleko’s Nkandla report was a complete “whitewash”.
The Unite Against Corruption campaign’s aim is to “bring large swathes of society to make a public stand for an end to the corruption that has eroded every aspect of our lives.” Heywood told Wits Vuvuzela that the public demands support for and respect of the Public Protector and Chapter 9 institutions.
Ntobiyebongo Tshabalala, of the Right2Know campaign, told Wits Vuvuzela that she is confident that the campaign will make a change in the transparency and the accountability of the government. In relation to Nhleko’s report on Nkandla, Tshabalala told Wits Vuvuzela: “I think they are still hiding a lot from us, we need transparency in this country.”
Different organizations, such as the Right2Know, the National Union of Metalworkers SA and Greenpeace as well as individuals pledged their support in public. These include the former general secretary of the Congress of SA Trade Unions, ZwelinzimaVavi, who made a speech in reference to the corruption in the Nkandla case.
Also present were Wits students like Tina Power, the chairperson of the Students for Law and Social Justice, a Wits organisation,
Former Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi addresses the masses outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg. Photo: Boipelo Boikhutso.
“As students it is time to take control of our future and ensure that this culture of corruption does not become a tradition,” Power said.
The demonstration was also an opportunity to mobilise and rally more people to the big march that will be taking place on September 23. One march will be held in Pretoria at the Union Buildings and the other will be held in Cape Town at the Parliament.
by Staff Reporter | Oct 8, 2014 | Opinion
This week’s show looks at The Nuclear Corruption Scandal. The team chats to Dr Tristen Taylor from Earthlife Africa to find out if we should invest in nuclear energy, as well as nuclear physicist, Dr Jacques Bezuidenhout on what happens when you blast a sea creature with a nuclear reactor. They wrap up with insights from Dr Petro Terblanche, of Pelchem, on how South Africa has the Number one deposit for the chemical crucial to making nuclear fuel.
The Science Inside, the show that goes inside the science of major news events, is produced by Paul McNally, Anina Mumm, DJ Keyez and Lutfiyah Suliman for The Wits Radio Academy. Tune in live to VowFM every Monday at 6pm.
If the full podcast does not load automatically, please click here.
by Zelmarie Goosen | Apr 24, 2014 | News
By Zelmarie Goosen and Robyn Kirk
THE RICH AND THE DUBIOUS: (from left) Obett Motaung, Campbell Jessica Meas, Michelle Schewitz, Jonathan Young with Peter Terry (foreground) in Jessica Friedan’s Government Inspector at the Wits Theatre. Photo: supplied
The wealthy vying for the favour of the powerful, people giving gifts in order to gain something and a society in which greed conquers all. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
These are the central themes of the play Government Inspector that opened this week at the Wits Theatre.
Written more than 150 years ago the play is clearly still relevant to modern-day South African audiences.
For South African audiences
“It’s a satire set in Russia, not in South Africa, but I think we’ll see a lot of ourselves,” says director Jessica Friedan, a former Witsie. Friedan feels that through laughter, people look at issues differently. “I think we’re feeling a little brutalised with the country right now … we have enough commentary that’s very direct and very blunt and very harsh and we have enough depressing stuff.”
With the struggles South Africa is facing 20 years into democracy and the fallout from the Nkandla report fresh on our minds, Government Inspector takes a light-hearted look at what the elite will do to stay rich and powerful through the deeds of a string of unlikable characters produced (or performed?) by talented actors.
“I think it sort of brings out the universal themes of awful people using their positions to get lots of money and get lots of opportunities, which is as true in imperial Russia as it is here and anywhere else,” says Friedan.
Famous faces
The play sees guest performers Peter Terry and Matthew Lotter (both leading South African entertainers) acting alongside Wits School of Arts students. Friedan said she was “very delighted” to have Terry and Lotter work with them.
“I think they bring a professionalism and an insight and also a perspective of what it is to work and what matters and doesn’t matter. The students have learnt a lot from them”.
Government Inspector is showing at the Wits Theatre on west campus, Braamfontein from till 30 April.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 14, 2014 | News
AS soon as we hear the word “corruption”, we automatically think of dodgy politicians in Armani suits, meeting in exclusive bars and exchanging brown envelopes filled with cash. Most South Africans have an opinion on corruption and probably a personal experience of how they have been affected by corruption.[pullquote]Whether it’s accepting more change than you should, allowing your friend to copy your assignment or paying a bribe to pass your driving licence, most of us have done it.[/pullquote]
Everyday corruption in South Africa
When one reads through any of our nation’s major newspapers we are bombarded with endless stories of corruption. Negligent spending of state funds by civil servants and government officials, lavish family trips, high performance sport cars and the list goes on, seemingly all coming from an endless supply of cash.
Although these are “typical” examples of corruption, they are not the only form of corruption. Citizens perform corrupt acts on a daily basis without the fear of being caught by the media or being placed under investigation.
When the South African Social Security Agency decided to improve the efficiency and security of its system to pay social grants there had been incidents of citizens defrauding the state. There were cases of women registering the same child in more than one province for a social grant. Employed women receiving social grants and people who were not of pensionable age falsified their identity document to receive their pensions early.
Though these are extreme cases, many of us have committed a corrupt act. Whether it’s accepting more change than you should, allowing your friend to copy your assignment or paying a bribe to pass your driving licence, most of us have done it.
What’s wrong, what’s right?
Most people are quick to point a finger at corrupt government officials for all their wrongdoings and rightfully so. All taxpayers have a right to complain about wasteful spending involving the money they entrust to the government and all citizens have a right to expect delivery on political promises of services, infrastructure and welfare benefits.
We cannot complain about crime if we perpertuate that culture. We cannot pay a bribe and complain about corruption, or accept a job from an uncle if you did not follow the appropriate recruitment process. We need learn to be accountable for our actions now and have a high moral standard.[pullquote align=”right”]Employed women receiving social grants and people who were not of pensionable age falsified their identity document to receive their pensions early.[/pullquote]
Time for reflection
We need to take note of our own corruption, the little corrupt things we do that will become big problems. It is said absolute power corrupts absolutely. Someday we will be in leadership positions that require ethical conduct. It’s important to have our moral compass right.
