He’s tightening the noose on corrupt officials within his ranks, closing in on dodgy politicians colluding with them and despite his life being in constant danger, insists he won’t back down.
In an exclusive interview with , KZN Police Commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, hit back at his detractors and a smear campaign aimed at getting him to back off from his fight against corruption.
“I’m closing the taps on abuse and internal corruption and thats why Im being targeted but it wont stop me. One of the things we are dealing with is the SAP Secret Fund.
What I’ve discovered is there are officials and some senior politicians who are making a lot of money out of this secret fund.
They offer their properties to be used for police work like a safe house. In return they get paid – a huge sum, but their houses are never used.
In some cases we find officials living in those houses and claiming payment from us because they have a contract with us.
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This fund has been abused for a long time and we are putting an end to that and its hurting those corrupt officials and politicians who have been milking the system. We are terminating those agreements and closing in. We need to relook at how this fund is used and the mechanism around it,” explained a defiant but soft spoken Mkhwanazi.
The SAP secret fund has long been flagged for its lack of stringent financial oversight. Whisperings of abuse by officials and calls for tougher legislation to control its use has been echoed over the years.
Mkhwanazi also cited cash-in-transit heists as another area he is clamping down on. “90% of the heists are an inside job.
There is only one security company which transports cash which is never ever targeted.
Why? Because they have their internal security in order.
With the others, every single heist is done on a vehicle carrying cash.
They know the route, they know they have cash and they use a small vehicle – not a large Mercedes, to ram the cash carrying vehicle.
And each time, we are told the security guys just got off their armoured vehicles, gave up their weapons to these smaller cars and allowed them to take the cash.
How is that possible?” Mkhwanazi asked, incredulously.
His comments come against a backdrop of a recent media storm where he was accused of corruption himself.
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But, he’s hit back – hard, rejecting it as ‘fake news’ and says its all aimed at scaring him off from clamping down on internal corruption.
And, he has the full backing across the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Addressing business leaders in Durban as he outlined the state of crime in the province, rather than back off, he announced more reinforcement to fight crime and corruption, much to the delight of captains of industry.
“Working with businesses we are introducing a range of measures to drive tourism into the province and eThekwini in particular. Through reinforced cameras, drones and plans to rehouse the homeless in the city, we are going to boost confidence in this city,” said Mkhwanazi.
Giving him the thumbs up, Durban Chamber CEO, Palesa Phili, added the chamber’s backing and said it was proud of the work being done by Mkhwanazi to fight crime in the city.
“As a chamber we believe in strong partnerships to achieve outcomes and in this regard we fully support your work, commissioner. We are encouraged by projects which allow businesses to adopt police stations and want to also see a financial model for other projects which will drive our economy and fight crime together,” added Phili.
Her words were echoed by top KZN businessman, Andrzej Kiepiela, from the KZN Growth Coalition.
In particular, Kiepiela credited the commissioner for the reduction in construction mafia in the province.
“Before the commissioner we were dealing with 60-80 cases of business mafia hijacking construction projects in KZN. Since the commissioner came into office that number has drastically dropped thanks to his efforts. Last year we had only 6 cases of construction mafia to deal with. This is due to a rapid response system we have in place with the commissioner which is working. How it works is before construction can even begin, the police service is notified and a patrol is put in place. This has resulted in a major turn around. We are still dealing with extortion but this too is being dealt with,” explained a satisfied Kiepiela.
The thumbs up for KZN, eThekwini in particular, signifies winds of economic change, finally. Political renewal, strong crime fighting and major economic investment is what was needed. And, seems its on its way.
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