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Durban – Political interference in the country's law enforcement agencies is the greatest counter-argument to President Cyril Ramaphosa's declaration of a "new dawn", the Economic Freedom Fighters said on Friday.
"It is the greatest threat to our democracy at the moment," party spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi told the Moerane Commission sitting in Mayville, Durban.
Ramaphosa said that he was ushering in a new dawn when he delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week.
Ndlozi warned law enforcement agencies not to act on political instructions.
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He was reacting to the recent arrests and raids at Gupta-owned businesses since former president Jacob Zuma resigned.
"Why the arrests now?" he asked.
The Guptas are reportedly politically connected to Zuma and they allegedly played a huge role in the appointment of his Cabinet ministers, as well as being implicated in so-called state capture.
Ramaphosa was sworn in as the president of the country on Thursday last week, after Zuma's resignation the day before.
Ndlozi told the commission that the ANC would not be able to break state capture because "it is deeply implicated in it".
"Law must be law, regardless of who breaks it, whether it’s the president or the humblest of us. If you break the law, you must meet the same consequences," he said.
'These are not political killings'
He also warned that law enforcement agencies must not be used to raid offices "of those who have a different view than those who are in power, because one day they might raid EFF offices too".
He said political interference in state agencies was a threat in KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces.
"It has got to be resolved as a serious national question," he warned.
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He also accused police commissioners and station commanders of being paid four to five salaries by "gangsters, tenderpreneurs and the state".
"Then they're involved in businesses and taxi industry. They get conflicted when they have to deal with the breaking of the law."
Ndlozi said the killings in the province were not political, but had a criminal element to them.
"Once we classify the killings as crime, then we might find a solution."
He told Premier Willies Mchunu – who established the commission in 2016 to investigate underlying causes of the killings in KwaZulu-Natal: "These are not political killings. You're presiding over a criminal syndicate and it must be treated as such."
'False narrative'
On the history of commissions in South Africa, Ndlozi said they were often used to "bury issues and not to resolve them".
"Commissions are used to replace proper criminal justice institutions. This commission must not allow itself to be used to either to absorb people on the basis that they were acting politically. It must direct them to law enforcement urgencies," he warned the commission, led by advocate Marumo Moerane.
He said people involved in political killings in the province must be charged, appear in a court of law, and "ultimately those that are found to have broken the law must face the full consequences".
"Don't allow this commission to be used to support a false narrative that in the end would say we need a political solution to the crisis of killings in KZN," he said.
"People must end up in prison. They must not end up in the national executive committee, not end up in provincial executive committee or political offices of the state. They must not be absorbed because they were acting politically. That’s the danger we have come here to caution you about. Don't bury this and say a political solution is what is needed," he cautioned.
