<\/p>\n
A senior ANC member in KwaZulu-Natal said that the claims of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu\u2019s alleged relationship with crime syndicates will negatively impact the party\u2019s renewal project in the province.<\/span><\/p>\n On Sunday, provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi claimed that Mchunu allegedly abused his ministerial powers to shield a member of a crime syndicate in Gauteng who was arrested for three attempted murders.<\/span><\/p>\n The ANC insider said that if these allegations proven to be true, the party\u2019s renewal campaign will suffer a serious political blow in the province. The regional leader, who has been appointed to one of the task teams that were recently announced by the provincial party leadership, said if there was evidence to back these claims and if the president chose not to remove Mchunu from his position, the party will suffer serious consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a serious problem for us in the province, particularly as regional task teams. The party is banking on us to bring back all the party members that voted for other parties in the last year\u2019s general elections. <\/span><\/p>\n “The problem we will face will be how to defend Mchunu and dismiss such serious allegations coming from a credible person like Mkhwanazi. It will be difficult not to believe what Mkhwanazi has said but let\u2019s wait for the national leadership to see how it handles the matter. I’m sure they will also think about the political implications of this,\u201d said insider.<\/span><\/p>\n The ANC in the province has recently appointed all 11 regional task teams and marshalled them to win municipalities for the party in the next year\u2019s local government elections.<\/span><\/p>\n The party\u2019s top brass has reportedly summoned Mchunu to Luthuli House to explain his side of the story. President Cyril Ramaphosa was reportedly enroute from the BRICS summit in Brazil to deal with the matter which he described as a grave national security concern. <\/span><\/p>\n Mkhwanazi on Sunday claimed Mchunu\u2019s real reason for disbanding the police\u2019s political killings unit was because it assisted in dismantling a drug cartel in Gauteng. <\/span><\/p>\n He said last year he received a request from Gauteng\u2019s police organised crime unit for assistance in arresting drug cartel suspects whom the unit had discovered were working with top politicians in parliament. <\/span><\/p>\n He stated that the unit arrested a businessman and police discovered text messages between the minister and the suspect. He further stated that the Minister\u2019s associate, also sent a message to the suspect informing him that he had arranged a meeting between the minister and the Deputy National Commissioner from Crime Prevention, Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya to find a solution. <\/span><\/p>\n Mchunu and Sibiya both dismissed the rumours as baseless.<\/span><\/p>\n willem.phungula@inl.co.za<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A senior ANC member in KwaZulu-Natal said that the claims of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu\u2019s alleged relationship with crime syndicates will negatively impact the party\u2019s renewal project in the province. On Sunday, provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi claimed that Mchunu allegedly abused his ministerial powers to shield a member of a crime syndicate in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[222,14538,118,4812,3963,356,1698,6681,2431,14516,3056,2339],"class_list":["post-245265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-alleged","tag-anc039s","tag-claims","tag-crime","tag-kzn","tag-mchunu","tag-project","tag-renewal","tag-senzo","tag-syndicates","tag-threatens","tag-ties"],"yoast_head":"\n