The day before his testimony at an inquiry into the most deadly public unrest in SA since democracy, President Cyril Ramaphosa named “career policeman” Gen Sehlahle Fannie Masemola as national police commissioner.
This comes six weeks after Ramaphosa announced the early exit of Khehla Sitole, whose time in office was marked by controversies and conflict with the police minister Bheki Cele. It will perhaps be best remembered for the dismal failure to prevent, and then deal with, the July 2021 unrest, which led to over 300 deaths and more than R50bn in economic damage.
Masemola has over 20 years’ experience in the SA Police Service (SAPS) and is known to be close to Cele, the two having been seen side by side at official police engagements over the past two years, including a visit to Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal in August 2021, which was the scene of some of the worst violence of the riots.
The president settled on Masemola after a selection panel led by former minister of state security Sydney Mufamadi shortlisted five out of 24 potential candidates.
Ramaphosa said Masemola had “an outstanding record of achievements”, including de-escalating violence in KwaZulu-Natal after the 1994 national elections. He also credited the general with “drastically reducing cash in transit crimes” in 2016. Masemola has run security for major events such as UN summits and the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
While the SA Policing Union welcomed the appointment, the DA’s Andrew Whitfield said in a television interview that the process had been “shrouded in secrecy and presided over by minister Cele himself”, who he said was at the heart of policing problems in SA.
“We are extremely concerned about the minister’s hand in this process,” said Whitfield.
According to an online profile, Masemola served as deputy national commissioner from 2016 to 2022. At a provincial level, he previously served as Limpopo commissioner and KwaZulu-Natal deputy commissioner for operation services for a decade. He was a divisional commissioner of VIP services, including when Jacob Zuma was president.
TimesLIVE reported that Cele expressed confidence in Masemola’s capabilities, recording that the appointment was met with much “enthusiasm and optimism” in the police.
“The ministry is hopeful this appointment, which marks a new chapter in the life of the SAPS, will further strengthen the existing efforts within the service to safeguard South Africans and all those who live within our borders, along with their property,” read the ministry statement. Cele was confident that Masemola would “hit the ground running in pursuing the overall vision of the organisation and take it to new heights”.
Ramaphosa is due to testify at the SA Human Rights Commission hearings into the July 2021 unrest, where he might face questions on the government’s failures to prevent and stop violence and to hold perpetrators to account.
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