When President Cyril Ramaphosa tapped Firoz Cachalia — an academic, lawyer and former anticorruption tsar — to steer the police ministry, he chose a man “in a clean white suit”, quipped political analyst Sandile Swana.
But it’s a suit entering a pigsty. A ministry reeking of factional meddling, cartel collusion and stalled investigations.
Ramaphosa’s move is as much about benching Senzo Mchunu, who was front and centre of explosive allegations of interference and collusion with crime syndicates, as it is about sidestepping the factional baggage any ANC MP would bring.
Cachalia, who starts next month, arrives without provincial allegiances, internal score-keeping or KwaZulu-Natal power broker debts.
“A person like Cachalia is a man who comes to government with a clean white suit. But he is entering a pigsty in a white suit. That’s the problem that Cachalia is getting into,” Swana said on Monday.
The clean suit does not wash away rot.
KwaZulu-Natal top cop Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has already accused Mchunu of freezing probes into politically motivated assassinations and colluding with drug cartels.
The judge-led commission will now probe those charges, while Cachalia, who is a rare appointment from outside parliament into the executive, runs the show.
Swana said Cachalia was a prominent student activist at Wits University in the mid-1980s.
“He is a trusted leader of the mass democratic movement. His appointment reflects, on one hand, an appearance to the public that he is someone who is independent. Ramaphosa has chosen someone who is cut from the same cloth [in terms of his political allegiances]. He is regarded as a pair of safe hands,” Swana said.
Nelson Mandela University political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast invoked the memory of Cachalia as someone who cut his teeth in the Convention for a Democratic SA (Codesa) negotiations and carries the constitutional fluency in his briefcase.
“The mandate that he is expected to carry comes from the constitution, and he knows the ins and outs. He practised as a lawyer. He is coming in as an ANC member. The ANC would not have appointed him if he were not aligned [to its ideals],” Breakfast said.
“Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Every president, on a global scale, wants to work with someone they think they can work with. Cachalia is not a person who has political baggage. I don’t think he has a tainted history. He is a man of integrity.”
Cachalia is not a person who has political baggage. I don’t think he has a tainted history. He is a man of integrity.
— Ntsikelelo Breakfast, Nelson Mandela University political analyst
Business Leadership SA (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso echoed Breakfast, saying Ramaphosa’s appointment of Cachalia “does suggest an effort to put someone into the role without political baggage, and is welcome”.
But she warned that commissions without swift suspensions and prosecutions risk joining the ledger of grand inquiries that gather dust.
“However, it would have been better to see stronger action. Just two weeks ago, the president dismissed a deputy minister for the relatively minor infraction of taking an overseas trip without final approval.
“If we fire officials for procedural violations, how can we treat potential obstruction of justice investigations with less severity?” asked Mavuso.
“The announced commission of inquiry offers hope, provided it receives proper resources to support acting deputy chief justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, who has been appointed to head it.
“The Nugent commission on Sars [SA Revenue Service] and the PIC commission successfully contributed to restoring those institutions, proving commissions can work when properly structured and supported,” she said.
“However, we cannot afford the delays and budget overruns that have plagued other inquiries, nor can we allow recommendations to gather dust like many from the Zondo commission on state capture.
“Judge Madlanga will need to be swift and recommend immediate actions to suspend those who pose particular risk to the security services.”
Mavuso said the police must have unwavering political backing to investigate crime without fear or favour.
“Any suggestion of political interference is devastating to public trust and emboldens criminal syndicates that have infiltrated our political systems,” she said.
“These networks must be dismantled, and the president must lead this charge by ensuring police have his full backing to pursue investigations wherever they lead.”
In an interview with Power FM radio host Mbuyiseni Ndlozi on Tuesday, Cachalia said discussions between him and Ramaphosa took two minutes. “Refusing was not an option, and that’s just my orientation to public service,” he said.
“I grew up in a congress family, with a strong history of political struggle. I can’t remember a time when I was growing up that I was not politicised,” he said, citing his involvement in community struggles and student politics at Wits University.
He said he did not reflect for one second when Ramaphosa called on him to step up. “I don’t think I had a choice but to agree,” Cachalia said.
He noted, however, that it was “highly unusual” for Mkhwanazi to air the allegations he made in public “without following any kind of protocol”. Cachalia, the former Gauteng safety MEC, described the allegations as “very concerning and of a serious nature” as they implicated elements in the police service and the judiciary.
“These are very serious allegations.... This is a problem that has to be addressed ... the feeling is that corruption is growing [and] organised crime is gaining a foothold. When you’re in a situation like this, you don’t fold your arms, you step up to the plate. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
He said a lot of “interesting work” was done during his time as Gauteng safety MEC in terms of pushing back against crime in SA’s economic and financial hub.
When asked what his first order of business would be once he took over as acting police minister, Cachalia said: “I have not been sworn in as yet. [But] I’m going to need to meet with the national commissioner, have a discussion with him then set in place a process of meeting [other] senior police leadership across SA, prioritising KwaZulu-Natal.”
He stressed he would not “overreach, and get involved in operational matters”.
With Thando Maeko
Update: July 15 2025
This news analysis has been updated to reflect Cachalia’s views during a radio interview.
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