{The suspension of the head of South Africa’s special police investigative unit has sparked accusations by the main opposition party that President Jacob Zuma and the ruling African National Congress are attempting to undermine probes into corruption. }
While the police ministry attributed Anwa Dramat’s suspension to allegations that he was involved in the illegal repatriation of Zimbabweans in 2010, the boss of the unit known as the Hawks said his probes of “very influential people” made him a target. Several state agencies are investigating allegations of misspending on Zuma’s private home.
“There is a pattern that is emerging,” Francis Antonie, director of the Helen Suzman Foundation, which promotes constitutional democracy, said by phone from Cape Town on Jan. 13. “There is a whole range of state institutions that are coming under extraordinary pressure. This doesn’t help the fight against corruption.”
Doubts over the Zuma administration’s commitment to the rule of law have lingered since he took office in 2009 a month after prosecutors dropped charges of taking bribes from arms dealers against him. In March, South African graft ombudsman Thuli Madonsela alleged that Zuma unjustly benefited from a state-funded 215-million-rand ($18.7 million) upgrade on his home in the village of Nkandla and said he should repay some of the money. ANC leaders criticized Madonsela, and the party used its parliamentary majority to absolve Zuma of blame for the misspending.
Zuma, 72, dismissed allegations that he influenced the decision to sanction Dramat.
“The institutions of government will, should it be deemed necessary, take action against certain public servants,” his office said in an e-mailed statement on Dec. 30. “Such action normally forms part of internal disciplinary processes in government departments, which would have nothing to do with the president.”
Shadrack Sibiya, head of the unit in the central Gauteng Province, was served with a suspension notice today, his lawyer, Victor Nkhwashu, said by phone.
Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, has seized on the decision to suspend Dramat to accuse the ruling party of a systematic attempt to prevent Zuma and his allies from being held to account.
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