Johannesburg - It has been a busy year for Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, who has been a central figure in some of the problems plaguing the country’s criminal justice system.
Twelve months into his new assignment, Nhleko finds himself in the unenviable position of having to decide exactly who must pay for the non-security related costs in the R246 million upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
The former labour director-general has not only been thrust into the forefront in the Nkandla matter, he also finds himself at the centre of two other security-related matters which have dominated headlines; the suspensions of Hawks and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) heads Anwa Dramat and Robert McBride.
Dramat threw resigned last week after a drawn-out process.
The last few weeks have also seen Nhleko leading the government’s response to the recent attacks on foreign nationals, which continue to grab the headlines.
The xenophobic attacks saw Nhleko heading to Durban to launch the “We Are One Humanity” campaign in an effort to stop the recent wave of violent xenophobic attacks.
The focus now will be on the Nkandla matter, which is back on Parliament’s agenda.
The National Assembly programme committee at its regular meeting last week agreed to establish a joint ad hoc committee, comprising members of the Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), to process Nhleko’s report on Nkandla.
Mbete said that because the matter related to a report from the executive, there had been contact about it with the Leader of Government Business and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The report has not yet been received by Parliament.
Zuma told the same Parliament in February that he had not been found liable and the police minister needed to take the final decision on who should pay.
Nhleko has also raised a lot of eyebrows and came under fire for some of his recent decisions.
Institute for Security Studies (ISS) researcher Dr Johan Burger says he knows little about Nhleko from a security point of view.
“All I know is that he was previously regional head of correctional services in KwaZulu-Natal. And that was at the time Schabir Shaik was allowed out on medical parole. So from a security point of view there are two things: First, as regional commander of correctional services, he would certainly have been part of the structures within the security cluster in the province and he would have been privy to strategies and discussions,” said Burger.
Nhleko started out as a trade unionist in the 1980s, rising through the ranks of Cosatu’s Transport and General Workers’ Union and serving as general secretary between 1989 and 1993.
He later joined South Africa’s first democratic Parliament in 1994, seconded by the union movement, and remained an MP until 2005.
Born in KwaMbonambi, KwaZulu-Natal, Nhleko rose rapidly in Parliament, where he chaired public service committee and the ANC parliamentary caucus, and served as the party’s chief whip and chairman of the House.
In 2006, Nhleko was appointed regional commissioner of correctional services in KwaZulu Natal. After Thabo Mbeki’s recall and subsequent resignation, Nhleko was named Minister for Safety and Security (later named Minister of Police) on September 25, 2008 as a member of President Kgalema Motlanthe’s cabinet.
Nhleko was a surprise inclusion in Zuma’s cabinet after the last year’s elections, where he replaced his namesake Nathi Mthethwa.
Mthethwa is currently the Minister of Arts and Culture.
Burger said Nhleko would not have been able to avoid suspicion of his involvement in Shaik’s release on medical parole during his tenure as regional commissioner.
“This could be seen as a gesture to soon-to-be president Zuma. The other worrying thing is his conduct in the Dramat and McBride cases. With Dramat’s suspension, he acted completely unlawfully,” said Burger.
On Nkandla, Burger said it was “extremely unfair” to ask Nhleko to do the non-security upgrade determination.
Burger said one positive about Nhleko was how he immediately reached out to academics and research institutions like ISS when he became minister last year.
“He has shown every indication of enhancing the process of co-operation,” said Burger.
Political Bureau