Ramaphosa suspends South Africa’s police chief over R360m procurement corruption charges
President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola on precautionary suspension after he was charged with violating public finance laws over the alleged unlawful award of a healthcare contract. South Africa now has both an acting police commissioner and an acting police minister, amid what Ramaphosa described as a broader effort to restore credibility to a force weakened by years of state capture.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola and placed him on precautionary leave pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against him.
Masemola appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court earlier this week over allegations linked to the unlawful award of a 360-million-rand healthcare contract to Medicare24. He is the most senior police official caught up in a widening procurement scandal that has now reached the top ranks of the South African Police Service.
Ramaphosa appointed Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane as acting police commissioner while Masemola is on trial. Dimpane, who heads financial management services in the police service, takes over an institution already without a confirmed police minister after Senzo Mchunu was placed on leave last year in connection with the same case.
At a press conference in Pretoria, Ramaphosa said the suspension was necessary to protect accountability and restore confidence in law enforcement. Masemola has denied the charges.
Prosecutors say the Medicare24 contract is linked to alleged organised crime figure Vusimuzi Matlala. At least 12 other senior officers, including a major-general and several brigadiers, have also been charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering.
The allegations first emerged during a commission of inquiry Ramaphosa set up last July after a senior police official accused the service of corruption and political interference. The inquiry’s findings helped trigger the prosecution, first against Mchunu and later against Masemola.
The case comes at a politically sensitive moment for South Africa, with local government elections due in November and crime already a major voter concern. Opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance, have called for deeper reform of the police service rather than the removal of individual officials.