South African president suspends police minister and launches probe into alleged links to criminals
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday suspended the country's police minister and announced an investigation into allegations he has been colluding with criminal syndicates.
Ramaphosa's actions follow allegations made by a top police official in the KwaZulu-Natal province, Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, that Senzo Mchunu and deputy police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya had interfered with sensitive investigations.
Ramaphosa said the probe will be headed by a judge, and announced Firoz Cachalia as the acting minister of police.
'The commission will investigate the role of current or former senior officials in certain institutions who may have aided or abetted the alleged criminal activity, failed to act on credible intelligence or internal warnings, or benefited financially or politically from a syndicate's operations,' Ramaphosa said during a televised address Sunday.
During a press briefing last Sunday, Mkhwanazi also alleged that Mchunu and Sibiya disbanded a crucial crime unit tasked with investigating repeated politically motivated killings in the province after it was revealed that crime syndicates were behind the killings.
He alleged that an investigation by the unit showed that some 'politicians, law enforcement, SAPS (South African Police Service), metro police and correctional services, prosecutors, judiciary' were being 'controlled by drug cartels and as well as businesspeople.'
The investigation would include some of the country's crime and justice agencies, including the National Prosecuting Authority and the State Security Agency, Ramaphosa said.
Most opposition parties on Sunday criticized Ramaphosa for not firing Mchunu instead of placing him on a leave of absence.
'This was an opportunity to take South Africans into confidence and to deal with these issues decisively, instead he calls for a commission of inquiry and expects South Africans to be patient when people are dying on a daily basis,' said Nhlamulo Ndhlela, spokesperson of official opposition MK Party.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
5 hours ago
- Japan Today
Australian 'Outback Killer' dies at 67, leaving mystery of victim's body unsolved
FILE - Bradley John Murdoch is led through the compound at the Adelaide Magistrates court, Adelaide, Australia, Nov. 13, 2003. (AP Photo/David Mariuz, File) By ROD McGUIRK Bradley John Murdoch, known as the 'Outback Killer' and convicted of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio who vanished in arid central Australia 24 years ago, has died, authorities said Wednesday. He was 67. Murdoch died on Tuesday night in the palliative care unit of the Alice Springs Hospital, according to a statement from the Northern Territory Department of Corrections. He was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019 and was recently transferred to the hospital from the Alice Springs prison. His death leaves the mystery of the whereabouts of Falconio's body unsolved. The territory's police did not immediately respond to queries from The Associated Press whether Murdoch had provided any clues before he died. In 2005, Murdoch was convicted in the territory's Supreme Court in Darwin of the 2001 murder of 28-year-old Falconio, from Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and the attempted kidnapping of Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees, then 27. The crime captured global attention and was one of the inspirations for the 2005 Australian horror movie 'Wolf Creek,' about a serial killer who preyed on backpackers and left a single witness who became a suspect. Lees, who wrote about her ordeal in her 2006 memoir 'No Turning Back,' complained that police treated her as a suspect in the years before Murdoch was charged. A court order prevented the movie's release in the Northern Territory during Murdoch's trial, fearing it could influence jurors. Murdoch, who was arrested in 2003 in the case, was not accused of any other killings. Murdoch consistently maintained his innocence and did not help authorities search for Falconio's remains. At the time of the killing, Murdoch was an interstate drug runner, using amphetamines to stay awake for dayslong drives and cannabis to sleep. On the night of July 14, 2001, he tricked Falconio and Lees into stopping their campervan on a dark and remote highway north of Alice Springs. Lees watched her boyfriend leave the van to inspect a supposedly sparking exhaust pipe. She testified that she heard a gun shot and never saw her boyfriend again. Murdoch, an imposing 193 centimeters (6 foot, 4 inches) in height, bound her wrists with cable ties before she managed to escape and hid in the desert scrub for hours. She testified that she watched Murdoch searching for her with a flashlight and his dog. Lees later waved down a truck and raised the alarm. Last month, police doubled the reward for information leading to the location of Falconio's remains to 500,000 Australian dollars ($330,000), following news that Murdoch was in palliative care. 'Police still hold out hope that someone may be able to provide some vital information to assist in this search,' Police Commander Mark Grieve said. He added that over the years he spent in prison, Murdoch had not revealed the whereabouts of his victim's remains. Colleen Gwynne, a former police officer who led the investigation at the time of Falconio's disappearance, said Murdoch might have panicked after Lees escaped and in his confusion forgot what he did with the body. 'Once that panic set in … he may have disposed of a body somewhere he's not entirely certain where that is,' Gwynne told 10 Network News television earlier this month. In 2005, Murdoch was sentenced to life in prison for Falconio's murder and was ordered to serve at least 28 years before he could be considered for parole. He was also sentenced to six years, to be served concurrently, for assaulting Lees. The earliest he could have applied for parole would have been 2032, but without providing information as to what he had done with Falconio's body, Murdoch was not likely to have been released. The territory passed laws in 2016 preventing prisoners convicted of murder from qualifying for parole unless they provide police with the location of their victims' bodies. Murdoch was born in the west coast town of Geraldton, the third child of an automobile mechanic and his wife, a hairdresser. As a teen, he became involved in biker gang crime and was first sentenced to prison in 1995 for shooting at a group of Indigenous people at Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia. He served 15 months of a 21-month sentence. In sentencing Murdoch for Falconio's killing, Chief Justice Brian Martin said he doubted any words could express the trauma and terror Lees had suffered. 'It must have been close to the worst nightmare imaginable,' the judge said. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
9 hours ago
- Japan Today
Asian shares mixed after Nvidia nudges Nasdaq to a record, while other U.S. stocks slump
A currency trader works near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) By ELAINE KURTENBACH Shares in Asia traded mixed on Wednesday after an update on U.S. inflation pulled most Wall Street stocks lower, though gains for Nvidia pushed the Nasdaq to another record. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1% lower, to 39,663.40. Investors are focusing on the potential impact of an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday that is expected to lead to tax cuts and higher spending as lawmakers try to restore the waning popularity of the ruling Liberal Democrats. Worries over a deterioration in Japan's fiscal health have pushed yields of long-term Japanese government bonds to their highest levels in years. 'What's at stake isn't simply which party hands out the biggest bundle of goodies. It's whether the walls holding up Japan's house of debt can withstand another round of fiscal fireworks…' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.1% to 24,618.23 while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.1% to 3,503.78. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9% to 3,186.38 and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 8,561.80. Taiwan's Taiex jumped 0.9% and India's Sensex was flat. Thailand's SET also was little changed. In Jakarta, shares rose 0.4% after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he plans to tariff imports from Indonesia at 19%, while American goods sent to the Southeast Asian country will face no tariffs. Trump also said Indonesia committed to buying U.S. energy, agricultural products and aircraft. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 6,243.76, but stayed near its all-time high set last week, as 90% of the stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to 44,023.29. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to a record 20,677.80 thanks to Nvidia, the market's most influential stock. Nvidia said the U.S. government has assured it that licenses will be granted for its H20 chip, used for artificial intelligence, again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon. Its 4% gain was by far the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500. Stocks of big U.S. banks were mixed following their latest profit reports. JPMorgan Chase slipped 0.7% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns. Citigroup rose 3.7% following its better-than-expected profit report. But Wells Fargo fell 5.5% following its own, as it trimmed its forecast for an important way that it makes money. A report showed inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.4% in May as prices rose for clothes, toys and other goods that usually are imported. Economists say prices may be rising because of stiff tariffs that President Donald Trump has proposed on other countries. Treasury yields yo-yoed after the report and then began rising. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.48% from 4.43% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, rose to 3.95% from 3.90%. Higher inflation could inhibit interest rate cuts by the Fed. It has been keeping rates on hold this year after cutting them at the end of last year. That's because lower rates can give inflation more fuel, along with a boost for the economy. Wall Street loves lower rates because they goose prices higher for stocks and other investments, and Trump himself has been clamoring for the Fed to cut more quickly. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, though, has been adamant that he wants to wait for more data about how tariffs affect the economy and inflation. Following Tuesday's inflation report, traders are still overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will cut its main interest rate by the end of the year. But they pulled back their bets on the number of potential cuts, according to data from CME Group. In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 42 cents to $66.94 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 30 cents at $69.01 per barrel. The dollar fell to 148.66 Japanese yen from 148.87 yen. The euro was at $1.1627, up from $1.1602. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
16 hours ago
- Japan Today
Australian 'Outback Killer' Murdoch dies at 67, leaving mystery of victim's body unsolved
FILE - Bradley John Murdoch is led through the compound at the Adelaide Magistrates court, Adelaide, Australia, Nov. 13, 2003. (AP Photo/David Mariuz, File) By ROD McGUIRK Bradley John Murdoch, known as the 'Outback Killer' and convicted of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio who vanished in arid central Australia 24 years ago, has died, authorities said Wednesday. He was 67. Murdoch died on Tuesday night in the palliative care unit of the Alice Springs Hospital, according to a statement from the Northern Territory Department of Corrections. He was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019 and was recently transferred to the hospital from the Alice Springs prison. His death leaves the mystery of the whereabouts of Falconio's body unsolved. The territory's police did not immediately respond to queries from The Associated Press whether Murdoch had provided any clues before he died. In 2005, Murdoch was convicted in the territory's Supreme Court in Darwin of the 2001 murder of 28-year-old Falconio, from Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and the attempted kidnapping of Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees, then 27. The crime captured global attention and was one of the inspirations for the 2005 Australian horror movie 'Wolf Creek,' about a serial killer who preyed on backpackers and left a single witness who became a suspect. Lees, who wrote about her ordeal in her 2006 memoir 'No Turning Back,' complained that police treated her as a suspect in the years before Murdoch was charged. A court order prevented the movie's release in the Northern Territory during Murdoch's trial, fearing it could influence jurors. Murdoch, who was arrested in 2003 in the case, was not accused of any other killings. Murdoch consistently maintained his innocence and did not help authorities search for Falconio's remains. At the time of the killing, Murdoch was an interstate drug runner, using amphetamines to stay awake for dayslong drives and cannabis to sleep. On the night of July 14, 2001, he tricked Falconio and Lees into stopping their campervan on a dark and remote highway north of Alice Springs. Lees watched her boyfriend leave the van to inspect a supposedly sparking exhaust pipe. She testified that she heard a gun shot and never saw her boyfriend again. Murdoch, an imposing 193 centimeters (6 foot, 4 inches) in height, bound her wrists with cable ties before she managed to escape and hid in the desert scrub for hours. She testified that she watched Murdoch searching for her with a flashlight and his dog. Lees later waved down a truck and raised the alarm. Last month, police doubled the reward for information leading to the location of Falconio's remains to 500,000 Australian dollars ($330,000), following news that Murdoch was in palliative care. 'Police still hold out hope that someone may be able to provide some vital information to assist in this search,' Police Commander Mark Grieve said. He added that over the years he spent in prison, Murdoch had not revealed the whereabouts of his victim's remains. Colleen Gwynne, a former police officer who led the investigation at the time of Falconio's disappearance, said Murdoch might have panicked after Lees escaped and in his confusion forgot what he did with the body. 'Once that panic set in … he may have disposed of a body somewhere he's not entirely certain where that is,' Gwynne told 10 Network News television earlier this month. In 2005, Murdoch was sentenced to life in prison for Falconio's murder and was ordered to serve at least 28 years before he could be considered for parole. He was also sentenced to six years, to be served concurrently, for assaulting Lees. The earliest he could have applied for parole would have been 2032, but without providing information as to what he had done with Falconio's body, Murdoch was not likely to have been released. The territory passed laws in 2016 preventing prisoners convicted of murder from qualifying for parole unless they provide police with the location of their victims' bodies. Murdoch was born in the west coast town of Geraldton, the third child of an automobile mechanic and his wife, a hairdresser. As a teen, he became involved in biker gang crime and was first sentenced to prison in 1995 for shooting at a group of Indigenous people at Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia. He served 15 months of a 21-month sentence. In sentencing Murdoch for Falconio's killing, Chief Justice Brian Martin said he doubted any words could express the trauma and terror Lees had suffered. 'It must have been close to the worst nightmare imaginable,' the judge said. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
