If Mbete will not, Mbalula must provide protection for Dr Khoza

17 July 2017

The DA will write to Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula, to request that he provide VIP Protection to Public Service and Administration Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Dr Makhosi Khoza, given that National Assembly Speaker, Baleka Mbete, has ignored calls for assistance and intervention after Dr Khoza received death threats.

ANC Chief Whip, Jackson Mthembu, has written to Mbete as well as ANC Secretary-General, Gwede Mantashe, about Dr Khoza’s safety concern yet no official commitment to protect Dr Khoza has been forth coming.

While the ANC-led government remains silent on Dr Khoza’s protection, despite her receiving many death threats, millions of taxpayers' money has been spent on protection for Jacob Zuma’s intended successor, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Despite the fact that Dlamini-Zuma does not hold public office, she is still protected by the VIP Presidential Protection Unit as she travels around the country campaigning.

The double standards are there for all to see.

The safety of many other prominent South African political leaders does not matter to the ANC government, but Dlamini-Zuma has been afforded the highest standard of chauffeured safety because she is a part of the ANC’s connected few.

While the DA believes that overall too much is spent frivolously on VIP Protection - due to our bloated Cabinet that is overinflated for political reasons of Zuma accommodating cronies, in the case of Dr Khoza, there is a clear need to provide this protection to her and her family.

We are continuing to see how the Zuma ANC continue to protect their own elite politicians, rather than the people they are supposed to serve.

Mbalula must commit to protect Dr Khoza and not leave her to fend for herself in the face of multiple threats and possible imminent danger just because she has stood up against corruption and state capture.

Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 17 July 2017