Mapaballo Borotho
After a week of heated debate over President Cyril Ramaphosa’s stance on allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi against Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, the President has placed Mchunu on leave and established a commission of inquiry to investigate the claims.
In a move that took many by surprise, President Ramaphosa appointed Firoz Cachalia as the acting Minister of Police on Sunday, 13 July 2025.
Who is Firoz Cachalia?
Born in 1958 in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, Cachalia is a former anti-apartheid activist, lawyer, and academic. He holds several qualifications from Wits University, including a BA, LLB, and a Higher Diploma in Company Law. He also earned an LLM with distinction from the University of Michigan.
Cachalia currently serves as a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Law and chairs the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council – a body established by Ramaphosa in 2022 to combat corruption and state capture.
A dedicated anti-apartheid activist during the 1970s and 1980s, Cachalia was repeatedly detained and banned by the apartheid government.
He was a member of the United Democratic Front and represented the Transvaal Indian Congress during the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), contributing to the early drafting of South Africa’s constitutional principles.
In 1994, Cachalia joined the Gauteng Provincial Legislature as an ANC member, serving in several leadership roles.
From 1999 to 2004, he was the Speaker of the legislature. Following the 2004 national elections, he was appointed MEC for Community Safety, a position he held until 2009.
Though Cachalia has resumed his duties as the acting police Minister, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party has described his appointment as unconstitutional.
The appointment by Cyril Ramaphosa is, above all, unconstitutional, because the proposed appointment of a civilian professor who’s neither a member of the cabinet nor a member of the National Assembly to be an acting minister violates Section 98 read with Section 93 of the Constitution.
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