The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants funding for political VIP protection to be slashed, and, instead, greater protection provided to whistleblowers, corruption fighters and front-line policing.

The party expressed its condolences to the family and friends of court-appointed Bosasa liquidator Cloete Murray and his son Thomas, who were shot in a suspected assassination in Midrand, in Johannesburg, on Saturday. 

DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi explained that by better protecting those who expose and investigate corruption, South Africa would be better positioned to tackle the “mafia State” head-on.

The party has previously revealed that the cost of protecting one VIP in South Africa was approximately R8-million for the 2021/22 financial year.

Malatsi noted that Murray’s assassination served as a blow to the fight against corruption and may act as a deterrent to curators and liquidators involved in serious corruption matters.

He said the murder joined a long list of both attempted and fatal hits on persons involved in uncovering and eradicating corruption in the country.

In 2021, Babita Deokaran, a financial manager who flagged fraudulent payments out of Tembisa Hospital, was gunned down after dropping her daughter off at school.

Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter survived a cyanide poisoning attempt as he got closer to unveiling the widespread corruption in Eskom’s supply networks.

Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, the Vice-Chancellor of Fort Hare University, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt which killed his bodyguard in January 2023, while he attempted to close the taps on procurement corruption.

Malatsi noted that the inability of the African National Congress to effectively tackle corruption and crime within its ranks was increasingly turning the nation into a mafia State, where the government and many of its officials were tied to organized crime.

He added that it had become increasingly apparent that high-level politicians, often occupying the highest offices in the land were potentially linked to insidious criminal networks.

He said the State was increasingly seen as a mechanism to access resources and wealth through looting and extensive patronage networks.

When these networks were exposed, violent and criminal pushback was often experienced, he said.

Malatsi explained that unless the State effectively dealt with assassinations of whistleblowers and corruption fighters, increasingly fewer South Africans would be willing to risk their lives to join the fight against corruption.

The party called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to tackle the problem of assassinations, and the infiltration of gangsters into the South African Police Service with the urgency it required and to protect those who stood up against corruption.