WORLD BRIEFING / SOUTH AFRICA

The government appointed a little-known police official to lead a new law enforcement unit in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime and has been rocked by corruption scandals.

Anwa Dramat, deputy police chief in Western Cape province, will become head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations when it begins operations July 1.

The unit is being formed several months after the governing African National Congress party decided to disband an elite investigating team, known as the Scorpions, that had probed graft allegations against ANC leader Jacob Zuma, who now is president.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said the directorate would “usher in a new chapter in the crime-fighting ability of the South African law enforcement agency.”