Zuma set to fire suspended Bheki Cele
SUSPENDED national police commissioner Bheki Cele is to be fired by President Jacob Zuma, it was reported last night.
Cele, who was suspended with full pay in October last year, has been the subject of a judicial commission of inquiry headed by Judge Jake Moloi after the public protector found irregularities in the awarding of two tenders for the lease of police headquarters in Pretoria and Durban.
Moloi reportedly delivered a damning report to the president on May 20, and it is understood that Zuma intends to relieve Cele of his duties permanently.
Cele’s spokesman, Vuyo Mkhize, was not available to comment today, but told SABC radio news earlier that, when he saw his boss at lunchtime yesterday, no decision about the dismissal had been conveyed to Cele.
According to Sapa, he is also reported to have said that, when similar things had previously come out in the media, they often turned out to be correct, so the reports “might” be accurate.
This move has been widely welcomed, despite reluctance from the presidency to confirm or deny the reports.
Presidency spokesman, Mac Maharaj, has repeatedly declined to comment on speculation, saying he did not know what the president’s thoughts were on the matter, and that he would make an announcement when he was “ready”.
Yesterday, Institute for Security Studies director, Hennie van Vuuren, said the president had to take swift action on the matter, and that a decision be taken to “formally release (Cele) from his duties”.
Confidence
“This will go some way to restore some confidence in SAPS members – but they (the government) have to go much further, because now it is clear that corruption doesn’t only involve one or two people at the top,” Van Vuuren said.
“It has potentially become a system of organised crime in the police, and the saga around Lieutenant-General (Richard) Mdluli, (and) the reluctance of the minister of police, among others, to deal with that matter, shows that some of these issues are being tolerated from within government.”
He said “the wrong message” was being sent to “honest policemen and women”, whether or not they served in the “most senior echelons of the SAPS” and that the inaction “definitely” sent the wrong message to the entire society that “corruption is tolerated (by the government)”.
“What is now required is a
South Africa’s previous police commissioner, Jackie Selebi, also left under a cloud and is serving a sentence after being convicted on charges of corruption.
“The experience we had with General Cele suggests that what the SAPS requires is somebody who understands how the police operate, is committed to service in the police and who has no political ambitions, and will therefore not act in the interest of certain politicians, and will be fully committed to upholding the constitution,” Van Vuuren said.
“In recent (senior police) appointments, politicians have failed us on all these counts. So we… need a woman or man of integrity who isn’t afraid of politicians, but rather wishes to uphold the constitution and fulfil the SAPS’s mandate of protecting all of South Africa’s people, particularly those in poorer communities.”
Dianne Kohler Barnard, DA spokeswoman on police, welcomed the “speed with which President Zuma” acted on the Moloi recommendations on Cele.