Mthembu funeral: Cele takes action

The SA Police Service (Saps) has started an internal process, investigating all officers who attended Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu’s funeral, according to Police Minister Bheki Cele.

The Saps scored an own goal by allowing Mpumalanga premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane at the funeral without a mask.

“What was supposed to actually happen there was that police should have verbally asked the premier to wear a mask, which failure to do so should have resulted in an arrest,” Cele’s spokeswoman, Lirandzu Themba, said yesterday.

Themba said all officers who were on duty at the funeral had failed to enforce the law.

“As a result, the national commissioner [Khehla Sitole] has instructed the provincial commissioner in Mpumalanga to investigate,” said Themba.

Under the lockdown regulations, any person who fails to comply with a verbal instruction by a law enforcement officer to wear a mask commits a criminal offence and if they are convicted, are liable to a fine or a period of imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both

Mtsweni-Tsipane admitted her guilt for violating lockdown regulations and paid a R1 500 fine.

The Economic Freedom Fighters in Mpumalanga on Tuesday rejected her decision to sign a statement of guilt and pay a fine.

The party said it wanted Mtsweni-Tsipane to be prosecuted like other South Africans who had been caught not wearing a mask in public.