Police Minister Bheki Cele accuses jealousy behind calls for his removal

Jealousy from various political parties and some in the police department are behind calls for him to be removed, Police Minister Bheki Cele says.

Cele was speaking exclusively to The Citizen on the sidelines of the ANC national executive committee meeting in Boksburg yesterday.

Asked if the calls for him to vacate office were fair, Cele laughed it off, saying: “The only thing I can say is that it is jealousy.”

There have been calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Cele on the basis of claims that he is incompetent.

Boshielo came to Cele’s defence

ANC subcommittee chair for peace and stability Polly Boshielo came to Cele’s defence, saying he alone could not be blamed for the criminality happening in the country.

Cele said propaganda was being used against him as he was making headway in arresting prominent figures.

“Some people might be pushing back.

“Part of crime is propaganda against those who fight against it,” he said.

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“If you win, there will be less to campaign about.

“There is a new block that is anti-Cele which is led by some members of the SA Police Service (Saps), especially in Crime Intelligence because we are sweeping in Crime Intelligence.”

He said some academics, some who claim to be whistle-blowers in Saps and the media were being used to push the propaganda that he was incompetent.

Cele said the police department was also making headway in ensuring that its own rotten apples were rooted out.

Cele appointed by the president

Boshielo pointed out that Cele was appointed by the president.

“Let us not talk about an individual as if he appointed himself.

“That is not for him to answer, that is for us as the ANC,” she said.

She said it was unfair for the blame to be solely directed at Cele when he was trying his best.

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“As the ANC we have trust in him and we are going to support him. We are supporting him.

“He and I are not sleeping at all to make sure that we fight crime.

“To single him out of the collective is unfair,” Boshielo said.

“We try not to blame a person but to collectively deal with the issue.

Crime affects all of us

“We are assisting him to do his job as all of us are affected.”

“It is us who said we do not want lawlessness and we are working very hard to make sure that we are winning against crime.”

“Our task is to make sure our people are safe in their country.”

“They do not have any home except South Africa so they need to be comfortable here.”

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Boshielo also blamed illegal immigration and nongovernmental organisations that go to court to fight against the government when they seek to deport illegal immigrants.

“It’s a great concern, it’s like they do not love our country.

“The international statute says if you are moving because of war, you go to the next country, not from Zambia to South Africa.

“These nongovernmental organisations go to court and get lawyers for them and we are not able to deal with this matter at all.”