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WATCH: Cele claims Malema met with Sitole to plot his removal from Cabinet
'If you don't like me as a minister, say so... Don't patronise me,' Cele said.
Picture File: Police Minister Bheki Cele and former National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole during a media briefing. Picture: Gallo Images/Netwerk24/Jaco Marais
Amid growing calls from opposition parties for Police Minister Bheki Cele to be fired, Cele claims that EFF leader Julius Malema met with National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole in December 2020 to hatch a plot for his removal from Cabinet.
Sona debate 2022
“…On 10 December 2020, there was a meeting between yourself and the national commissioner, and the plan and plot were hatched that I must be chased [from Cabinet],” Cele said.
The minister made the claims on Monday during the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate at the Cape Town City Hall.
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Cele has recently come under fire from opposition parties following the release of the report of the expert panel, appointed in August 2021 by President Cyril Ramaphosa to review government’s response to the deadly July unrest last year.
The report made several disturbing findings of the country’s security cluster. What is apparent, is the contentious relationship between Sitole and Cele.
Both men had very different opinions about whether officers did enough to prevent the violence.
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Cele publicly criticised police handling of the riots saying tactical units could’ve and should’ve prevented the violence.
The panel found this statement had major consequences as people died and properties destroyed, exposing the state to major claims.
‘I don’t want to be patronised’
On Monday, Cele said he was not surprised that the EFF had joined calls for him to be fired. He said he took exception to Malema allegedly meeting with Sitole to plot his removal.
“I’m not surprised that today this is happening,” he said.
“But as a leader of the opposition party, he has all the right to make the suggestion [for me to go], but what I don’t like [is that] I don’t want to be patronised.
“If you don’t like me as a minister, say so… Don’t patronise me. Tell me to go, but the president appoints [ministers] at the present moment.”
Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe. Additional reporting by Narissa Subramoney
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