Colonel Vela Jerome Cele recently joined Ladysmith police and now heads Ladysmith Detective Services.
He has an impressive 28 years of service, all of which is detective work, which means he is a detective through and through. The colonel started out at Brighton Beach SAPS, where he was recruited. He was immediately attached to the Durban Murder and Robbery Unit, where he received in-service training for eight months. He also served at the Alexandra Fraud Unit, Gold and Diamond Unit (formally John Vorster Square), Vryheid Stock Theft Unit and Vryheid Detective Services, after which he joined Harding SAPS, also at detective services. He held the position of detective commander and was a warrant officer at the time.
He spent 19 years in the post, where he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. During 2007, he was promoted to the rank of colonel and took up the post of detective commander at Port Elizabeth until last year when he joined Ladysmith SAPS. While serving at Harding SAPS, he was often called upon to help and was used by the Provincial Task Team to conduct ‘pointing outs’ (when a suspect formally points out crime scenes to police) and to record confessions. This duty was conducted in the entire KZN region. During this period, he conducted no less than 298 pointing outs and secured 162 confessions. All of these were successfully processed through the court in KZN. Among these cases were the famous Donnybrook serial killer trial in which the accused was sentenced to life and 150 years’ imprisonment, and the Thozamile (Baby Face) Thaki case in which the accused was sentenced to 13 life sentences and 335 years’ imprisonment.
Due to his success rate, he was soon known as ‘Superintendent Confessions’. He has received numerous commendations from the Department of Public Prosecutions for his thorough investigations. During his past investigations, he secured an impressive 23 life sentences, which included three death penalties. During faction fighting between 1998 and 2003 in the Natal Midlands, he processed 21 accused in the High Court. They were convicted and later sentenced to 60 years in jail in the Scottburgh High Court.
The colonel is a family man who is married and has four children. He is a renowned member in his congregation and loves sport. He is also a member of Kyokushinkai Karate, where he holds a Third Dan in black belt. He has national colours and has taken part in Japan, Sydney and Hungary. He is currently studying towards obtaining a Law degree and is doing his Masters in Forensics. He holds a B-Tech degree in Policing and a Diploma in Labour Law. He is an avid jazz fan.
The detective commander adopts an open-door approach to policing, and firmly believes that the community is a partner in policing. He appeals to community members to help the police in the fight against crime. Colonel Cele can be contacted at Ladysmith police on 036-638-3401 or 073-527-4927. He has been warmly welcomed by Ladysmith Cluster commander Brigadier JCA Marais.
