Africa-Press – South-Africa. Durban – THE DA has called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove both national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole and Police Minister Bheki Cele in the wake of the latter requesting the president to look into Sitole’s fitness to hold office.
Cele’s request to Ramaphosa followed a ruling by the Pretoria High Court last week to dismiss Sitole’s application for leave to appeal a decision of the same court that it had handed down in January.
The court had found that Sitole and his two deputies breached their duties by not providing and declassifying documents for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption.
Speaking to Independent Media DA MP and spokesperson on police Andrew Whitfield said that both Sitole, in terms of the judgment that was handed down last week and Cele for a number issues including the mishandling of the crime statistics and other matters, should be removed by Ramaphosa.
“I believe strongly that President Ramaphosa should look more closely into his own minister who himself has got many clouds hanging over his head and questions to answer,” Whitfield said.
He said that Cele himself was confused whether he was a minister or police commissioner claiming that this was the source of conflict in the high ranks of the SAPS.
Whitfield added that Cele, having been national police commissioner for “a very short period of time”, now could not stay in his own lane as police minister.
Sitole’s legal woes stem from allegations of attempting to buy a electronic spyware device known as a “grabber”, which boasts the capability of intercepting phone calls and cellphone messages, for R45 million ahead of the ANC’s 54th national conference in Nasrec with the idea of allegedly influencing voting.
The DA called for Sitole’s suspension pending the outcome of Ipid’s investigation into the Nasrec grabber scandal, claiming that it seemed that in a bid to protect himself Sitole had then classified this failed attempt to procure the electronic device at a hugely inflated price as grabbers usually retail between R7m and R10m.
A career cop since 1986, Sitole was appointed national police commissioner in November 2017 by former president Jacob Zuma as the first national police commissioner since the axing of Riah Phiyega in 2015 who had been appointed to the position by Zuma in 2012.
At the time of his appointment, Sitole, who had also served as Free State provincial police commissioner in 2011 before being appointed deputy national police commissioner in 2013, was hailed as possessing a wealth of operational and management experience.
Before Phiyega, Cele had been appointed by Zuma to serve as commissioner between 2009 and 2011 but was suspended following corruption allegations while his own predecessor, the late Jackie Selebi had also been axed from the position amidst corruption allegations.
Sitole was appointed to the position, albeit on a permanent basis, replacing then acting police commissioner Lesetja Mothiba who himself had replaced another acting commissioner, Lieutenant-General Kgomotso Phahlane.
Zandile Majozi, IFP MP and the party’s spokesperson on police, said that the portfolio committee had not received any report as yet of any misconduct on Sitole’s part.
“We will wait for the report to come to the committee, discuss it and then we will take a proper decision then. Whatever letter is written by the minister, we will definitely know about it and what is entailed in the letter so that we are then able to discuss it and have a decision on what we should then do as a committee.
“For now, because it’s his prerogative as a minister to write to the president, he can do so but he has to come to the portfolio committee and report to it as well,” Majozi said.
Political Bureau
