{"id":91986,"date":"2025-10-25T13:41:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T13:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive"},"modified":"2025-10-25T14:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T14:04:30","slug":"cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive","title":{"rendered":"Cele Critiques Masemola’s Handling of Mchunu’s Directive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Former police minister Bheki Cele says national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola was \u201csoft\u201d in dealing with suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu\u2019s directive to disband the political killings task team (PKTT).<\/p>\n

On December 31, Mchunu sent a letter to Masemola instructing him to \u201cimmediately\u201d disestablish the task team, saying it was no longer required or adding value to policing. He further requested that a preliminary report be submitted by January 20 and a final and closing report be submitted later in January.<\/p>\n

The letter was circulated on social media, sparking controversy and later leading KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to accuse Mchunu of interfering in police cases during his July 6 media briefing.Masemola said he was on leave when the letter reached his office and only became aware of it through his colleagues. He said he was against the disbandment of the task team, but he suggested a wind-down approach.<\/p>\n

Testifying before parliament\u2019s ad hoc committee investigating Mkhwanazi\u2019s allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system, Cele said Masemola should have challenged Mchunu\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was soft,\u201d Cele said.\u201cEven suggesting the phasing out, he should\u2019ve said no, it can\u2019t happen. Maybe he should take the opportunity to explain to the minister how it came about and advise.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he understood it could have been in Masemola\u2019s personality to be soft.<\/p>\n

\u201cMasemola is respectful. He would have made a good bishop. He has a good heart to look after lions. But he knows his job; maybe he doesn\u2019t have enough pushback to do it. He\u2019s one person who has fewer bad intentions in life.\u201dMchunu has defended his decision and maintained he was well within his constitutional right to make such a directive without consulting Masemola or the task team project leaders.<\/p>\n

Cele acknowledged Masemola probably didn\u2019t have an opportunity to engage Mchunu about his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the door was shut for them. Even if they wanted to do it, it doesn\u2019t look like they were given an opportunity to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also opposed Mchunu\u2019s directive, saying he should have consulted Masemola and the interministerial committee (IMC) before making his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my view, the PKTT was established by the IMC under the leadership of the president. Therefore only the Presidency could disestablish it.<\/p>\n

\u201cProcedurally, I don\u2019t agree with it. The way it came through should have been reversed the same way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw the letter, I said, \u2018This can\u2019t be.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Former police minister Bheki Cele says national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola was \u201csoft\u201d in dealing with suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu\u2019s directive to disband the political killings task team (PKTT). On December 31, Mchunu sent a letter to Masemola instructing him to \u201cimmediately\u201d disestablish the task team, saying it was no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":91985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-91986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nCele Critiques Masemola's Handling of Mchunu's Directive - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former police minister Bheki Cele says national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola was \u201csoft\u201d in dealing with suspe ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cele Critiques Masemola's Handling of Mchunu's Directive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former police minister Bheki Cele says national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola was \u201csoft\u201d in dealing with suspe ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-25T13:41:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-25T14:04:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1761388316.450373.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Cele Critiques Masemola’s Handling of Mchunu’s Directive\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-25T13:41:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-25T14:04:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive\"},\"wordCount\":439,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1761388316.450373.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/cele-critiques-masemolas-handling-of-mchunus-directive\",\"name\":\"Cele Critiques Masemola's Handling of Mchunu's Directive - 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