Cele sticks to his guns on intelligence report

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele has stuck to his guns that he never received any intelligence report from former State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo about the violence and looting that erupted in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Cele said if there had been such a report, he would have known about.

The two ministers had contradicted each other during the unrest in the two provinces, with Dlodlo insisting she gave Cele the intelligence report, but Cele denied this.

The government was criticised for the public spat between senior members of the Cabinet.

In a written reply in Parliament after a question from the EFF, Cele said that he knew nothing about the intelligence report.

“As stated in the police portfolio, no intelligence report was given, handed over to the minister. If discussions did take place in different structures that was not conveyed to the minister,” said Cele.

The unrest led to a Cabinet shake-up and among the intelligence agencies, with President Cyril Ramaphosa doing away with the Ministry of State Security and absorbing it into the Presidency.

The president retained Zizi Kodwa as Deputy Minister of State Security in the Presidency.

Ramaphosa also appointed a three-member panel led by Professor Sandy Africa to probe the unrest.

Cele has said that 18 alleged instigators have been arrested for being involved in the unrest.

Some have already appeared in court.

The violence claimed 359 lives in the two provinces with most of the victims in KwaZulu-Natal.

– Political Bureau