Cele’s conduct a blight on the SAPS, Police Committee must act

7 July 2022

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite by Andrew Whitfield MP.

The DA has written to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on police, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, to request that she summon Police Minister Bheki Cele to explain his unacceptable conduct at a community stakeholder meeting earlier this week.

The DA believes that the Minister’s conduct has brought the South African Police Service (SAPS) into disrepute and that the officers who strong armed Action Society’s Ian Cameron out of the venue used excessive force in the circumstances.

Minister Cele and the SAPS officers must account to the portfolio committee for their conduct. The committee must receive an explanation as to who issued an instruction to SAPS officers to forcibly remove Mr Cameron. Was this a political instruction? Or has SAPS become so politicised that SAPS officers instinctively leapt into action to defend the Minister’s ego?

The DA has repeatedly called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Minister Cele. The Minister has now given the President yet another reason to do so. South Africa deserves better than this.

Issued by Andrew Whitfield, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 7 July 2022