Cele tells police not to smile or ‘romance’, but ‘go hard’ on those who try to disrupt Sona

Police Minister Bheki Cele has issued a stern warning to those who are planning to disrupt the State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday.

Addressing members of South African Police Service (Saps) in Cape Town ahead of the opening of Parliament, Cele urged the police to make their presence felt.

“For today, you must make sure that anybody who chooses this day to break the law has chosen the wrong day. Anybody who tries to be cleverer than those that are clever, they have chosen the wrong day.

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“Remember that we are policing under the constitutional dispensation. We are policing under human rights, but that doesn’t not mean you mustn’t follow orders.

“It’s very clear that at the day of the day your duty is to enforce the law, therefore you don’t smile, you don’t romance criminality when it comes to law breakers,” he said.

‘SA cannot be a banana republic’

“You measure the law; you implement the law. The constitution calls upon you to enforce the law and protect the inhabitants. Anyone that breaks the sequence you are there to bring them to sequence of respecting the law.

“Those who respect the law, you keep them safe, but those who try to be clever, you should not have same treatment to them. You must go hard on them within the law. They must know that this is a country with laws and cannot be a banana republic.”

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Cele added that the officers would deal with any person who tries to behave like a delinquent.

“There are those who want to be seen as special and we are not going to babysit anyone.”

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) has put measures in place to ensure that Sona is delivered without any major disruptions.

This year’s Sona, which will cost around R8 million, will be hosted at the Cape Town City Hall, with more than 400 people expected to attend the annual event on Thursday evening.

This is not the first time that the Sona is taking place outside Parliament.

The venue of the address had to be moved after a devastating fire that destroyed Parliament’s buildings, including the National Assembly and sections of the Old Assembly Chamber in January 2022.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the address from 7pm, although the EFF has planned to disrupt his speech.

He is expected to give the address on the back of security concerns, load shedding, rising unemployment and a strained fiscus.

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