July riots report: DA calls for Dlodlo and Cele’s sacking

The Democratic Alliance says that President Cyril Ramaphosa now has concrete evidence from the July riots report to fire Police Minister Bheki Cele and former State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo.

Ramaphosa released an expert panel’s report on the July 2021 riots on Monday.

The report was submitted to him in November last year.

“This damning report confirms what the DA has said all along,” said party leader John Steenhuisen.

“First, heads must roll.

“President Ramaphosa now has concrete evidence to fire Ministers Bheki Cele and Ayanda Dlodlo. In a functional democracy, their heads would have rolled long ago,” said Steenhuisen.

Key findings

The panel of experts made a damning finding of how the ANC’s internal politics has created a grave threat to national security.

“This issue should be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“Ramaphosa has failed to purge his party of self-serving individuals,” said Steenhuisen.

“It would be remiss of us if we did not express the strong view expressed by some of the groups we met, to the effect that the internal differences within the governing party, the ANC, contributed to the unrest and should be addressed as a matter of national security now.”

The report also found that the response by Saps and Intelligence was shockingly slow and insufficient.

They failed to carry out their fundamental role, which is to protect life and property.

“This incapacity to deliver on the mandate is the inevitable result of the ANC’s decades-long policy of cadre deployment, which the DA has warned about for two decades now,” said Steenhuisen.

“Mr. President, you asked us to determine whether the response by the security services was timeous, appropriate and sufficient.

“The answer to that, in respect of the police and the intelligence services, is an unequivocal no,” stated the report.

Another scathing indictment in the report was that Cele and police commissioner Khehla Sitole took decisions independent of each other.

“President Ramaphosa’s determination to put party before country and his commitment to cadre deployment has cost South Africa dearly.”

DA recommendations

The DA wants Ramaphosa to fire Cele, Dlodlo and then Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula, who has since been redeployed to the position of Speaker of Parliament.

“In a really functional democracy, the whole cabinet would have resigned, out of shame and decency,” said Steenhuisen

The party also feels there is a need for an independent state security branch that is credible and accountable.

“The State Security Agency must be removed from the presidency and reformed as per the recommendations of the 2018 High-Level Review Panel report into the State Security Agency, which has mostly been collecting dust till now.”

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