‘Threatening SA’s stability’: Ramphosa urged to sack Sitole, Cele amid tension

The ugly public spat between Police Minister Bheki Cele and the national police commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, is a threat to the stability of South Africa, say political and security experts.

Policing expert at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Dr Johan Burger said: “The disagreement creates further mistrust in top leadership and the uncertainty has a negative impact morale of police members in general.

Political analyst Daniel Silke said it was all part of the continuous factional battles within the ANC, where different personalities and factions were polarised against one another.

“This deeply rooted division exists and it’s all very well to have division on state-owned enterprises or economic policy.

“When you have division within the security cluster itself and political battles occur in the broader safety and security terrain, you create the atmosphere for substantial destabilisation in South Africa,” he said.

Silke said South Africa can no longer afford to have this level of internal disagreement, be it political, or a personality clash, between the two most important figures when it comes to policing.

“The security situation has deteriorated in South Africa over the last year. There have been far too many incidents of security lapses which undermine the security of the state,” he said.

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Silke said it was time to either resolve the differences or remove those officials who were uncooperative.

This week, Cele accused his estranged police commissioner, and the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema, of plotting against him to have him removed from the Cabinet.

Burger said the allegations made by the minister surprised him.

“I am not so surprised that he made the allegations, but I was surprised at the way and place where made it. The parliament was not the right place to come out with these revelations,” Burger said.

Burger said Cele should have discussed the issues with the commissioner and the president.

“Remember, the president already told Sitole in writing last year that he was considering suspending him and appointing a board of inquiry to investigate if he was fit for the job. But the president never got further than that,” Burger said.

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Burger said it was down to what the president was going to do: was he going to suspend Sitole or not?

He further said Cele should either withdraw his allegations because he could not prove them, or because it was not the right place to do so.

AfriForum campaigns manager, Jacques Broodryk, said the fact that Cele had made these allegations publicly and had to retract them showed political infighting.

This was one of the main reasons services were not being delivered in this country, he said. Broodryk said the police service was supposed to keep crime in check but it was instead an enormous problem.

“We have become used to disappointments from ANC members but this is a new low for the minister,” he said.

Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister for police Andrew Whitfield said the minister and commissioner fighting publicly was negative for police morale.

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This was especially true for the lower ranks of the police, because they operated on a strict chain of command.

“When they get mixed messages from [top] police [officers] it causes disarray and dysfunction,” he said.

Whitfield added that low morale led to low conviction rates in crime due to the poor policing that ensues.

“It’s not just the police who suffer when they fight, the communities suffer too.

“Generally, we all accept the police are in a state of crisis and need an urgent overhaul and there should be consequences for corrupt police officers within the ranks,” he said.

Whitfield said the president had no other choice, but to remove both Sitole and Cele.

“They have demonstrated that they are not prepared to work together in the best interest of community safety,” he said.

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