Cele backs cops’ right to use deadly force
Many South Africans welcome the way police are getting tough on criminals, police minister says
● Police minister Bheki Cele says many South Africans welcome the increasingly hardline stance police are taking against brazen, heavily armed criminals who are “showing the state the middle finger”.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Times this week, Cele also denounced bad apples within the police service itself who were helping themselves to money from a secret crime intelligence (CI) account.
The minister said police were meeting violent criminals “halfway” and were not about to let the country slide into lawlessness.
“They [criminals] are prepared to die with the police, proving that they are tough and showing the state the middle finger. What is not going to happen is that cops must die on the field and that criminals continue to torment our communities,” he said.
Cele cited the gun battle between police and cashin-transit (CIT) gangsters in Makhado in September, in which 18 suspects were killed. One police officer had to have a leg amputated after being shot. The gang, allegedly in possession of explosives, was based in a double-storey house in an upmarket suburb.
“We have seen how they went against the cops in the shootings in Makhado and how criminals in Durban North, KwaMashu, Inanda and other places target and kill community members that are working with the police,” the minister said.
“There are drug gangs who are also killing people, and some post videos of themselves polishing their guns. What are police supposed to do? Go in there without being fully prepared?”
Last month five people, including a police officer and a crime suspect, were killed in a shoot-out in Ntuzuma, eThekwini. The suspect was wanted in connection with the murder of an entire family numbering 12 people in Pietermaritzburg in April.
Cele said no “shoot to kill” instruction had been issued, but police could not face heavily armed criminals with nothing but bulletproof vests.
“You have people who say police are clearly targeting criminals to kill them. Why should police die because of criminals that shoot them? I have buried enough police officers and if criminals are pushing police and killing them, police have to respond otherwise we are going to be run by them.
“Communities that are being tormented by these criminals praise the police and are happy with our work. The community in Empangeni threw parties when that [Nkululeko] Mkhize guy who was shooting at police died.”
In September, Mkhize was killed in a shoot-out with police in his rented home in the luxury Zimbali Estate in Ballito. Mkhize, a key underground figure involved in extortion, was killed after police arrived to arrest him on a three-year-old murder charge.
At the time, a senior police general told the Sunday Times that they were now fighting fire with fire. “Siyabashaya manje [we are hitting them hard now]. These criminals are not respecting us and killing us. They are heavily armed, especially the ones involved in CIT heists and drug gangs,” the general said.
Between April and June 31 officers were killed, nearly double the 18 who were killed in the same period last year. Ten police officers were killed on duty while 21 were killed while they were off duty.
The Sunday Times reported last week that in an attempt to halt the abuse of funds in a secret account the CI division has been ordered to impose a cap of R3,000 on the amount paid to informants. Anything above that would have to be approved by senior generals. Cele defended the move.
“There are some within SAPS and CI who are a grouping that is anti-police because they are involved in criminal activities. There are instances in CI we have found that monies that are being claimed are inflated and sometimes there is no legitimate information,” he said. “We would also discover that money is deviated and not paid to informants.”
Cele said CI had now set up a committee to assess the quality of tip-offs received from informants in circumstances where higher amounts needed to be paid.
“That committee will follow up on the claims to satisfy itself that money goes to the informants and that the information led to results for the police.”
CI’s new approach was yielding results, he said, evidenced by recent successes in foiling CIT heists and the infiltration of other criminal networks.
He said in recent years criminals had become more brazen, and statistics showed an increase in organised crime while huge payments were being claimed for informants.
“I was always asking CI how it was possible that criminals were executing crimes such as cash heists so easily and that we did not even have an ear in those groupings. Planning such crimes takes a lot of time and requires a lot of people to be involved and a lot of equipment to be sourced.
“Information was not coming through because of that deviation of monies and some among us working with criminals. But the situation is changing now and those who don’t want to account for the use of public money are criticising the changes in CI because they are being disturbed from stealing.”
Cele said the new head of CI, Maj-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, was the right man for the job, dismissing objections that the general’s security clearance had not been processed according to standard procedure.
“Khumalo is legit. Those who are saying that he is there to protect Cele are just threatened, and I don’t appoint police officers. Khumalo is legit and there are no criminal cases against him. The issue of his clearance is being dealt with through the right channels.”
Cele also defended himself against criticism that he interferes in operational matters.
“I am a public representative, and when there are crimes committed communities ask for Cele and I must account to them. I have never put a gun against [police commissioner Fannie] Masemola’s head and said he must not go to crime scenes. I go to crime scenes because people demand that, and I am their public representative.
“During the July riots [in 2001] people were asking uphi uCele? [where is Cele] and the people of Enyobeni, when those kids died [in the June 2022 East London tavern tragedy] they demanded to see me and I went to account. Maybe I must learn English to understand the word ‘interference’.”
We have seen how they went against the cops in the shootings in Makhado and how criminals in Durban North, KwaMashu, Inanda and other places target and kill community members that are working with the police. There are drug gangs who are also killing people, and some post videos of themselves polishing their guns. What are police supposed to do? Go in there without being fully prepared?