Minister Bheki Cele willing to resign… but only if asked to

Police Minister Bheki Cele says he is willing to resign from Cabinet, but only when asked by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Calls have been mounting for Cele and his colleagues in the security cluster to step down after a report found that they responded poorly to the July riots.

YOU CAN ALSO READ: ‘Shocked and dismayed’: Khehla Sitole on Cele’s alleged ‘coup plot’

BHEKI CELE ON CALLS FOR HIM TO RESIGN

Speaking to eNCA‘s programme Power to Truth, BhekiCele says if someone can do a better job, he would be more than happy to step down.

“I believe that if somebody can do better they must come and do that… From the President it doesn’t even have to ask me to resign he can just ask me to go and I will go…happily so,” he said.

Added to that is Cele’s strained relationship with outgoing police commissioner General Khehla Sitole, which some reckon doesn’t bode well for morale at the South African Police Service (SAPS) and its operations.

Ramaphosa terminated Sitole’s employment contract “by mutual agreement” with effect from 31 March 2022. Ramaphosa said this was in the best interests of the country – and that from now until the last day of his term, there will be a handover of tasks, including all ongoing investigations, to one of the senior members of the team at the SAPS that had been assisting Sitole.

“The EFF maintains that Bheki Cele’s history as an administrator, by having been a Commissioner of Police places him in a position where he will always presume he knows how best to execute those duties. Cele will always overstep his role as a political head, and seek to run the administrative affairs and bureaucracy of the police even when it is not his responsibility,” the EFF has said.

As for Cele being removed from Cabinet? That may happen sooner than we think as Parliamentary Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is expected to announce dates for two motions: The DA’s no confidence motion in Ramaphosa’s Cabinet and ATM’s motion against the president himself.