By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former Minister of Police Bheki Cele testified before the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission (TRC) investigating political interference in the prosecution of related cases.
Among other issues, the TRC cases inquiry is investigating whether post-apartheid South African Police Service (SAPS) and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) officials improperly colluded with politicians to derail investigations into TRC-related cases.
Cele, Fikile Mbalula and Nathi Nhleko are expected to be questioned on whether they played any role in stalling investigations.
Based on the evidence presented so far, the three former ministers have been primarily mentioned in relation to their oversight of the police ministry during periods when TRC-referred cases remained uninvestigated.
However, no adverse findings have been made against any of them at this stage.
Cele outlined his history in the struggle against apartheid and recounted his own brutal encounters with security branch police officers.
He said he harbours deep resentment towards apartheid police, whom he blamed for the torture and murder of some of his comrades.
Cele said this is one of the reasons he strongly opposed the post-1994 government funding the legal fees of former apartheid police officers who had been referred for investigation and prosecution by TRC.
“I struggled and still struggle to come to terms with the following: How could the government be obligated to fund, through taxpayers’ money, including taxes paid by the very black people that were victims, the litigation costs of those who committed crimes against humanity and particularly black people?”
At the time, a court order had directed the post-1994 police to fund the legal costs of former apartheid police officers, on the basis that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is the legal successor to the apartheid-era police force.
Commissioner Andrea Gabriel pressed Cele on the reasons he would refuse to pay the legal costs of former SAPS members, even though it was an order of the court. Cele said he reluctantly signed off on the funding through the then-head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), Advocate Godfrey Lebeya.
“Legally, and as far as the rule of law is concerned, I should have, and ought to have, challenged the payment of legal costs. Indeed, I did. Later on, in line with the rule of law, agreed to the payment of these litigation costs. I attach hereto a newspaper article detailing my reluctant position, which the article terms a somersault as Annexure,” he added.
Cele also told the inquiry that it’s unfair to hold him responsible for cases involving crimes committed against liberation struggle activists.
He stated that many of the crimes in question were committed long before he became police minister, making it unjust to blame him for the decades-long delays.
He attributed many of the investigation delays to a severe lack of resources within the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), noting these units are consistently undercapacitated.
The former minister also became emotional while responding to allegations surrounding the disappearance of MK operative, Musawenkosi “Sbho” Phewa.
He also strongly denied allegations that he knows more than he has disclosed about his appearance.
Cele rejected suggestions that he has withheld information about Phewa’s fate, telling the commission he believed his former comrade had left South Africa for exile but disappeared before reaching his destination.
He also denied claims that he authored a biography stating Phewa had fled into exile, saying he has never written a biography about anyone.
Phewa, an Umkhonto we Sizwe operative, was abducted by askaris in May 1987 before being handed over to the Security Branch at Winkelspruit. He has never been seen again, and his body has never been recovered.
The commission’s hearings continue this week, with Mbalula, expected to testify on Wednesday, followed by Nhleko on Thursday.