Cape Town - MPs will today hear allegations implicating Police Minister Bheki Cele in surveillance equipment corruption, and his exemption request to the justice committee to use the said equipment, a grabber, under interception regulations.
The Cape Argus has seen an explosive affidavit filed by a senior cop, Brigadier Tiyani Hlungwani, implicating Cele in irregular procurement of grabbers in the UK in 2019, and making a myriad of other allegations.
The affidavit, first shared by a SAPS whistle-blower on Tuesday, said police spent R102 million on grabbers, a backpack grabber and an aerial grabber in 2019.
Hlungwani claims in the affidavit that he submitted some of the allegations before the Zondo commission, but it’s unclear what happened to that.
DA MP and deputy spokesperson on policing, Okkert Terblanche, tried to raise the allegations against Cele in a police portfolio committee on Wednesday, but he was batted away by committee chairperson, Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
She told him he could raise issues relating to Cele’s application for the use of the grabber to be heard by the justice and correctional service committee today.
Terblanche told the Cape Argus that the DA would raise the allegations against Cele in today’s committee, where MPs will discuss Cele’s application/request to use the grabbers to Justice and Correctional Services’ Minister Ronald Lamola.
Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba hadn’t responded at the time of writing, while a police spokesperson reportedly told a Sunday paper that cops weren’t aware of Hlungwani's affidavit.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za