Former police minister Bheki Cele told parliament’s ad hoc committee on Friday that the criminal justice architecture is structurally compromised with dysfunction across the police, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the State Security Agency (SSA).
“Operational and managerial structures were really messed up,” Cele said, adding that the system had been hollowed out to the point where “if someone wants to steal, but you have a bulldog, they’ll take the bulldog away”.
Cele’s remarks came during extended testimony before the committee investigating allegations of political interference and corruption in the police after claims by KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Cele’s assessment of institutional decay was echoed in his account of leadership instability, incomplete reform cycles and the erosion of internal accountability mechanisms.
He said national commissioners often exited before completing their terms, leaving behind “half-cooked work” and unimplemented organograms. Cele recalled being shown one such organogram by former commissioner Khehla Sitole, followed by Gen Fannie Masemola’s tenure, but said no structural continuity was achieved.
Cele criticised the decision to disband the political killings task team, saying that police minister Senzo Mchunu acted without formal consultation and that the unit’s dissolution lacked procedural legitimacy.
“Disestablished by whom?” Cele asked, adding that he first saw the letter on December 31. He maintained that only the interministerial committee had authority over the task team’s status.
On the broader question of ministerial oversight, Cele said the police were constitutionally defined, leaving limited room for political manoeuvring. “The big role lies with the national commissioner,” he said, warning that ministers could easily find themselves compromised if regular engagement was not maintained. He described the environment as “a hell” when deputy commissioners took their superiors to court, adding, “Somewhere, somehow the centre didn’t hold.”
Cele acknowledged that all security structures are infiltrated and said he could have done more to address this during his tenure. He described Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo as “one cop I’ll protect” and denied appointing him to lead the task team, stating that such decisions fell under the commissioner’s operational domain.
He also called for a review of bail and parole systems, citing repeat offender statistics and corruption in bail processes. “We’ve created a system where victims are treated worse than perpetrators,” Cele said, referencing similar concerns raised by Mkhwanazi.
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