Bheki Cele has been appointed as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Late last year, Cele made a comeback in politics as one of the key players in the ANC’s election campaign. In an interview with City Press last year Cele said he never actually left politics.
Many people thought the 62-year-old police commissioner’s political career was over when President Jacob Zuma fired him after the public protector found him guilty of maladministration in 2011.
Thuli Madonsela found that Cele had acted improperly when the headquarters of the South African Police Services in Durban and Pretoria were moved to the building of businessman Roux Shabangu, with whom Cele had ties.
The leasing of the buildings cost over R1 billion. Cele said he did not know anything about the deals, nor did he admit to knowing Shabangu.
Cele was also implicated in the Nkandla report where R246 million was spent to upgrade President Jacob Zuma’s private residence.
Madonsela found that Cele, who was the project’s chief accountant, and police commissioner at the time, did not stop wasteful expenditure during the upgrades.
Cele accused Madonsela of being malicious and attacked her integrity, by accusing her of having assumed his guilt without having given him a chance to respond to her findings.
During his time as police commissioner Cele became controversial when he ordered police officers to shoot to kill. This statement, which Cele has denied ever making, was blamed for the Marikana massacre.
One of the police officers that testified before the Farlam Commission of Enquiry into the massacre, said as police officers, they thought that Cele’s shoot to kill remark meant that they should protect themselves at all costs when they felt their lives were threatened.
But despite the controversy, Cele continued to garner support in KwaZulu-Natal. Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi says this might be one of the reasons Zuma decided to keep Cele close.
“Bheki Cele continues to enjoy strong support in KZN, particularly in his region. Sometimes in order to maintain support for yourself, you appoint someone like Bheki Cele, because by not appointing him, you might end up losing support in that region,” he says.
Additional reporting: City Press, Mail&Guardian
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