A NEWSPAPER report that national police chief General Bheki Cele had been fired was a product of editorial incompetence and corruption, the police said yesterday.
"The SA Police Service would like to assure the public that General Cele is very much entrenched in his position as national commissioner," Cele's spokesperson Major-General Nonkululeko Mbatha said.
"No amount of dirty tricks will ever destabilise the organisation."
She said a disinformation campaign against Cele was being run by the "criminal underworld" with assistance from "their friends in the media".
"The SAPS would like to remind South Africa that the Public Protector did not find any evidence of corrupt and illegal activity in the police lease saga," Mbatha said.
The Sunday Independent reported that Cele had been axed and asked to take up a diplomatic post in Canada. He was expected to vacate his office by November 30.
The dismissal was reportedly the result of a report, by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, which implicated him in controversial lease deals for buildings in Durban and Pretoria.
Madonsela found Cele had been involved in improper conduct and maladministration.
On Sunday the presidency dismissed the report as " speculation".
"There is no truth in that report," presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj said.
Cele is still 'entrenched in his position'
A NEWSPAPER report that national police chief General Bheki Cele had been fired was a product of editorial incompetence and corruption, the police said yesterday.
"The SA Police Service would like to assure the public that General Cele is very much entrenched in his position as national commissioner," Cele's spokesperson Major-General Nonkululeko Mbatha said.
"No amount of dirty tricks will ever destabilise the organisation."
She said a disinformation campaign against Cele was being run by the "criminal underworld" with assistance from "their friends in the media".
"The SAPS would like to remind South Africa that the Public Protector did not find any evidence of corrupt and illegal activity in the police lease saga," Mbatha said.
The Sunday Independent reported that Cele had been axed and asked to take up a diplomatic post in Canada. He was expected to vacate his office by November 30.
The dismissal was reportedly the result of a report, by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, which implicated him in controversial lease deals for buildings in Durban and Pretoria.
Madonsela found Cele had been involved in improper conduct and maladministration.
On Sunday the presidency dismissed the report as " speculation".
"There is no truth in that report," presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj said.
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