THE Presidency has dismissed reports that national police commissioner General Bheki Cele has been fired and deployed as ambassador to Canada.
Media reports yesterday claimed that Cele, pictured, had been axed and asked to take a diplomatic post in Canada. The report further said Cele was expected to vacate his office by November 30.
The report claimed the general's deployment was the result of a report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, which implicated him in controversial lease deals for buildings in Durban and Pretoria. In the report Madonsela found that Cele had been involved in improper conduct and maladministration.
But presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj has dismissed the reports as not true.
"There is no such thing. No. It's pure speculation. There is no truth in that report," Maharaj said.
Democratic Alliance police spokeswoman Dianne Kohler-Barnard said it did not matter whether the newspaper article was correct or not.
"Either way something has to be done about Bheki Cele and the public protector's report," Kohler-Barnard said.
There has been a tendency by the government to simply relocate "inconvenient" politicians to ambassadorial posts, Kohler-Barnard said.
"It's extraordinary. People are not being held accountable but are instead put into positions in which they receive pensions and salaries," she said.
Police and the Sunday Independent, which carried the report, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Meanwhile, on Friday Madonsela released a report on Minister of Cooperative Governance Sicelo Shiceka into his visit to Switzerland in December 2008 and his stay in expensive hotels in Cape Town and Lesotho.
In her findings, Madonsela found that Shiceka had gone to Switzerland under false pretences and cost taxpayers about R546864. The minister had been visiting his convicted drug-dealer girlfriend Phumla Masilela. In a new saga, Shiceka allegedly stayed at Lesotho Sun Hotel in March this year while on sick leave and his department refused to pay after learning this was a private trip.
"His actions were accordingly unlawful and constituted maladministration, dishonesty in respect of public money and improper conduct," Madonsela's report says.
DA MP James Lorimer said Shiceka should be fired. "Any delay on his dismissal by the Presidency compromises the Presidency's stance on corruption," he said.
'No truth' in reports of Cele axing
THE Presidency has dismissed reports that national police commissioner General Bheki Cele has been fired and deployed as ambassador to Canada.
Media reports yesterday claimed that Cele, pictured, had been axed and asked to take a diplomatic post in Canada. The report further said Cele was expected to vacate his office by November 30.
The report claimed the general's deployment was the result of a report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, which implicated him in controversial lease deals for buildings in Durban and Pretoria. In the report Madonsela found that Cele had been involved in improper conduct and maladministration.
But presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj has dismissed the reports as not true.
"There is no such thing. No. It's pure speculation. There is no truth in that report," Maharaj said.
Democratic Alliance police spokeswoman Dianne Kohler-Barnard said it did not matter whether the newspaper article was correct or not.
"Either way something has to be done about Bheki Cele and the public protector's report," Kohler-Barnard said.
There has been a tendency by the government to simply relocate "inconvenient" politicians to ambassadorial posts, Kohler-Barnard said.
"It's extraordinary. People are not being held accountable but are instead put into positions in which they receive pensions and salaries," she said.
Police and the Sunday Independent, which carried the report, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Meanwhile, on Friday Madonsela released a report on Minister of Cooperative Governance Sicelo Shiceka into his visit to Switzerland in December 2008 and his stay in expensive hotels in Cape Town and Lesotho.
In her findings, Madonsela found that Shiceka had gone to Switzerland under false pretences and cost taxpayers about R546864. The minister had been visiting his convicted drug-dealer girlfriend Phumla Masilela. In a new saga, Shiceka allegedly stayed at Lesotho Sun Hotel in March this year while on sick leave and his department refused to pay after learning this was a private trip.
"His actions were accordingly unlawful and constituted maladministration, dishonesty in respect of public money and improper conduct," Madonsela's report says.
DA MP James Lorimer said Shiceka should be fired. "Any delay on his dismissal by the Presidency compromises the Presidency's stance on corruption," he said.
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