Police minister Bheki Cele had a three-hour-long meeting with former president Jacob Zuma at his Nkandla home in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday. 

After the meeting, Cele got into his police vehicle and ignored dozens of members of the media camped outside the entrance to Zuma's guarded homestead. 

Cele's spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said that she wasn't present at the meeting and was therefore not privy to the discussions between Zuma and Cele. 

The agenda for the meeting was not disclosed, but it comes as Zuma faces the prospect of jail time over his defiance of a Constitutional Court order to appear before the commission of inquiry into state capture, which has been widely reported on in recent weeks.

However, shortly after the departure of Cele's convoy, Zuma's daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla took to social media, saying that the visit featured no tea, just “great conversation and laughs”.

She added that there was much mirth around Cele being the one to execute a warrant of arrest for her father, should it be executed.

When Cele arrived at the compound shortly before 11am, he was met by an unwelcome reception of Umkhonto we Sizwe military veterans, who stopped his entourage in their tracks after they attempted to enter Zuma's homestead.

Cele's bodyguards were able to come to an agreement with the vets, who had previously vowed to lay down their lives for Zuma.

TimesLIVE