Cele denies informing EFF about Marshall Dlamini ‘assassination plot’

Police minister Bheki Cele has denied he informed the EFF about an alleged plot to assassinate its secretary-general Marshall Dlamini.

The red berets this week claimed to have received intelligence reports from police that senior IFP leaders were plotting to assassinate Dlamini. 

It said the reports indicate the belief Dlamini was responsible for the decision to initiate and support motions of no confidence in IFP mayors in KwaZulu-Natal. The IFP denied this, calling the allegations “sensationalist, unsubstantiated and fabricated”.

Speaking to media in Cape Town  before the state of the nation address on Thursday, Cele, speaking in the third person, clarified matters. 

“The minister of police on January 30 received information from Nongoma that there are intentions of changing government, that councillors will be voting otherwise, but they requested extra protection because they feared their lives could be in danger,” he said.  

Cele claimed on February 4 he was warned there might be an escalation in political tensions in the province. 

“For that reason there was a request that we engage the political leadership so we are able to take them through and work on prevention matters [as] the history of the province is well-known when it comes to political killings. 

“Indeed, the minister of police phoned leaders of the IFP, ANC and the EFF. The only leadership we did not phone was the NFP [but] we are going to engage them later.”

Cele said he did not know if there was a specific target.

“The issue of rising political [tensions] was raised. That was information given to all political leaders. There is no other information the minister had that goes to specific individuals as victims or as perpetrators.

“The minister did not have that information, he could not have conveyed information he doesn’t have. We did not deal with information that involved individuals, safe or unsafe, but the matter is ongoing. People are talking about it, so the police will have to investigate that. From the minister of police, it was a generic discussion [about] rising political [tensions],” he said. 

Police previously said they did not brief the EFF about an alleged plot to assassinate Dlamini.

National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said: “The South African Police Service is not aware of any briefing to the EFF, but we do not discuss the safety, security and threat assessments of individuals in the public domain.”

This was disputed by EFF leader Julius Malema, who claimed the minister had called Dlamini to tell him about the alleged assassination plot.

“Our secretary-general Marshall Dlamini was called by the minister of police Bheki Cele to inform him about the [alleged] threat on his life by the IFP leadership,” he said.

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