Former police minister Bheki Cele. (Paul Botes)
Former police minister Bheki Cele has criticised former national police commissioner Riah Phiyega over her handling of the Marikana mine killings.
Cele told parliament’s ad hoc committee looking into police corruption that, if he had been in office during the Marikana massacre, in which 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead by police in 2012, the tragedy “would never have happened”.
“If I was there, there would have been no Marikana,” said Cele, who was police commissioner from 2009 until he was fired by then president Jacob Zuma in late 2011. He was succeeded by Phiyega.
Cele, who served as police minister from 2018 to 2024, said the focus on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s role in the tragedy was misplaced. Ramaphosa, who was then an ANC national executive committee member and non-executive director at Lonmin, which owned the Marikana mine at the time, had emailed police officials calling for “concomitant action” against striking workers.
Attention should be on the actions of then police minister Nathi Mthethwa and police commissioner Phiyega, Cele argued.
He said Phiyega had “a good night’s” sleep before the Marikana massacre when police generals went to brief her about the operation. He said she had diverged from the plan and took instructions from politicians who were not part of the police.
“She was given a way out and opted not to ride the bus but went under it. She threw herself under the bus,” Cele said.
He thought Phiyega’s appointment as police commissioner in 2012 was a deliberate attempt to weaken the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Phiyega, who was the first woman to hold the post, was suspended in October 2015 by Zuma following a recommendation from the Farlam commission of inquiry into the 2012 tragedy.
Cele told Economic Freedom Fighters MP Leigh-Ann Mathys on Friday that, during Phiyega’s tenure, operational structures were destroyed to facilitate looting.
“Well, the opinion is that, if I know I want to steal but I know there is a bulldog, I will take the teeth out of the bulldog so that I do things properly. Maybe someone took the teeth out to do things properly? Who did that? Those that were leading? Who was leading at the time? Zuma was president. So, it was under the Zuma administration.”
Cele also reminded MPs that 10 police officers were killed during the strike and their bodies “dismembered”, arguing that the full story of Marikana has yet to be told.
Cele used his appearance to again criticise suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s controversial disbandment of a KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team, saying national commissioner Fannie Masemola should have opposed the decision more strongly.
“Masemola should have strongly objected to the disbandment of the task team,” he said. “He doesn’t push back enough.”
He had never seen the 2019 police work study Mchunu cited as justification for the task team’s dissolution and found it “odd” that Mchunu made such a major decision just six months into his term. He also disagreed with Mchunu’s claim that the task team was not part of the SAPS organogram and therefore not a permanent structure.
Earlier this week, Cele noted that similar units, such as Operation Thunder in the Western Cape and Operation Vala uMgodi targeting illegal mining, continue to operate under special funding and mandates.
Cele told MPs that alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala showed him messages from Mchunu discussing the task team’s disbandment. He said Matlala had earlier confided that he was being used in internal police battles and in what he described as a fundraising drive for Mchunu’s presidential ambitions.
Asked why he continued to engage with Matlala, Cele replied: “I would not have said ‘no’ to information, especially if it involves me.”
Cele denied ever receiving money or favours from Matlala and said he had only stayed briefly at an apartment offered to him after leaving office.
“It was like staying in a hotel room,” said Cele.
He admitted that he was aware that the person who introduced him to Matlala, Bongani “Mabonga” Mpungose, had a criminal record but claimed he did not know Mpungose was a “notorious shooter”.
Cele also took credit for the arrest of suspects in the murder of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, pushing back against MPs who suggested the political killings task team was responsible.
“Get your facts straight,” he said.
His testimony comes amid ongoing turf battles within the SAPS leadership, with suspended deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya and KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi trading accusations before the Madlanga commission and the ad hoc committee about interference and criminal collusion inside the police service.
The commission, chaired by retired judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, has heard testimony implicating high-ranking officers — including those in crime intelligence — in attempts to obstruct investigations and shield criminal networks.
Cele warned that South Africa is “under siege with drugs”, recalling a 1994 Scotland Yard briefing in London that predicted the country would become a global hub for narcotics and organised crime.
“It has happened that way,” he said.