Police Minister Bheki Cele Says the Police Are Ready for Unrest over Jacob Zuma's Imprisonment, SA Unconvinced
- Police Minister Bheki Cele says the security cluster will be ready should unrest erupt in South Africa as it did in July
- Cele's comments come after former President Jacob Zuma was ordered to go back to prison by the Pretoria High Court
- South Africans are not sure that the police will manage if riots pick again because the police did a terrible job in July
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JOHANNESBURG - The Minister of Police Bheki Cele has reassured South Africans that the South African Police Service (SAPS) and other law enforcement agencies such as the army are well-prepared to handle any unrest that might possibly arise.
Cele's remarks come after the Pretoria High Court ruled earlier this week that former President Jacob Zuma will have to back to prison because his medical parole was awarded illegally.
Source: Getty Images
According to TimesLIVE, Msholozi has geared up to fight the ruling and will launch an appeal in the near future.
Cele stated during a media briefing held by the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS) they have learned lessons from the riots in July. He added that experiences of the unrest will help the cluster combat riots in future.
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EWN reports that over 300 people in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal were during the violent protests over Zuma's arrest.
Cele has noted concerns about a repeat of the violence and says the police have been deployed in their numbers to monitor both potential riots as well as maintain order over the festive season.
South Africans are not convinced that the police are ready to handle unrest
Social media users have expressed their concerns about the police's readiness when to comes to handling unrest in the future.
Some people expressed that there aren't officers to handle the kind of numbers that can be expecteded in the predicted riots. Here's what they had to say:
@sabza1_za said:
"I remember Cele being told that he will be arrested for fraud if he doesn't arrest President Jacob Zuma "
@SibandaRebecca said:
"As if we don't know how they handled the July unrest."
@MHzrover said:
"Garbage. As usual, he is underestimating the brute volumes of people who like in July can descend on stores and Malls and this time there will be nothing left to restore! What a pitiful, brainless individual he is!"
@MHzrover said:
"Forget it brother - unless you have at least 30 to 40 thousand Police - you've got no chance!"
'Stay Calm': Lamola calls for restraint after court ruling on Jacob Zuma medical parole
Briefly News previously reported that Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola is calling for calm across South Africa following the Pretoria High Court's decision to overturn former National Commissioner of Correctional Services Arthur Fraser's decision to grant former President Jacob Zuma medical parole.
Reports on the ground suggest the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) will be on high alert for any signs of unrest across South Africa following the ruling that Zuma should go back to jail to see out his sentence.
Briefly News previously reported that the 79-year-old was slapped with a 15-month prison sentence by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) for contempt of court after he blatantly refused to comply with an order from the chairperson of the State Capture Inquiry, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that he give testimony at the commission earlier this year.
Source: Briefly News
