Cele: ‘No crisis of time’ to arrest Zuma

Cele was speaking in Soweto on Monday at the launch of the vaccination drive for police officers. 

He said the Constitutional Court gave him and National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole three days from Sunday to ensure Zuma's arrest.

This after the former head if state was sentenced to a 15-month jail term by the apex court for contempt.

“The police were given the timeline of Wednesday midnight. So actually, our three days started Sunday at midnight. So we don’t have a crisis of time,” Cele said.

“We will also be getting clarity, because when we were given the instruction there were no legal processes in place. So we have asked for clarification on whether we wait for the court processes, or we continue with the arrest. We have time on this so we don’t have to rush.”

Cele also addressed the issue of the large gathering at Zuma’s Nkandla home over the weekend, which was in clear violation of level 4 lockdown regulations.

According to Cele, there were more than 100 armed people outside Zuma’s home and police had to show restraint to avoid a loss of life. 

More than 200 police officers were deployed to the area and some 20 cameras were able to capture some of the illegal activities, including the violation of lockdown regulations.

“We preferred to go after those people, as we have sent extra detectives in KZN to work with the police there. We will be dealing with that matter and we are glad we are dealing with that matter when there is no woman and child who have been killed. That would have happened if the police acted recklessly,” added Cele.

He vowed that arrests would be made at a later stage. 

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