Cele hires top lawyer for inquiry

One of the country's top legal minds will represent suspended national police commissioner Bheki Cele when the inquiry into his involvement in the controversial R1.6-billion police lease deal starts today.

A-list advocate Vincent Maleka SC will deliver the opening statement on why Cele should be cleared of negative findings of maladministration and unlawful conduct.

Maleka - who has acted for several high-profile personalities and defended now-expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema in his dubul' ibhunuEquality Court case - will, however, square up against another legal hotshot, advocate Viwe Notshe SC, who will lead evidence for the state.

The board of inquiry is headed by Judge Jake Moloi, who will be assisted by advocates Terry Motau and Anthea Platt.

The board was established after President Jacob Zuma came under tremendous pressure to act against Cele following Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's findings that Cele and former public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde had acted improperly and unlawfully when they tried to lease - at highly inflated rentals - buildings owned by politically connected property mogul Roux Shabangu. Mahlangu-Nkabinde was subsequently fired.

The buildings were to have accommodated the police's national headquarters in Pretoria and KwaZulu-Natal provincial headquarters in Pietermaritzburg.

Madonsela found that the lease deals were illegal and invalid and urged Zuma to act against both Cele and Mahlangu-Nkabinde.

The board has invited the public to make submissions, but spokesman Bongiwe Gambu said she was not sure of the total number of submissions made so far.

The board has been mandated to inquire whether Cele:

• Acted corruptly or dishonestly or with an undeclared conflict of interest in relation to the two leases;

• Contravened provisions of the Public Financial Management Act and Treasury regulations leading up to the conclusion of the leases;

• Failed to prevent irregular expenditure incurred in relation to both leases; and

• Failed to prevent any financial losses or wasted expenditure to be incurred by the state.

DA police spokesman Dianne Kohler Barnard said her presentation would include Cele's apparent lack of understanding of the Public Finance Management Act, the increase in deaths at the hands of the police during his tenure, and the militarisation of the police.