A crime against democracy

Sunday Times Editorial: The raid on the offices of the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, by police intelligence operatives, deserves the strongest possible condemnation.

THE raid on the offices of the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, by police intelligence operatives, deserves the strongest possible condemnation.

The raid, apparently an effort to obtain documents published in the Sunday Times last week, displays a lamentable lack of intelligence and amounts to a crime against democracy.

The documents concerned show that national police commissioner General Bheki Cele instructed police to refer all procurement with a value higher than R500000 to his office.

This was several months prior to his involvement in driving the renting of new premises for an amount 10 times over that limit.

After the public protector harshly criticised Cele for actions that were "unlawful" and in breach of procedure, Cele claimed that his underlings were to blame for the decisions related to the property deal.

The documents gave the lie to that claim, showing that he had made himself personally responsible for such procurement and that he should be held directly accountable for administrative failings.

Cele has been at pains to distance himself from the raid on Madonsela's offices. The tragedy is that it is difficult to take the word of the country's most senior policeman at face value in light of his open contempt for the law and his public denial of culpability in the face of overwhelming evidence.

If Cele had nothing to do with the intelligence agents' actions, it does nothing to reassure the public. It means we have a rogue intelligence unit, which is privy to state secrets and capable of subterfuge.

This week, the cabinet discussed Madonsela's report on Cele, but deferred judgment, saying the Minister of Justice, Jeff Radebe, would first meet the public protector to obtain further information.

This appears to be an attempt to stall a difficult decision. Madonsela's report was thorough, detailed and included substantial documentation to back it up. It confirmed the findings of two other credible reports by senior counsel.

This state of affairs cannot continue.

The government must act to stop the rot in the police service immediately. It must do so by cancelling the lease with immediate effect and acting against the police commissioner.

Laws have been broken, and the minister of justice would do well to focus his attention on applying the law in this instance, even if we must suffer the ignominy of seeing another police commissioner in handcuffs.

Cele and the hoodlums in the police intelligence service are a danger to this democracy. The only people who do not see this are those profiting from their failure to honour their duty to the country.