Leaving the ANC political suicide: Cele

Those who leave the African National Congress do not survive politically, former national police commissioner Bheki Cele said.

There were several examples of those who had left the party and had disappeared from the political landscape, he told about 300 students at Durban's Mangosuthu University of Technology.

Referring to Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota, a former ANC chairman under President Thabo Mbeki, Cele said: "Look at Cope. They can't even present a president. Their president is elected by the courts."

He urged students to vote for the ANC on May 7.

Cele was speaking after it emerged earlier this week that he was number one on KwaZulu-Natal's province-to-national election list.

He told reporters afterwards he knew he was going to Parliament, but would only know after the election what his role would be.

"I know I am going to Parliament. I know I've got a job. What I'll be doing, the ANC will tell me," he said.

"But it doesn't matter where you will put me. If you say I must sweep the streets, those streets will be very clean."