The drugs were suspected to be cocaine, crystal meth, rock cocaine and dagga.
Cele and provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi paid an unannounced visit to the Durban Central and Point Road police stations as part of a programme to inspect “problem stations”.
Cele said he was concerned that both stations were not up to par with their gender-based violence (GBV) desks which were supposed to be installed at every police station in the country by the end of March.
“At both stations the SAP13 [exhibit room] seems to be fine, but there is a shortage of personnel at both stations, especially at Point Road, there is no visible policing. This area is an area of high drug and foreign national presence.”
Cele said organisations such as Operation Dudula, which saw dozens of foreigners asked to produce documentation and come under attack in various parts of the country, were not illegal and police could only intervene if supporters were violent.
Supporters of Operation Dudula faced off with members of the EFF after attacks in Johannesburg this week.
WATCH | Cele grills suspected drug dealer nabbed with R100k drugs in Durban
Image: Sandile Ndlovu
A man was bewildered when police minister Bheki Cele questioned him after he was arrested for allegedly being in possession of drugs worth almost R100,000 in Durban on Thursday.
The suspected drug dealer, a foreigner, was held at Durban's Point Road police station, a precinct notorious for drugs and undocumented foreigners.
“You're selling it to our kids? Our children? You're selling it to SA children?” Cele asked the suspect.
The drugs were suspected to be cocaine, crystal meth, rock cocaine and dagga.
Cele and provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi paid an unannounced visit to the Durban Central and Point Road police stations as part of a programme to inspect “problem stations”.
Cele said he was concerned that both stations were not up to par with their gender-based violence (GBV) desks which were supposed to be installed at every police station in the country by the end of March.
“At both stations the SAP13 [exhibit room] seems to be fine, but there is a shortage of personnel at both stations, especially at Point Road, there is no visible policing. This area is an area of high drug and foreign national presence.”
Cele said organisations such as Operation Dudula, which saw dozens of foreigners asked to produce documentation and come under attack in various parts of the country, were not illegal and police could only intervene if supporters were violent.
Supporters of Operation Dudula faced off with members of the EFF after attacks in Johannesburg this week.
Cele said South Africans were allowed to be involved in any association as long they were legal and not armed.
“Police cannot stop you because you are marching. The Constitutional Court said anybody, anywhere, any time can wake up in the morning and march and police cannot do anything until it is proven there will be violence in that place. So police cannot go around stopping marches, but where the law is broken they will get [involved].”
An example of this was when supporters of Operation Dudula entered the homes of individuals in Johannesburg.
Commenting on Operation Dudula's planned protests in Durban on Sunday, Mkhwanazi said they met organisers on Thursday.
“We warned them that they have a right to march and gather, but if they go into people's premises they will be breaking the law.”
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