Helen Zille takes a jab at Ayanda Dlodlo, Bheki Cele and Ramaphosa in 'meme of the day'

DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille has poked fun at the intelligence reports debacle involving police minister Bheki Cele and state security minister Ayanda Dlodlo.

This week, the two ministers were seemingly at odds after Cele denied receiving intelligence reports about the unrest that took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last week. This despite Dlodlo's claims the intelligence structures had passed on intel about the unrest to police.

Cele, who addressed parliament’s joint committee on police and defence, said he had never seen the “product” Dlodlo was talking about. 

“It would have to come via me and I would give it to the national police commissioner. I want to repeat here: I have never seen that product,” said Cele. 

Weighing in on the matter, Zille shared a “meme of the day” which garnered hundreds of different opinions online.

Attempts to get further comment from Zille were unsuccessful at the time of publishing this story. Comment will be included once received.

Speaking on Newzroom Afrika, Zille said President Cyril Ramaphosa should “clean out” his cabinet by firing both Cele and Dlodlo.

“The president was quite right to say that the police, the army and the intelligence service, particularly, were caught completely unaware. That is a huge admission in a democracy, it shows you that your intelligence services aren't working,” she said.

“After Ramaphosa admitted that they were caught unaware and taken by surprise, it's time for him to clean out the ministers responsible from his cabinet, Ayanda Dlodlo and Bheki Cele, at the very least.”

The EFF also called for Dlodlo to be sacked for allegedly misleading the public and parliament with her claims.

The party said it reached out to Dlodlo with questions about her claims, but the answers were not forthcoming. It further accused her of peddling misinformation during a critical time in the country.

“This is evidence of how dangerous minister Ayanda Dlodlo is to the national security and stability of our country. She is part of the information peddlers who lie to our people to protect their utter incompetence.

“She has misled the public and her officials in the State Security Agency (SSA) have deliberately misled parliament to hide their utter incompetence and negligence,” said the party.