War of words at SONA debate on alleged assassination plot against EFF’s Secretary General
Police Minister Bheki Cele and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leaders have exchanged accusations on allegations of a plot to kill the party’s Secretary General, Marshall Dlamini.
Cele was participating in the Joint Debate on the State of the Nation Address, on Tuesday.
The EFF says Cele initiated the call to Dlamini while the Minister insists that the other side tried to get him to confirm this rumour. This is alleged to stem from the EFF’s decision to end its coalition cooperation with the IFP in KwaZulu Natal.
At a media briefing in Parliament last week, EFF president Julius Malema revealed that police sources had informed the party that there was a plot against Dlamini. This morning, Malema launched an attack on the police leadership.
“The only way we can be defeated in dealing with crime is if the leadership of the police is working with criminals. The leadership of the police works with drug lords. The leadership of the police works with Nkabi. The leadership of the police is on the payroll of hitmen and women in this country. The leadership of the police actually planned the assassination of our DP. A matter that we brought to the attention of the President.”
And then he accused the Minister himself. “The minister was involved in the plot of killing the DP of the EFF.”
In his reply, Cele distanced himself from these allegations and implicated Dlamini as the instigator. He says Dlamini had gone to his house where they met for 47 minutes.
“He was there to urge me and beg me to confirm that I had said IFP will kill him and when I refused he promised me that life is going to be difficult for me… It’s not me who lied to you to put you on national TV to say the wrong thing. It wasn’t me.”
Dlamini interrupted Cele and repeated the allegation that Minister Cele was the one who called him out of the blue.
“The question that he should be responding to is, did he not call me on Saturday? Last week Saturday… My question was, “Minister, does it involve me”. His answer was yes. He proposed that let us meet in Cape Town on Wednesday.
‘Plot to assassinate Floyd Shivambu’
EFF leader Julius Malema told Police Minister Bheki Cele that he would repeat what he said in the Chamber and even outside of Parliament. He was rising on a point of order when Cele used the platform to respond to the allegations made by Malema.
Malema alleges that Cele was involved in plotting the assassination of EFF Chief Whip Floyd Shivambu. He alleges that there was also a plot to falsely implicate Shivambu in the murder of former EFF Secretary-General Godrich Gardee’s daughter, Hillary.
“I have said this in public and I will say it again. I’m not scared of that. I brought it to his attention when the crime intelligence went to implicate Floyd in Hillary’s murder, I told him that the crime intelligence was saying the suspect must implicate Floyd. And told even the President about him, being involved in the possible assassination of Floyd. He knows that and I will repeat it in public.” – Additional reporting by Mercedes Besent
