Tag: Bheki Cele

SA police illegally tap journalists’ phones

phone_tappingPolice have finalised the investigation into crime intelligence officers accused of duping a judge to illegally bug the phones of former police chief Bheki Cele and two Sunday Times journalists, the newspaper reported.

Former KwaZulu-Natal police spy boss Maj-Gen Deena Moodley and covert intelligence collection officials Colonel Dumisani Zulu and Captain Bongani Cele are suspected of inserting the three mobile numbers under false names into a legitimate interception order, the paper reported.

The order, granted by Judge Joshua Khumalo on December 6, 2010, authorised police to record “real time” calls, gain access to all text messages, and use GPS co-ordinates to pinpoint the location of phone users.

National police commissioner Riah Phiyega’s spokesman Solomon Makgale told the publication that police had finalised the criminal investigation into the illegal interception of the cellphones belonging to the two employees of the newspaper and the former national commissioner.

“We believe that there is prima-facie evidence against the three SAPS members who were involved. It is now up to the prosecuting authority to prosecute or not,” he was quoted. – Sapa

Cele said ‘shoot to kill’, court told

A Sowetan journalist has testified in court that suspended national police commissioner General Bheki Cele used the words “shoot to kill”, the newspaper reported on Monday.

Mhlaba Memela testified against Cele, who had denied saying this, in the High Court in Johannesburg on Friday.

Cele is suing the Sowetan for defamation after a doctored image of him appeared in the newspaper in 2007, showing him holding a rifle.

Memela testified that although some KwaZulu-Natal residents were initially happy with Cele’s stance on violent crime, they became worried when people were killed without being taken in for questioning, the newspaper reported.

“The victim’s families would ask if their family members had died because of what Cele had said,” Memela was quoted as telling the court.

“People called the office to complain about the police’s conduct. There had been a change in how they operated.”

Last week, Cele told the High Court he could not remember telling police officers to “shoot to kill”.

The case was expected to continue in June. -Sapa