South Africa: Cele Inquiry - Lawyers Defend the Sheriff, Try to Shoot the Deputy

analysis

Suspended police commissioner General Bheki Cele's bid to be exonerated of maladministration and corruption began on Monday as his legal team took his former deputy to task on the first day of public hearings into his role in SAPS lease contracts worth R1.6-billion.

The prosecution opened the hearings by claiming witness Lieutenant-General Hamilton Hlela, former police procurement head and deputy national commissioner, would prove Cele "is the one who identified the building" and that "he did not do so openly". Evidence leader Viwe Notshe, SC, said Cele had distanced himself from the Public Protector's investigations into the Pretoria and Durban police lease contracts and tried to shift the blame to Hlela. Cele's high-priced lawyers did just that.

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