Nothing will happen outside, says Cele — but he can't say what will happen inside city hall

Police minister Bheki Cele would not be drawn on what intelligence services have picked up about whether President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address could be disrupted.

Cele fielded questions from the media after addressing hundreds of police and City of Cape Town law enforcement officers at the Castle of Good Hope on Thursday.

He said the police had nothing to do with what happened inside parliament.

“I have been here for two weeks. One has an idea of things that one would have looked at, and things that you would be wary of, especially outside parliament,” he said.

“You must remember that police have got nothing to do with the inside of parliament. So the presiding officers, together with their security, deal with those matters.

“We would not allow police to intervene in parliamentary proceedings. But anything that is out and around, we are taking over and we are sure that ... the arrivals [of guests] will go well.”

Cele said Ramaphosa will deliver his speech and “nothing will happen”.

“All work is done outside in the precincts of parliament where members of the SAPS and other agencies are responsible. We are fine there.

“We are assuring South Africans that the work is done. Everybody will be safe, everybody will be fine. The president will speak. Nothing will happen.”

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