Police Minister Bheki Cele has told a joint sitting of Parliament that there is no security threat to the country.

He said this when he participated in a debate on the State of the Nation Address on Monday.

“Allow me to reiterate and reaffirm our strong position as the security cluster, without fear of contradiction, that there is no threat to the stability of this country.

“I repeat, there is no threat to the stability of this country. Some components of the security services of this country may be limping but they are not down and they are certainly not out!” said the Minister.

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa said that following the report of the expert panel on the July 2021 unrest, government will begin a process of putting together a response plan to address the weaknesses that the report identified.

Participating in the debate, Cele said mopping up a mess that was deliberately created to weaken the country’s security agencies and law enforcement will take some time.

“But, rest assured, the work has started and it will be done. Those criminals who were hell bent on seeing this country go under, during the July attempted insurrection, failed.

“They failed because the police acted and did what they could in the most difficult of circumstances.

“The men and women in blue of this country, did all they could in the hardest of times. Our “security cluster” is functional; this is why our prisons are full as we speak. [Justice and Constitutional Development]  Minister Ronald Lamola can attest to this. Those incarcerated criminals did not walk [in] there on their own free will,” said Cele.

Source: South African Government News Agency