POLICE Minister Bheki Cele says more than 100 armed people were among supporters of former president Jacob Zuma supporters at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal.
At the weekend hundreds of supporters of former president Jacob Zuma flocked to Nkandla, many without masks and no social distancing, in clear violation of the country’s Level 4 lockdown regulations.
“There were more than 100 coming from some hostels and coming from some areas in KZN armed,” Cele said during a police vaccination drive in Orlando East, Soweto, on Monday morning.
“They even tried to provoke the police by having those firearms used there shooting in the air and all that,” he said by way of explanation.
“There were many women, there were children and the police had to take a step back. At least we have to take and absorb the insults and those complaints as we are rather than jumping on the blood that would have been there.”
He said 20 police cameras recorded the scenes and added that the data would be used during their investigations.
“We have extra detectives who are working on that. We will be picking our people. That we did not pick them on that day does not mean we are not going to,” he said.
He added that mo arrests have been made but police investigations are continuing.
Cele congratulated the police on how they handled the situation around Nkandla.
He said the police had to step back and not use force in containing the situation which would’ve resulted in bloodshed because there were over 100 people who were armed.
- Inside Politics
