SA justice system more sympathetic to criminals than victims: Cele

Former Police Minister Bheki Cele speaks DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach at Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on October 24, 2025.

Former Police Minister Bheki Cele has criticised South Africa’s criminal justice system, saying it is sympathetic to criminals than victims.

He made the remarks while concluding his testimony at Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption, and political interference in the justice system. These allegations were made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in July.

Cele served as Police Minister from 2018 to 2024.

He says there is an urgent need for the country’s lawmakers to revisit law-making processes at large.

Cele says crime is a societal problem and cannot be left to police officers alone. “Where are the kids of the father who was shot by that person? Nobody knows! We have the track records and the follow-ups of the perpetrator until he gets the parole, but we don’t know about the kids, as their father dies, they are taken out of the private schools because they can’t pay.”

Cele adds, “Their cars are repossessed, their house is repossessed and the kids we call them ‘paras’. The system is wrong. We just need to go back. It is sympathetic and it is good to perpetrators visa vice the victim.”

He also described the state of policing in the country as disastrous and catastrophic.

“Something very serious and sad. The pain I feel when I see the commissioner (Fannie Masemola) writing an affidavit against the deputy commissioner (Shadrack Sibiya), Mkhwanazi lambasting everybody, Sibiya’s raid, hayi, I don’t think if it were a movie, I’d finish it.”

COMPLIMENT

Cele receives a compliment from Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Glynnis Breytenbach on the way he is conducting himself during the sitting of the committee.

Breytenbach welcomes the way Cele answered questions and shared information.

“Mr Cele, you’re very good at this. It’s not the first time I’ve seen you in action. You sit confident, knowledgeable, you do well at this kind of thing.”