Bheki Cele waxes biblical

Police National Commissioner General Bheki Cele has likened the police service to Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles, Beeld reported on Saturday.

He said that if even Jesus and God had criminals in their midst, it was to be expected that there would be criminals in the 193 000-strong police force in South Africa.

“Jesus Christ had an organisation of 12 people ... among those 12 there was a criminal who sat with Jesus every day,” Cele was quoted saying at a handover of police cars in Pretoria on Friday.

“Even when Jesus berated him [Judas], he denied that it was him who was a criminal.

In the Garden of Eden, there were two people. God himself did an inspection every morning. One day, He could not find them. They were hiding because they had committed a crime,” he said.

“If you will find criminals amongst two people, then you will find criminals in an organisation with 193 000 members,” Cele said.

Beeld said that in the past seven months, about 254 police officers in Gauteng had been arrested for alleged involvement in robberies and corruption. - Sapa