Johannesburg – A high-ranking cop in Mpumalanga, who was last year accused of raping colleagues, has landed in new trouble.
A case of assault and malicious damage to property to the value of R1 500 has now been opened against Brigadier Sifi so Cele, the police district deputy commissioner in the province’s Nkangala district, after allegedly assaulting Witbank police station commander Brigadier Moses Bolton.
In October 2020, an internal memo claimed that Cele had sexually abused six female colleagues at the Witbank police station while he served as its station commander and that the women feared opening criminal charges against him as he was cheered by the top brass and was touted for promotion in the South African Police Service (SAPS).
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Earlier this year, Cele was promoted to district commander and the Witbank police station is one of the 23 police stations that he oversees, according to a SAPS document.
Bolton laid the assault and malicious damage to property charges against Cele after the two allegedly wrestled each other last Wednesday afternoon outside the Witbank police station’s main entrance, in full view of colleagues.
In his statement, Bolton alleges that he was standing in front of the station’s building with a police captain speaking to a complainant who had come to report a matter. Cele had apparently driven to the police station from district headquarters after a female colonel at the station phoned him and complained about Bolton.
When Cele phoned Bol ton about the issue, the two quarreled about their ranks, and “issues of insubordination emerged”, according to insiders, causing a fuming Cele to drive from Middelburg to the station.
Bolton said he saw Cele was very angry when he approached him after arriving at the station and, at that moment, began shouting at him while pushing him around, grabbing him by his uniform belt and demanding to speak to him in his office.
The malicious damage to property charge emanates from Cele’s alleged kicking of an office door belonging to another officer where Bolton allegedly ran to during the fight.
“He alleged that Brigadier Cele pushed him around and he noticed he was having his firearm at his back.”
Cele told the Sunday World that he had also laid a charge of assault and crimen injuria against Bolton for shoving him “against a wall and insulting me”.
“They make it sound like I’m a mad man, that I would drive all the way to assault a fellow officer when the opposite is true.
“Remember, I’m an overseer at that police station and if a female officer phones me and complains about the station commander, I must find out from the station commander what is the problem,” said Cele.
“But he felt the need to disrespect me when I asked him politely. This is an issue of insubordination, nothing else.”
Police spokesperson Brig Selvy Mohlala confirmed the two brigadiers had laid charges against each other. He said the SAPS would comment once investigations are complete.
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