Heavy police presence ‘necessary’ at Jele funeral

THE heavy police presence at the late PUDEMO man Sipho Jele’s funeral was necessary as a possible security threat had been detected, Prime Minister Dr. Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini has said.  
Jele’s funeral was supposed to have been held two Saturdays ago but was postponed to last week Saturday as political activists clashed with the police. Making the reasons for heavy police presence known, Dlamini disclosed that the police intelligence had warned of a need to maintain law and order at the funeral.
Also, the Prime Minister said the police were expected not to be reactive in the execution of their duties, explaining that they did not wait for crime to occur first before responding to the situation at hand. The premier was responding to a question posed by editor of the Nation Magazine Bheki Makhubu who wanted to know why police were so keen on terrorism related matters.
“At Jele’s funeral, the police would not just sit back and wait for something to happen first before responding to the situation. But they had to do something about the information brought by the Intelligence Branch,” he said.
Also, he said whilst operating within certain parameters, the police made their own operational decisions based on the information they had and the fundamental need to maintain law and order.
The Prime Minister opened up and said even in future funerals, if the Intelligence Branch happened to detect a security threat, then they would grace that occasion to ensure law and order. “This rule does not only apply to funerals, but also to other occasions where a security threat might have been detected”. He humorously stated that the police would not allow people on the verge of committing a certain crime to do so, if that particular offence had been detected ahead.

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