The writing is on the wall for National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole and Police Minister Bheki Cele after President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address in which he indicated that he would soon announce leadership changes in the security agencies amid a host of other reform promises...

In the aftermath of the uprising Police Minister Bheki Cele clashed publicly with State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo while Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula initially contradicted the President as to whether the violence and looting constituted an 'insurrection' but later fell in line...

Arch Zuma-loyalist Thulani Dlomo the former head of the State Security Agency's controversial special operations unit who was sacked by Ramaphosa in 2019 was reported on 14 July to be one of at least 12 people that Police Minister Bheki Cele says are being investigated for orchestrating the unrest...

Police Minister Bheki Cele and Police Service Director Khehla Sitole had been due to arrest the former President by midnight on 7 July...

Meanwhile another group – comprising Pravin Gordhan Public Enterprise; Naledi Pandor International Relations and Cooperation; Bheki Cele Police; Gwede Mantashe Minerals and Energy – are heading for retirement either after the ANC elective congress or the 2024 general elections...

PushbackRamaphosa who has faced ridicule in some quarters over the reinstatement of the ANC officials is also facing pushback from some of his senior ministers on the National Coronavirus Command Council: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma the Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs the Police Minister Bheki Cele and Lindiwe Sisulu the Minister of Human Settlements who is seen as a possible challenger to Ramaphosa for the ANC leadership in 2024...

The court hearing evidence about Khosa ordered the suspension of a policeman at the scene of his beating set down a code of conduct for the security forces to follow under the lockdown and called for a full investigation by both Minister of Police Bheki Cele and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) which is backing up the police with 72 000 troops...

Other key figures in the coalition included: Safety and Security Minister Bheki Cele who did little to contain overzealous security forces before the court ruling; Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel who conceived the puzzling regulations about what clothing people should be allowed to buy; Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula who first gave in to the powerful taxi lobby and then took a hard line to arrest street traders; Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu who had to be restrained by a pending court order from intervening in food distribution; and Tourism Minister Nkhensani Kubayi-Ngubane who refused to pay money from a R200 million (US$11m) fund earmarked for struggling tour operators unless they could prove they were complying with Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) requirements...

While ministers Bheki Cele and Fikile Mbalula have been prominent on policing and transport respectively there's been concern that they often 'confuse and clutter' messages say ANC insiders...