National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele does not oppose a call for the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) to investigate the treatment of the Sunday Times journalist arrested last week, the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) said on Tuesday.

"Cele was unable to discuss Mzilikazi wa Afrika's arrest because the matter is sub judice," said Sanef deputy chairperson Mary Papayya.

Cele met with Sanef in Auckland Park on Tuesday at his request.

The agenda was dominated by Wa Afrika's arrest and the general treatment of the media by the police.

Describing the discussions as frank and robust, Papayya said that Sanef had "made it clear that we were not there to be friends, but it was about work".

Sanef told Cele that the media was shocked at Wa Afrika's arrest and the subsequent attempt by police to prevent photographers from taking pictures of the incident.

"We raised our concerns about the general treatment of Wa Afrika, to which Cele said that he was not opposed to other institutions, like the Independent Complaints Directorate, investigating the matter."

Cele promised that police would respect the law and that anyone arrested would be treated with dignity.

"In terms of police not understanding the law and preventing journalists from doing their work, a Sanef-SA Police Services task team was set up to look at transgressions in the media.

"It will come up with a document stipulating what should happen in a crime scene... What journalists can do in a crime scene."

When Cele was asked what would happen if there were future arrests similar to Wa Afrika's, he said that he hoped there would not be any future arrests.

"He hoped that issues would be dealt with in an amicable way," said Papayya.

She said that police were concerned about who they could go to when they were unhappy with the media.

"They were told to go straight to the editor-in-chief of that particular newspaper, and if still aggrieved, to take their matters to the press ombudsman."

Papayya said that Cele had promised that the police would cooperate with the media going forward, after both parties had accepted that they were not above the law. They had agreed to continue to hold talks.

Wa Afrika was arrested in Rosebank, Johannesburg, on Wednesday last week.

The case against him was dropped on Thursday, but he was not released, and the case was reinstated later that day.

His lawyers successfully applied for his release in an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday night.

Sanef has criticised the "thuggish behaviour reminiscent of the apartheid state" meted out to Wa Afrika and has said that some of it was likely to be unconstitutional and in breach of police regulations.