South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has fired two government ministers implicated in corruption scandals. Mr Zuma sacked Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka - accused of unauthorised spending - and Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde. The president also suspended police chief Bheki Cele, who - along with Ms Mahlangu-Nkabinde - was implicated in alleged unlawful property deals. All three have denied doing anything illegal. South Africa's ombudsman, appointed to investigate complaints against government officials, had called on Mr Zuma to act against them. 'Inflated prices' But Thuli Madonsela - the ombudsman known in South Africa as the public prosecutor - found that Mr Shiceka had spent more than $68,000 (£42,000) of government money on unauthorised luxury travel and hotel bills. This included visits to a girlfriend jailed in Switzerland for drug smuggling. In a report released last month, Ms Madonsela said Mr Shiceka's actions were "unlawful and constituted maladministration [and] dishonesty in respect of public money". She also accused him of travelling to neighbouring Lesotho while on sick leave at taxpayers' expense under a fake name. "Shiceka ... required of the department to make a fraudulent misrepresentation to a hotel in a foreign country," she said. At the time, Mr Shiceka rejected her findings as "baseless" and vowed to clear his name in court. He justified some of his hotel bills by saying his ministerial home had been infected with mosquitoes. In a separate investigation, Ms Madonsela ruled that Ms Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Gen Cele - a powerful ally of Mr Zuma - had authorised multi-million dollar property deals that saw police buildings being leased from a company at inflated prices. Mr Zuma said Gen Cele would be suspended on full pay, pending an inquiry into the property deals. The inquiry would be headed by former Constitutional Court judge Yvonne Mokgoro, the president said. Election implications Ms Madonsela investigated leases for buildings intended to serve as police headquarters in the capital, Pretoria, and the eastern city of Durban. The 10-year leases were signed with Roux Property Fund, owned by Roux Shabangu, a businessman who is well connected in government circles. She did not find evidence of criminality, but the deals were "illegitimate" and "unlawful", Ms Madonsela said in her report. Analysts say Mr Zuma acted against the three in a bid to quell criticism from the opposition that he is soft on corruption. His decision will, however, increase tension in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party in the build-up to leadership elections due next year, anlaysts say. Mr Zuma's bid for re-election is being opposed by the powerful ANC youth leader, Julius Malema, who accuses Mr Zuma of neglecting the interests of the poor. Mr Shiceka, Ms Nkabinde-Mahlangu and Gen Cele are now likely to throw their weight behind Mr Zuma's rivals, analysts say. Gen Cele played a key role in Mr Zuma's hard-fought campaign to be elected president in 2009.