If the ANC is serious about police brutality, Cele must go!
4 June 2020
Note to Editors: Please find attached an English soundbite by Andrew Whitfield MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has noted that the ANC and its alliance partners COSATU and the SACP are hosting a media briefing today on their campaign against police brutality.
The DA launched its campaign against police brutality at the beginning of the lockdown and has been dealing with hundreds of complaints from across the country.
We welcome any campaign which acknowledges the senseless violence exerted on citizens by the police under the leadership of Minister Bheki Cele and the ANC government.
But if the ANC is truly serious about addressing the scourge of police brutality in our country, their first act must be to fire Police Minister Bheki Cele who has overseen the police’s increasing heavy-handedness and militarism, particularly over the past couple of months of the lockdown.
Despite repeated appeals by the President to not use excessive force when enforcing the lockdown, Minister Cele made statements that can only be seen as encouraging heavy-handed policing.
Cele suggested that SAPS “push” people home and said that SAPS must deal with criminals “harshly” even going so far as to instruct SAPS: “do not be nice to suspects”.
These utterances are not only deplorable, but they also incite the police to violate and brutalise our people.
The DA has already called upon the President to remove Minister Cele and we have prepared an ethics complaint against the Minister for his reckless comments throughout this lockdown.
While the world stands in solidarity against the senseless death of George Floyd and police brutality against vulnerable communities in the US, the reality is that the ANC and its alliance partners have ignored the Police Minister’s appalling comments as well as the police violence happening right here in their own backyards.
Whilst South Africa stood in solidarity against the death of Collins Khosa, Petrus Miggels, Sibusiso Amos, and others killed by SAPS the ANC was silent.
When South Africans condemned the police humiliating and degrading South Africans during the lockdown, the ANC was silent.
The DA has been at the forefront of fighting against police brutality. We have received more than 500 complaints and queries on our dedicated police brutality WhatsApp line and email address and have referred, advised and assisted on hundreds of complaints to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID); the Military Ombud; and complaints to other bodies or entities, such as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
The DA hopes that the ANC’s campaign will not just be their typical blowing of hot air but that they will truly stand with all South Africans who have been the victims of police brutality and put their money where their mouth is.
Issued by Andrew Whitfield,DA Shadow Minister of Police, 4 June 2020
