Minister Cele evades accountability, patronises crime-affected communities

6 July 2022

Police Minister Bheki Cele's outburst yesterday at a community engagement meeting for Gugulethu and Nyanga was not only an attempt to avoid accountability, but was also an indictment on his leadership and his inability to keep communities safe from crime.

We condemn Minister Cele berating and removing Action Society director Ian Cameron after he rightfully raised many concerns pertaining to the province's police resource allocations. This was yet another arrogant display of the Minister's contempt for cooperation in ensuring the safety and security of South African communities.

It is not the first time this sort of event has been organised by the Minister. While these meetings are meant to be held in the spirit of cooperation, both the Western Cape Government and City of Cape Town were not invited to participate in its proceedings. Instead, after arriving in his expansive motorcade, the Minister chose to turn the community meeting into political theatre.

Time and time again, the DA in the Western Cape has highlighted that the province continues to be under-funded and under-capacitated. We see this take place at:

Gugulethu Police Station, where the number of deployed police officers have fallen by 13% since 2017. It is also in the Top 30 stations where robbery at residential crimes were recorded.

Nyanga Police Station, where the number of deployed police officers have fallen by 5% since 2017. It is also in the Top 30 stations where contact crimes were recorded.

MPP Gillion Bosman says: "Minister Cele has now truly lost the plot and his tirade is further proof that he simply does not care about finding solutions to the violence faced by our communities.

Residents of the Western Cape, and by extension South Africans, are are crippled by fear due to the violent crimes that continue to plague communities. While women and children live at risk of heinous GBV-related crimes being committed against them on a daily basis.

The Minister needs to start working with, and not against, Western Cape sub-national governments and stakeholders so that we can truly start making progress. And while Minister Cele refuses to cooperate, the Western Cape Government continues to carry out the Safety Plan so that our communities can be safe."

Issued by Gillion Bosman, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Community Safety, 6 July 2022