Ian Cameron vows to continue his work after horror attack

Ian Cameron, the Chair of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police and the Democratic Alliance Spokesperson on Police. has vowed to continue his work following a horror attack on his life in which two of his colleagues were also injured. In this interview with BizNews, he describes the violent attack following an oversight visit to the Phillipi SAPS Training Academy that has been mired in allegations of corruption and mismanagement. Despite previous Threat and Risk assessments done by the police that indicated that some kind of protection was necessary for Cameron, that has still not been implemented. As for the motive behind yesterday’s attack, Cameron says: “It's not going to stop us, whether it was targeted or not. We're going to continue doing what we do.” At the time of interview two of the three attackers were in custody, one - shot by Cameron - in a critical condition under police guard, while the third was being traced..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Watch here.Listen here.Edited transcript of the interview.Chris Steyn (00:02.494)Ian Cameron, the Chair of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police and the Democratic Alliance Spokesperson on Police has survived an attack on his life. Two of his colleagues were injured. We are very fortunate to have him with us today. Welcome, Ian.Ian Cameron (00:21.857)Good morning. Thank you, Chris.Chris Steyn (00:24.374)I got a fright when I saw you. You must be in pain.Ian Cameron (00:29.57)Yeah, it feels a little bit more painful this morning. There's a little bit more swelling and you can't see it very well on the camera but two of my teeth are broken. So yeah, my teeth are quite sore. It's not a good clean break if that makes sense and so I'll be spending some quality time with the dentist later on today.Chris Steyn (00:59.572)Ian, please take us through the horror experience yesterday.Ian Cameron (01:05.656)Sure, so Chris, it's not a very long story. We did a surprise visit at the Philippi Training Academy of the South African Police Service. And when we completed our visit, we were on our way back to the airport to drop Lisa, a fellow MP at the airport. She was sitting in the back of the vehicle and Nicholas Gotsell, my fellow MP as well, sitting in the front next to me.I was driving and the road was quite congested. That part of Nyanga of Phillipi East is problematic. I mean, I've been working in the area for over five years. I know the area well and we know the risks there. Yeah, and the traffic started piling up. Municipal bakkie from the City of Cape Town stopped next to us and one of the working…Well, not the one worker, one of the drivers said to us, you guys really need to be careful here. And I said to him, no, we know we've been here before. And Lisa just said something doesn't feel right. And when she said that, obviously you immediately are even more alert. And it was in a space of seconds. And they broke the window on my side. And shortly after that, me and the guy that was trying to get in on my side was like I was trying to keep him out and he kept on coming and kept on like hitting. I don't know what he had. I'm guessing it was another brick, but the brick that he broke in with was already inside the car. It was on my lap. And then, you know, I was pushing him away and then I just heard another shot on the other side, not a gunshot, just a, you know, noise, a loud noise; it looked around and they had hit Nicholas on his head; a very, very bad wound. He was just covered in blood. His whole face was covered in blood. His clothes was covered in blood. And at that very moment, they hit Lisa's side as well. So there were two guys trying to get him on that side. They are Nick...Ian Cameron (03:26.754)….fell down to his lap with his head. And obviously I tried to defend us with what we had and we managed to escape. But it was quite a scary experience. They just kept coming. It was like nothing would scare them off, you know.I mean, we all threw punches and were fighting back and they never managed to steal anything. But they were very determined to get into the vehicle.Chris Steyn (04:06.294)So at what stage did you get to your firearm?Ian Cameron (04:11.384)So I probably when Nick dropped down to his lap, I knew that it was, that's the only opportunity that we had. They kept coming and Nick was definitely losing a lot of blood. And yeah, at that stage from what I recall, leaned over, reached for it, pushed him down and then did what needed to be done.And that was it. Then we sped off to the closest petrol garage. And at the petrol garage, we parked in a way that we could still see any oncoming threat because it was still close by. So we were scared that they would come back. And we then immediately started calling for Emergency Services help. Lisa spoke with Crisis on Call to arrange the Medical Emergency Services. So there was a really good response from both ER24 and Metro EMS. Metro Police from City of Cape Town reacted very, very quickly. And local SAPS, Philippi East SAPS specifically, and Nyanga SAPS were phenomenal. They were very, very quick. And then specifically, City of Cape Town Metro Police, and also CPI, the private security company also came through. But yeah,I mean, initially what was a humbling part of it is that people didn't know initially that it was us. So, I mean, you just call for help. And it was really amasing to see the compassion and just the enthusiasm with which everyone arrived there.Chris Steyn (06:09.846)How many of the attackers are under arrest now?Ian Cameron (06:14.158)So according to what I know, one is currently critical in hospital and under arrest, under police guard. The second one, so that first one is an 18-year-old. The second one is a 16-year-old that they arrested earlier this morning. And I'm told that they're busy tracing the third suspect.Chris Steyn (06:36.018)And what do you believe was the motive for this attack?Ian Cameron (06:41.174)It's difficult to say: I mean it needs to be investigated. Off by heart it seems opportunistic. I've seen a lot of speculation of people saying that they want to do a hit on me and all sorts of things. But to be honest with you, it's irrelevant…The investigation. Let's take its course. We're not going to stop doing our work. And I don't say it in a melodramatic way. We're not deterred. I spoke with Nicholas this morning and both of us were joking that we tongue-in-cheek are even more attractive now. So we were joking and Lisa is just incredible. She's like a little matriarch to the two of us. So yesterday she was extremely caring. We felt like her kids. Yeah, So, no Chris, I don't know what the motive was. The charges seem to be attempted murder and attempted robbery or hijacking. The police are on their way to see me now. So then I’ll... I'll learn exactly what the charges are that they're looking at. But again, we're going to do our jobs. It's not going to stop us, whether it was targeted or not. We're going to continue doing what we do.Chris Steyn (07:53.824)Now you were on your way back from the Philippi SAPS Training Academy. That was not your first oversight visit. You have been there many times and you have worked really hard to try and exterminate the deep rot there. What did you find on your last visit yesterday?Ian Cameron (08:12.492)Yes, it was an average kind of visit. There were minor improvements on things that we found previously. Cleanliness in the room specifically was improved of the students, but generally speaking, the place is falling apart. The Mess Hall is filthy. I mean, those floors, you walk on the floor and your shoes stick to the tiles. Nicholas found cockroaches in some of the showers. There are quite a few toilets that don't even have any working parts anymore. Urinals that don't work in some of the dormitory bathrooms. There's a whole list. The point is it wasn't an exciting meeting. It was unfortunate that one of the senior members at the Academy came to me afterwards and said, we owe the Commander an apology for the accusations regarding corruption at the Academy because there is no corruption. I laughed and I said all of the corruption that we spoke about was aired from inside the South African Police Service. It's not something that we suck out our thumbs. So I'm not sure what her agenda was. But nevertheless, once again, we won't be deterred. We'll be setting up a report regarding it. Yesterday was obviously a cosmetic visit in terms of looking at infrastructure and just general conditions at the academy. But with regards to the corruption allegations, we'll be following up because unfortunately, the Hawks have gone completely silent regarding the investigation. And it's a large amount of money that is concerned. Interesting that she also said to Lisa, yeah, there's no corruption. And Lisa said to her, how do even know there's no corruption if you haven't been financially audited in over six years? And she just went quiet. So yeah.Chris Steyn (10:05.896)So she was trying to intimidate you.Ian Cameron (10:10.246)I don't know. If she was, she didn't do a very good job. Again, we're going to do what we do and it's a privilege to be able to.Chris Steyn (10:20.16)Well, Ian, your life has been in danger ever since your days at Action Society. And there have been repeated threats. Are you getting the protection you need?Ian Cameron (10:33.502)Chris, so I could look after myself and again, I don't mean to sound melodramatic in any way. We do what we can personally. I've been receiving a lot of support and encouragement from the Democratic Alliance as well. From Parliament's side, of yesterday's incidents, everyone also called and sympathised and so on. The police had done previous Threat and Risk assessments on me. The outcome indicated that some kind of protection was necessary. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But again, I don't expect special treatment. We're going to continue doing the job. I also, you know, what's encouraging to me is the fact that we are actually quite a group of MPs, but also, you know, a bigger network of people from civil society and so on that work together on all of this. And I think together we actually look after each other quite well. And yesterday is a good example of that where the three of us were able to actually operate as a little team. I don't think they expected the pushback that they got yesterday when they attacked that little car.Chris Steyn (11:45.174)Well, hopefully yesterday's attack, will speed up the provision of the protection you need.Ian Cameron (11:53.4)Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath. But again, we're already planning our next visit there and we're planning to join the Neighbourhood Watches there for a good old night walk in in Philippi and look forward to that as well. I think there's no better way. You've known me over the years and I think the best way to to to tackle crime is through community involvement and directly, you know, be on ground level and and we are excited to get started again. Just want to rest a little bit and then in a day or two we'll be back to operate.Chris Steyn (12:31.574)Thank you, Ian. That was Ian Cameron, the Chair of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police and the Democratic Alliance Spokesperson on Police, speaking to BizNews after surviving a horror attack. Thank you, Ian.Ian Cameron (12:47.16)Thank you, Chris.

Ian Cameron vows to continue his work after horror attack

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