The DA’s call for Police Minister Bheki Cele to be fired because of the shocking crime statistics in the country – not to mention the July 2021 insurrection, when hundreds of lives were lost and which cost the country R50 million – is not before time. The “Pratt in the Hat” (as Steenhuisen recently described him), whose choice of hats often makes him seem like a gangster himself, has a talent for rhetoric but not much action. His latest gaffe was commenting that one of the women raped, allegedly by zama zamas, while making a music video in the mining area of Krugersdorp, outside Johannesburg, was “lucky” to be raped only once. This was his response to a serious criminal act. – Sandra Laurence
#CeleMustGo: President Ramaphosa must fire failing Police Minister Bheki Cele now!
The SAPS national police service is led by a failing minister who is failing the SAPS and South Africa. Every day 67 people are murdered, 153 people are raped and 364 violent robberies occur. The July 2021 attempted insurrection cost South Africa hundreds of lives and R50 billion, while the Police did nothing to prevent this. Our nation faces a safety crisis that can only be fixed by some major changes at the SAPS. Sign this petition for President Ramaphosa to fire Police Minister Bheki Cele now.
Sign this petition demanding President Ramaphosa to effect the following changes now – starting with firing Bheki Cele:
- Fire Bheki Cele as Police minister and appoint someone who is capable of leading the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Then, President Ramaphosa and the ANC government must:
- Increase the number of well trained and resourced, visible policing boots on the ground.
- Demilitarise and professionalise the police service. The SAPS is filled with top-heavy middle management cadres who do nothing for the protection of the country’s citizens.
- Eradicate the backlog of DNA samples and ensure the full implementation of the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act when it comes into effect.
- Create Rural Community Policing Units in each rural police station to provide additional protection to these areas so that rural communities do not suffer from crime as a result of lack of policing.
- Train and increase the number of police reservists to assist the SAPS with reducing crime levels.
- Devolve policing powers to competent provincial and local governments, so that the failing national government has less control of the SAPS.
- Expand the powers of existing metropolitan and local law enforcement officers. Empowering security, local law enforcement and metro police will go a long way to improving outcomes and rebuilding trust in the communities the SAPS serves.
- Strengthen community policing partnerships with Neighbourhood Watches (NHWs), Community Policing Forums (CPFs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), churches, private security, local law enforcement and metropolitan police.
Show your support by signing the petition.
Read also:
- Meet Ian Cameron, the man who wouldn’t cower to Bheki Cele
- Is Bheki Cele enforcing cadre deployment at SAPS – DA
- Cyril’s shocking side-step of Cele’s impunity – Paul Hoffman
