Cape Town - In his weekly newsletter, President Cyril Ramaphosa appears to have snubbed mounting calls to axe under-fire Police Minister Bheki Cele, instead attributing the challenges facing the SAPS to the country’s fiscal crisis, several years of understaffing and state capture.
He also commended the SAPS for what he described as decisive actions over the past three weeks in response to the gang rape of eight young women in Krugersdorp.
Cele has been facing mounting pressure over the past couple of weeks, with civil rights organisations and opposition parties labelling him as incompetent. Since taking over the ministry three years ago, his deputy and senior staff have spent billions of rand on accommodation and catering while police face severe budget constraints.
However, Ramaphosa did not make any mention of Cele’s handling of the high crime rate in the country, only acknowledging the “serious challenges facing policing in South Africa”.
“But we are working hard to overcome them. Crime in South Africa cannot be eradicated without a strong, capable, professional police force. The capacity of the SAPS was one of the issues flagged in the report of the Expert Panel into the July 2021 Unrest, which we are taking steps to address.
“Having restored much-needed stability to the leadership of the SAPS, our focus now is on closing capacity gaps that led to our law enforcement authorities being found unprepared to deal with the events of last July. Understaffing and lack of adequate training has had a particularly dire impact on community and public order policing,” he said.
He conceded that given the high levels of crime in society, there was clearly much more that must be done.
“Policing cannot be successful without the co-operation of communities. For this reason, we are focusing on expanding the network of community policing forums to improve both policing and community relations. We commend the communities that are taking responsibility for keeping their areas safe through street patrols, crime awareness campaigns and other activities. Let us acknowledge the hard work of our police and give them our full support in making South Africa a safer place,” he said.
Cape Times