Johannesburg - Minister of Police General Bheki Cele is accused of allegedly throwing out the director of community safety Ian Cameron from a community meeting, which was held between the Police Ministry and residents in Cape Town, on Tuesday.
The meeting called by the Action Society resulted in a heated exchange between Cele and Cameron, who was mandated by survivors, families, and the residents from Nyanga and Gugulethu, to speak on their behalf in the meeting.
The meeting was aimed at addressing the concerns regarding the increasing crime in the communities, which the communities feel that police have not adequately attended to.
During the meeting Cameron expressed how he believed the minister was failing in his mandate to ensure the community's safety and went on to invite Cele to participate in community patrols with the women from the area, in order to get a true sense of challenges faced on the streets, particularly by women.
Cameron also brought up the minister’s political anti-devolution statements about residents taking their safety into their own hands.
Cameron said: “Community members mandated Action Society to assist with gender-based violence (GBV) cases, where the police failed to investigate, ensure convictions, and speak on their behalf.”
Cameron further expressed that the community on its own was doing far more than what the SAPS or the minister has ever done for their own safety.
Cameron said: “Cele puts down neighbourhood watches in favour of CPFs. Cele does not understand the police policies and refers to the objectives of CPFs.
“CPFs were never supposed to be operational structures, instead, foreign crime-fighting entities, including local government, law enforcement, schools and churches, come together to combat crime. Cele is against devolution but fails his own people.”
Cele responded by speaking about freedom fighting and told Cameron to shut up and sit down, however, Cameron refused – which led to him being forcefully removed from the hall, and escorted to his car by the SAPS members.
“Cele is once again abusing the police force for political gain and holding authority over ordinary citizens,” said Cameron.
“The SAPS will never succeed in fighting crime if Cele stays in his position. Action Society will, however, continue to be a voice for the voiceless, where the police neglect their duty,” said Cameron
Action Society has listed solutions they feel could be implemented for dealing with crime in South Africa:
* Do a skills audit in the SAPS to determine the merit of appointments, and sack members not appointed on merit.
* Polygraph all members – starting with leadership – to determine whether they have been involved in any corrupt activities – if so, sack them.
* Restore crime intelligence capabilities.
* Reinstate specialised units that can effectively deal with serious violent crime without living in the community where they work.
* Crime kingpins, including those with state connections, must be targeted and taken out of operation.
* Restore reservist capabilities, specifically to support specialised units. It is of utmost importance that these reservists do not come from the said communities, for intimidation to be limited.
* Pay police members properly.
* Implement police devolution in the Western Cape, as a proof of concept.
Cameron is said to be considering laying charges of assault at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) against the police.
IOL