Cape Town - Police Minister Bheki Cele has fired back at the DA in the Western Cape, saying they were using the killing of people to score political points.
This follows the latest release of crime statistics and a reply in which Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagan Allen revealed to the Western Cape legislature that about 2 088 firearms were recovered over the last two years.
The provincial government including premier Alan Winde, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers have since expressed their dissatisfaction regarding crime prevention and control claiming Cele was not prioritising crime fighting in the Western Cape.
They made various calls for a dedicated site to be established in the province for the destruction of illegal firearms, policing to be devolved and Cele to be axed.
“The ANC government is clearly unsuccessful in its fight against crime, not only in the Western Cape, but across the country. Policing must urgently be devolved to competent provinces, such as the DA-led Western Cape so that we can build on the successes we have achieved already, but also do more. And we can only do this if we manage police services in our province,” said Simmers.
Hill-Lewis said his call for Cele to be removed was due to further evidence that he was unfit for the job.
Cele rubbished the claims, saying they were “nonsense”.
“This is politics. The DA is making calls as the DA. The ministry was given R22 million to deal with gangsterism and R10 million came to this province alone. This province has been receiving extra resources and budget compared to other provinces across the country. The DA’s claims are absolutely not genuine or fair. We have been saying one of our main problems in this province is the environment design. It's unfortunate that those people calling for my head need to first fix these problems.”
He made a plea with the DA to make efforts in poor areas affected by crime.
“When I visited Site C in Khayelitsha following the mass shootings we were standing under a mast light which was not working. I have also been informed that the CCTV camera was also not working and if it was, we would have arrested the suspects the following day. A budget was placed aside for CCTV cameras and only Khayelitsha did not benefit from that budget. The premier and mayor are also not fair in that, I requested a meeting with them where we met at the premier’s home and we engaged on steps we have to take. This includes that my legal team and the legal teams of both the City and provincial government will have to come together and see how we can work together with other forces.
“That report has not been returned, but all of a sudden instead of coming back to talk about things we have agreed upon, they are making these calls. All this noise will not affect me in any way. This is all just politics and show no interest in dealing with crime,” he said.
Cape Times