Durban – COPE wants Police Minister Bheki Cele and State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo fired for being incompetent.
The party says the two ministers have let President Cyril Ramaphosa and the country down.
Ramaphosa confirmed that about 212 people have died due to the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, following violent looting that’s resulted in billions of rands lost.
Thousands were arrested yet he said the police would soon arrest instigators of the anarchy and mayhem that reared its ugly head in the past week.
“Thousands of workers are now unemployed.
“This whole mayhem was started by a faction of the ANC called the RET Forces demanding the release of former president Jacob Zuma,” says Cope national spokesperson Dennis Bloem.
He said the faction was allowed to have media conferences to incite and instigate their supporters to violence.
“We have said on numerous occasions that these instigators must be arrested for incitement, but our calls fell on deaf ears.
“Ramaphosa says they know these instigators.
“Our question is: why are they not arrested?
“Does the government want them to strike again?
“We demand that they must be arrested immediately because as long as they are still roaming the streets, they are a danger to all of us,” Bloem said.
Bloem said Cope would forever remind the ANC and the country, that leader Terror Lekota warned the delegates at Polokwane Conference not to elect Zuma as ANC President and therefore of the country.
“Cope is calling upon Ramaphosa to, for the first time, put the interest of the country above the interest of his political party the ANC.
“We would like to thank the men and women of the SAPS and the SANDF for bringing about stability and calmness to our communities,” said Bloem.
Meanwhile Cele will visit Phoenix in Durban following virulent and racial tensions,” he said.
Cele will return to the community of Phoenix to ensure that calm has been restored and maintained to the neighbourhood and surrounding areas.
This is Cele’s second visit to the area, since violence engulfed the community in the north of Durban.
The SANDF has been deployed in the area and is assisting members of the SAPS restore normality in the streets of Phoenix where criminal and vigilante acts, claimed the lives of 20 people.
Cele will meet the newly established community steering committee, comprising of community leaders and work towards finding a workable solution to rid this community of violence.
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