Cape Town – Minister of Police Bheki Cele was hosted by the Khayelitsha Development Forum on Youth Day where he handed over police vans to the SAPS in response to the high crime level in the township.
Over the past few weeks, there has been an increase in shootings during the day. In one incident, four people were killed in Site B when gunmen entered a local supermarket.
Cele said the area was notorious for mass killings and invited everyone in the community to play a role in combating crime
“The community needs to know that they are central to what we are trying to do or it won't work,” said Cele.
“That's why today it's not the police, it's not the government that has pulled everyone together today, we are pulled together by the community themselves.
“There are things that we know what we are supposed to do … We’re supposed to arrest criminals, we are supposed to put police at the police station, we’re supposed to resource those police stations,” he said.
The minister added that the province, especially around the City of Cape Town, had eight police stations that appeared in the top 30 of the “most criminal stations in the country”.
Cele said an extra R10 million had already been provided for the running of those eight stations, in addition to R15.8m to deal with gender-based violence (GBV) and R10m on the anti-gang unit, which is all above the equity budget that the province received.
The minister added that the police vans handed over today were meant to “be utilised exactly for what it has been given for and not for shopping, not for parking in your homes, but to make sure that they respond and fight crime”.
IOL