CAPE TOWN: Police Minister Bheki Cele was on hand to destroy confiscated alcohol on Monday as the annual Safer Season Inspection Tour kicked off in the Western Cape.
Bottles and bottles of confiscated alcohol, ranging from whiskey to beer, were thrown down a drain by Police Minister Cele as well as other police officials in Belhar, Cape Town.
The police minister noted a particular brand of whiskey as he uncapped the bottle and poured it out. When questioned about whether this “breaks his heart”, Cele responded: “Why should my heart (be broken)?”
Police Minister Bheki Cele, Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile and Community Safety MEC Alert Fritz participated in the destruction of confiscated liquor on Monday. #FestiveSeason
— Cape Argus (@TheCapeArgus) December 20, 2021
Video: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency(ANA) pic.twitter.com/oqpXNgaWxN
The alcohol Cele destroyed was confiscated by the SAPS ,from illegal establishments across Cape Town between October 15 and December 16, Police Ministry Spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said on Twitter.
[MUST WATCH] Police Minister General Bheki Cele is at this hour destroying alchohol that has been confiscated by @SAPoliceService from illegal establishments and police search and seizure ops conducted across the Cape Town metropole from 15th of October 2021 to 16th of December. pic.twitter.com/fyUdMR6agg
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) December 20, 2021
Images of the police storage depot in Belhar, where Cele destroyed the confiscated alcohol, shows it filled with bottles of alcohol.
Cele was in Cape Town on Monday as the annual Safer Festive Season Inspection Tour kicked off.
The police minister’s message to police officers was simple and straightforward: increase police presence and respond immediately to calls from the public.
“We’ll have to go and saturate all places, saturate all roads, saturate all streets, saturate all residence. Saturate it to such an extent that there is no way that criminals will be moving around us,” Cele told police officers on Monday.
“Squeeze them out, make sure that all criminals are squeezed out and people are living a better life and enjoying the festive season.
“Make sure that when you are called you respond quickly… You don’t take your time; you respond so that lives are saved.
“So that people they realise that there are members of the South African Police that are working with them.”
– IOL