Cape Town - Police Minister Bheki Cele urged Western Cape police to protect themselves and defend their lives when faced with criminals.
Cele was speaking at the launch of the festive season SAPS safety plan in Philippi yesterday. Speaking at the event, mostly attended by SAPS members, Cele said the police had all the rights to protect themselves.
“You must remember that you also have human rights. Do not die with your weapons in your hands, defend yourselves,” Cele said.
In 2009, Cele wanted the law to be changed to allow police to shoot to kill and worry about consequences later.
In an exclusive interview with the paper at the time, the minister said: “The police needed to match the firepower of criminals and use deadly force.”
The event, which was also attended by MEC of Safety and Security Albert Fritz, provincial police commissioner, Sandile Mfazi as well as national police commissioner Khehla Sithole, was welcomed by an elderly woman who braved the wind and sat on the stands at the stadium, eagerly awaiting the plan for the festive season.
Nozaliseko Sani, 56, from Kosovo, told the Weekend Argus she hoped Cele would tell them that more police would be deployed to their area and how they would combat crime.
“We are always happy to see government officials in our midst but sometimes it feels that they are more talk and less action. I also did not hear what the plan is exactly, we need something concrete to help us sleep at night. As community workers and leaders, we were hoping for a clearer plan but maybe he does not want to let the criminals in on the action ahead of time,” she said.
A former police reservist from the area, who wished to remain anonymous, said he police were failing because they were stretched and incompetent.
“The minister needs to reinstate reservists to help police fight the high crime in our areas.”
According to the latest crime stats, murder in the province had increased by 6.6% from the previous year while attempted murder increased by 4.4% and sexual offenses decreased by 0.5%.
To “clean (up) the Western Cape”, Cele said the police would “be everywhere”. “We will be in Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Siqalo and even here in Philippi to make sure that people enjoy their lives; to make sure that we squeeze these criminals. We cannot allow this province to be the haven of criminals, police must make sure that criminals are not comfortable. You must wake them up in the middle of the night,” he said. Cele committed that the police would ensure the safety of women, children and the elderly during the coming festive season.
He urged the police and communities to work together to fight crime.
He lauded a team of seven detectives for the conviction of Luyanda Botha who was sentenced to three life terms in the Western Cape High Court yesterday for the murder and rape of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana in the Clareinch Post Office in August.