Cele has lost the war on violent crime and must be fired immediately

Dear Editor

Since Bheki Cele was appointed as the Minister of Police in 2018 nearly 130 000 South Africans have been brutally murdered by violent criminals who roam our streets with impunity. Yet President Ramaphosa refuses to fire him.

The latest crime statistics paint yet another terrifying picture of the bloody war being waged against South Africans. Families and communities are being destroyed by violent criminals who torment and terrorise innocent citizens desperate to live a life without crime while Ramaphosa and Cele are protected by tax payer funded VIP protectors.

The following crime statistics confirm that the violent and bloody war on South Africans continues unabated:

• 6 945 Murders (75.5 per day)
• 13 090 Sexual Offences (142.3 per day)
• 6911 Attempted Murders (75.1 per day and up 12% from last year)
• 42 297 Assault GBH (459.8 per day)
• 45 348 Common Assault (492.9 per day)
• 12 467 Common Robbery (135.5 per day)

These shocking figures, which have continued to rise over more than a decade, are a direct result of weak leadership together with poor policy and management decisions. On the Minister’s watch SAPS has lost 8000 detectives, 5000 reservists and the DNA backlog remains unacceptably high at over 50 000 case exhibits. These failures have compromised our criminal justice system playing straight into the hands of the criminals.

In 2020, Minister Cele entered into a performance agreement in which he agreed to reduce contact crimes by 30% in five years. When President Ramaphosa took office he promised to halve violent crime in his term of office but since he appointed Minister Cele in 2018 contact crimes are up 30% while 60% of all murders in the last decade have been on the Minister’s watch.

The DA will now write to President Ramaphosa to provide him with the evidence which proves that Minister Cele is not upholding the terms of his agreement and must be fired immediately.

South Africans need to take to the ballot in 2024 to rescue South Africa from this bloody war on our citizens.

We won’t get the criminals off the street until we get the crooks out of cabinet in 2024.

Regards

Andrew Whitfield MP
DA Shadow Minister of Police