We will keep our firearms, because you and the South African Police Service are not able to keep us safe. We unfortunately cannot trust you. A relationship based on trust cannot only be a one-way street. It almost seems as though you, as the minister of police, are promoting crime through your lack of action when it is required and through the misuse of thousands of honest, good people who still wear blue uniforms.
Mr Cele, during the past few days you sung high praise to the pathetic performance of police at Nkandla. You admitted, on record, that the police observed various offences and did not take action. You admitted, above all things, that several criminals at Nkandla, openly displayed firearms and discharged them. The police chose to ignore these reckless act of criminality.
In the last 12 months, innocent civilians were sprayed with water cannons where they were queuing for their grants, ladies in swimsuits were chased from beaches, some innocent people were even killed by armed forces and the poor trampled upon by ANC cadres, but to fire shots at Nkandla, is according to you, not a serious offense.
This is why Mr Cele, we shall buy even more firearms and encourage people to learn how to arm and defend themselves within the framework of the law. What other choice do we have, while you approve of armed criminals’ anarchist behaviour, as seen at Nkandla? How should we keep our families safe with a minister of Police, who promotes crime through silent diplomacy?
The answer is actually quite simple. The women and children in this country, will now, more than ever, learn about firearms and how to legally use them. How to safeguard and defend themselves, families, neighbours and communities will become part of their general existence. I want to emphasise that women in South Africa are not to be underestimated. South African women are ready to, within the framework of the law, take up arms where you and your gang, fail to fulfil your constitutional mandate to keep them and their families safe.
The South African women that I know will not just sit back and wait to become a victim. The days when they were abused, raped and murdered - while you use “violence against women and children” merely for political sloganeering - is over.