Bheki Cele and the ANC do not care about fighting crime and making our streets safe

16 May 2024

Note to editors: The following is an extract from the speech delivered today by Build One South Africa (BOSA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, alongside community members at the Newlands East police station in eThekwini, KwaZulu Natal.

Across South Africa, communities are under attack every day from criminals who not only have no respect for the law, but also have no more fear of law enforcement. They do just as they please, leaving innocent citizens terrorized and traumatized in their homes, their streets, their schools and their workplaces.

Criminals have become brazen because they know our Police Service is so under-resourced, under-funded and under-trained that there is very little chance of them being caught.

That’s why poor communities have become crime hotspots and gang lands. That’s why drug dealers target young children outside their schools. That’s why we have the highest rape statistics in the world, and a murder rate that puts us on par with a country at war. Despite an annual taxpayer funded budget of almost R120 billion for police services, we the people are not being served.

Here in Newlands East, in Durban, crime is rampant and on the rise. The community is fast becoming a crime hotspot.

In October last year, two men were murdered in Galjoen Road, right next to a primary school.

In January, four suspects, including a 14-year-old, appeared in the Durban Magistrate's Court in connection with the killing of a woman in Newlands East. Her body was found riddled with bullets in the field of a sports ground.

In March, a commuter was killed and two others were injured when gunmen opened fire on a bus in Newlands West Drive.

Also in March, two people were arrested for shooting a police officer on Inanda Road.

And just this month, a mother is seeking justice for the rape of her one-year-old daughter at a daycare facility here in Newlands East.

This is why three quarters of South Africans do not trust the police, according to the most recent data provided by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). As of 2021, just 27% of citizens stated they trusted the police, down from 47% two decades before.

The horrendous riots and unrest in this province in July 2021 laid bare this distrust. Many members of this community were betrayed by a police service that simply couldn’t handle the situation.

Today I invited Police Minister Bheki Cele to join us on this visit to see for himself the dire situation our police men and women face in trying to fight crime. To come hear for himself from the community in Newlands East who live in fear every day.

Of course, Bheki Cele was a no show. He is likely too embarrassed to face the music as he oversees a crumbling police service.

Today I wish to say to the people of Newlands East– and to South Africa – that BOSA hears your cries of frustration and your perpetual fear for your life and the lives of your loved ones.

That is why we stand with the community of Newlands East to hand over a memorandum of demands. The community's demands are:

1.    The establishment of a comprehensive community safety plan to quell the spate of violent crime in the area.

2.    Formalised partnership with the Community Policing Forum and other neighbouring forums

3.    The immediate prosecution of any SAPS officials who demand the exchange of sexual favours and bribes for assistance and prosecution

4.    Increased police visibility to allow for the instalment and maintenance of basic services to the community.

On a national scale, SAPS is poorly led and disconnected from the communities it is supposed to serve. It needs to be professionalised, to proactively anticipate, prevent, react to, and investigate all crimes, no matter how minor.

Build One South Africa’s (BOSA) policy offer on safety provides measures including devolved police forces, elected station commanders, better training, transparent hiring and advancement, and a specialist most-wanted unit.

At present there is a disconnect between HQ and local police stations. While the bloated top echelons of the SAPS live in the lap of luxury on inflated salaries, budget cuts have slashed the rank and file of operational police members in the past several years.

Far too often, the police are reduced to clerks, merely taking statements after the criminals are long gone. There is limited appetite or capacity for solving any but the most high-profile crimes.

Fixing it requires decentralised policing, by devolving police powers to provinces, regions and municipalities. Subject to national standards and accountability, these provincial, district and local governments will be able to raise their own police forces made up of permanent officers and well-trained community volunteers.

To prevent political interference, cronyism, favouritism and nepotism, we will insist that police recruitment and advancement strictly follows a transparent, meritocratic process. It must be subject to independent oversight.

Only officers with proven skills, experience, and above all, integrity, should be entitled to leadership positions in a police force. Corrupt and poorly-performing officers must be removed.

We will downsize the bloated top leadership structures by retrenching the least-qualified and worst-performing senior officers, but will recruit 120 000 additional police officers on the ground.

We will introduce measures to significantly improve police training, for both new and existing personnel. This will include firearms competency; advanced driving skills; hostage negotiation and de-escalation skills; advanced investigation skills; evidence handling; bureaucratic procedures; racial sensitivity awareness; and legal training.

Police training will also re-introduce a focus on fitness, strength and agility. Gone will be the days of police constables too slow to chase criminals, or too overweight to vault fences. Our police forces will be fit, competent, committed and deserving of wearing the badge.

Our proposals will also ensure that resources such as police vehicles, firearms and forensic resources are well-managed and available where they are needed.

Let’s work together to build safe communities, and that work begins by voting for BOSA on 29 May.

Issued by BOSA Acting Spokesperson, 16 May 2024