SIX WEEKS OF LIES - MINISTER BHEKI CELE HAS STILL NOT WITHDRAWN APPEAL AGAINST EQUALITY COURT FINDING ON POLICE RESOURCING

10 March 2019

Alan Winde says national Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, should hang his head in shame. He has still not withdrawn SAPS’ appeal against the Western Cape Equality Court order that National Government is discriminating against poor and black Western Cape residents in how it allocates police resources.

It’s been more than a month (25 January 2019) since Minister Cele announced during a radio interview on Cape Talk that the appeal has been withdrawn.

In December, the court found that the system the national police use to allocate resources is unfairly discriminating against poor and black people in the Western Cape. The remedy has been postponed to a later date.

Minister Winde said: “The behaviour of Minister Cele is an absolute disgrace. Quite frankly, it clearly demonstrates that he has no intention of withdrawing this appeal. He and his ANC-led National Government have always discriminated against the most vulnerable in our society, and this will continue where they govern.

This also shows that they do not care about the continued fear that people are living in. They do not care that innocent children are dying at the hands of criminals.

Minister Cele’s only purpose is to host talkshops and imbizos, where he makes empty promises, with absolutely no action. I want to inform the Minister that his charm attempts are futile, as residents are seeing that he is all hot air. Minister Cele must stop discriminating against our people and address our resourcing problem. We continue to have a shortage of 4500 officers, and he is mandated to ensure that we receive our resources.

Upon rejecting our recent call for the deployment of the army as a peace-keeping force, he claimed that the current interventions are “yielding success”. Reports of 25 murders in Mitchells Plain for February alone and 18 murders in Bonteheuwel since the beginning of the year paint a completely different reality.

I will continue to fight for our fair share of resources, as well as the decentralisation of the police, as the scourge of crime in our Province cannot continue in this way. The manner in which this Province is being prejudiced by national government must come to an end.”

Statement issued by Marcellino Martin, Spokesperson for Western Cape Minister of Community Safety, Alan Winde, 10 March 2019