If Ramaphosa does not fire Cele, he will be complicit

16 November 2022

Please find attached a soundbite by Andrew Whitfield MP.

If President Ramaphosa does not fire Minister Bheki Cele now, he will be complicit in any disastrous consequences of the poilice minister's statements yesterday in Mitchells Plain.

I believe that Minister Cele's reckless statement, namely that the police must "shoot first and ask questions later", is incitement to commit violence. This is a criminal offense. The DA will refer this statement to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for investigation and to take the appropriate action.

It is very like that police officers will take these words of the Minister quite literally and when they in fact kill someone, indiscriminitely, it will be murder.

Cele, and by implication president Ramaphosa will be complicit.

The DA also believes that Minister Cele has violated the Executive Members' Code of Conduct and we will request the Public Protector to investigate a possible breach of this code.

As a third step, we will write to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) to bring to their attention that the Police Minister is encouraging SAPS to murder people. There could very well be an escalation of murders by members of the Police force.

The fact is that no matter how much fire Bheki Cele spits from the stage, he has ruined the South African Police force.

The litany of failures on the watch of Bheki Cele as Police Minister makes for shocking reading. It is a shameful indictment on President Ramaphosa that he has not held Cele accountable a long time ago. His failings have cost the lives, the dignity and the security of countless South Africans. President Ramaphosa must get rid of this shameful minister before more lives are lost.

Issued by Andrew Whitfield, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 16 November 2022