Minister Cele, disarm the gangsters, not law-abiding citizens
Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite by Andrew Whitfield MP.
The DA calls on the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to shift his focus from disarming law-abiding citizens, to the disarming of violent criminals and gangsters – including those within the South African Police Service (SAPS) illicitly selling firearms to crooks.
Instead of enabling its officers to combat corruption, fight crimes and protect South Africa’s citizens, the Minister is trying to remove people’s last line of defence against increasingly violent crimes through its draconian Firearms Control Amendment Bill which seeks to remove self-dense as a reason to own a gun in South Africa.
Recent revelations from investigations under “Project Impi” revealed the extent of rot amongst SAPS officials selling guns to criminals. Those weapons are then used in all manner of criminal activity, including gang violence and cash-in-transit-robberies.
This means that South Africans are hobbled on two fronts when it comes to eradicating violent crimes – on the one hand, SAPS is rife with corruption and ineptitude and there seems to be little political will to truly address this; and on the other hand, law-abiding citizens’ last line of true defence against violent criminals are being taken away.