Police Minister Bheki Cele faced the ire of Hanover Park residents during his attendance at the Crime Prevention Imbizo in the Western Cape on Sunday.
Also read: NSRI Table Bay rescues brothers following eyewitness reports
According to News24, nearly three hours past his scheduled arrival time, Police Minister Bheki Cele eventually showed up at an empty Hanover Park Bus terminus before his planned follow-up community imbizo on Sunday, 14 April.
With a walkabout slated for 11:30am, followed by the imbizo at Voorspoed Primary School at noon, the police band entertained residents at the terminus starting from 11am.
Representatives of the Community Policing Forum (CPF), Kashiefa Mohammed and Yaseen Johaar, emphasised that this visit must be accompanied by tangible action rather than mere empty promises.
‘We do appreciate that the minister has acknowledged Hanover Park as a community to make it his duty to visit,’ said secretary Johaar. ‘However, just hours ago, we had a couple of murders. We have had shootings daily. We represent the community and when we engage with the community, who elected us, the feeling we get on the ground is this just another tick-box exercise. Is this just another visit where empty promises are made?,’ Johaar said.
Residents in the vicinity seized the chance to air their grievances regarding the prevalent crime in the area, with many openly criticising the minister and his ministry.
Community member Ashraf Gamieldien criticised the top police officials for what he deemed as ‘political points scoring.’
He additionally urged the police ministry to deploy Afrikaans-speaking police officers who could effectively communicate with the community and bridge the language barrier.
Another resident, Dean Ramjoomia, a pastor and evangelist, confronted the minister while holding a small, makeshift coffin, expressing dissatisfaction with the large police presence at the imbizo instead of the necessary search warrants.
‘I want to ask you, you have probably close to 200 armed men assembled in this place. Why haven’t you brought about 100 search warrants and gone to kick down the doors of crime suspects, murder suspects right here in Hanover Park? You come into our communities wasting nine hours of our time to come here with an arrogant attitude that we must wait for you.’
‘You are very popular and coming into our community with condolences, but your condolences are spitting in the faces of our people as this government has done for the last 30 years. The time has come. Before you hold any police officer accountable, hold yourself accountable,’ Ramjoomia concluded.
Resident Salma Isaacs, however, advocated for unity in tackling crime, stressing that the community shouldn’t wait for Minister Cele to organise gatherings like the imbizo to come together and take action.
‘I just feel that it is disgusting that all of our community members must come together because of this man (Cele). This man (Cele) doesn’t live with us on a daily basis; we all know each other’s faces and can stand together. People want to blame the next person; one wants to blame the men in blue, while this other one wants to blame another. It starts with us; we all want change but nobody wants to stand together.’
Reflecting Isaacs’ sentiments, Cele urged the locals to unite in combatting crime. He stated that the police ministry had allocated additional resources to the area to address the concerns raised by the community.
‘When it comes to criminality and protecting people, put politics away, and all of us at all levels must work together. We have brought extra resources, extra police and cars from other provinces to work on those gangster-infested police station,’ Cele said.
Also read:
Western Cape High Court to see alleged criminal kingpins stand trial
Picture: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images