Bheki Cele sheds light on Khayelitsha shooting as he calls for cops to hunt ‘animals’ behind the attack

Police minister Bheki Cele has shed more light into how the sole female victim gunned down alongside four men in Khayelitsha this week was assassinated. 

While on a community imbizo in New Monwabisa Park in Endlovini, Cape Town on Thursday, Cele shared how the woman was ambushed. 

“The woman did not know anything. They arrived and shot her in front of her boyfriend. They killed her while she was naked. What is clear is that we are not looking for people, we are searching for animals,” Cele said. 

Police said on Monday unknown gunmen approached shacks in the early hours of the morning and fired shots, killing the five. 

The deceased were aged between 20 and 32. The cause of the attack was not immediately clear.

Cele urged Western Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Thembisile Phatekile to ensure the police team assigned to the case speed up the investigation.

“Phatekile, I heard you have unleashed a team. That team must work quickly so we can see those animals. These are not people,” he said.

“You can’t shoot a girl, take s man to d show you other people and shoot everybody around,” Cele said. 

He said police were told trouble usually started in the evening in the community and for that reason he wanted police efforts intensified at night. 

Residents complained about an influx of illegal guns in the area and alleged the community was a “dumping site for dead bodies”, adding that children made their way past dead bodies on their way to school. 

“You have to give us information about the guns,” Cele said.

“We will arrive at night and knock. We don’t want war but if you fight us, we won’t run away. What is clear is that there are people who are hell-bent on abusing other people. The individual who killed these people was not alone. They were a group. Some people meet and discuss how they will kill people. I am happy you have the names. But I don’t want names, Phatekile, I want people who we will place in front of the country for people to see.”

Cele said the public believed most illegal guns come from corrupt police officers. He said legal gun owners also lose their firearms and they end up in the hands of criminals.

“There is this theory that guns come from the police, which is true. Some guns are stolen by our own corrupt (officers). But most firearms come out of shops legally and are taken from their owners in houses,” Cele said.

“Most break-ins are for two things. They are for money and firearms. We are dealing with an amendment of the Firearms Bill to try to tighten the protection of firearms. Some come from corrupt police officers and some cross the border illegally, things like AK47s. It’s a combination of all those things. Ours is to respond and find those guns.”

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