Cele said men needed to be active participants in the country's fight against GBV.
“When crime statistics were released for December, January and February, [they showed] that in SA about 10,000 women have been raped in three months ... And I can assure you, men rape these women — so men must provide solutions to this problem. This is why we're here.
“All the complaints about police work and stuff, that's secondary. What I want to hear from you, as men, [is] what do we do with men who commit such crimes?”
Earlier this month, Cele denounced claims that most crimes in the country were committed by foreigners, saying the number of South Africans in prison showed foreigners are not the problem.
More than 500,000 of inmates in SA's 243 prisons are South African and 18,000 are foreigners.
“Foreign nationals are not a problem. It is South Africans. They are in prison in large numbers, which means they do things they are not supposed to do.”
Prisons are overcrowded by 33.3% and the country needs to go beyond policing.
“SA cannot be a prison,” he said. “The call to arrest cannot be a permanent call. Something else must be done. Other things and other ways must be found.”
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Cele urges police to stop advising women reporting GBV cases to negotiate with their abusers
Image: Supplied
Police minister Bheki Cele has urged the police to stop advising women reporting gender-based violence (GBV) cases to negotiate with their abusers.
Cele hosted a men's dialogue on Monday in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, as part of Imbizo Yamadoda. The programme is aimed at curbing the scourge of GBV in the Western Cape.
The Nyanga police station in Cape Town ranks first for contact crime in SA.
“I’ve said this time and time again and I will repeat it: when a woman comes to the police station to report that she is being abused, that’s her last hope. Do not send her anywhere else, don't tell her to go and negotiate with her abuser. Help that woman,” said Cele.
“She has come to the station. Don’t tell her to go, please help that woman. You are her last hope. Management, deal with young police who abuse our woman further by turning them away. They are supposed to take the statement and go arrest that person.”
‘I dated a gangster — and had to move towns to run away from his abuse’
Cele said men needed to be active participants in the country's fight against GBV.
“When crime statistics were released for December, January and February, [they showed] that in SA about 10,000 women have been raped in three months ... And I can assure you, men rape these women — so men must provide solutions to this problem. This is why we're here.
“All the complaints about police work and stuff, that's secondary. What I want to hear from you, as men, [is] what do we do with men who commit such crimes?”
Earlier this month, Cele denounced claims that most crimes in the country were committed by foreigners, saying the number of South Africans in prison showed foreigners are not the problem.
More than 500,000 of inmates in SA's 243 prisons are South African and 18,000 are foreigners.
“Foreign nationals are not a problem. It is South Africans. They are in prison in large numbers, which means they do things they are not supposed to do.”
Prisons are overcrowded by 33.3% and the country needs to go beyond policing.
“SA cannot be a prison,” he said. “The call to arrest cannot be a permanent call. Something else must be done. Other things and other ways must be found.”
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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