Cele hosted a men’s dialogue in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, last month, where he urged police to stop advising women reporting gender-based violence (GBV) cases to negotiate with their abusers.
“I’ve said this time and time again and I will repeat it: when a woman comes to the police station to report she is being abused, that’s her last hope. Do not send her anywhere else. Do not 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 officers who abuse our women further by turning them away. They are supposed to take a statement and arrest that person.”
He said men should take up the fight against GBV.
“When crime statistics were released for December, January and February, [they showed] about 10,000 women have been raped in three months. 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 is secondary. What I want to hear from you, as men, is what do we do with men who commit such crimes?”
The minister earlier hit back at claims that most crimes were committed by foreigners, saying the number of South Africans in prison showed foreigners are not the 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.
“South Africa cannot be a prison. The call to arrest cannot be a permanent call. Something else must be done. Other things and other ways must be found,” he said.
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‘Human rights activists care more about perpetrators than victims’ — Cele
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Police minister Bheki Cele has called for the system to be more supportive of victims who have had their lives destroyed by crime.
Speaking at a Crime Prevention Izimbizo in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, Cele said it was clear change is needed when more is done for perpetrators than victims of crime.
He said food, shelter and educational opportunities are given to prisoners, but not much is done for those whose lives have been turned upside down by crime.
“We need to change. We need a government more sympathetic to victims rather than perpetrators of crime. Human rights activists care more about perpetrators,” he said..
Cele said he was pushing for changes in policy to correct this.
Cele hosted a men’s dialogue in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, last month, where he urged police to stop advising women reporting gender-based violence (GBV) cases to negotiate with their abusers.
“I’ve said this time and time again and I will repeat it: when a woman comes to the police station to report she is being abused, that’s her last hope. Do not send her anywhere else. Do not 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 officers who abuse our women further by turning them away. They are supposed to take a statement and arrest that person.”
He said men should take up the fight against GBV.
“When crime statistics were released for December, January and February, [they showed] about 10,000 women have been raped in three months. 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 is secondary. What I want to hear from you, as men, is what do we do with men who commit such crimes?”
The minister earlier hit back at claims that most crimes were committed by foreigners, saying the number of South Africans in prison showed foreigners are not the 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.
“South Africa cannot be a prison. The call to arrest cannot be a permanent call. Something else must be done. Other things and other ways must be found,” he said.
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Cele urges police to stop advising women reporting GBV cases to negotiate with their abusers
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