EDITORIAL | Cele’s rant at activist sends wrong signal to crime-weary public

The war of words that ended with the ejection of a civil rights lobby group leader from a community meeting at Gugulethu in Cape Town does not bode well for collaboration in the fight against crime in SA.

It serves as a stark reminder of the fragile relationship of trust between communities overwhelmed by crime, and the men and women in blue.

Police minister Bheki Cele appeared to lose his cool in public on Tuesday after being bluntly accused by Action Society leader Ian Cameron of failing in his mandate to protect residents against ruthless criminals.

Cameron said the non-profit company, which strives to hold government accountable for the quality of policing, was mandated by the community to assist with gender-based violence cases and speak on their behalf. “I want to graciously invite you to come and patrol without a bodyguard, without a grand car, in normal clothes with this community tonight, to get the sewage on your shoes that they patrol through. You are the problem Mr Minister, because you are removed from reality that the rest of us face,” charged Cameron.

“When I go to the different gender-based violence desks at these police stations, especially in the Nyanga cluster, the majority of detectives have more than 300 dockets on their table. Three hundred dockets. How do you think you can do an investigation with 300 dockets? It’s impossible,” he said, adding many local detectives were fresh out of police college, suggesting they lacked experience. He added he was tired of excuses.

Cele appeared to be aggrieved and chose to go on the defensive, listing his struggle credentials, saying he did not need schooling about human rights. “That is why I was sent to prison. That is why I was sent to Robben Island. That’s why I lived in the cold water, that is why I ate bad food, because I was fighting for human rights. Don’t teach me about human rights. Don’t tell me about the safety of my people. I fought for it, I nearly died for it. I was arrested for it, I was exiled for it,” Cele retorted.

Wagging his trigger finger, he shouted “shut up” repeatedly: “Don’t provoke me ... I listened to you talking nonsense. Listen ... sit down young man or get out!”

Cameron was then escorted out by uniformed police officers.

The spectacle made for an entertaining show, albeit briefly, and sharply divided public opinion. Did Cele blow a fuse because his competence was challenged? Was Cameron being too combative?

Cele may rightly have taken exception to being interrupted by the anti-crime activist, and felt disrespected, particularly in the context of race relations in SA with a white male reading him the Riot Act in front of an audience.  

But one would have hoped the minister, in the heat of the moment, would have opted to focus on the specific issues raised related to policing in the area, such as a lack of police resources and boots on the ground. But emotions took centre stage, and accountability by the political head of policing in the country went out of the window. Cameron was shown the door.

What message did this public exchange send out? That shouting, rather than reason, is the appropriate way to resolve conflict? That force or aggression be used to settle a dispute?

It does little to help persuade communities, already at their wits end over crime, not to take the law into their own hands to rid a suburb of a suspected criminal on the spur of the moment, rather than wait for the police to arrive. Vigilante killings happen all too frequently, and innocent lives are lost.

It also does not inspire the building of trust and collaboration between communities and the SAPS. Cele said a little more than a month ago that this year’s budget vote for the police was dedicated to rebuilding and strengthening community relations in the fight against crime.

Presenting crime statistics in June, covering the first three months of the year, Cele said it had been a brutal and unsafe period for many South Africans. During that time SA was marred by more sexual violence, murders and assaults than in the same period last year.

Cele asked during his presentation: “What went wrong?” Among the issues raised, he acknowledged, was a trust deficit in some community relationships with the police. He added 50% of the solution to crime was having better working relations with communities. “Police officers cannot police communities they are not part of. But equally, we are aware trust is not bought, trust is earned,” he said.

Let us hope that cool heads prevail and trust and co-operation are forged between police on the ground — the majority of whom are dedicated and do their best with limited resources — and the communities they serve.

That process, minister Cele, starts with you.