Shocking crime stats: Cele must resign over poor policing

It was disrespectful in the extreme – but not unexpected – that Police Minister Bheki Cele donned his glad rags (and hat) to celebrate the opening of a hotel in Durban less than 24 hours after revealing that the cops are badly losing the battle against crime.

In most other countries – places where party loyalty and having a thick skin are not pre-requisites for political office holders – he would have resigned a long time ago for being such an abject failure at his job.

His sound bite visits to high-profile crime scenes appear to be part of a deliberate strategy to show he is hard at work. Yet the figures say otherwise.

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In the first three months of this year, 67 people a day were murdered and 120 were raped.

There were 60 vehicle hijackings a day. And an average 3.4 murders a day were of children younger than 17. All of these crime categories showed marked increases over the same period last year.

Although the reasons for the increase include arguments, vigilantism, revenge or retaliation and robberies, the bottom line is the police seem powerless to prevent these crimes.

Gun ownership activist Ian Cameron thinks it is high time that women especially are legally armed and trained to level the playing field when violent criminals threaten their lives.

On the other hand, Gun Free SA believes that guns are not effective for self-defence, especially when the gun user is outnumbered. Likewise, they believe bringing back the death penalty will not be a deterrent to violent crime.

However, both sides of the gun debate are agreed on one thing: our policing system is not fit for purpose. There is too much corruption, not enough training and a lack of committed effective leadership in the police.

And that is your fault, Minister Cele. Resign now.

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