‘It’s time to set politics aside,’ says Cele at Charl Kinnear’s funeral

Police Minister Bheki Cele has demanded that action be taken against any officer implicated in the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear. Kinnear was killed in an apparent assassination in front of his home two weeks ago. Cele added that the police force was no place for criminality and that it was time to put politics aside.

Cele has said “heads must roll” for the murder of Kinnear – even if his own head is one of them.

Speaking at Kinnear’s funeral, held in Cape Town on Saturday, Cele said it was vital that the police take action against their own implicated in corruption. He added that, if he was implicated in wrongdoing, he should be the first to step aside.

His statements come after allegations that the slain policeman was investigating fellow officers who may have been supporting organised crime.

Kinnear was shot dead in front of his Bishop Lavis house in Cape Town two weeks ago, in what appears to have been an assassination.

“We know he was dealing with our own criminality,” Cele said at the funeral.

However, said Cele, there was no place within the police force for criminality or corruption.

“We can’t co-govern with crime,” he said.

“This is a war. War has dead bodies, as we see [here today]. When you find a war, you don’t ask who started it, you fight.”

Cele added that no officer was going to rest until the circumstances around Kinnear’s murder were known, and called for a full report on the investigation into the allegations of corruption within the police force. He called for justice, referencing the Biblical “eye for an eye”.

The police minister also echoed sentiments expressed by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, saying that politics should be set aside in fighting crime. He added that criminals did not care about one’s political affiliation, but had instead “declared war against humanity”.

“The time has arrived that politics is put aside and we deal with the welfare of our people,” said Cele.

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