A community policing engagement in Gugulethu descended into a shouting match yesterday when an angry Police Minister Bheki Cele ripped into a civil rights lobby group leader who claimed he was failing in his ministerial duties to protect local residents from serious crimes.
Cele was attending a consultative meeting between police, community organisations, and residents of Nyanga and Gugulethu when Action Society director Ian Cameron interrupted him and highlighted that the minister had utterly failed in protecting citizens or adequately deploying police to crime hotspots.
Speaking to News24, Cameron blamed Cele for turning the engagement into a political issue.
Meanwhile, the DA-led City of Cape Town and Western Cape government are fuming after not being invited to a community meeting in Gugulethu yesterday.
More than 30 community organisations – including community policing forums from Nyanga and Gugulethu – were in attendance to discuss critical issues of crime, policing concerns, and challenges faced by the police. Police Minister Bheki Cele was present during the meeting.
