Civic organisation Action Society leader, Ian Cameron, says his party will lay a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate after he was allegedly removed by police during a stakeholder engagement in Gugulethu.
Cameron was embroiled in an exchange of words with Police Minister Bheki Cele during a meeting that was meant to discuss the high crime rate in the area and surroundings.
The Western Cape has more than five stations in the national top 30. This is where most of the murders and rapes are reported. Delft, Kraaifontein, Nyanga, Harare and Gugulethu are amongst the most affected in the Western Cape.
“Action Society and I will be laying 4 charges and complaints against Bheki Cele & the members of the SAPS who spinelessly removed me from yesterday’s community meeting held in Gugulethu,” said @IanCameron23, director of community safety at Action Society.https://t.co/LUEAuoONKf
— Action Society (@ActionSocietySA) July 6, 2022
Action Society’s Ian Cameron to lay a complaint against Minister Cele:
During the meeting to share ideas and information, an altercation occurred between Cele and Cameron.
“This gentleman spoke a lot of things about me, I sat down and I listened to many things, he said. I respected him and allowed him to speak, but he can’t listen. That’s the kind of behaviour, the kind of rotten mentality to believe that there are super humans. There are super races than other people. That’s the kind of problem we are facing in this country. People not learning that we are all equal,” laments Minister of Police, Bheki Cele.
Cameron says his organisation will open a case with IPID for being manhandled by police.
“The action society has met this morning with our legal team and we have discussed a few options and one we will be going to IPID to lay a complaint. Because of the way the police handled me yesterday. I think what’s important about yesterday is how Police Minister Bheki Cele’s police behaved. I think it shows a lot about the state of policing in South Africa.”
The Gugulethu Development Forum had declined the invitation to the meeting saying it’s just talk shop. They say they are yet to receive a response to last year’s requests.
“We asked for CCTV, more police and City of Cape Town needs to come to the party and also deploy law enforcement officials here. We have not seen all of that and hence we didn’t go” says Secretary of the Gugulethu Development Forum, Vincent Domingo.
Community members say crime is spiraling out of control and are calling for the installation of CCTV cameras and increased police visibility.
“Crime is too high because of drugs. People are being robbed every day. Our children are on drugs. For our safety, I would say they must deploy more police.
“They need to install cameras in all the hotspot areas. They would be monitored frequently. So that if people get robbed can decrease” said Gugulethu resident, Pillay Mata.
The Development Forum says they will engage the government for increased deployment of law enforcement officers in Gugulethu.
They also ask for more resources for neighbourhood watches.
