Police Minister Bheki Cele says politicians should accept that there are things that they got wrong while drafting the South African constitution.
Cele was speaking at the Policing Indaba in Boksburg on Gauteng’s Eastrand where police killings have been under the spotlight.
On Monday, two police officers were fatally wounded in Kimberley in the Northern Cape by a suspect who allegedly shot the officers four times each with a rifle.
According to recent crime stats, about 31 police officers have been killed between April and June this year.
Minister Cele says the people who drafted the constitution got certain things wrong and that includes the treatment of criminals.
Cele is not the first ANC member to speak out on what he believes are discrepancies in the South African constitution. While delivering his speech during the honouring of veteran photographer and author, Peter Magubane in March this year, ANC Veterans League President, Snuki Zikalala also shared his sentiments. The police minister says the current system is questionable.
“The people that crafted the constitution were not very far from here. If you shoot me as a criminal and kill me, the first thing that happens is that my child will no longer be able to attend private school and that the house that they live in is going to be repossessed as I won’t be there to provide. First thing, we pay for the criminal to be defended. You take my tax and pay for the same criminal that killed me to be defended,” says Cele.
The suspect who killed the two officers in Kimberley has been arrested eight times in the past. And in some cases, he was convicted but got suspended sentences.
POPCRU President, Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza says the killing of police officers should be treated as treason. He has challenged police leadership to have a conversation with the Human Rights Commission.
“Sometimes the fight against crime vested in the hands of the police becomes very difficult because you are just afraid to talk facts. Sit down with the SAHRC and start to draw a line between the human rights of ordinary citizens and the human rights of criminals. As long as you shy from talking about this, they will keep on murdering us.”
According to recent crime stats, about 31 police officers have been killed between April and June this year, with the Kimberly shooting pushing the number up to 33.
