Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has tasked his Police Minister Bheki Cele to ensure that the police are, “… adequately resourced to prevent, combat, and investigate police killings”.
Ramaphosa delivered the keynote address at the SAPS National Commemoration Day at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Sunday.
“This National Commemoration Day should serve not only to pay tribute to our fallen men and women in blue who lost their lives in the fight against crime,” Ramaphosa said, according to his speech provided to the media.
“It should also serve to mobilise society against the killing of our officers. No society can remain silent when criminals have clearly declared war on the police.”
He said police officers represent the authority of the State, and any attack on them is a direct attack on the State and an attack on its citizens.
“Those responsible for police killings who have not yet been arrested must know that wherever they are, they will be found, and they will face the full might of the law.”
Ramaphosa said Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, at a recent press conference, confirmed that 187 suspects had been arrested for the murder of police officials since 2018, while 55 accused were convicted and sentenced during the same period.
KwaZulu-Natal traffic cops gunned down with firearm stolen from slain police sergeant – Cele
“Minister Cele, I want to urge that your ministry drives the process of ensuring that the SAPS is adequately resourced to prevent, combat, and investigate police killings,” Ramaphosa said.
“All the perpetrators of these attacks on police must be brought to book.
“If we are to win the war against crime and police killings, we need to build healthy, stronger relations between the police and the communities they serve.”
Ramaphosa said:
He said the country should demonstrate that law enforcement officers are valued.
“The fight against crime cannot be won by the police on their own,” Ramaphosa said.
“Let us, as communities and the police, take responsibility for each other’s safety.”
Ramaphosa’s remarks come a day after Cele addressed the funeral of Sergeant Sharon Mogale in Kempton Park, Gauteng. At this event, Cele said there was never an outcry when police officers were killed by criminals, News24 reported.
“I buried a police officer yesterday, we are burying one today, but there is just absolutely no noise. There are countries where if you bury three police officers in a weekend there would be real and loud outcries. Here this is becoming normal. There is something wrong with us South Africans… something needs to be fixed in us South Africans,” Cele said.
According to Cele the, “… system needs to be fixed”, and tightened against criminals.
“We are too soft on criminals. South Africa needs to change and say, ‘not in our name’, where criminals are better than the victims of crime.”
The thin blue line gets thinner as visible policing budget continues to shrink
Ramaphosa’s remark that Cele should ensure that the police are adequately resourced to combat police killings comes as his administration has cut the policing budget for another year running.
The police’s total budget for the 2022/23 financial year is R100.695 billion, compared to the previous year’s R100.474 billion. However, despite the nominal increase of about R225 million, their allocation in real terms decreased by R4.1 billion.
The budget cuts are felt hardest in the police’s visible policing programme. The visible policing budget for 2022/23 is R51.716 billion, a drop of R508 million.
The police’s Protection and Security Services – which includes the VIP protection unit – get R3.496 billion for the year, an increase of R35 million.
During his question session in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Ramaphosa expressed his support for Cele, who has come under much criticism for the perennially high crime rates and his recent remark that a woman was lucky to be raped only once. He said this comment had been lost in translation.
Ramaphosa said Cele was at the forefront of efforts to eradicate gender-based violence and should be given some “latitude”.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
