By: Natasha Archary
National Police Minister Bheki Cele lost his cool with a Rights Group leader during an address on Tuesday, 05 July.
Speaking to residents of Gugulethu township in the Western Cape, Cele was at the receiving end of heavy criticism from the community.
A tense exchange between the Police Minister and Action Society leader ensued and Cele lost it, telling Ian Cameron to “shut up!”
“I did not join human rights battles yesterday, I lived it. Don’t come here and teach me about human rights, I fought for it, I was arrested for it, I nearly died for it, I was exiled for it.
And I’m not going to stand here and take this nonsense from somebody who regards me as a garden boy today. You regard me as a garden boy, shut up! Shut up! I sat here, I listened to you talking nonsense. Listen to me, it’s your time to listen! Sit down and listen young man!”
Bheki Cele loses his cool with a Rights Group leader
Cameron was escorted out of the venue by members of the South African Police Services. He said he was treated that way because he hit a nerve and was calling the Police Minister out for failing in his duties.
The Rights Group leader said Cele had failed the residents of Gugulethu and the Western Cape as a whole as crime is spiralling out of control.
Mass shootings and gangs threaten the lives of the communities on a daily basis and according to Cameron, police do nothing about it.
“Cele is making this a political issue and talking about freedom fighting back in the day. We don’t want to know about that, we want to know what is being done now to change things in SA. He’s standing there making jokes while 153 woman will be raped in the country today. While 67 people will be murdered. In this area and Khayelitsha 50 people have been shot in mass shootings over the past 7-months.”
Action Society Leader Ian Cameron says Bheki Cele has failed in his duties
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