Criminals Have Declared War On Citizens - Cele

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DURBAN: Police Minister Bheki Cele believes criminals have declared war on South Africans.

Speaking at the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) 10th congress in Durban on Tuesday, Mr Bheki Cele commented on the incident in which Transport Minister, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga and her bodyguards were robbed on the N3 on Monday.

Police have reported that two police service pistols and personal belongings were taken by the suspects. A manhunt has since been launched for the robbers.

Mr Cele told a Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) conference in Durban that the minister was travelling from KwaZulu-Natal to Gauteng when the incident happened.

“…Something big nearly happened when they spiked the car of Minister Sindi Chikunga and they ordered everybody in the car, including Minister Chikunga, lala pansi ngesisu [lie on your stomach].”

“That was yesterday (Monday) at 4am when she was driving from here [KwaZulu-Natal], this province, back to Gauteng. They are taking everybody on, these criminals. We nearly lost a minister that would have been shot and killed,” Mr Cele added.

He said 30 000 recruits, being taken in between 2022 and 2024, will not solve the police’s staff shortages, due to an exodus of experienced officers.

“The figure that we’ll have will be [the] 2010 figure amapoyiseni [officers], not 2023. In 2010, you had 195 000 in the whole organisation, now we have 187. South Africans were 50 million then, now they are 62 million. So the ratio has moved from 1 to 222, to 1 to 420.”

“They took whatever they wanted to take, they demanded money, laptops and cellphones and they left,” Mr Cele explained.

He said he had deduced, after speaking with Ms Chikunga, that the robbers had received information either through social media or other means, on the route she would be taking as it appeared that she had been specifically targeted.

“They were asking her certain questions.”

Mr Cele also dismissed speculation that Ms Chikunga had not opened a case to prevent the incident from becoming public, saying a case was opened almost immediately.