Cape Town - Police minister Bheki Cele has told Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis to stop crying at the wrong funeral.
This follows Hill-Lewis’s announcement that he will fight tooth and nail to ensure the City has full power over the police.
The mayor was addressing a council meeting on Thursday. He said he wrote a letter to the police minister to say that he was using his constitutional right to give the City more policing powers.
“Minister Cele has previously said that he cannot devolve power in the absence of a constitutional amendment. This is nonsense. Section 99 of the Constitution provides that ‘a Cabinet member may assign any power or function… to a Municipal Council’."
Cele said he wouldn’t entertain the mayor’s request as it should have not been sent to his office.
“I have been raising this issue,” he said. “Why is the mayor crying at the wrong funeral? The mayor is crying at the wrong funeral. (I) Cele have got nothing to do with the devolution of power; that is a constitutional matter.
“If they want anything out of it, they (must) rather write to the minister of justice who is responsible for dealing with the Constitution."
Cele went on to say the mayor had just arrived in governance and he didn’t understand it very well.
“What the mayor is saying is what is happening now. The municipal police, together with the animal (they) created here called law enforcement; their operation and their work should be signed (off) by the provincial commissioner of what is happening now.
“That is not the devolution of power. It's operational matters that are allowed to happen. The powers of policing are constitutional matters. The mayor must learn to separate those matters.”
The DA nationally has been calling for the firing of the minister something, President Cyril Ramaphosa has not responded to.
Ramaphosa on Tuesday pledged to re-organise and strengthen law enforcement capacity across the board.
“With greater police powers granted by minister Cele, we can help President Ramaphosa achieve his goal,” said Hill-Lewis.
“Let me be absolutely clear about what we want: We want our own, fully-fledged City police force with all the powers it needs to drastically reduce crime in Cape Town.
“And, if the minister is not prepared to give us the powers we seek, we will fight tooth and nail to get them. We owe it to the millions of people in this City who live in fear of crime.”
The minister was heavily criticised for the choice of words he used for saying a 19-year-old woman who was raped along with seven other women in Krugersdorp West Village was “lucky” to have been raped by one man, as opposed to several men
The Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has also been calling for the devolution of policing powers to the provincial government.
Cape Town continues to be a city of contradictions. It is hailed worldwide as one of the most beautiful cities and a tourist destination. On the other hand, it also features in the top ten of the most murderous cities in the world along with cities in Mexico.
The DA believes that the city can be made safer only if Cele is let go from his position and/or they are given more powers to have control over the police.
DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said they strongly supported the mayor.
“South Africans are living in fear as violent acts of crime increase and criminals are not brought to book due to a deficient criminal justice system. Minister Cele is failing to do his job and Western Cape residents should not bear the burden of his incompetence.”
He added that Ramaphosa and Cele must stop stalling and allow their local and provincial governments to take over the police service.
“We have proven that we can do a much better job.”
The DA also launched a new billboard against the “failing” police minister.