PRESS RELEASE: Cele Should Resign over Western Cape Crime Stats, but Winde must Introspect too.
Winde has it within his power to address policing issues, but by refusing to listen to the WC people on Cape Independence, he is choosing not to.
PRESS RELEASE: Cele should resign over Western Cape crime stats, but Winde must introspect too.
The Referendum Party notes with frustration Premier Alan Winde’s call for Police Minister Bheki Cele to resign. Cele is a clown, who was himself removed as Chief of Police for impropriety, and he absolutely must go, but solving the appallingly high murder rates in the Western Cape is going to take a lot more than empty rhetoric from Winde.
Referendum Party leader, Phil Craig says, “Appalling high murder rates in the Western Cape are not a mystery, they are the inevitable consequence of a failure in government. Winde has it within his power to end these failures but, in defiance of the democratic will of those he has been elected to serve, has chosen not to.”
The hotspots for murder are located in the vast illegal land settlements which have exploded under Winde’s tenure, and which are effectively lawless. The senior police management in the province have been corrupted by gangs. Whilst lower than the rest of South Africa, Western Cape unemployment is three times higher than in other G20 countries. Cele resigning will not resolve any of these issues.
Craig says, “According to our polling, 7 out of 10 Western Cape voters support a referendum on Cape Independence being held but Winde is refusing to listen to them. Cape Independence would allow the Western Cape to close its border bringing illegal land invasions to an end. It would allow the Western Cape to control its own economic policy rapidly reducing unemployment. It would give the Western Cape control over its own policing allowing crime to be radically reduced.”
Instead, Winde has once again called for the devolution of policing powers. This is political grandstanding. He promised to fight for devolved policing powers in his 2019 election manifesto. He has failed to deliver it and the national government have repeatedly made it clear that they are not willing to hand over control of policing to the province.
Only Cape Independence will put the Western Cape in charge of its own destiny. Winde must listen to Western Cape voters and call an independence referendum now.
DATE: 25 November 2023