Residents sceptical of Cele’s pledge
Police minister now gunning for complicit officers at local station
Some residents of Westbury in Johannesburg have expressed reservations at the promises made by police minister Bheki Cele to tackle the drugs scourge in the area.
Cele visited the troubled area yesterday following days of unrest and violent clashes between residents and police.
The protests were triggered by the death of Heather Peterson, 46, who was hit by a stray bullet last week, apparently fired by rival gang members who were engaged in a gunfight in the area.
Yesterday, residents told Cele of their grievances, accusing the local police station of failing to rid the streets of drug peddlers. They also said police were complicit in the crimes committed in the area.
Cele told residents that he would appoint a task team to investigate all the allegations that were made against the police and the Sophiatown police station’s top management.
“The national police commissioner will investigate the allegations that you have made and we will come back to you to give you feedback. A special unit of anticorruption is being set up by the national commissioner,” Cele said.
“We commit ourselves to coming back to work on the matters the community has raised,” he assured residents.
Local resident Hellen Visser was, however, not impressed.
“These politicians just come here when they see that things are bad,” she said.
Another resident, Douglas Tarentaal, said Cele’s promises sounded good on paper. “We’ve heard these promises before. Politicians came here and said the same thing when Luke Tibbets was killed. We’ve heard this before and we are not impressed at all.”
Cele also visited Peterson’s home, where her husband Reuben expressed his disappointment with the police.
Reuben told Cele that he had not been updated about the status of the investigation, and that he had to hear on the streets that his dead wife’s alleged murderers had been arrested.
“I must point out to you, minister, that I am very disappointed. I am disappointed that it has taken so long for someone from government to come and meet with us.
“My wife was shot last week Thursday. I am hearing on the streets that people have been arrested but nobody came to tell us anything.”
Reuben said he wanted Westbury to be cleaned up in order to prevent another family from going through the same traumatic experience.
“We are going to bury my four-year-old [daughter’s] mother on Saturday. How am I going to explain to her what happened to her mother?
“She is going to go through life without her mother. It is going to be difficult for her,” he said.
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