Cape Town - Calls for Police Minister Bheki Cele to step down or for President Ramaphosa to fire him are mounting.
Women For Change started a petition in which it expressed that under Cele’s leadership, Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) and murder in South Africa had continued to rocket.
Recent calls for Cele’s head came after he said a 19-year-old, one of the eight women raped in Krugersdorp, was “lucky” to have been raped by one man, rather than several. The petition to date has more than 10 700 signatures.
The NGO said the “disrespect” Cele had shown was his most shameful performance yet. It said Cele was unequipped to handle the seriousness of his role, and said the eight Krugersdorp rape victims could have been spared the horrendous ordeal if the police were capable of effective policing.
The petition follows the long-standing petition by the Action Society which was formally handed to Parliament last month and garnered more than 110 000 supporters.
The organisation insisted President Cyril Ramaphosa take the first step in getting the police into shape by firing Cele.
Some of the 10 reasons given for his dismissal included the DNA backlog, high gender-based violence crime statistics, police officers charged with serious offences, lack of the passing of the Convicted Offenders Bill, and the release of thousands of criminals.
Great People of South Africa founder Zintle Khobeni said the minister had repeatedly proved to be incompetent.
Khobeni said Cele was also insensitive to victims and survivors of crime, based on his comments in public.
“We have been part and parcel of the call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to sack Minister Bheki Cele. Crime against women and children continues to increase and his department does not seem to have any clue as to how they can curb the scourge of crime, particularly GBVF.
“Who in their right mind would say a victim of rape was lucky to be raped by one rapist? He is not the right man for the job and we demand he be released from his duties with immediate effect. It cannot be that he continues with his role yet he has proved he cannot adhere to his responsibilities,” she said.
Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba was approached for comment but could not respond by the time of publication.