Bheki Cele is drunk on his newfound power – DA

The DA’s shadow minister of police Andréw Whitfield says Police Minister Bheki Cele is drunk on power.

Whitfield was reacting to Cele’s remarks that the alcohol ban during the national lockdown was the reason for the decrease in the crime rates in the country.

He said Cele should release a detailed presentation on the crime statistics for the lockdown.

“If you lock citizens in their homes like prisoners then crime will decrease in some categories,” Whitfield said.

He said that the lockdown had made criminals out of ordinary citizens. “We have seen increased looting during the lockdown while the regulations have also made criminals out of ordinary citizens going to buy food or even running a soup kitchen to feed the poor,” he said.

Cele said that the alcohol ban had dealt decisively with crime. On Wednesday he released the crime trends from March 29 to April 22 last year compared to March 27 to April 20 this year.

Cele said the results showed that crime was down by 69.4%. He also said domestic violence crimes had dropped from 9 990 cases to 3 061 in the same period.

Whitfield said Cele must present the statistics and the research before making such “outlandish” claims.

The minister announced that at the end of the initial 21-day lockdown “107 000 cases were opened and more than 118 000 people charged”.

Whitfield said that the lockdown can’t remain forever. “You cannot lock down the country forever, the minister mustn’t hide last year’s poor performance on crime stats behind the lockdown,” he said.

He added: “The minister even wants to ban alcohol after the lockdown. It is clear that the minister is drunk on his newfound power.”

Sonke Gender Justice, a non-profit organisation that advocates for gender justice, said the abuse of alcohol was a major contributor to crime and violence in the country.

Given Sigauqwe, the communications and strategic information unit manager at Sonke, said this was true especially for violence against women by men.

“Any regulations on alcohol consumption would lead to a significant reduction in the harmful use of alcohol and the associated crimes of violence against women. Studies show that men to women aggression is 11 times more likely to occur on days when perpetrators are drinking alcohol,” he said.

Sigauqwe said while any decrease in gender-based violence figure was welcomed, “we need to be privy to the fact that now, more than ever, there’s a likelihood that many cases will go unreported due to fear”.

“Measures such as social distancing have placed women, children and other vulnerable groups at the mercy of their abusers, reducing the chances of an outlet of any kind,” he added.

Sigauqwe said that abuse, in general, was underreported due to stigma, a lack of confidence in the police, a justice system that discourages reporting and fear.

“Given the anxiety that is a result of the period [lockdown] we find ourselves in, it is likely that the factors that cause underreporting are amplified,” Sigauqwe said.

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