The attack on the police station in Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape serves as proof that criminals in South Africa no longer fear the police. One reason for this is that there are numerous criminals in the police’s own ranks. This is a widely-known fact, but nothing is done about it.
That, together with the collapse of the police’s intelligence structures, has left the South African police being unable to protect itself. Usually when a country has a good, professional police service, the criminals fear the police and not the other way around.
That is also why members of the public have decided to arm themselves; it is so that they can protect themselves. It is therefore insolent for a Member of Parliament, like Shaik Eman from the NFP, to try and place the blame for attacks on police at the door of private gunowners.
I want to appeal to the new Minister of Police (Bheki Cele) to get rid of the criminals in the police service at once. Only then will criminals once again fear the police and will the public start to trust the police again.
The biggest reason for why the police’s intelligence structures collapsed over the last few years is that politicians and the government abused these structures for party-political purposes.
What happened at Ngcobo was nothing but organised crime. It was a group of people that planned their attack on the police station without the intelligence services even being aware of it.
Has the minister requested to look at the minutes of the community policing forum’s meetings? I am convinced that community members would have complained about the criminals at the relevant churches at those meetings.
If that did not happen, it would mean that the community let the police down. I, however, believe that there were indeed complaints, and that is also what the media reported. So clearly, the police failed the community in this case.
The FF Plus salutes the good, hardworking, professional members of the police that are willing to risk their lives to serve South Africa.
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