President Cyril Ramaphosa should look closer to home if he is looking to charge someone with “war crimes”, according to Action Society. While Ramaphosa is looking to lay charges of war crimes in the Israel/Palestine unrest, he is missing the war going on in his backyard and the person that should face the “charges” is Bheki Cele.
A report released by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) earlier this week revealed that South Africa experienced its highest murder rate in two decades last year – an increase of 77% from 15 554 in 2011/2012 to 27 494 in the last year. “We expect tomorrow’s crime statistics for the second quarter to be a bloodbath, and it will only get worse in the third quarter’s statistics,” says Ian Cameron, Director of Community Safety at Action Society.
“In 2020, Bheki Cele committed to decrease contact crimes by 30% in five years. He is on course to see those numbers increase by 30%. If Ramaphosa fails to fire Cele for his incompetence, he should be held personally liable, along with Cele, for the pain and suffering caused to each victim of violent crime, especially the families of the almost 28 000 murder victims, whose cases will not be heard in the next three years due to the DNA backlog Cele caused. He should also join Cele in explaining to more than 90% of the families why their loved ones’ murderers will get away with their crimes.”
According to an ISS report published earlier this year, only 14,5% of murders are solved and according to the newest report, only one out of ten perpetrators charged with murder is convicted.
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