It’s no marvel our legislators want bodyguards and convoys of vehicles to guard them – a minimum of if the reception Police Minister Bheki Cele acquired in Soweto on Wednesday is something to go by.
The hat-wearing prime cop felt the warmth of neighborhood anger as he made his look, following the killing earlier this week of a South African, Kgomotso Diale, throughout a protest by the Operation Dudula motion in Soweto.
The organisation was transferring in opposition to theft of electrical energy cables and unlawful connections – allegedly involving foreigners – when there was taking pictures.
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The neighborhood is offended – and it made this plain to Cele – that policing of their space is sort of nonexistent and that the cable thefts occur virtually day by day, with cables being ripped out as quickly as they’re changed.
The spectre of rising crime – and the alleged involvement of foreigners in it (a notion taking root, fuelled by the activism of populist politicians and teams like Operation Dudula) – is a fuse for an explosion of extra xenophobic violence and counterviolence which has already been lit.
Cele should do greater than pose for the cameras, protected by his safety element. He should order actual adjustments and take care of the criminals, regardless of their origin.