To the Minister of Police, mr Bheki Cele

Dear Minister

I am an adult female citizen of South Africa. I live in an area called the Cape Flats. An area where the sound of gunshots is as normal as the sound of childrens laughter. Where a woman screaming for help whilst being raped is as normal as a crowd cheering at a soccer game. An area where a 2year old will look at a gunshot victim and say 'he got shot' without even blinking an eye and without a hint of fear in his voice. Where kids are taught how to quickly fall to the ground when the shots ring out, then just get up, dust themselves off and walk on as soon as it stops

Since the beginning if this lockdown I have been trying my best to stick to the rules. Stayed indoors. Maintained social distancing when outside once a week. I have done my part as much as I could.

When you took office, minister, you laid down an oath to protect and to serve. Your mandate is to uphold the safety and security of the citizens of this country. To protect us from criminals. To serve us with dignity and with humanity. But since the lockdown started you failed miserably

You go on national tv declaring war against cigarette sellers and those trading alcohol. Yet you say nothing about tackling real crime. You boast about the amount of people arrested for trading banned products. Yet you fail to have that same amount if criminals arrested and jailed. In 2019 we had 21 022 murders in the whole country. How many of those murderers have been arrsted and convicted? Can you brag about that? In the last 2 weeks alone we had at least 5 murders in my area. We had shooting on almost a daily basis. Sometimes up to 4times a day. When our kids must duck and dive in order to avoid being the next victim, the next statistic. Yet I dont see you boasting on national tv that you arrested those shooters. But you have the nerve to brag about how many vendors you locked up

A few days ago a lady was manhandled and wrongfully arrested by your officers. This was just one of many cases where law abiding citizens were assaulted, humiliated, sometimes even killed by the department you represent. The very force that was suppose to protect them. Yet I am still to see your officers do the same to the gangsters in my city. Or just my hometown. I am yet to see a drug merchant being pulled to a police vehicle the way that lady was pulled to the van. I am yet to see a burglar being shot at the way our law abiding people are being shot at. I am yet to see a guy being caught with an illegal firearm being slapped around and kicked the way your officers slap and kick our kids and women for being outside

Dear Minister, can you please protect our children with the same enthusiasm that you're protecting the cigarette and liquor ban with? Can your officers please respond to a REAL crime as swiftly as they respond to a spaza shop selling ghwais? Can you please have as many officers raiding drug dens as you have standing around at road blocks searching cars for alcohol? Can you send those officers standing at the robot in Bellville checking i.d's and permits to come into my area and search for drugs and illegal firearms?

Mister Minister, the next time an innocent child gets shot and killed by a gangster, can you please go on national tv and explain to the parents why cigarettes were more important than their child's life? When a father coming from work is stabbed to death can you please explain to the family - on national tv again - why searching for alcohol was more important than protecting their breadwinner?

When a child goes missing can you please get your officers to respond as quickly as they do now to people handing out food on the roadside? When a woman gets raped or a house gets burgled or someone gets robbed at gunpoint can your officers please rush as fast and force their way into the house of the perpetrator as quickly and efficiently as they rush and force their way into a spaza shop? Can they please beat up a skollie with a gun the same way they beat up a woman walking in the street?

In short dear minister, I would love to see you and your subordinates tackle real crime as stipulated in our criminal law with the same vigour and enthusiasm and eager as they are tackling your anti-liquor and anti-cigarette law today. I would love to see you on national tv boasting and bragging about removing real criminals from our streets the same way as you are bragging and boasting about removing smokes and dop from our streets. I would love to see the same pro-active approach to enforcing law and order as I see enforced to lockdown rules now

As the great Martin Luther King said:
We need leaders not in love with money but with justice
We need leaders not in love with publicity but with humanity

And I Thank You