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Police Minister Bheki Cele.
- Police Minister Bheki Cele said he did not say that farmers should expect to be injured at a recent community meeting in KwaZulu-Natal.
- He was criticized for the quotes attributed to him by the leader of FF Plus, Pieter Groenewald.
- An ANC deputy said that the ANC did not want farm killings.
Police Minister Bheki Cele denied he was so irresponsible as to say that farmers should not complain if they are injured.
This after FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald accused him of inciting violence in rural communities.
At the beginning of a Portfolio Committee meeting with the Police on Tuesday, Cele said there appeared to be a slight increase in crime in the farming community.
“Most of the people have been arrested, but we wish we had been better at prevention,” he added.
During the question session, Groenewald reprimanded him.
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Two weeks ago, it was reported that Cele held a meeting with the Normandien farming community in KwaZulu-Natal, where Glen and Vida Rafferty were killed in early September.
Normandy Agricultural Association president Roland Collyer, also a nephew of the Rafferty couple, told Landbou that he was disappointed by what Cele had said at the meeting in response to a livestock problem.
He told the publication that Cele allegedly told the meeting that “farmers should not complain if they are injured after seizing livestock.”
Groenewald said it was sadly that he had to ask Cele about that statement.
Example
“You must lead by example. You made a statement when you lost your temper in Normandien and said that farmers should not complain when they are injured or hurt,” he added. “What did you mean?
“I tell them that they are inciting violence. It is totally unacceptable that the police minister can make statements that farmers should not complain when they are injured.”
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Princess Faku, an ANC MP, came to Cele’s defense, saying that black farmers sometimes complained that Cele seemed to care more about whites.
“In KwaZulu-Natal, when there were murders on farms, he was the first person to go to KwaZulu-Natal,” he said.
Faku warned against politicizing agricultural killings and said the ANC didn’t want any.
In response to Groenewald’s complaint, Cele said:
“I never said that statement. I never said it. It wouldn’t be so irresponsible.”
He added that he did reprimand a farmer who felt he spoke arrogantly to him.
Groenewald said the committee should investigate why those words were attributed to Cele.
