Bheki Cele Westbury

MITCHELLS PLAIN, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 25: Police minister Bheki Cele visits the Eastridge area where a house was petrol bombed by community members after the discovery of 6-year-old Stacey Adams’ body on June 25, 2018 in Mitchells Plain, South Africa. Cele engaged with community members after a missing girl’s body was found dead at a shallow grave next to a Wendy house near her home on Sunday. (Photo by Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Cele slams DA for calling for deployment of army in the Cape Flats

Cele says his department will instead increase police presence in the problem areas.

Bheki Cele Westbury

MITCHELLS PLAIN, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 25: Police minister Bheki Cele visits the Eastridge area where a house was petrol bombed by community members after the discovery of 6-year-old Stacey Adams’ body on June 25, 2018 in Mitchells Plain, South Africa. Cele engaged with community members after a missing girl’s body was found dead at a shallow grave next to a Wendy house near her home on Sunday. (Photo by Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Minister of Police Bheki Cele has urged the Democratic Alliance (DA) to stop making crime a “political ball”, following calls to deploy the army in the Cape Flats.

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille had penned a letter to Cele, calling on him to follow up on the pledge taken by his predecessor, Fikile Mbalula, who said he would deploy the South African National Defence Force to places where gang violence is rife.

Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Cele said deploying the army to said areas was not necessary.

“The people of the Western Cape don’t want the army‚ they want safety‚” he said.

“If you give them visibility of the police and better safety‚ they will take that.”

Watch: Gang violence: Doccie gives disturbing insight into Cape Flats life

Cele said his department would instead look at increasing police numbers, as the presence of the army would be a recipe for disaster;

“The police are trained to be softer when large numbers of people are in danger‚” he said.

“They are the only ones to have that training.”

In May, Cele launched Operation Thunder, a crime-fighting initiative which he says has been mostly a success, as most of the hotspots targeted by the operation had been stabilised.

The operation was initially meant to be a 90-day initiative but will continue until its targets are met.

“In six of the areas we are almost there with stabilisation, and now we move to reversal‚” he said.

He singled out Mitchells Plain as one of the key problem areas which are especially difficult to police.

“It’s one of the most hostile communities towards the police and towards the law generally‚” Cele said.

Cele’s comments came just before a march led by DA leader Mmusi Maimane, calling for the deployment of the army.

Read: Bheki Cele told to ‘voetsek’ when visiting the Eastridge crime scene of murdered six-year-old