Minister Fikile Mbalula

Minister Fikile Mbalula Photo: Twitter/Minister Fikile Mbalula

Minister Fikile Mbalula: ‘SAPS MUST shoot people living on rail lines’

Minister Fikile Mbalula said ‘SAPS must shoot’ people who set up shacks on the rail line during the partial re-opening of the Cape Town Central Line.

Minister Fikile Mbalula

Minister Fikile Mbalula Photo: Twitter/Minister Fikile Mbalula

Minister Fikile Mbalula’s statement that police must shoot people who set up a shack on the rail line has been met with utter disgust. 

FIKILE SAID: I’M SAYING TO SAPS TO SHOOT, BUT NOT TO KILL.’

How, as a minister of this country, can you make a statement like this? 

This is what the DA also questioned on Wednesday. 

Mbalula was quoted as saying: 

“I’m saying to SAPS shoot, but not to kill. Anyone who is going to erect a shack here must be dealt with. I’m not going to accept that people are going come here and put up shacks. The land must be guarded”.

Fikile Mbalula
Minister Fikile Mbalula
Photo of the railways: Photo: Twitter/Minister Fikile Mbalula

HIS STATEMENT WAS MET WITH UTTER DISGUST

DA Provincial Leader, Western Cape, Tertuis Simmers, the DA in the Western Cape, was appalled by this statement. 

“Not only was the re-opening a complete disaster, since the train was delayed and then got stuck between stations, but Mbalula’s reckless instruction to police officers to shoot people on the railway line is nothing short of criminal. Is Mbalula’s idea of solving the issue of destitute and homeless people on the central line to shoot them?” 

Simmer furthermore said Mbalula’s “disgusting approach” is the direct opposite of that of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, who announced that he “wanted to shift from a law enforcement-driven approach to a care intervention programme” where the focus will be to assist homeless people with getting off the streets.

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“The Minister must immediately retract the statement and apologise to the public. He should rather focus on his job and ensure that when he opens railway lines with such fanfare as yesterday, the trains are actually working properly.” 

Simmers

‘STATEMENT MUST BE RETRACTED AND HE MUST APOLOGISE TO THE PUBLIC’

According to a report by the Daily Mail, the community leaders of the families occupying Metrorail’s Central Line in Langa and Philippi were shown the land where Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula will relocate them.

The families, who have been living along the railway line for over two years, had refused to move until they were shown the relocation site — two parcels of land in Philippi.

 A major complaint of the community was that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) had failed to fulfill various promises to them over the years.

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