A community meeting in Gugulethu, outside Cape Town, descended into chaos, when the Minister of Police Bheki Cele clashed with one of his fiercest critics.
Cele had an altercation with activist and leader of Action Society, Ian Cameron at Ikhwezi Community Centre on Tuesday.
Drama started when Cele said to Cameron, “I sat here listening to you talking nonsense… Sit down, shut up.”
Cameron took offence on how Cele addressed him and told the minister as such.
Cameron accused Cele of politicizing the plight of the people and made things about himself other than issues faced by the community in the Western Cape.
“I called Cele out as he was talking politics instead of dealing with issues faced by the people of the Western Cape. He was complaining about neighbourhood crime watch, traffic police and metro police saying that they are trying to form parallel structures and the Constitution,” Cameron said.
He added that what also offended Cele was when he asked him as to why he rocked up in the meeting with a motorcade of six cars with bodyguards while ordinary women will be patrolling the streets at night without being guarded by anyone.
“I told him that he should wear normal clothes and walk the streets to show the empathy on their plight, and he lost it.”
Cameron told Cele not to speak down on him and all hell broke loose as the minister chastised the activist telling him that he was sent to prison.
“Don’t teach me about human right. Don’t provoke me, don’t tell me things that you have been told about. I have lived this life. I have lived the life of being African. I have lived the life when my mother was called a kitchen girl, when my father was called a garden boy. I am not going to take nonsense from somebody ho regard me as a garden boy today, because you regard me as a garden boy, shut up, shut up. I sat here listening to you talking nonsense. Sit down and listen young man or get out,” said Cele.
Cameron snapped and refused to sit down, even after one of the resident members tried to ask him to sit down.
Few community members were also heard saying “get out” to Cameron, repeating Cele’s screams.
Drama escalated further as two bulky police officers moved towards Cameron and forcefully removed him from the hall.
Outside the hall three police officers kept on shoving and pushing Cameron who was not willing to back down telling the police that he did nothing wrong.
Speaking to Sunday World after he was chucked out, Cameron said, “Nothing will change in what I said until Bheki Cele is fired. He abuses police for political gain, as it happened there that I was forcefully removed from the meeting by a number of SAPS members….The cops told me and said you white boy don’t come here with your nonsense,” he said.
