WATCH: ‘Playing politics with our kids’ lives’ – Angry residents slam Cele for ’empty promises’ (VIDEO)

Police Minister Bheki Cele was met with angry residents when he attended the Crime Prevention Imbizo in Hanover Park, Western Cape, on Sunday.

Residents in the area were given the opportunity to voice their concerns about the crime in the area, with most unable to hold back on their criticism of the minister and his ministry.

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Community member Ashraf Gamieldien slammed the police top brass for “political points scoring”.

He also requested the police ministry to deploy Afrikaans-speaking police officers who would be able to bridge the language gap with the community.

Another resident, Dean Ramjoomia, an evangelist and pastor who addressed the minister while holding a small makeshift coffin, slammed the minister for bringing many police officers with him to the imbizo instead of search warrants.

“I want to ask you; you have probably close to 200 armed men assembled in this place. Why haven’t you brought about 100 search warrants and gone to kick down the doors of crime suspects, murder suspects right here in Hanover Park? You come into our communities wasting nine hours of our time to come here with an arrogant attitude that we must wait for you.

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“You are very popular and coming into our community with condolences, but your condolences are spitting in the faces of our people as this government has done for the last 30 years. The time has come! Before you hold any police officer accountable, hold yourself accountable.”

Watch Ramjoomia’s criticism of Cele:

Another resident, Salma Isaacs, however, called for unity in dealing with crime, instead of waiting for Cele to call an imbizo for the community to come together.

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“I just feel that it is disgusting that all of our community members must come together because of this man [Cele]. This man [Cele] doesn’t live with us on a daily basis; we all know each other’s faces and can stand together. People want to blame the next person; one wants to blame the men in blue, while this other one wants to blame another. It starts with us – we all want change but nobody wants to stand together.”

Echoing Isaacs’ sentiments, Cele called for society to come together in the fight against crime. He said the police ministry had deployed more resources to the area to address their grievances.

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“When it comes to criminality and protecting the people, put politics away, and all of us at all levels must work together. We have brought extra resources – extra police and cars from other provinces to work on those gangster-infested police stations,” Cele said.