Cele labels KZN community 'drunkards' following murder of 2 women
Police Minister Cele has pinned the scourge of gender-based violence in KwaZulu-Natal on alcohol.
Cele visited the Plessislaer community in Pietermaritzburg, west of Durban, after the murder of two women recently.
The bodies of both women, believed to be in their thirties, were found with stab wounds on Monday.
Cele blamed the scores of liquor outlets in the area for the increase in brutal crimes.
"People don't drink here, they swim in alcohol," he said.
"There are 125 shebeens, plus 10 bottle stores, 135 outlets of alcohol here. That's why the local community here is always drunk.
"You can't then get a normal community, you can't then get a normal society."
Cele added there were fewer schools and churches in the area, fuelling the crisis.
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He pleaded with the community and law enforcement to drive criminals out.
"Please create two kinds of lives here - create a peaceful life for the people who respect the law but create the hell for criminals," Cele said.
"Criminals must live in hell, they must know we are here, we must arrest them, we must increase the arrests and make sure that they stay in prison for a very long time."
No arrests have been made in this week's killing.
"We can't just coexist, we can't just co-govern," Cele added.
"Let's create an environment where criminals don't have any form of comfort, create an environment where the comfort zone of criminals is disturbed and criminals don't find any peace, any grace around here."
Listen to Bheki Cele below:
