The Police Minister in South Africa has declared war on criminals by redeploying a notoriously brutal unit and telling them to ‘crush balls’ and to make criminals ‘pee and drink their urine’.
Mr Fikile Mbalula was relaunching the Tactical Response Team – known as ‘AmaBerete’ – along with the police’s Tracking Unit, and told them to be ‘merciless’ to criminals on the street.
He said in a speech to 200 new TRT recruits at Pretoria West Police Academy: ‘Where criminals congregate and come together we must unsettle them. We must squeeze them.
‘If they have got balls we must crush them. We must crush their balls. Let the criminals pee and drink their own urine. If a man says he has balls’ we must crush those balls.
He said in a speech to 200 new TRT recruits at Pretoria West Police Academy: ‘Where criminals congregate and come together we must unsettle them. We must squeeze them’
He added: ‘If they have got balls we must crush them. We must crush their balls. Let the criminals pee and drink their own urine. If a man says he has balls’ we must crush those balls’
Mr Mbalula was appointed by ANC President Jacob Zuma in March this year to combat crime in South Africa
‘These people are undermining the sovereignty of our country.
‘We must clamp down on them and today I am saying you must be merciless to dangerous criminals.
‘Do not blink when you deal with a criminal, run them down if needs be and then you must return fire with fire and protect our people against them’ he said.
Mr Mbalula was appointed by ANC President Jacob Zuma in March this year to combat crime in South Africa.
Mbalula was quoted by TimesLive saying that the unit must do what they were notorious for, ‘kicking down doors and dishing out dizzying blows’, and he would deal with the courts.
He said to loud cheers from the units stood to attention before him: ‘Even if you do not have a warrant of arrest, slap them. Break the law progressively and let me worry about court cases’.
He said that as Police Minister he had specifically resuscitated the unit with a reputation for terrifying townships in the South African province of Gauteng to respond decisively to criminals
Mbalula said officials had profiled dangerous criminals, including those who had cases dubiously withdrawn against them possibly due to corruption, and were ready to ‘take them out’.
He said the units must round up these thugs and lock them up by Christmas.
The minister also issued a stern warning to rogue cops, saying he was coming for them.
He said: ‘We must exorcise them. We must take out the devil amongst us,’ he said.
Mr Fikile Mbalula (pictured) was relaunching the Tactical Response Team – known as ‘AmaBerete’ – along with the police’s Tracking Unit, and told them to be ‘merciless’ to criminals on the street
Mbalula added that police must get fit and be in top condition to fight crime and said that he was making arrangements with Virgin Active for police officers to get free membership
He said it was embarrassing for police to be beaten up by criminals and added that only he as the Minister was allowed to have a ‘bulging belly’ and not those fighting crime on the streets.
He joked: ‘Big bellies are for the Minister alone. Leave that for me so I can enjoy myself.’
To laughter he also said that the national rugby team, The Springboks, who were thrashed 57-0 by the All Blacks last week, had let down the country and the result had led to criminal behaviour.
He joked that unless they raised their game he would send his police units in to sort them out.
In South Africa there are 50 murders every day and an estimated 100,000 rapes a year and serious crime such as car hijacking is rocketing with 11 shot dead overnight in a Cape Town bar.