Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.(SABC)
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Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa wants to stop a commission of inquiry launched by Western Cape premier, Helen Zille, from starting its work.
Mthethwa's lawyers are expected to lodge court papers in the Western Cape high court tomorrow. The Premier's lawyers will then decide on an appropriate response.
Khayelitsha is one of the biggest informal settlements in the country and in recent months there's been a surge in mob justice in the area.Suspected criminals have been necklaced, stoned, and beaten.The community blames police inefficiency and Zille wants claims of police ineffiency in Khayelitsha to be investigated.
The premier decided to act after what she claims were exhaustive attempts to involve the police minister, without success.
The Police Minister says other avenues should have been exploited first and this issue was his first order to new national police commissioner Rhiya Phiyega. "We've been trying to reason with the premier of the Western Cape on the matter and pointing out to her the importance of intergovernmental relations, and the observance of the prescripts of the law as it relates to intergovernmental relations, and she has made it clear to us, that by hook or crook, she wants to have a commission."
