Khayelitsha crime imbizo: After mass shootings, Cele arrives to tune of 'I Will Survive'

• Police Minister Bheki Cele visited Khayelitsha on Monday after a series of mass shootings in the area.
• Cele arrived to the tune of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive", played by the police band.
• He also held a private meeting with community representatives.

Police Minister Bheki Cele arrived for a community meeting in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, on Monday as the tune "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor was played loudly by the police band.

Attendees dressed in the yellow safety jackets of their voluntary policing groups cheered for Cele as he made his way to the stage with a red feather in his hat.

A mournful round of hymns followed the national anthem, and everybody sang, caught up in the brief moment of solace from a relentless wave of violent crime and mass shootings.

Five people were shot dead in two separate incidents in Khayelitsha on Saturday.

Earlier, Cele held a private meeting with community representatives in a school hall across the road from the main meeting venue.

While attendees finished a humble plate of fruits and a muffin, City of Cape Town employees aimed a strong jet of water at a large puddle of faeces and wastewater spewing out of a drain in the middle of the street outside.

Nearby, a parking lot had a small sinkhole around another drain and the entrance to a school where the first meeting was held was also filled with wastewater.

Pedestrians walked carefully, avoiding being sprayed with the liquid sewerage.

By the time Cele left for the main meeting, the street had been cleaned and disinfected for Cele's walk across the road to the hall for the open meeting. He was followed closely by an armed police officer.

Cele was accompanied by his deputy, Cassel Mathale, Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, and police top brass.

Khayelitsha has been bearing the brunt of mass shootings that are terrorising other parts of the country, with another spate of shootings over the weekend.

It wasn't clear if anti-crime lobbyist Ian Cameron would be present.

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At a recent community meeting in Gugulethu, Cele shouted at him in a rage and told him to "shut up". He was removed from the meeting.

Khayelitsha Development Forum chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said some people were creating havoc in the township. He said the area had changed after once being earmarked as a presidential development node.

He said: 

He lambasted people who cloak themselves in leadership during protests when they don't necessarily represent the community. He also took aim at NGOs who he said seemed to work for their funders and not the community.

He again asked for a stipend for anti-crime volunteers patrolling the area.

Cele was set to speak later on Monday.

The minister's visit to Khayelitsha comes at a time when several communities across the country are reeling from deadly mass shootings.

Cele visited Alexandra in Johannesburg on Sunday, days after six people were killed in two separate incidents.