'SA not heading to lawlessness'
Cape Town - South Africa is not about to descend into a state of lawlessness, despite the country's high crime levels, said President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday.
However, something had to be done about the "entrenched" level of violence in the country, he told a media briefing in Cape Town, after a meeting of the African National Congress's provincial executive committee on Sunday.
The Rapport newspaper reported on Sunday that business magnate Johann Rupert, in a meeting with the president last week, had told Mbeki crime in South Africa had reached a crisis point.
The newspaper quoted Rupert as saying there was great danger that rising crime could see the country descend into general lawlessness, as had happened in Colombia.
Denies SA sinking into lawlessness
Mbeki said what Rupert had told him at the meeting was: "President, I agree with you, (when you say) there is something in this society, which entrenches a level of violence... that is unacceptable."
The president said Rupert had been referring to something he (Mbeki) had said last week, when he had spoken on crime at a meeting of the national house of traditional leaders (NHTL) in Cape Town.
At the time, Mbeki told the NHTL almost 80% of murders in South Africa were committed by people who knew their victim, and most occurred at weekends in situations where people had been drinking.
Mbeki denied the country was sinking into lawlessness.
"There wasn't any suggestion the country's about to drop into the Atlantic Ocean because of crime," he said.
News source: www.news24.co.za
Posted by: www.SouthAfrica-CarHire.com
South Africa Car Hire
Click Click... Vroom, Vroom
