The police force will make South Africa safe for the 2010 World Cup and beyond, national Police Commissioner Bheki Cele said on Monday.
Speaking at the launch of the police’s festive season campaign, Cele said the police had put several structures in place to meet any possible crime during the World Cup.
”I don’t know who married 2010 and crime, but we’re going to divorce it,” he said.
Cele said he was in Malawi on Sunday to meet the police commissioners of all the Southern African countries in anticipation of the event and to try to stop transnational crime before it reaches the country’s borders.
”We have also met with the secretary general of Interpol [and] we are working with all police agencies of the participating countries … sharing information,” he said.
”We are sharing the list of those people that we need to take care of. Anybody who thinks that South Africa would be heaven for that [crime] stay at home boetie [brother].”
Cele said, however, that it was most important the structures put in place stay after 2010.
”South Africans must be safe for 2010 and beyond 2010,” he said.
”We are putting a lot of structures and we will keep those structures to make sure we chase these tsotsis.
”We chase them in their houses. We chase them in the hills, in the mountains, in the valleys, in the rivers. And I’ve been told we’ll be chasing them in the churches too,” he said.
Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said the fight against crime should be started in Gauteng and, in particular, in Johannesburg.
”This is where everything takes shape. This is where criminals become millionaires and become celebrities,” he said.
Mbalula said the government was not winning the war against crime, but that it was on track.
He said the fight against crime did not have a single answer, but needed a comprehensive approach, while adding that the fight against crime was a civic duty.
He appealed to the public not to buy stolen goods.
”We need to unite against criminals. We need positive role models in our society and environment,” he said.
”We need to embrace the values of hard work.” — Sapa