The presidency on Tuesday refused to accept 23 000 letters about crime from concerned South Africans.
“Solidarity trade union deputy general secretary Dirk Hermann led a three-member delegation to Parliament to personally deliver the letters to President Jacob Zuma.
Pushing wheelbarrows containing the letters, the trio arrived at Parliament’s visitor’s centre — the appointed place of delivery — shortly after noon.
Hermann told the media the presidency had confirmed it would accept the letters at the visitors centre.
However, after some time and many cellphone calls to the presidency, Hermann announced the group had been instructed to take the letters to Zuma’s office, Tuynhuys, inside the parliamentary premises.
They pushed the wheelbarrows through the parliamentary gates and across the cobbles up to Tuynhuys, through the Tuynhuys gates, right up to the door, to the delight of the photographers, cameramen and journalists covering the event.
After another lengthy wait and further cellphone calls, Hermann and his delegation were instructed by the police to take everything back to the visitor’s centre, because the bundles of letters had not been scanned by security.
Back at the visitor’s centre, and after more cellphone calls, Hermann announced that the presidency was now refusing to accept the letters.
Under the circumstances, he said, they had no option but to dump the letters on the steps to the centre in the hope the presidency would collect them there.
Failing that, he and his delegation would return after Zuma’s reply to the debate on his State of the Nation address on Tuesday afternoon to collect the letters.
Dear Mr Zuma …
Thousands of members of the public signed on to the website www.dearpresident.co.za, where an open letter to the president was published.
It states: “Dear Mr Zuma… we looked forward to your State of the Nation address with great anticipation. We were especially anxious to hear what you have to say about crime …
“Only 2% of your speech, or 115 of your 4 411 words, were devoted to crime. In other words, in a speech that lasted almost an hour, one minute was spent on crime.
“You spent more time, or 132 words, welcoming guests of honour than talking about what you plan to do about crime.”
‘Nothing friendly between us and criminals’
South African Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa sought recently to allay fears about crime in the country during the Soccer World Cup, with the kick-off less than five months away.
“There is nothing friendly between us and the criminals,” he told a news conference in Johannesburg on January 26. “We are not friends, we are out to get them. We will make them run all the time. That’s why we are always tightening the screws.”
We are preparing the country for any eventuality, whether it is petty crime, whether it is big criminal activities,” he said. “We will be looking everywhere — under the stones, everywhere in the air, on the sea.”
With 41 000 additional police recruited for the tournament, South Africa has one of the world’s largest police forces relative to its population, police National Commissioner Bheki Cele said.
“In the UK, 140 000 policemen for about 60-million people, in France 147 000 for 60-million and here, 186 000 for 47-million,” Cele said.
Mthethwa said strong police visibility during the World Cup would deter criminals from targetting the more than 450 000 visitors expected during the month-long tournament.
“Through our own experience, where there is police visibility, there is a high level of crime prevention. We don’t have to engage in operations to combat crime, we just prevent it,” he said. – Sapa