National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele took a British journalist to task on Thursday for asking for an assurance that no more tourists were going to be killed in Cape Town.
“You (in the United Kindgom) are not crimeless,” Cele said. “We should not come here as if we are spotless in our own countries.”
Cele was addressing a media briefing in the city on investigations into the weekend slaying of honeymooning tourist Anni Dewani.
The journalist, who identified himself as representing “all UK newspapers”, provoked Cele's ire when he asked whether the commissioner thought Cape Town was a safe tourism destination.
“If so, can you assure us that no other tourists are going to get killed in this city?” the journalist asked.
Cele said that when he went to London a month before the World Cup he wanted to visit the suburb of Brixton, and his designated driver had “literally refused” to take him there.
The driver had been concerned that either the car, or Cele and the car, would never return.
“I'm simply saying we are dealing with (an0 international phenomenon. Crime is (an) international phenomenon,” he said.
He said a batch of stolen cars discovered this week in the port of Durban all came from London.
“I'm saying to you, you act as if you are crimeless where you come from,” Cele said. “You are not crimeless.”
“Dont' talk as if you are crimeless.” -
Sapa