Durban - South Africa’s crime rate should not be exaggerated, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu told the BBC in an interview during the funeral service of murdered soccer star Senzo Meyiwa at the weekend.
Mchunu was responding to questions from reporter Tom Burridge, who is based in Kenya, and who was in Durban for the service at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
“We should not exaggerate the level of crime because it is not like it affects each and every family.
“But we should not hide the fact that crime is there,” said Mchunu.
“Our police should get out of police stations to fight crime. Where we have done this in KwaZulu-Natal it has been to good effect,” he said.
Mchunu was among many government officials who attended the service.
They included the Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, the former correctional services minister S’bu Ndebele and UDM leader Bantu Holomisa.
Mamelodi Sundowns soccer team owner Patrice Motsepe and Kaizer Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung also paid their last respects to the Pirates and national goalkeeper and captain.
The funeral was emotionally charged with fans blowing vuvuzelas and singing in praise of Meyiwa.
The crowd heckled Radebe, telling him to sit down, when they became bored by his long speech, which he delivered on behalf of the national government.
Meyiwa was gunned down at the home of his singer girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus on the East Rand last week.
In his speech Mchunu told the packed stadium that South Africans should not panic because the government had the capacity to fight crime. He also called on communities to participate in the fight against crime.
“All criminals know that we are after them. They know that we will collect all of them and put them where they belong,” he said.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula described the criminals who shot Meyiwa as devils.
“Those who took Senzo’s life should know that there will be justice for all of them,” he said.
Bidvest Wits goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs said that he was “angry and frustrated” by Meyiwa’s murder.
“I am frustrated because of what these guys (murderers) did. I want them to be arrested,” he said.
Motaung, who has declared his support for Gun Free South Africa, said he believed that the country did not need firearms.
“We must not celebrate crime and criminals. Anyone who knows where the perpetrators (of Meyiwa’s murder) are and keeps quiet about it is equally guilty,” the Kaizer chiefs boss said.
Meyiwa’s wife, Mandisa Mkhize, wept when she threw soil and a flower into the grave of the father of his daughter.
Meyiwa was buried next to the struggle figure and journalist Nat Nakasa in Heroes’ Acre in Chesterville.
* So far one suspect has been arrested and he appeared briefly in court on Friday.
The Mercury