'Point a gun at a cop and you will die'

Published Jun 26, 2006

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Anyone who points a gun at a police officer will be killed, says Safety and Security minister Charles Nqakula.

"There are some criminals in South Africa who are armed, and are prepared to kill people... Anyone who points a firearm at police will be killed by police officers," he said.

His message came after Sunday's shootout deaths.

He admitted there was a lot of violent crime in South Africa which was "one of the things we want to bring down as quickly as possible".

The incident showed that police were trained to handle such situations and would do whatever is necessary to bring these violent criminals to book, he said. "I regret that there was such bloodletting."

Nqakula made headlines after recently saying in parliament that those who whinge about crime can either "carry on whinging or leave the country".

In an interview on the actuality programme Interface, he reiterated that his statements had been aimed at three white MPs who were "negative in every debate about crime".

He did apologise, but added that he did not say anything wrong. "I apologise... not because I did anything wrong, but for the way it was interpreted and conveyed."

He said despite scepticism about crime statistics which were reportedly decreasing, government stands by those statistics.

"Despite the fact that they are going down, they are very high," he said. - Sapa

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