The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been slammed by a fuming Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad after the broadcaster aired a documentary on crime in South Africa, the Business Day reported on its website on Thursday.
The documentary was broadcast at the time of President Thabo Mbeki's state of the nation address.
It was filmed in Hillbrow and concluded that South Africa was the crime capital of the world.
African National Congress (ANC) MP Mike Masutha got the debate rolling this week with a member's statement in the National Assembly that said crime statistics showed there had been considerable improvements in the situation in Hillbrow.
He condemned the BBC's programme.
Pahad, using the ministerial slot to comment on members' statements said the BBC report was "selective, one-sided and distorted". One could not understand how it could have come from an institution with such a good reputation for fair reporting, he said.
He said government had many times acknowledged that crime was unacceptably high in South Africa and had consistently made more resources available in the fight against crime.
He added that the high crime rate was not unique to South Africa.
"There are also places in London where you cannot go," he said.
Last week, the ANC, on its website, accused the BBC of being racist and said the SABC could easily go to Britain and do a similar exposé in parts of London suggesting that Britain was also sinking under a wave of crime. - Sapa