Tighten gun control - 'Tsotsi'

2006-09-29 23:18

Johannesburg - Music star Zola, who played a gangster in the Oscar-winning film Tsotsi, has urged South Africa to back a UN-driven accord aimed at controlling weapons worldwide.

Zola said weak gun restrictions fed crime and drug addiction among teens in poverty-stricken communities.

"You have to look at how guns and drugs end up in the communities. These kids aren't bringing them to Soweto.

"But they get into drugs, crave them and then go into the streets hunting.

"Ordinary people on the street are terrified because someone could rob you," he said at an anti-weapons drive launched by lobbyists on Thursday.

Armed robberies against businesses have increased 32% in the past year while hijackings occurred at a rate of more than one every hour, official SA figures show.

"We don't know, sitting at traffic lights or in our driveways, if it's safe or if someone might put a gun to your head," said Zola.

Zola has enjoyed enormous success on the SA music scene and still lives in Soweto, like his character in Tsotsi.

Failure to sign could cost country

He was speaking at an event organised by the international arms control campaign that counts Amnesty, Oxfam and Archbishop Desmond Tutu among its supporters, ahead of a UN meeting on a resolution to ban the sale of weapons that fuel conflict.

SA has its own arms control laws and has yet to commit to back the resolution.

Failing to sign could cost the country dearly as it prepares to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, said Zola.

"We need to clean up domestically or we'll get a bad name. We can't afford for these thugs to have guns."

Zola was voted Artist of the Year at the 2005 SA Music Awards and his name appears alongside that of actress Charlize Theron on a list of the greatest living South Africans.

He is the leading Kwaito artist in the country - Kwaito is a blend of pop, dance and hip-hop music influenced by both the SA and American music industries.

- Reuters