Mbeki 'out of kilter on crime'
2007-03-18 15:56
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki's claim that entrenched racism among South Africa's white community is behind the rising tide of anti-crime campaigns in the country is unreasonable, untenable and "dangerously out of kilter", say opposition parties.
"Thabo Mbeki has now indelibly defined his presidency as one of the great denialist eras in South African history," Democratic Alliance safety and security spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said on Sunday.
"First he will be remembered as the president who denied the HIV-Aids link.
"And in the last days of his term of office, he has now stated that he believes that white racists are to blame for this country's perception of crime."
She was reacting to Mbeki's weekly newsletter, published on Friday on the ANC Today website, in which the president said a "massive propaganda campaign has been conducted on the issue of crime, in many instances without any regard and respect for the truth".
"What massive propaganda campaign is it that the president is referring to? A campaign on the issue of crime?" asked Kohler-Barnard.
"Suggesting that the plague of crime infecting this country is merely a figment of racist fulminations is a step too far, and dangerously out of kilter with the feelings of all South Africans."
In a separate statement on Sunday, Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said Mbeki was "totally wrong".
"The sooner he stops seeking all sorts of reasons for the crime situation, and starts addressing it as a crisis involving all South Africans, the sooner solutions can be found," he said.
Blaming the situation on racism among the white community was "unreasonable and untenable", he said.
- SAPA