By- The President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, said it was false that foreign nationals committed the bulk of crimes in South Africa.
Mbeki told a conversation meeting with students and diplomats in Pretoria that it was wrong to paint all foreign nationals with the same brush.
The former President said crime had no nationality, and if foreigners commit crimes in South Africa, they must be arrested and deported.
Said Mbeki:
We need to walk away from the false notion that the bulk of crime in this country is caused by foreigners. It is not correct.
The bulk of crime in this country is caused is committed by South Africans. There are foreigners who commit crimes.
You should arrest them and charge them. This is what we should do and avoid labelling other people.
He reminded South Africans that several African countries assisted South Africa in attaining its independence.
He said:
The African continent has felt, for a very long time, very, very close to this country, that it has its own responsibility to assist in the liberation of the people of South Africa.
You take a country like Mozambique just across our border, which lost thousands and thousands of people killed because it was refusing to walk away from the support here. The same thing happened in Angola.