ANC backs call for cops to use lethal force

Johannesburg - The ANC backed the call for police to use lethal force should their lives or those of the public be in imminent danger, the party president Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday.

Addressing a Chambers of Commerce and Industry of SA (Chamsa) conference, Zuma said: "In this war against crime we reiterate that our laws must bite.

"They must favour the victims of crime and be unsympathetic to those who deliberately seek crime as their employment."

He told the conference that it should continue to support the country's law enforcement agencies and especially the police.

"The safety of our police officials and our citizens is of paramount importance."

However, he said police must act within the bounds of the law.

Responsibility to serve and protect

"We obviously cannot as a ruling party or government advocate a culture of trigger happy police officials."

Last week Deputy Safety and Security Minister Susan Shabangu told police that they should kill criminals if they threatened police or the community.

"You must kill the bastards if they threaten you or the community. You must not worry about the regulations. That is my responsibility. Your responsibility is to serve and protect," she said.

Zuma also urged business to be receptive to the "importation" of skills.

He said skilled immigrants staying and working legally in the country contributed to the growth of the economy.

"Instead of taking jobs as some xenophobic compatriots argue, immigrants actually assist the domestic economy to create decent work opportunities for South Africans."

"We can't say we are globalising on the one hand and not globalising on the other."

He said everyone had a role to play in building a united patriotic front in the war against crime.

"How do we explain the audacity of criminals who break into and rob a court of law, violating an institution which should protect us all, whose premises should be sacrosanct," Zuma said to loud applause.