Zulu leader warns 2010 could flop in South Africa

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JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South Africa's failure to combat crime and international perceptions that the country is unsafe, could render the 2010 Soccer World Cup a "monumental flop", veteran Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has said.

The former cabinet minister said this international perception could deter some of the 450,000 visitors expected to visit the country - the first African country to host the massive international event.

"If prospective international visitors judge our country not safe enough to travel to, the event could turn out to be a monumental flop, and any economic gains hoped for will vanish into thin air," Buthelezi said in his weekly newsletter.

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South Africa has one of highest crime rates in the world, with 18,793 murders reported in the country of 46 million over the 2004-05 financial year, according to national crime statistics.

More than 55,000 rape cases were reported by police in 2005.

Buthelezi regards this as disgraceful, adding the country's criminal justice system was on the verge of collapse.

"The government's inability to identify, combat, isolate and successfully prosecute and incarcerate criminals is a national disgrace," he said.

He also condemned the culture of glamorising crime in South Africa's townships as well as unhealthy, unfit and semi-literate police officers who were untrained and should be removed from the country's police services.

"It is totally unacceptable that tens of thousands of rapists, murderers, pedophiles, vehicle hijackers, drug dealers and thieves of all kinds as well as national and international criminal syndicates strike every hour and everyday in South Africa - usually with impunity," he said