Trump to be given extra security in SA: ‘Some animals are more equal than others’

US President Donald Trump will receive increased security when he visits Johannesburg for the G20 leaders’ summit later this year.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Thursday suggested that American presidents are special and require extra security.

“Presidents of the US are called leaders of the Free World. When a leader of the Free World visits your country, the security must be heightened.

“We are all equal and we are all sovereign, but some are more equal than others, so the security needs to be heightened.

“[Chinese President] Xi Jinping being here, you have to heighten the security. If he comes, there will be heightened security, like security will be heightened for all the foreign dignitaries that come through,” she said.

South Africa’s crime problem

Ntshavheni was part of a delegation of South African politicians and businesspeople who recently visited the US to meet with Trump in a bid to reset relations between Pretoria and Washington.

It was at this meeting that South Africa’s crime problems were displayed in front of international media.

During this meeting, South African billionaire Johann Rupert told Trump that crime is also out of control in the Western Cape.

He compared gangsters in the Cape Flats to rebel militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Ntshavheni faced tough questions from reporters about international concerns over crime in South Africa.

However, she said there were interventions to clamp down on crime and all illegal activities in the country.

“There is an acceptance and an acknowledgement that crime in South Africa affects all of us, whether you are in suburbia, a township, or a village.

“The statistics indicated a decline in some categories of crime, such as murder. However, sexual offences, including other contact sexual offences, have increased, including commercial crime, which has also increased,” she said.

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G20 leaders’ summit held near Soweto  

The G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held at the Nasrec Expo Centre just outside of Soweto in November.

Ntshavheni said the government was intentional in choosing the location for the G20 leaders’ summit. to eliminate the legacy of apartheid-era spacial planning.

“The democratic government continues to develop the Nasrec precinct to serve as a bridge against apartheid spatial planning that separated the developed and undeveloped South Africa, which remains a true story of a South Africa with two countries,” she said.

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