FIKILE Mbalula yesterday told the international media to "stop lying about crime during the current Confederations Cup".

FIKILE Mbalula yesterday told the international media to "stop lying about crime during the current Confederations Cup".

"People must not create the impression that crime was overwhelmingly high in South Africa. Naturally, we have isolated incidents like any other place in the world," said the deputy minister of police yesterday.

Mbalula was addressing a joint media briefing with the organising committee to deal with the successes of the Confederations Cup and challenges ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

Also present at the briefing was Danny Jordaan, chief executive officer of the local organising committee.

Mbalula said government was impressed by the level of security provided by the police and other law enforcement agencies for the tournament.

This is in the wake of media reports that Egyptian and Brazilian national team players were robbed at their hotels.

It has been widely reported by some media globally that South Africa was not safe as a result of the two incidents, but Mbalula and Jordaan described the reports as untrue. "We must extract the truth from the facts. When you deal with the truth, do not exaggerate," he said.

Though Mbalula did not want to deal with the specifics of the two alleged robberies, he made it clear the police cannot do anything when players invite friends to their hotel rooms.

Our sister newspaper, Sunday World, broke the story that Egyptian players were allegedly robbed by sex workers they had invited to celebrate their win over Italy. "Our core business is to protect you, but we can't follow you when you invite friends to your room," Mbalula said.