Africa News
Fat South African cops to be whipped into shape
Dec 31, 2009, 11:10 GMT
Johannesburg - South Africa's star athletes are to put the country's out-of-shape police officers through a fitness regime, less than six months before the World Cup kicks off.
In a country where the staple food is a carb-packed maize porridge, many police are too fat to run after criminals.
National police commissioner Bheki Cele has had the force's legions of overweight, unfit officers in his sights since becoming the country's top cop in July last year.
Earlier this year, retired star boxer 'Baby Jake' Matlala began putting officers through their paces in Gauteng province, where Johannesburg and Pretoria are situated.
Cele said sports stars in the KwaZulu-Natal province would also be providing fitness training for police.
Cele aims to expand the programme to the rest of the country, the Mercury newspaper reported Thursday.
The police also planned to establish fitness training centres in new police stations, the report said. 'We have also approached gym companies ... to help us,' Cele said.
South Africa hopes the 55,000 extra police officers being hired to beef up security at the World Cup will help to keep fans safe.
Around 400,000 foreign football fans are expected to descend on South Africa as it becomes the first African country to host the tournament. The country has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
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