Zuma visit ends with Sainsbury's snub

Friday, 5 March 2010 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

South African president Jacob Zuma finished his state visit by attending a City dinner last night, as he sought to recover from a devastating snub at a local Sainsbury's.

Mr Zuma, who has stayed as a guest of the Queen at Buckingham Palace and engaged in high-level talks with Gordon Brown in Downing Street, was touring the local Sainsbury's in Greenwich, south-east London, when the incident occurred.

Despite being flanked by a coterie of bodyguards, as well as Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King and environment secretary Hilary Benn, one elderly couple utterly failed to acknowledge him.

John and Catherine Przeslawski, aged 92 and 86 respectively, were instead busily engaged in choosing which cheeses to select from the cheese-counter as the presidential swarm swept past.

''We didn't notice anybody, we were too busy choosing our cheese, we didn't see the president at all," Mr Przeslawski said afterwards.

Later on Thursday Mr Zuma used an address to an audience of business leaders at a Guildhall banquet in the City to quell crime and security concerns about the coming football World Cup.

"It's expected that people will have concern but we have worked very hard on the World Cup and that has included the question of safety," he said.

"Besides the time of the games themselves, the fact is we have brought down crime already. We are therefore very confident on this. And when we say we are ready now for the World Cup, we include security in that."

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• africa
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• foreign policy