Government will deal firmly with people bent on terrorrising the nation by carrying out bomb attacks, President Thabo Mbeki stated in his address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) yesterday.

Responding to the debates in the NCOP, the President referred to the bombers as 'dinosaurs in our society that will hang over from the past'.

He added that 'in the tradition of dinosaurs, the terrorists would disappear.' Mbeki warned that law enforcement officers would act firmly against terrorist acts.

'It is our obligation to make sure that we protect lives and property,' said the President.

He said he was glad to hear one speaker condemning the bombings and added that there was no need for such actions.

'It is obviously incorrect and the more many of us say so, the better. It cannot be that there is any demand in the country by anybody, which gives them justification to take up arms of any sort and declare war against the South African society,' said the President.

The President made a reference to the Group of 63, a body of conservative Afrikaner academics who commented earlier on the bombings and said he hoped they (Group of 63) would develop and 'if they don't they will go the way of the dinosaurs'. - BuaNews