The news of the murder of a German tourist near the Kruger National Park, an internationally recognised tourist destination synonymous with wildlife and adventure, has understandably raised concerns about the safety of tourists. With the tourism sector forming 3.7% of the national economy, questions have been asked about how to better secure tourist areas from crime.
Forestry, fisheries and environment minister Barbara Creecy appealed to the Mpumalanga police “to work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to book”.
“The murder of the tourist will undermine our programme to put tourism and job creation back on track as we emerge from the pandemic,” said Creecy.
Similarly, tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu was quoted as saying “the safety of tourists is paramount for the industry”, with SA having had only three tourist deaths in 27 years.
“This is a record of safety. For tourists, we provide maximum security,” Sisulu is quoted as having said in a briefing this week.
In a country where 6,424 people were killed in three months, mostly by guns, the solution to the problem cannot be dealt with in a piecemeal manner but needs an urgent overhaul of the crime-fighting environment.
This shows a broken system that not only affects the tourist community, but South Africans as a whole.
It may be part desensitisation and part resigning ourselves to the reality of crime but the lives of tourists should not be considered more important than the 71 people killed daily in SA, whether in Mpumalanga, Mannenberg or Mohlakeng. SA is unfortunately a country of unsolved murders and other crimes. In the Western Cape, entire families have been killed without a single perpetrator being arrested. Police minister Bheki Cele has been known to swan into a location and make promises of arrests that often do not materialise.
But the 6,242 murders a month is a reality of life in SA for many citizens who either live in fear daily, or have spent thousands on additional security to avoid reaching a similar fate. The scourge of crime is unescapable, whether it is mass shooting or brazen cellphone theft.
While the tourism industry may focus on tourist hotspots, what about the South Africans who service those areas and who must return to violence in their own communities? The approach to dealing with crime must be holistic, looking at the resources needed in the entire community.
There have been 11 incidents of crime in the area where Jorg Schnarr was killed, according to Netwerk 24, and arrests have been made in only two of the cases, Cele has admitted. In these cases nobody was killed, however it shows an alarming crime trend that police have had only a 20% success rate. If one looks at other areas where major crimes take place, such as Nyanga, Langa and Mannenberg in the Western Cape, the hope of arrest is even lower.
This shows a broken system that not only affects the tourist community, but South Africans as a whole. We have previously written about the need to adequately resource the police, which Cele has repeatedly said. We have fewer officers now than in 2010, when the police hired hundreds of new officers to protect those coming to SA to attend the Fifa World Cup. At the time, the country was also able to establish special courts to rapidly deal with crime, which were phased out once the World Cup supporters departed our shores.
The swift justice requested for Schnarr is something every South African deserves and should expect from the police service. If the police are incapable, then government needs to go back to the drawing board to consider how it will safeguard tourists and citizens alike.
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