The Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT) in Mpumalanga has condemned the murder of a German tourist near the Kruger National Park Numbi Gate. Police say robbers accosted four tourists who were heading to the Numbi Gate. It is alleged that three robbers instructed the tourists to open the doors of their vehicle and they refused. One of the suspects then fired a shot through the window and struck the driver on the upper body.
The driver managed to drive away for several meters before the vehicle crashed into a boundary wall. The driver died on the scene and the three suspects fled without taking anything from the tourists. KLCBT Chairperson Oupa Pilane says the tourism sector is issuing a R50 000 reward for information that can lead to the arrest the people responsible for the murder of the tourist.
“It is a bad sad day for tourism in our province and our country in general and we would like to send our deepest condolences to friends and family of the deceased and also as tourism we are issuing a reward of R50 000 for those that can help us to get this perpetrators to book. South Africa doesn’t deserve such a barbaric incident to happen while we still growing,” says Pilane.
MTPA CEO Herman Vilakazi says they are baffled by the incident since nothing was taken from the tourists. Vilakazi says they have contracted a private security company to patrol the road leading to the Kruger National Park Numbi Gate among other interventions to ensure the safety of tourists.
“We have put in systems in Numbi. We have private security guards, we also removed some of the speed humps so that we don’t have this happening. But we are just shocked that we don’t know the intention of the criminals because there’s nothing taken from the tourist but we have a fatality in that incident,” explain Vilakazi.
