Locals from three villages near the Kruger National Park’s Numbi Gate in Mpumalanga have embarked on a protest march to voice their concerns about crime perpetrated against tourists.
This comes after a German tourist was shot and killed on the Numbi road in October. The marchers are also calling on authorities to build stalls for communities along the same road to sell their produce in order to alleviate poverty. Ward Councillor Raymond Mhlaba says the Numbi road should be used to benefit local communities.
“We demand the removal of the Hi-tech Security company because it is reactionary and is not employing our local people. For the development of the community, they must employ the local company. We also demand that the EPWP environmental monitors must employ 30 of them, so that they can clean the road and look after the tourists on daily bases. We also demand that a LED [Local Economic Development] in Mbombela to build stalls where the community will go and sell their products so that they are able to live going forward”.
Among those who took part in the march is Tourism Deputy Minister Fish Mahlalela.
Mahlalela believes that some of the demands are impractical.
“They made some demand that about Hi-tech. In principle we should not have Hi-tech. We should have a safe route and protected by the South African Police Services. But because of the challenges businesspeople felt they should beef government by adding security. So, it is not a government, it is a private initiative. The road is not clean, it is filthy. We are proposing to them that the PCO must mobilise communities themselves to clean the road. But we are also going to engage the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs to see whether they can come and get people to work and maintain this road to look more cleaner and environment so that when tourists are travelling, they don’t feel the road is not environmentally clean.”
Meanwhile, 35-year-old Joseph Nyalungu who was arrested and appeared in court a few weeks ago in relation to the killing of the German tourist, will appear again in the Kabokweni Magistrate’s Court next Monday.
VIDEO | A suspect in the murder of a German tourist arrested by police in Mpumalanga:
