Police and tourism ministries have launched a joint safety initiative, backed by the private sector, ahead of the festive season.
Police Minister Bheki Cele says 5 010 new police officers will be on the beat across SA this month, just in time for the December holiday peak.
The minister noted that greater visible policing, together with collaboration between other government departments and institutions, is important in establishing preventative measures to create a safer SA for locals as well as tourists. He said there were 26 such reported incidents in January, but in February and March this dropped to eight. In April and September there were no such incidents, but seven cases were reported in November. “The means our unit is working, keeping people safer between the airport and their destinations.”
“I really appreciate the support from Police Minister Bheki Cele and SAPS, as well as the TBCSA, in crafting this tourism safety programme.… Since my arrival in the Department of Tourism, the sector has raised great concern about safety affecting tourism, to the extent that our international arrivals to South Africa have dropped. Without a doubt, the challenges around safety had negatively affected our major markets,” she said.
“In the long term, we will remodel the Tourism Monitors Programme so that they are linked with [SAPS] Community Policing Forums and Community Safety Patrollers as part of [the] SAPS Community Policing Strategy.
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