Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato condemns mugging of tourists in Khayelitsha

12 January 2020

I am disappointed to hear of the tourists being robbed at a gardening project in Site C, Khayelitsha. We reject the selfish nature of this act as each instance of crime has a negative impact on job creation opportunities and limits communities who need employment and want to uplift themselves.

I commend our city partners and officials for the swift activation of our 'Band Aid' programme for the tourists involved, which forms part of the travelwise initiative. The programme aims to assist affected visitors with remedial support, replacing lost documents, providing transfers and accommodation where needed and helping them to open a case at the South African Police Service (SAPS).

SAPS remains the primary law enforcement body in the country and I trust that with the appointment of a permanent Provincial Police Commissioner this month, they will begin to get their act together. We all need to play our part to keep residents and visitors safe, and we rely on the SAPS to be the lead policing agency. We call on SAPS to arrest those responsible as soon as possible.  

The City of Cape Town's Mayoral Committee member responsible for Tourism, Alderman James Vos, has ensured that extra Tourism Safety Monitors and ambassadors were deployed to popular tourism areas across the city and we hope these will have a tangible impact on the safety of tourists. 

We will also soon be deploying additional law enforcement officers in Cape Town and I am positive that this will go a long way towards supporting the efforts to increase safety in the City.

Issued by Greg Wagner, Spokesperson to the Executive Mayor, 12 January 2020