http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41413307



Dutch tourists attacked in South Africa return home

5 hours ago


A group of elderly Dutch tourists, who were robbed in South Africa on Sunday by men posing as police, have returned home to the Netherlands.
The 36 tourists were attacked while travelling to their hotel from Johannesburg airport, where they had just landed for a three-week holiday.
Their bus was stopped by a fake police car, and at least one of the robbers was in police uniform.
Police have apologised for the incident and promised to find the attackers.

The robbers tied up the bus driver and tour guide, assaulted some of the tourists and stole many of their possessions, according to Dutch media.
"Most of the passengers are 70-plus. People panicked and even got firearms aimed at them. In two cases, the trigger was pulled but the gun didn't fire," South African media quoted one tourist as saying.
One tourist was taken to hospital for treatment to injuries.
"We are safe now, but we are in shock and... the fun has gone," one of the passengers is reported to have said.

The Dutch ambassador to South Africa, Marisa Gerards, said the group had decided to return to the Netherlands because most of them had had all of their belongings taken.
She said it had been "out of safety concerns" that the group had arranged the organised tour, rather than travel independently.


Analysis - By Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg
South Africa is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations because of its beauty, affordability and variety.
But it also has one of the highest crime levels in the world - a concern not just for visitors but for those living here.
Visitors from the region have sometimes fallen prey to muggings in a similar way to the Dutch tourists and, as a result, some African embassies warn their citizens to make sure they are not being followed when leaving the airport.
The authorities are worried that the latest mugging may damage South Africa's image. Tourism is a critical sector and sustains many jobs. Tourism Minister Tokozile Xasa said all South Africans should be concerned by threats to the industry.
South Africa's Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula, met the tourists on Tuesday and offered his "heartfelt embarrassment" over their experience.
He said he hoped they would return to South Africa in the future.
"I condemn this robbery in the strongest terms and call for harsh punishment of those responsible," he said.
"Tourism is one of our economic drivers and a provider of jobs for the youth. We must work hard to protect this industry", Mr Mbalula said in a statement.
It is not the first time robbers have targeted OR Tambo airport. In March, armed thieves stole containers of cash from a restricted zone while dressed as police.

Remember when I asked if it was safe what every one said.

Brazen. A busload of tourists? What's next?

South Africa is perfectly safe, until it isn't. Just because you get out of there without incident doesn't make it safe, it just makes you increasingly lucky.

A tour bus or van is the last thing I would want to be in.

Once upon a time in my safari career I could take a combat handgun into RSA and was allowed to carry it concealed wherever I went in Joburg/RSA. This was simply authorized by my SAPS form. I did this every year for many years, but it is no longer allowed. I now avoid flying through JNB as a matter of course. You can fly into almost every sub-Saharan African country without going via JNB. Just ask Steve at TWG.

Sadly, the politicians and the police are in this together!

We have several hunters who used to go hunt in South Africa who have switched to Namibia instead, siting safety as a major concern!

While in South Africa at the end of last month I was witness to an attempted break in and robbery of another hunter from the Carolinas who was staying right next door to me, by some black African thugs, while overnighting at one of the more popular Joburg hunter guesthouses. I have stayed at that popular guesthouse many times over the years. I talked with one of the owners the very next morning and advised them that the guest rooms needed to either have panic buttons or 24/7 phones for security purposes. The hunter that experienced the attempted break in and robbery was also on the same flight back to Atlanta and he told me that he wasn’t even comped after the incident. Incredible. You need to be on alert anywhere in Joburg. Don’t think that you’re totally safe just because you’ve made it to your overnight guest accommodations.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Remember when I asked if it was safe what every one said.

I believe that some folks said, that some folks should not travel internationally.

That's why I am overnighting at the City Lodge at the airport this Sunday night before flying up to Tete the next morning. My past experiences at guest houses didn't justify leaving the airport property.

Use Enough Gun:

My wife and I arrived that morning and had breakfast with that gentleman from the Carolinas. He shared his eye opening story. We really enjoyed our time there but we stayed on alert. I was concerned that there were no apparent or noticeable security improvements on the property.

Safe travels............L

Yes, I saw you and your wife having breakfast that morning with Wayne. I was just one table over having breakfast alone. Wayne and I talked at length after breakfast. Hopefully better security measures will be taken seriously by the owners. I was an eye and ear witness to what happened, but had no way of rendering any meaningful assistance without any weapons. The thugs had a knife and claimed to have a gun as well. Fortunately the other night security guard showed up before things turned tragic, followed by the Joburg police, or some other security group. It taught me to be on full alert no matter where you are at in Joburg.

I wish I would have met you, Sir. I enjoy your comments here on the forum.

Safe travels......Larry

I think it would be beneficial if you would let us all know what guest house this occured at. If you don't want to disclose openly you can PM me.

I went back and read Larry Shores thread regarding safety in RSA. Judging by UEG's comments on that thread, I would say he is referring to Africa Sky. If I am wrong, I apologize in advance, however the previous comments lead to my conclusion.

I have stayed there and throughly enjoyed it. IIRC, we kept our rifles in our room.

If it is Africa Sky, I hope they take this incident very seriously and make appropriate changes. This should not be swept under the rug.

Yes, it's Africa Sky.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Ho...nesburg_Gauteng.html

You would be better off giving the criminals your guns than shooting them. RSA Police will keep you in the back of one of their little cheese wagons for hours then take you to prison. It is not like our Justice system. I got lost driving and ended up in Hillbrough years ago. I was not pretty! They do not care much for white people on that side of Johannesburg. You are safe on the farms.

quote:

Originally posted by Capt. Purvis:
. . . You are safe on the farms.

No your not. I hunted here two weeks after this occurred:

https://southafricatoday.net/s...k-by-five-armed-men/

These people thought they were safe because they were in a tour group. The reality is that made them a target. Lots of things can make one a target in the RSA.

Try to not look and act like a tourist helps to start with.

Ok thanks guys.

Now that I know that it's out by Wayne himself, Wayne's report mistakenly said that it happened at 3pm. It happened at 3 am. The thugs breached a wall with the neighboring property to enter onto the premises. They tied up the first security guard, while holding a knife to his throat, bound him, and then robbed him of his coat, shirt and shoes. They then moved on looking for a target. By the way, I had heard noises at one of my windows a few days earlier when I had stayed there the first time in the trip, before flying to the Eastern Cape. That might have been another incident, but I didn't really pay that much attention to it ( the first incident), thinking that maybe someone was checking windows to make sure that they were all closed. In Wayne's case he was yelling "help, help, help me", while the thugs were trying to come through the window. Bottom line: Be on the alert, no matter where you are or where you stay while in Joburg. No place is totally safe and secure.

Will you stay at Africa Sky again?

It all depends on what Deidre does regarding the incident. I talked with her at length the morning of the incident and told her that all of the beautiful grounds and rooms could not make up for the safety of her guests. She was visibly upset and frustrated about the whole thing, but apparently not enough to give Wayne a refund or comp him for being put through the ordeal. This was not the first incident there, but hopefully it will be the last. I suggested panic buttons under the room desks or phones in each room connected to security, or other guest safety measures. I asked her what would happen if someone had a medical problem? Most people staying there are foreigners and would have no way of knowing what to do or who to contact or how to contact them. We’ll see what Deidre and her husband do about this now. They were finishing a dining area remodel when I was there. At this point in time, if no changes are made, I will be booking with City Lodge.

From another site:

"Yes, sadly AfricaSky, and our family and the Guest involved became part of the terrible statistics of living in Africa. We have security guards on duty every day and we belong to the local armed response company called CMS. Thanks to their quick response the robbers were not able to enter the room but very unfortunately made their way there.

We have now extended our alarm system to cover not only the inside of our perimeters but also security beams on the outside and added security lights on the walls. When a person comes to close to our walls on the outside, our alarm goes off at CMS’s offices and they send out the armed officers.

We believe that the outside alarm would give the response company those extra couple of minutes to reach us before these intruders can break their way in again and would notify our own security before the property is entered.


This is the main reason AfricaSky does not have signage on our vehicles transporting guests and we have NO advertisements on the roads leading to us either. Guests are being followed and robbed even in front of the big hotels in Sandton. We encourage all arriving guests NOT to change money at the airport on arrival as there are “people” inside the airport tipping of the robbers on the outside who then follows guests to their destination.

We have been running on the new security system the past 3 weeks, testing our response unit and we are very happy with the service we receive from them. The safety of our guests and staff members staying at AfricaSky is our top priority and we trust with the new upgraded security all will go well. We are in the process of installing emergency buttons in the rooms. These buttons are linked directly to security and medical services. We are just very thankful that the intruders couldn’t get into the room and that the guest wasn’t harmed – just very very sorry for the emotional stress this incident caused our guest, ourselves and our staff!


If you would be so kind to copy this response to those links it would be greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,

Deidre Bekker

AfricaSky Guest House

Good to see that things are now being addressed. Yes, Deidre also mentioned during our conversation that they would be considering the laser beam system as part of added security. Looks like things are moving in the right direction after our conversation and the incident. I still believe that they owe Wayne a refund or comp on his next visit to Africa. It was emotionally disturbing to me as well, in that I could hear Wayne’s cries for help and see what was going on, but I couldn’t do anything without perhaps making things worse for both him and me.

The refund should not even be a question. It should be automatic.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
Brazen. A busload of tourists? What's next?

South African I know, told me about an ongoing wedding reception that was robbed at gun point.

Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
It all depends on what Deidre does regarding the incident. I talked with her at length the morning of the incident and told her that all of the beautiful grounds and rooms could not make up for the safety of her guests. She was visibly upset and frustrated about the whole thing, but apparently not enough to give Wayne a refund or comp him for being put through the ordeal. This was not the first incident there, but hopefully it will be the last. I suggested panic buttons under the room desks or phones in each room connected to security, or other guest safety measures. I asked her what would happen if someone had a medical problem? Most people staying there are foreigners and would have no way of knowing what to do or who to contact or how to contact them. We’ll see what Deidre and her husband do about this now. They were finishing a dining area remodel when I was there. At this point in time, if no changes are made, I will be booking with City Lodge.

Is City Lodge the one in the airport?

Yes

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:


Is City Lodge the one in the airport?

City Lodge, Protea Transit and Intercontinental are at and/or in the airport.

I have stayed at Africa Sky and Intercontinental, next trip will be Intercontinental.

Could have happened in New Orleans, Paris or Chicago.

There was a rash of this happening in California about 10 years ago.

Actually the rash of California rental car jackings/shootings are a good analogy. And if you remember, it killed their tourism industry until the rental car companies stopped plastering their signs on their vehicles. Not sure the SA government has an easy solution to their ever increasing crime problem. But it is a good idea to pretend you are vacationing in Detroit when traveling to SA... assuming people actually vacation in Detroit.

Well, I see it a little differently. One never hears of armed robberies in the US where the perpetrators have police cars or what appears to be police cars.

The facts are that the RSA is dangerous in many places . Seriously dangerous. Unfortunately, Johannesburg and OR Tambo in particular are included.

It isn't just me that feels this way. I heard the same thing from people in the RSA when we were there in July. We heard it from a lot of people. The people at Sun City were clearly concerned about it and knew the impact.

Having said all of this, it is fairly easy to cut your risks. For example:

Don't get in a taxi
Don't get in a tour bus
Don't get in one of those vans
Don't dress like a tourist
Don't act like a tourist
Do not display any signs of wealth
Don't pull out a big wad of dollars to convert
Leave jewelry at home
Remember that the potential thieves can't tell the difference between real and fake jewelry


I will relate what we observed on our arrival in July. There was a family of 4, all sitting in business class. Every one had new safari clothes. You know the type. The things that most here would not be caught dead in. The cloths screamed clueless tourist. All of their bags were Louis Vuitton. The wife had a big diamond ring and big diamond earrings. Both spouses had expensive watches. The husband peeled off a bunch of hundreds out of a big wad of money to exchange. They were begging for it.

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
It all depends on what Deidre does regarding the incident. I talked with her at length the morning of the incident and told her that all of the beautiful grounds and rooms could not make up for the safety of her guests. She was visibly upset and frustrated about the whole thing, but apparently not enough to give Wayne a refund or comp him for being put through the ordeal. This was not the first incident there, but hopefully it will be the last. I suggested panic buttons under the room desks or phones in each room connected to security, or other guest safety measures. I asked her what would happen if someone had a medical problem? Most people staying there are foreigners and would have no way of knowing what to do or who to contact or how to contact them. We’ll see what Deidre and her husband do about this now. They were finishing a dining area remodel when I was there. At this point in time, if no changes are made, I will be booking with City Lodge.

Is City Lodge the one in the airport?

There are two city lodges.One is at the airport
you go outside and cross the street in front of the arrivals or departures lane.The other requires a taxi and is some distance from the airport.You need to make sure you book at the right one.It is very easy to book the wrong one.

My wife and I arrived at AfricaSky the day after SFRanger7GP and his wife did.
We wouldn't have know a thing happened if SFRanger7GP had not told me.
I made sure and kept my knife on me...better than nothing. A cautionary warning would have been nice. We all know, or should know, that foreign travel can have risks.
The only 1st hand warnings we ever got were from South African friends we met in Swakopmund. They advised us not to leave the airport, as Joberg was their "New York City" I had to laugh to myself and wonder which of us thought the worse of that analogy.....

Incidents like this are a reason hunters are choosing Namibia for their safaris.

And looking for ways to get there without OR Tambo.