A hiker broke his leg while trying to escape from two muggers between Rhodes Memorial and the Mowbray hiking trail on Table Mountain in Cape Town at the weekend.

Police spokesman Andre Traut said the 23-year-old man from Rondebosch was walking with two other men between Devil’s Peak and the Rhodes Memorial path when they were accosted by two men on Sunday morning.

“They were threatened verbally by the men. The hikers ran down the mountain trying to escape the suspects, and one of them fell and was injured.”   

The two men, who were not armed, went over to the injured hiker and stole his backpack, a cellphone and money.

Another of the hikers stumbled and rolled into bushes, while the third managed to get away.

Two months ago, Claudio Massenz, 26, had to cancel an overseas trip after sustaining serious head injuries in a mugging above Rhodes Memorial. His skull was fractured in the attack.

Table Mountain Safety Action Group spokesman Andre van Schalkwyk  told the Cape Times newspaper on Monday there had been 11 attacks in the Rhodes Memorial area this year. Seven assaults had taken place in the past five months.

“We have had more incidents this year compared with last year, despite the establishment of the safety campaign. We are not winning the war.”   

Not enough was being done to warn people who went hiking on the mountain, he said.

“Our main concern is that Table Mountain National Park is not giving us the information about these incidents so that we can warn  people about attacks on the mountain,” Van Schalkwyk said.