There clearly is a serious security problem at the country's biggest airport, OR Tambo International, requiring urgent - rather than seemingly laissez faire - attention from the authorities.
There clearly is a serious security problem at the country's biggest airport, OR Tambo International, requiring urgent - rather than seemingly laissez faire - attention from the authorities.
The rise in robberies on tourists and dignitaries arriving in this country soon after leaving the facility is alarming. Only a fortnight ago, Nuclear Energy Corporation manager Eric Lerata was shot dead outside his home on arrival from the airport, from where he had been followed by his attackers.
Last weekend, South Africa's ambassador to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, was robbed outside his son's home in Johannesburg soon after arriving from the airport.
Similar attacks on tourists, with robbers using the same modus operandi, occur with alarming frequency.
Stricter controls and policing are needed at the airport urgently. Loitering remains a menace - as does unrestrained access to terminals by taxi touts who hassle arriving tourists for business. No where else does this happen except at OR Tambo International, where taxi operators openly canvass business instead of following an orderly queue system at a designated place.
More stringent security at a key facility such as OR Tambo International is non-negotiable, if we are to assure the safety of tourists in to our beautiful country.
Tough measures needed urgently
There clearly is a serious security problem at the country's biggest airport, OR Tambo International, requiring urgent - rather than seemingly laissez faire - attention from the authorities.
There clearly is a serious security problem at the country's biggest airport, OR Tambo International, requiring urgent - rather than seemingly laissez faire - attention from the authorities.
The rise in robberies on tourists and dignitaries arriving in this country soon after leaving the facility is alarming. Only a fortnight ago, Nuclear Energy Corporation manager Eric Lerata was shot dead outside his home on arrival from the airport, from where he had been followed by his attackers.
Last weekend, South Africa's ambassador to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, was robbed outside his son's home in Johannesburg soon after arriving from the airport.
Similar attacks on tourists, with robbers using the same modus operandi, occur with alarming frequency.
Stricter controls and policing are needed at the airport urgently. Loitering remains a menace - as does unrestrained access to terminals by taxi touts who hassle arriving tourists for business. No where else does this happen except at OR Tambo International, where taxi operators openly canvass business instead of following an orderly queue system at a designated place.
More stringent security at a key facility such as OR Tambo International is non-negotiable, if we are to assure the safety of tourists in to our beautiful country.