Chairperson, as the EFF we attended the workshop and I must emphasise from the beginning that like any other South African, we are disheartened by rampant criminal activity that keeps all of us in fear for our lives in our own homes. If we, therefore, are not able to keep South Africans safe every day, it will be quite a tall order to try to keep the rest of those who come to visit this beautiful nation safe.
The consultative workshop was a necessary intervention, therefore; to look at how the tourism sector and the police and safety should work hand in hand for the safety of tourists in our country. This is for the simple reason that if tourists are not feeling safe if there are stories of tourists getting murdered and mugged, they will stop visiting, and that will severely damage the economy, and cause long- term negative effects towards our job creation goals.
So our approach to the problem of criminality must be systematic, it must be comprehensive enough to root out the causes of crime generally, before we can deal with the specific crimes perpetrated against tourists. We need to have visible policing across the country, free of corruption and immune to manipulation by criminal gangs.
The biggest criminals we have at the moment are with the police themselves that is why they lost the murder docket of Senzo Meyiwa. They are easily bought by criminals. Our entire criminal justice system must be made to work so that those arrested of criminality are brought to book.
There must be close co-operation between tourist destinations such as the Kruger National Park and the SA Police Service, SAPS. Sadly, we must also sensitise our tourists that they need to stick to designated tourist paths, which must be made safe, because South Africa - at the moment - may be dangerous to the wandering tourists.
Finally, a long-lasting solution to the problem of crime more generally though, is that our education system must work and produce people who can contribute to the economy of the country. Our industrial policy must function to create industries that would employ people.
We must promote small businesses so that those who want to employ themselves can do so. And we must punish those who break the law, starting from politicians, down to those who take bribes. Thank you very much, House Chair. [Applause.]