Famed Vilakazi Street calls for help against crime

SAKHUMZI Restaurant in Soweto has appealed to the Department of Tourism as well as the security cluster to assist businesses in Soweto’s Vilakazi Street combat crime.

Addressing the media at the restaurant yesterday‚ marketing manager Archie Tsoka said this would go a long way to save businesses from being victims of crime.

“There should be a big discussion between businesses in Vilakazi Street and the police – and we hope the tourism minister [Derek Hanekom] takes charge as well‚ because the safety of visitors in this street is important‚” said Tsoka.

“We believe there could be a syndicate working on robbing these establishments and noticing we’ve been very relaxed about security because we’ve never been a high security area‚” he elaborated.

Three people are on the run in connection with the murder of a manager at the restaurant‚ one of South Africa’s top tourist destinations‚ in the early hours of Sunday.

The victim cannot be named until all of his next of kin have been informed.

The manager, 60, joined the restaurant in 2015 after a career teaching at Cofimvaba Primary School and the Daliwonga High School in Cofimvaba‚ Eastern Cape.

Tsoka said he had no doubt that the motive behind the killing was to rob the restaurant as they pretended to be customers.

According to Tsoka‚ the restaurant remains open as international tourists have booked the venue and he cannot turn them away as they have come from so far. They also didn’t want to give in to criminals.

“If we shut down‚ we are sending the wrong signal – that it’s not safe. That’s why the tourism minister is our key partner to helping us get the security cluster to act‚” he said.

According to police data‚ 6 093 crimes were reported in 2016 in the Orlando precinct where Sakhumzi is – up from 5 177 in 2005.

Thirty seven of the cases were murders, compared with 26 in 2005.

Attempted murders totalled 59‚ as against 19 in 2005.

Burglaries at non-residential premises have shot up from one to 58‚ and at non-residential premises from 45 to 117. — TMG