What next? Poaching tourists?

MULDERSDRIFT may not sound like much, but it has a lot going for it. Its surrounding area includes what we like, rather pompously, to call the Cradle of Humankind — one of those areas that can lay claim to be the site where humankind originated.

The Sterkfontein Caves are where the first hominid, Australopithecus, was found in 1924; since then, it has produced Mrs Ples, Little Foot and the Australopithecus sediba fossils. No wonder it’s a World Heritage Site.

But it’s in danger from violent crime, a police force that appears overwhelmed and underresourced, and a police minister who has fed inaccurate information to Parliament. When asked to observe whether there had been an increase in the murder rate in the Muldersdrift policing area, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa delivered statistics for the four years beginning 2008-09 that differed in every section with the South African Police Service’s own “official” numbers.

And, as you had expected, the minister’s numbers were “better” on every count bar one.

Lying to Parliament — misleading it if you prefer something softer — is a statutory offence.

I seem to recall that Tony Yengeni spent a while in jail for doing something similar, only in his case it was because he withheld information.

Aside from the fact that the minister needs to brush up on his sources of information, he might also like to pay closer attention to the role the Cradle of Humankind should be playing in this country’s vital tourist sector. Visitors need to be encouraged and welcomed, and above all they need to know they are safe. From what I am being told, it is clear that additional policing resources in the area are urgently needed.

This isn’t dissimilar to the concerns I am hearing expressed about rhino poaching in Kruger National Park. In some cases there is evidence poaching activity is getting ever closer to regions traversed by tourists, and the chance must be good that one of these days parties are going to run into one another. When that happens, we shall have to hope the tourists are being looked after with the greatest care and attention.