June 22 2006 at 01:59PM
By Sharlene Packree, Barbara Cole and Bheko Madlala
A proposed international anti-crime campaign designed to embarrass South Africa and scare off potential tourists has been condemned by the government as being a scare tactic.
The Crime Barometer, a web page which will tell the stories of South Africans who have been victims of crime, will include statistics and pictures and give people an opportunity to air their views on crime in the country.
The Internet web page, www.crimebarometersouthafrica.co.za will go online on July 4 and aims to scare soccer fans planning to visit South Africa for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup by giving them a preview of the crime.
"We will ensure that each and every traveller who plans to visit South Africa will think twice before heading for the world's murder capital," said Neil Watson, the brains behind the campaign.
Watson, an insurance broker, said he began the web page so that victims of crime would be able to tell their stories in detail.
The website will be updated with pictures and stories every two days.
"Crime is horrific here. If international tourists do not visit the country, South Africa will lose millions in tourism revenue. I want to discourage tourists from coming here.
"How can we host the Soccer World Cup if innocent people are being slaughtered each day?" he said.
"Government is not protecting us. We can't even complain because we get asked to leave the country by Charles Nqakula, the Minister of Safety and Security.
"It is the duty of all South Africans to stand up to the crime in their country and that's what I'm doing," said Watson.
The Cape Town father of four has not been a victim of crime. However, he fears that it is only a question of time before he too will become another statistic and be hijacked or robbed like other South Africans.
"Our actions in exposing the South African killing fields come as a direct result of government's refusal to deal with the crisis.
"South Africans are living in fear while politicians and senior police officials, together with their families, enjoy first class personal protection."
JP Louw, spokesperson for the national department of environmental affairs and Tourism, said such "scare tactics" were "really quite unfortunate".
Deprive
Anyone who ran a programme which would deprive people of jobs and earning a living did not have the interests of the country at heart, he said.
The department remained content that its marketing strategies to increase the number of tourists to the country were firmly in place and remained on track.
It had already surpassed its target of seven million annual international tourists to the country.
President Thabo Mbeki's spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga, referred all queries to the departments of Safety and Security, and Sports and Recreation.
Nqakula's spokesperson Trevor Bloom said while crime in the country was unacceptably high, there was evidence that it had reduced over the past few years.
"The gentleman must put his facts on the table. Our facts and statistics show that crime is high and the minister has never denied that, but the important thing is to note that crime has certainly gone down.
"The government has a clear programme to make sure that crime is reduced. We have put in place mechanisms to measure the progress.
"I think that is why Fifa has full confidence in the ability of the government to tackle this problem," he said.
Bongi Sishi, spokesperson for Sports and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, said the department did not believe that discouraging people from coming to the country and attempting to stop South Africa from hosting the World Cup would solve the crime problem.
http://www.iol.za.org/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20060622090202609C562945
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