Three people being questioned after murder of German tourist near Kruger Park

Police minister Bheki Cele says three people are being questioned after the brutal murder of a German tourist in Mpumalanga on Monday.

The 67-year-old was shot dead while travelling on the Numbi road en route to Numbi gate of the Kruger National Park with three other people. It is  believed to have been a botched hijacking. 

“As we stand here, we have three people of interest. They are not arrested, they are people of interest.

“We are working to find out how far they [police] have gone with them — so we believe we will be able to crack the case very soon since the police have done the job. They [police] believe they are not far from cracking this case,” he said.

Cele visited the White River area in Mpumalanga on Wednesday with police commissioner Fannie Masemola and Mpumalanga officials.

He said he had been briefed about 11 robbery cases in the area.

“It is a sad situation. It does look like we have a problem here. We have not done very well, two arrests have been made on those 11 incidents.”

Tourism is the “gold mine” of the area and the industry needs to be protected.

It was important for all stakeholders to work together to come up with preventive measures to ensure such incidents are not repeated, Cele said.

“Also bring the communities on board. We believe communities here will help, even those that have grievances against the companies running the lodges. We need to bring everybody together.”

Cele said police would work with all stakeholders on preventive measures, including providing more resources.

“We are hopeful these people of interest will help us. That’s what the world will expect, that even when the incident happened, we are able to respond.”

The group of German tourists are expected to spend time with tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu at OR Tambo International Airport before they return to Germany on Wednesday.

TimesLIVE