Township tours have become a profitable way for foreigners to gawk at our fellow South Africans, but for a bunch of UCT students their visit to Khayelitsha was for altogether different reasons.

The health science students visited the township three weeks ago as part of a health outreach project, and things quickly went south.

TimesLive reports:

[They] were attacked outside the Ummangaliso Primary School in site B‚ where they were performing part of their clinical training at public health facilities.

The group was travelling in a university vehicle en route to collect four more students.

“As the van slowed down‚ it was approached by three armed gunmen who robbed students of their cellphones and bags. One final-year student was robbed of the entire patient portfolio she had developed as a final-year requirement. She has no way of retrieving this lost information‚” UCT said.

Thankfully the SAPS were on the ball this time, following tips provided by the community and arresting three men. They are now charged with armed robbery and will appear today in court.

Some of the items were recovered at the home of the suspects, but no word on that poor student’s patient portfolio.

Cue frantic clicking on the save button from anyone reading this, because we all know the pain that comes with having to redo work.

[source:timeslive]