[imagesource:facebook/Walter Fischel]

Last Friday afternoon, Walter Fischel was robbed and shot in Nyanga soon after landing at the Cape Town International Airport. The navigation system in his rented car directed him to go through the township when suddenly, four men approached his car while he was stuck in traffic.

Although he put up a fight, he was shot in the face and the gunmen fled in the rental car along with his belongings, including all his money and his passport.

The 55-year-old made his recovery in a hospital in Mowbray and is now crowdfunding to get out of the country and return to his family in Connecticut, per News24:

“I wake up every day thinking to myself: ‘man, I can’t believe this happened to me’. I actually couldn’t have been here if that gunshot had affected any other parts of my body. I still dream about what I went through. It’s most certainly a holiday I will never ever forget.”

Days after the attack on Fischel, an elderly German couple stopped along Baden Powell Drive, near Wolfgat, to take photographs of the scenery when they were held up with a panga and robbed, per IOL:

“The one suspect went to the vehicle and after knocking on the car window, opened the driver’s door and grabbed the GPS, which was plugged in on the front seat. The suspect struck the victim, and showed a panga in his hand when he tried to resist him,” Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said.

“The second suspect grabbed the female victim’s camera and forced her down on to the ground. The victim then gave the suspect cash in an attempt to get him to leave her alone.”

When the suspects ran off, a chase ensued and they were arrested and the stolen items recovered, along with the weapons used.

In October, Los Angeles couple Jason and Kate Zoladz were en route to the airport from Simon’s Town when Google Maps made them take a turn for the worst, resulting in their window getting smashed and Jason’s jaw broken.

This happened after that gut-wrenching incident involving a 40-year-old NHS surgeon who was killed in Nyanga on August 3 after spending a lovely day with his family touring Cape Town. That time, the police were the ones who directed him and his family into dangerous territory.

Unfortunately, there’s been no shortage of these horrific situations, and this latest incident feels like the tipping point that could totally upend Cape Town’s tourist industry.

Fischel said he has been a victim of crime before; “I have spent many years outside of my home country and been a victim of scams, robberies and hijackings”:

“South Africa can be beautiful … these hijackings and robberies of people must stop or this place will implode. I can’t believe South Africans take these occurrences so lightly. This area should be shut down.”

While mayoral committee (Mayco) member for urban mobility Rob Quintas said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Cape Town Tourism had a “fruitful” meeting with Google Maps to figure out safer route recommendations, the US travel advisory issued a warning to tourists last Saturday.

“If you decide to travel to South Africa, investigate your route in advance, stay on major highways, avoid short cuts through townships, and avoid reliance on GPS navigation apps. When driving on city roads, the shortest and fastest route may not be the safest.”

Otherwise, the mayor said that “hopefully the deployment of the 80 law enforcement officers (for patrolling of tourism routes) and SANParks, along with the SAPS, will keep tourists safe”.

Frankly, more needs to be done. The siege on foreign visitors trying to navigate Cape Town is getting ridiculous now.

[source:news24]