Table Mountain will be patrolled by police and guards from South African National Parks after a spate of muggings at the popular tourist spot, the Western Cape’s community safety department said on Monday.
On Thursday a meeting will be held to discuss further security measures after at least 18 muggings were reported between January and August 2007.
The department believes that a suicide in the area about two weeks ago may have been a person suspected of being behind the muggings.
”The police said they were looking for that person because they had information that could link that person to a series of muggings,” department spokesperson Makhaya Mani said.
The provincial minister for finance, Lynn Brown, said that from a tourist perspective ”there is no reason to panic”.
Provincial minister of Safety Leonard Ramatlakane dismissed calls for the deployment of the army on Table Mountain.
”No tourist would be comfortable in seeing army personnel with rifles walking in their sight as if there was a war.”
He called on visitors to the mountain to walk in groups, avoid walking alone, and to stay within sight of other people.
”By choosing to climb alone makes you vulnerable to opportunistic muggings,” he said. — Sapa