Cape Town – Police Minister Bheki Cele believes that Mpumalanga police will soon “crack the case” of murdered a German tourist following the identification of three people of interest in connection with the case.
Cele and National Commissioner of the SAPS General Fannie Masemola visited the province and the crime scene, as police intensified their investigation on Wednesday.
The four German tourists were enroute to Numbi Gate at Mdluli Safari when three armed suspects attacked and the driver was shot dead on Monday.
“Police seem to have satisfied themselves in terms of the information they have collected from the family.
“They are not arrested; they are people of interest. We believe that we will be able to crack the case very soon,” News24 quoted Cele as saying.
The minister also revealed that police were in talks with the Minister of Tourism, Lindiwe Sisulu, to assist the family with the repatriation of the body, the report said.
“The family, especially the wife, would have loved to go back with the body of the husband. We are arranging that… We are speaking with the home affairs department to issue the death certificate.
“The provincial commissioner will be speaking to the doctor who certified the death, so that we are able to give the death certificate and we don’t delay the family here in South Africa.
He added that police did have a problem in the Numbi area with 11 cases involving the robbery of tourists in the area.
Meanwhile, Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism ( KLCBT) has reportedly offered a R50 000 reward to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest of the gunmen who killed a German tourist.
The CEO of KLCBT, Linda Grimbeek, hoped that the reward money would help flush the suspects out of hiding, News24 reported.
“We hope that the R50 000 reward will get [the criminals] out of their hiding hole,” the report quoted Grimbeek as saying.
The tourism minister, on the other hand, has called for law enforcement agencies to “leave no stone unturned in bringing the suspects to books”.
“I condemn this murder and robbery in the strongest terms and call for harsh punishment for those responsible,
“Tourism is one of our economic drivers and a provider of jobs for the youth. We must work hard to protect this industry,” Sisulu said in a statement on Twitter.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
