By Chuck Stephens
I AM a career missionary in Africa. I hold a PhD is religious studies. I have written a dozen books, one of them tracks the history of how the gospel entered Africa, starting with the Acts of the Apostles. It comes right up to the present and covers – among others – TB Joshua. The subtitle of this book is “Shepherding the flock without fleecing the sheep”. That pretty much confesses my bias in writing this article.
In recent weeks, the truth about TB Joshua has been coming out through extensive investigative journalism by the BBC. He was a rogue. Is it any wonder that church attendance is shrinking world-wide and that Christians in Nigeria are being attacked? Nothing will thin out church attendance faster than bad press about imposters wearing a prophet’s mask while raping and abusing women for years on end. It’s disgusting.
I live in the Lowveld. The weather is perfect – hot and wet. Sub-tropical. The Kruger Park is South Africa’s number one tourist attraction. Somehow it is like the Garden of Eden. I love the beauty of the mountains and waterfalls, the rolling green hills and sand rivers. It’s almost as good as going to church for praise and worship, followed by a challenging sermon. But if you knew that the preacher was a rogue, raping and pillaging on week days, it would empty the meaning of true worship.
Now the same thing is happening to tourism. I came face to face with this reality in the past week. My own family – my son, two of my grandchildren and my “ex” – were abducted, assaulted and robbed by a “blue light” gang posing as policemen.
They were pulled over and asked for documents, like any police check. Suddenly there were armed men at every window. They were forced out of their rented vehicle into the “blue light” vehicle and abducted by the gangsters. Their cell phones were stolen and their cash and bank cards. At gunpoint, they were forced to tell their PIN numbers. Then while they were held hostage in the “blue light” vehicle, these thugs dressed as policemen went to ATMs and robbed money from them.
Three of the five abducted were tourists visiting South Africa. They have since returned to Canada, vowing never to come back.
Let’s be honest, on recent visits to Canada, I too have been robbed and swindled there. Crime happens everywhere. But there are coping mechanisms in Canada to report crime, insurance protection, and counseling services when required.
The police response here has been disappointing. Starting with taking a statement at the Nelspruit precinct right after the release of these hostages after they were held as hostages for four hours. That was like pulling teeth. And inaccuracies have come to light in the days following. The police have been slow to follow up leads and behave fatalistically. Another tourist abduction happened in Hazyview the very next day – a Dutch couple. The police shrug.
But tourism! There are activists who have a motive to fight crime. For the police, it is a career, not an urgent priority. But for tourism it is a matter of life or death.
I can say that both government and private entities in like the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism have been more encouraging to me than the SAPS. I am not comparing the SAPS to TB Joshua, I am comparing the “blue light brigade” to simony in the church. Gangsters are greedy criminals who do not care about tourism. After all, when there are no tourists left to rob, they can always loot the public purse, another favorite pastime for criminals in this country.
Rhino-poaching is just a thermometer measuring the extent of the damages that crime inflicts on tourism. But “blue light” hijackings are reaching the proportions of cash-in transit robberies. They are becoming endemic.
I have tried to make a firestorm out of this in the media. Tourism has protested to me, saying that it scares people away. My response as a “citizen journalist” is – people have a right to know.
One tourist official told me that three new crime gangs have sprung up in as many days because my media efforts taught them how to do it! What a crock!
One police response to a journalist’s investigation was printed in The Lowvelder which to its credit ran a cover story about this robbery and abduction. It suggested that tourists shouldn’t travel at night!
Tell that to all the airlines. Most flights returning to Europe leave Oliver Tambo International around midnight. How would tourists get to the airport if they can’t drive at night?
Then I thought, maybe South Africa should offer half-price tours to tourists? But they can only happen by day. The day is for tourists, the night is for crooks. Do you think the crooks would stop operating? If that is the level of police thinking, no wonder this phenomenon is on the up and up.
One blogger responded cynically to News 24 coverage of the incident as follows:
“Yeah, they gambled coming to SA. Ignored all warnings. They knew they had a 90% chance of falling prey to some crime. Get lost! Go back home. This is not a country for sissies! Besides, this ungrateful twat should thank South Africa for the experience. Got exactly what he came looking for.”
Sounds like a guy who has stopped going to church as well? Fatalism is sinking in. Tourism is dying.
The writer is an author, and an activist at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Leadership.
