In worldwide news this week, a well known South African journalist was attacked and mugged on camera. The man in question is Vuyo Mvoko, a contributing editor for national news outlet South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The incidence occurred around Milpark Hospital earlier in the week, shortly before the seven p.m. news broadcast. Four assailants have been named in the theft.
The news team was covering a story on the president of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, who had been hospitalized in the area, when the assailants came up to Mr. Mvoko and accosted and robbed him. Two of assailants took cellphones and a laptop. Another two criminals are being charged as accessories to the crime.
The assailants were visibly recorded on camera during the filming of the broadcast. In the footage, you can see two men maliciously come up to the South African journalist and unabashedly hound him for his phone before making their way to the camera crew and making off with more stolen goods. Mr. Mvoko claims in a statement that one of the assailants had a gun.
Due to the police work involved, three of the criminals were apprehended, while one remains at large. The police will now have to rely on the goodness of its citizens and the Internet to help identify the remaining perpetrator in this televised mugging, who is believed to be the recipients of the stolen goods. There is a R100000 ($8,000; £5,400) reward for whoever can do so.
In light of the situation, people are beginning to beg the question, how safe is South Africa for tourists? According to an BBC article, written around the time of the world cup, “South Africa is a place where a lot of violent crime happens. That much is hard to dispute. Each day an average of nearly 50 people are murdered.” The same report discusses “Cape Town’s culture of gangsters, drugs, rape, robbery and a murder every 25 minutes”.
