South Africa
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |An oil spill from a wrecked tanker soiled pristine beaches near Cape Town, shut down the entrance to its harbor and threatened ten thousand penguins, many on Robben Island, the former site of the prison where Nelson Mandela was held. The area’s most popular beaches have not been affected but remain threatened, and the cleanup will likely take weeks.
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South Africa
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |In an effort to curtail a bombing campaign in Cape Town that has killed three people and injured more than 100 the past two years, officials are going to create “total no-stopping zones” in high-risk areas. The decision follows the Aug. 19 bombing of a nightclub in Green Point, the sixth bombing this year, which came barely a week after a car bomb explosion at Constantia shopping center. Officials plan to tow unauthorized cars immediately, step up patrols, and possibly install closed-circuit security cameras.
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South Africa
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |Cape Town’s fourth car bombing in the past month occurred Sept. 9 outside the OBZ nightclub in the southern suburb of Observatory. No one was killed and only two were injured. A Muslim vigilante group is being held responsible for the attack.
Crime continues to plague the country and affect tourists. A honeymooning couple from New York were robbed of everything but the clothes they wore just outside Kruger National Park near Sabie Sands Sept. 9. A band of six armed men took their minibus and everything in it but left them unharmed. And it appears even the country’s president isn’t safe. Thabo Mbeki’s Cape Town residence was broken into by a man who simply made himself at home before being arrested.
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South Africa
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |The popular Pilanesberg game reserve, just a few minutes from Sun City, was the site of a kidnapping and robbery of two women July 16. The women were driving near the Bakubung Gate when accosted by three men, who locked them in the trunk of their own car, drove to an isolated area in the west of the park and robbed them of their valuables. The women were discovered by maintenance workers, unhurt, 24 hours later. The park has seen little such violence, but the incident is a reminder to remain alert even in seemingly safe circumstances. Authorities have vowed to apprehend the culprits.
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South Africa
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |Authorities fear more bombings could occur in and around Cape Town because the leader of a Muslim vigilante group blamed for 21 bombings in the last 28 months will go on trial Nov. 13. Police defused a pipe bomb in a restaurant in Bellville, near Cape Town Nov. 3. Past bombs have exploded in restaurants, gay bars, police stations and a synagogue.
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South Africa
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |Theft on Cape Town’s most popular beaches has skyrocketed in recent weeks, in part because tourists seem to think that there is little risk to their possessions. Thieves at Camps Bay and the nearby Clifton beaches observe what people leave behind when they go in for a swim, then help themselves. Such carelessness is compounded by the fact that there are only four police officers on duty for the long stretch of beach at Camps Bay, and they also have to patrol Table Mountain, where several muggings have been reported this year.
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