The Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT) is gearing to ensure the safety of all tourist and economic routes, and is calling on the government and the private sector to come on board to assist where possible.

According to KLCBT’s COO, Linda Grimbeek, R7m was needed as of September to embark on the security upgrades.

“These involve continued coverage of the Numbi road project, base monitoring systems in all towns, and the connecting of all existing cameras with the addition of at least two smart cameras in each town. The smart cameras would fill the gaps left by less sophisticated cameras. The plan is also to create a tourism help line, supported by a network of trained volunteers, and to provide training to all police stations, while adding a military grade drone with a mobile control room, pilot and bakkie with trailer.”

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“Sadly it is almost too late to implement most of these before the Christmas holidays, but we are working at speed to add as many smart cameras as we possibly can. The first camera in White River came online a few days ago and has already led our teams to eight vehicles which had either been stolen or are connected to open cases,” said Grimbeek.

She added that these measures would be like putting a small plaster on the situation as they still need funding for at least 15 more cameras in each town and five drones in total, as well as security patrols in Sabie and Graskop.

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“We need a slush fund for intelligence, which is currently coming out of individual personal pockets. The complete plan needs R35m, but we can make do with R15m for the next 12 months to roll out the next phase. This will include everything except the four extra drones and would mean fewer cameras in towns, but will include security coverage for Sabie and Graskop,” Grimbeek explained.

She also said the chamber and its stake holders decided that local and provincial governments, the SAPS, SANParks, SAFCOL, some traditional leaders and private sector tourism organisations be requested to provide letters of support to the KLCBT to enable them to request funds on behalf of the region to manage the ongoing projects.