A shooting, five kilometres outside of Ladysmith, on Thursday morning, March 17, has left one man seriously injured and one woman dead.
The incident occurred when Chungsheng Yu, a businessman from Newcastle, went to fetch four friends in Durban, after they came to visit South Africa from China.
On their way back to Newcastle, they were accosted by four men just outside of Ladysmith.
The suspects stole a handbag with the four tourists’ passports and an undisclosed amount of money.
During the robbery, the suspects opened fire, shooting Hongwei Tang, one of the visitors from Shanghai, six times and Mr Yu three times.
Mrs Tang, 59 years old, was declared dead shortly after.
Mr Yu is currently in Ladysmith Provincial Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
The remaining three tourists sustained minor injuries after being assaulted by the suspects.
“This incident will have a serious impact on both local and international Chinese residents,” said Alex Liu, from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mr Liu said in terms of a local standpoint, the majority of Newcastle’s Chinese residents owned clothing and textile factories, whose clientele lived in Durban.
“These business owners travel to Durban on a weekly basis and this robbery took place at 7.30am, during peak traffic hours. Nobody will feel safe anymore to travel to Durban for business, even though they will have to,” Mr Liu said.
In regards to international Chinese residents, Mr Liu said South Africa has come under a bad light and would be considered a dangerous tourist destination.
“Last year, we lost a lot of tourism business due to stringent Visa acts. Although the Department of Home Affairs has amended the acts to allow tourists to get Visas more conveniently, tourists are being robbed and killed.”
Mr Liu suspects criminals are possibly targeting Chinese residents.
“I try not think that way, but evidence shows it is highly possible that organised crime syndicates are targeting Chinese,” he concluded.
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