Selfie-hungry Mbalula is part of SA’s crime problem

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has one of the best-developed publicity radars of any South African politician and can smell a photo opportunity kilometres away.

Sometimes, his presence is superfluous, especially in the wake of terrible crimes, where his apologies tend to emphasise the reality that policing in this country is getting worse, not better.

Yet, there is no denying that he was right to offer his sympathies to a group of 36 Dutch tourists who were traumatised at being held up at gunpoint just after they left OR Tambo International Airport in their tour bus.

He is responsible for law and order and, when his people fail to protect visitors, or South Africans, then he should apologise.

We, as concerned South Africans, would also like to offer our sympathies and apologise to the group of mainly older tourists who had their dream holiday ruined. Yet, there are two major areas of concern around this incident.

First, it took place at the beginning of Tourism Month … and sent out the worst possible message to the rest of the world: that South Africa is a violent and unsafe place. It will take a long time and a lot of work to erase that image.

There is no doubt that foreigners who saw the story will have reconsidered or even cancelled plans to visit South Africa.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs will have been put at risk. So Mbalula is right to characterise the robbery as an attack on the economy of the country.

However, the minister cannot run away from the fact that, only a few months ago, in another one of his “photo ops”, he promised to clean up the mess of crime at the airport and its surrounds.

Minister, you and your officials are as much a part of the problem as the gun-wielding thugs.