Dear Editor
The fatal shooting of a 55-year-old East London woman at a coastal property near Mpande has once again highlighted the urgent need to restore safety and stability to one of the Eastern Cape’s most valuable tourism regions. Her brutal murder follows a spate of recent kidnappings and violent incidents that continue to threaten the viability of rural tourism.
Tourism operators across the Wild Coast have reported rising fears among visitors, with some destinations reporting up to a 90% drop in bookings during peak periods. Communities along the Wild Coast depend heavily on tourism for income and jobs. These cancellations represent a serious blow to their livelihoods.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will request a meeting with MEC Nonkqubela Pieters to discuss the establishment of a Joint Task Team tasked with developing a comprehensive Safety and Tourism Recovery Strategy for the Wild Coast. The situation demands focused collaboration between DEDEAT, ECPTA, SAPS, and local tourism stakeholders.
Additionally, ECPTA must be directed to issue emergency tourism communications, both locally and internationally, to prevent reputational damage from deepening.
This strategy must include a coordinated stakeholder engagement process in affected regions, starting with high-risk areas like the Wild Coast, to ensure that responses are both locally informed and practically implementable. It must also include a targeted safety audit of key tourism zones, improved coordination with SAPS, and direct support for affected tourism operators.
The Wild Coast is known for its beauty, biodiversity, and cultural richness. We must ensure our environmental assets are safe to tourists. Rural lodges and ecotourism ventures cannot continue operating in fear, nor can they thrive while tourists are warned away by travel advisories and negative headlines.
South Africa cannot afford to lose its most pristine destinations to fear and lawlessness. Unless safety concerns are urgently addressed, those assets will increasingly become inaccessible to tourists and economically useless to the communities that depend on them.
Tourism should be a job creator and economic lifeline in this province. But without visible safety measures and coordinated recovery support, it risks becoming yet another missed opportunity.
The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that protects livelihoods and restores confidence in our province’s future.
Regards
Dr Vicky Knoetze MPL
Shadow MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism