Stay away…

Yesterday I found out that my dad was robbed, not in some dark ally or in the dead of night, but in broad daylight, walking through the entrance of a busy shopping mall in Rustenburg, with (useless) “mall guards” and numerous shoppers within meters of him. Thankfully he was not harmed, this time.

This is a warning to all those tourists coming to this country…DON’T. Stay away, make other plans. A game of soccer is not worth your life, or the life of a loved one.

If you insist on coming, please be aware of what you’re walking in to. This is not a “rainbow” nation of friendly people, not a place where life is valued and people feel safe.

This is a place where criminals beat a 1 year old child because it “was making too much noise”, where children are kidnapped and dismembered for some sick ritual need, where small girls are stolen from their mothers arms and sold into slavery, where old people are brutally beaten and murdered in the most grotesque ways, where a person is shot for their cellphone and R50 cash, where people are robbed in broad daylight, where the criminals are free and innocent people lock themselves behind burglar proofing and electric fencing. This is Africa…be prepared.