Good progress on Lebombo border and Tourist-related crime prevention

KLCBT was invited to make a presentation to the    Provincial Justice and Crime Prevention Cluster last week regarding several safety issues raised with the MEC previously.  During this meeting, our plea to   assist with the lobbying to open Lebombo border on a 24hour basis was extremely well received, and they gave us the undertaking that it will be presented as a matter of urgency with national        inter-ministerial clusters.  The other big win was our request for virtual court appearances where tourists were victims of crime.  They are unable to travel to SA to attend court hearings, and it is also costly to government.  This usually results in no prosecution of criminals.  We were told the facilities are in place now at one of the courts in Mbombela and they will ask that these cases can be heard there.  Basically a done deal.  We also asked that all the open cases of tourist-related crimes from 2019 must be re-opened so we can get those perpetrators prosecuted now that these facilities can be utilized.  Many other safety   concerns were raised for further discussion, i.e. large trucks, road conditions, illegal mining and animals on the main roads.