A South African civil rights organisation has offered to deploy drone technology into Kruger National Park as a security measure, following the murder of two tourists at the national tourism resort last week.
Johannesburg-based AfriForum has revealed that it can provide the practical support of its community safety structures, including the use of its drones, to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), SANParks and relevant law-enforcement authorities after the bodies of Dina Marais (73) and Ernst Marais (71) from Mossel Bay were discovered in the Levubu River in the northern part of the Kruger National Park.
The couple had last been seen alive on the morning of Wednesday, 20 May, at the Pafuri picnic site in the northern area of the park.
After they failed to return, a search operation was launched.
Two days later on Friday afternoon, other tourists reported two bodies floating in the Levubu River near Crooks Corner and alerted authorities.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the male victim sustained stab wounds to the upper body, while the female victim also suffered severe upper-body injuries, allegedly inflicted with a sharp object,” said Thembi Hadebe, Limpopo’s provincial police commissioner.
The victims’ vehicle, a green Ford Ranger double cab, is still missing, and police have opened cases of murder and hijacking.
So far, investigations have revealed that gate security cameras have not picked up the missing car exiting from any of the nine access gates or the two international border posts into Mozambique.
In a letter addressed to the relevant authorities, Afriforum has declared that its drone capabilities, community safety networks, information-sharing structures and coordination capacity will be available for use by security and safety authorities, in an effort to help secure the Kruger National Park.
“The Kruger National Park is not only a national treasure, but also one of the country’s most important tourism assets,” says Lambert de Klerk, AfriForum’s Manager for Environmental Affairs.
“The safety of visitors to this park must be treated as a matter of national importance. AfriForum is therefore ready to assist with practical resources within our means if the authorities are willing to cooperate.”
In its statement, the non-profit organisation added that the murder had shaken the country and raised serious questions about safety, surveillance and response capacity in one of South Africa’s most important tourism and heritage sites.
“AfriForum has extensive experience in community safety and has the capacity to contribute constructively and responsibly in support of the authorities, the victims’ families, visitors to the park and the broader public,” the statement read in part.
“AfriForum is also calling on DFFE and SANParks to provide a clear plan on how safety standards will be improved across the Kruger National Park, especially in remote areas where monitoring and rapid response may be more difficult.
“This plan should include heightened patrols, improved surveillance capacity, faster emergency response procedures, clearer communication channels for visitors, and improved cooperation between safety role players.”
AfriForum said it believes the authorities must act with urgency, transparency and determination to restore public confidence and ensure that visitors to the Kruger National Park are protected.
“Cooperation between government, SANParks, law enforcement and responsible civil-society organisations is necessary to address the safety risks facing national heritage sites,” says Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s Chief Spokesperson for Community Safety.
“If there are gaps in surveillance, patrol capacity or emergency response, they must be identified and addressed immediately. AfriForum is willing to be part of the solution.”
If the offer is accepted, this will not be the first time that drone technology would be tried as a safety and security measure in Kruger National Park. Sadly, the previous efforts have not been successful.
It was the SANParks itself that led trials to introduce drone flights around the wildlife habitat in 2017, in an effort to curb poaching activities that saw the poachers killing thousands of elephants and rhinoceros; to the extent that their actions threatened the extinction on the rhino.
Up until now though, these efforts have been in vain, not least because of the sheer size of Kruger National Park, which has proven impossible to cover by drones on current battery technology. Drones have grown in leaps and bounds from 2017, but their staying power on a single charge has not made significant progress.
Of course, we are adding this context this without knowledge of the type of drones Afriforum is proposing to deploy. It is understandable that – after such a tragedy – society would want to act to prevent more people from falling victim, especially in places where they should feel safe, and we hope the organisation’s proposals will lead to more robust safety measures being implemented at the national park.
Featured image courtesy of The Daily Maverick