BA pilot beaten/robbed in ZA
 

This on Sky News this afternoon: https://news.sky.com/story/british-a...-trip-13046022

We’ve all done it. Gone to help a young lady, obviously in distress judging by the spartan state her clothing, only for there to be a misunderstanding and suddenly you’re being frogmarched to a cash point.

There was another incident last year when a BA pilot was stabbed when out jogging. Sadly, the situation only seems destined to get worse.

Hope he's alright, a very scary experience. Sad to see South Africa getting so bad, spent many happy times there but not sure when I'll ever go back.

On the plus side, impressive range on the Embraer.

Never, never go out alone in South Africa, even in Sandton. I read that the incident was in Melrose.
Sympathy to the victim but overconfidence leads to arrogance which leads to stupid is stupid does. In my experience the only safe country on the. African continent is Ghana. I do however stand to be corrected.

Egypt still does a pretty good job in the cities, and the only thing that scared me in Namibia was the gangs of hipopottomi.

BA pilot beaten/robbed in ZA
 

Things were getting serious with me and a South African chic. I asked her what would it be like to be Based in Joburg. She said ;" Well, if you make it home from the airport without being mugged and there is a beer in the fridge, it's not bad". I pulled a silly UK protected face and said something even sillier like "Yikes!". Got dumped.

If you’re a man.

We have been to South Africa 6 times. My wife goes out running in the morning (before I even wake up thankfully) everyday. Never had a problem. All cities have some risks. There are some suburbs in New York I wouldn’t go to. As well as in London, and Los Angeles.

I would feel safer in some areas of South Africa than I would in some areas of the US.

I was based down there in the mid 1980's. Same in Rhodesia mid 1970's. No trouble of that nature, muggings etc.in those days. Things worked down there then.. The world wanted it changed. And change they got.

what vacuous and utterly flawed reasoning! You've been there 6 times and not been mugged or murdered? - well it MUST be safe - no further evidence required!
Anyone who knows the current state of SA knows it has become extremely dangerous. It used to be ok outside the known hotspots, but that violent crime has permeated throughout almost all of the country. Utterly unpredictable violence and murder - I personally knew someone randomly shot at traffic lights (no resistance, no demands - just shoot first, then take the bag, zero regard for life) and another who's farm workers tried to kill him. And I only know a dozen or so people there!
SA murder rate 42 (/100000/yr)... USA = 6.4. UK = 1.2
A basic grasp of empirical risk might come in useful in more ways than one!

Two Singapore Airlines cabin crew were robbed at gunpoint outside the entrance to the Holiday Inn Santon hotel in Johannesburg in 2018. Not far from the point were the bus will need an armed escort to and from the airport, and crew will be confined to the premises during their stay.

I wandered into a casino in PE, wearing a polo shirt, shorts and deck shoes. "Sir, do you have any firearms to check in ?"

One visit was quite enough. Great local flying, wildlife, botany, scenery etc. but totally screwed.

SA murder rate was about double during the last years of Apartheid from 1980-1994.

There’s been a slight uptick in recent years but not approaching 1980-1994 levels.


Actually it was a 70% yes vote in a white South African only referendum in 1992 which voted to end apartheid. The recent uptick in crime is probably due to more recent issues as the murder rate now is still half of 1980s levels.

Dr dre

Have you ever been to South Africa let alone reside there?

Same sort of issues in Lagos. Armed escort to from the crew accom and don't wander off the hotac compound.
Closer to home, we could pop into Crawley for a pint and a stab. Eeek.

Just don't go there. I grew up there and won't go back, for one major reason: the violent crime.

Just read this before thinking of going there: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-ad...y-and-security.

There are much nicer and safer countries to visit in the world.

(Someone has tried to claim that the murder rate was higher in the run up to 1994. Yes it would have been: the ANC mobs were murdering 'their own people' to subdue them -- remember their 'necklaces'? There was also a huge amount of violence between 'anti-apartheid' factions trying to gain the upper hand. But none of that 'excuses' the appalling murder rate now and the dismal failure of the ANC government to control it. On the "Crimewatch" programme on UK TV several years ago, to put people's minds at rest after a programme about crime, the comment was made that "Most people [in Britain] don't know someone who knowns someone who knows someone who has been involved in a violent crime". By contrast, most people in South Africa know someone who knows someone who has been murdered.)

Stay away. Or if you have to go there, like this BA crew, don't budge out of your secure hotel.

During the years of white rule in South Africa and Rhodesia, the police were efficient and weren't corrupt. Their main focus was keeping crime out of the white areas, murders in Soweto weren't a major priority. You would be okay in a wealthy area like Sandton if you took sensible precautions and followed local advice.

These days, the police are largely ineffective and I would tend to think they were as tainted with corruption as every other state institution. I've worked with a few SA pilots and their stories included: a brother murdered, a best friend murdered and a parent marched into a bank with a knife at their back being forced to withdraw money.

Most people there would have either been the victim of violent crime or had some close to them be a victim.

While white farmers are being murdered at the rate of more than one a week, South Africa brings a case against Israel for genocide at the ICJ in the Hague.

I have only operated to Cape Town once. The previous day we had done a very pleasant tour of the wine area, and this day the crew were going down to the docks area for lunch, and for some reason, which I cannot remember, I said I would meet them later.

Being aware of the risks, I left my wallet, watch, phone, sunglasses etc in the hotel, and dressed scruffily, with just some paper money in my otherwise empty pockets.

It was the middle of the day, and as I walked past a square in a business area towards the docks, I noticed a small cabin on one corner where a policeman could shelter. Inside it were four policemen, all crammed in.....

I thought to myself; gee thanks guys, you are supposed to be out patrolling the streets, keeping us all safe, yet here you are, all hiding in a one man police shelter.

Posts which are on topic, non political, and non racist are welcomed to continue this discussion. Statistics and opinions about local culture are not helping.

Thank you, one of your moderators....