South Africa honeymoon murder “no impact” on tourism
The murder of British honeymooner Anni Dewani in Cape Town last November has not had a negative impact on South Africa’s tourism market.
South Africa Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told Parliament that as “tragic as it was, it didn’t have any impact on the tourism market”.
“We very carefully track all these incidents. We have an instrument for tracking and management at SA Tourism,” he said.
Anni Dewani was killed while on honeymoon in Cape Town. Her husband, Shrien Dewani, is accused of hiring hit men to kill his new bride, and is currently being on bail in the UK awaiting extradition.
Van Schalkwyk warned that South Africans should be “very careful and balanced” when discussing “these incidents”, whether they were committed by locals or foreigners.
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“We should really resist using them in a way that harms our image.”
He cited an incident in Florida, US, where two British tourists were killed by a 16-year-old. “Should we be saying that the British shouldn’t visit the US?”
Meanwhile Shrien Dewani was moved to a psychiatric unit under the Mental Health Act. He had been staying at the The Priory hospital in Bristol but was thrown out following a series of aggressive outbursts.
The 31-year-old millionaire is being section at the medium-security Fromeside Clinic in Bristol, where he will be held in a room with reinforced concrete walls and five-metre perimeter fence.
His legal team claim he is suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder following the shooting of his bride, Anni Dewani, in Cape Town in November.
At a hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, his lawyer, Julian Knowles, said: “Security is effected by staff, he has no ability to leave.”
The South African government wants him to return to Cape Town to stand trial in connection with the murder of his wife Anni.
His lawyer Julian Knowles said he would fight this extradition on the grounds of his poor mental health and prison conditions in South Africa.