If South Africa’s going to have a successful World Cup – and I think we could if the political will were just there – we’re going to have to stop worrying about the Vuvuzela (some people have blasted it [sorry, couldn’t help myself] for its tuneless racket), and start worrying about some real problems for a change.

Our stadia may be ready (have you seen them? Awesome), our hotels may be ready, and our airports may be ready.

But will our civil service ever be ready?

Judging by my experience at the hands of the South African Police and the huge number of responses to my article about it, the answer is a loud, frighteningly loud, deafeningly loud, NO.

So many people reported similar experiences – where the police use their brutality instead of their brains and so turn normal human interactions into traumatic situations – that I can only conclude that I got off lightly.

But get this – it’s beginning to affect our industry. Two of the many replies I received – both from inbound tour operators – hinted that their writers would be looking for new destinations because of the experiences of their passengers at the hands of the South African Police.

South Africa has a history of tramping on its citizens’ rights (remember apartheid, anyone?) and it looks to me like we’re headed for another round of the same.

Is this what we want? Is this what tourism wants? To die a slow death – not at the hands of the criminals, but at the hands of the law?

I think not.

So what are you doing about it?

What gets me is that we go to things like Indaba, where we bemoan our fate, and then we come back home and put up ever bigger walls and thicker burglar bars, and we try to shut our eyes tighter – and bury our heads deeper – in the hope that crime will just go away.

Or worse, we expect the government (read civil service) to Do Something About It.

But it doesn’t just go away. Whenever you hide a problem, it grows; it becomes a triffid, eating whatever it can find, needing more, and eventually destroying everything.

It’s a no-brainer: if we want to get on top of crime in this country, we need an effective police force, and the only way we’re going to get that is if we ask ourselves who guards the guards.

Fortunately, the law in this country has provided us with an instrument that every member of the tourism industry ought to use: your local community police forum.

It’s a statutory body and, from what I can make out, it’s the only thing the police are scared of. And that’s a good thing, because it can hold them in check – in the best way.

Any citizen can become involved, and I’m calling on the tourism industry to make sure that every member of the industry joins his or her local police forum.

Hold them to account, help them where they need it, and work with them to make their job doable.

Find out more at your local police station. And if the station hasn’t got a police forum – create one. It’ll take time, but given the commitment, it’ll work. One example: Sea Point in Cape Town is a wayyyy healthier and safer place these days as a direct result of the community’s involvement in its police forum (and Knysna, I believe, is on the point of launching a web site for its community police forum. And they’ve had results already: apparently one local suburb has brought its incidents of housebreaking down from about 30 a month to just one – and it was a combination of the police forum and a neighbourhood watch that made the difference).

With kick-off less than a year away, time’s not something we have on our side, but, as the philosopher said, “If I am not for myself, then who is? And if not now, when?”

And as for me? Well, my trial was postponed until the 21st of July, so there’ll be nothing to report ‘til then – if they don’t lose the docket, of course. But let me repeat what I said before – I got off lightly there in the holding cells. Yes, they trampled on my rights, and yes, they tried to intimidate me into ‘cooperating’ after I had signed their form which guaranteed my right to remain silent and my right to access to a lawyer.

But worse, by those actions, they trampled on your rights, too. And what are you going to do about it?

GREAT SERVICE FROM THESE TRANSLATORS

Now how’s this: I needed a PowerPoint Presentation for a Japanese delegation – and I needed it in 24 hours.

No problem to the guys at Language Inc.,  the translation house I’ve used again and again over the years – they had it done for me – in Japan – and delivered it almost overnight. And it wasn’t a small job, either – must’ve been 50 slides and about 2,000 words.

I’ve used Language Inc. for translations into languages like Xhosa, Afrikaans, Spanish, Portuguese and a number of others. But they offer other services, too, and their sister company, Ad Hoc,  provides language training, cultural consulting, communication skills training workshops and financial literacy seminars to both companies and individuals.

Language Inc. also offers proofreading, editing and copy writing, and, of course, provides interpreters for international conferences and the like.

In last Friday’s Business Day, the minister was reported as saying that the one industry that’s resilient in these trouble times is South Africa’s tourism industry. We’re hosting more and more international events, and our traditional source markets are changing – and many of these newcomers won’t speak much English. So it’s going to be more and more important for tourism people to speak – or at lease have access to people who can speak – foreign languages.

Have you got such a resource on your books?

Thing is, I can recommend Language Inc.  with confidence. They’re based in Stellenbosch, and you can contact them at info@language-inc.org or visit them at www.language-inc.org

CLIMB KILI WITH ME

We start our trek up Kilimanjaro on the 27th of September – the itinerary’s on the Ntaba Tours  site – and when we’re done, we’ll be rewarding ourselves with visits to the Serengeti and Zanzibar…

If you’re too lazy to walk, follow my journey to Africa’s highest peak on the Ntaba Tours Fanzone on Facebook.

But don’t be lazy – come with.