Kruger National Park (KNP) staff members, who were the victims of last Tuesday morning’s robbery at Crocodile Bridge Rest Camp, received preliminary counselling by the South African National Parks (SANParks) psychologist last Wednesday, to determine their state of shock after being brutally beaten and terrorised by the robbers.

“Our major concern at this stage is the health and safety of the staff members concerned and we are ensuring that they receive all the necessary care in order to be able to resettle them back into their positions,” said the KNP Executive Director, Dr Bandile Mkhize.

The five robbers jumped over the camp’s fence shortly after midnight on Tuesday (July 11, 2006) and tied up the guards who were on duty at the time. They used picks and other utensils to break a large hole in a wall of the Camp’s Reception Building. They then found that they could not break open the safe and forced one of the guards to tell them where the manager was.

They subsequently broke into the house shared by the camp’s duty manager, Wesley Mabasa, and day-walk guide Billy Sibuyi, who shares his accommodation with his 12-year-old son, and severely assaulted Sibuyi. They also discovered a small firearm safe in this house and, after demanding the key; they opened this and took Sibuyi’s personal firearm, a 9mm pistol.

They then forced Mabasa at gunpoint to surrender the safe key and were able to open both the money safe and a firearm safe. A large amount of cash was then removed from the main safe and three firearms – two .458 rifles and a 12-gauge shotgun – and ammunition were removed from the firearm safe.

The robbers also broke into the shop and stole cash and looted the shop.

The robbers then escaped in a Volkswagen CitiGolf, which was later found abandoned on the road between Komatipoort and the Mananga Border Post with Swaziland, outside the KNP boundary.

The SAPS’s Serious and Violent Crimes Unit in Nelspruit is currently handling the investigation.