JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Gaby Burgmer calls her home a “paradise,” even though it is a place where she has endured the grief of two horrific crimes.
Her father, Franz Richter, was murdered here at the Heia Safari game lodge in 2007 while on his way to pay the local staff. The apparent motive was robbery.
And in April, Burgmer’s ex-husband and business partner, Paul Schulte was shot and killed, apparently ambushed as he returned home.
It is the story of one South African family’s determination to stay in the country notwithstanding a wave of violent crime.
Burgmer, who is white, pledges to stay put with her family.
“You see the beauty here? This is Africa,” Burgmer said, waving her outstretched arm, while standing on one of the oldest man-made dams on the continent and gazing out over a huge lake. “I’m born here, I’m just as African as anybody else.”
