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News
January 12, 2017 Uvolwethu Express
Four loan sharks briefly appeared in court REPORTER FOUR suspected loan sharks briefly appeared in the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court in connection with fraud and their case was remanded until March 6 for further investigation. They were all granted bail of R1 500 each. Police Spokesperson Captain Dineo Koena confirmed the arrest stating that the suspects were arrested on Tuesday last week, while they were trying to withdraw money from an ATM in Mthatha.
According to the National Spokesperson for South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), Kgomoco Diseko, the suspects were found in possession of a load of SASSA cards and stacks of cash. He said police caught them red-handed at an ATM while they were trying to withdraw people’s money to whom they allegedly loaned, money. “Although the law must take its course through the courts, SASSA fully supports the action of the police because the use of SASSA cards as collateral for loans deepens the poverty situation of our beneficiaries. SASSA
cards are the property of the beneficiary and it is illegal for loan sharks to take possession of cards in exchange for loans,” said Diseko. Diseko said SASSA beneficiaries are usually targeted by loan sharks at this time of the year, although in terms of the Social Assistance Act, it is unlawful to transfer or pledge by social grant. According to him, money lenders can be arrested if found in possession of a SASSA card and they wish to thank the police for arresting them. “Abuse of a social grant in this manner can
lead to the grant being withheld, suspended or cancelled and beneficiaries have to take note of this very seriously. “SASSA advises beneficiaries to safeguard their cards and PIN numbers at all times and not give access to these loan sharks under any circumstances. To exchange your card for another one can lead to unnecessary unauthorised deductions on your account,” said Diseko. According to him, beneficiaries should not listen to anyone who tells them that the SASSA Card is due for a replacement, as this is an old trick used to abuse their grants.
Community members urged to stick to traditional ceremony rules BABALWA NDLANYA EVEN though police officers under Butterworth Cluster worked very hard to reduce crime during the Festive Season, they are still blaming some of the community members who don’t want to comply with the rule of informing the police when they are going to have traditional ceremonies in their
homesteads. Police Spokesperson Captain Jackson Manatha said it seems as if there is still more to be done to educate villagers about this because they want police to be visible when ceremonies are held to avoid conflicts that usually takes place in these events. “This is one of the problems that lead to people being killed and raped at these cere-
monies because the police are not informed about it, so that they can also be part of it (visible policing),” said Manatha. He added that the King of Amaxhosa, King Zwelonke Sigcau, said family members who are hosting traditional ceremonies in their homesteads must ensure that the ceremony is over and that villagers go home by 5pm, but there are still people who host ceremo-
nies over 24 hours. “You find that there are villagers who are murdered at 2am and others are raped while coming from a ceremony in the night because villagers don’t want to stick to this rule.” He said they are asking community members to obey these rules because by disobeying them they are increasing the number of crime in their areas.
Element of crime hits hailstorm victims SIMBONGILE MDLEDLE CRIMINALS have seen the hailstorm incident, which recently hit the localities under King Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD), as their chance to commit crime. The affected locations, which were hit by the storm on Monday, January 2, include Qweqwe, Payne and some other parts of Mqanduli. Police reports stated that criminals entered houses that were left roofless, windowless or doorless to steal the belongings. Because of this, some residents decided to sleep in those roofless structures to protect their belongings. One of the victims of this crime is Mahlubi Mafongosi, who confirmed that he and
his brother sleep in his car to keep watch over their belongings. “As my mother relocated to town, we were left with no choice but to sleep in the car for the whole night to protect our belongings, which were still in the house. We will continue doing so until we get help to fix our house,” said Mahlubi. He said most of the people in his area lost a lot of items due to criminal activities since the storm hit the area. The Executive Mayor of OR Tambo District Municipality, accompanied by the Executive Mayor of King Sabatha Dalindyebo, handed over tents, food parcels, matrasses and blankets to the victims that have since become homeless. There were 67 homes provided with relief in Qweqwe and Payne. At the time of going to print, both municipalities were still assessing the costs caused by the storm. In the meantime, the KSD municipality has this week called a Council meeting to discuss ways of helping the affected families.
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Cezu Senior Primary School was wrecked by the storm. PHOTO:SUPPLIED
Head of Hawks warns public to be vigilant against scammers and false advertising SIMBONGILE MDLEDLE THE Directorate For Priority Crime Investigation’s (DPCI) – also known as the Hawks – Eastern Cape Provincial Head, Major General Nyameko Nogwanya, has appealed to the Eastern Cape community to be careful, especially as the year begins. He said people must be cautious of many flatulent adverts, taking to scams, bogus scholarships, lucrative deals or bursaries during January 2017. He said people must be very vigilant and know that easy come easy go. Nogwanya also stated that the recklessness of traditional surgeons that lead to many unwarranted deaths at initiation schools needs to be looked at closely to see whether there is not a third element linking it to trafficking of body parts.
“Trafficking in persons comes in different lucrative ways. People must be careful,” he said. “We have seen numerous cases where people are the victims of well-orchestrated crimes such as deposit scams, traditional healer scams, black dollar scams and human trafficking. All these cases seem to be perpetuated by people with more relations outside South Africa and some extent foreign nationals seem to be leading towards victimising our African women, South Africans in particular. People are hereby warned to be very careful of getting into unscrutinised relationships because they become victims of a well-orchestrated crime, under the pretext of love, as a gateway to their monies,” said Nogwanya. He stressed that against all odds the Hawks shall always strive to ensure that people of the Eastern Cape feel safe at all times.