Guest house meeting to discuss safety

All guest house owners in the Cleveland SAPS precinct are urged to attend a meeting on February 18 to discuss safety.

The Cleveland SAPS hopes to establish a forum to address safety at guest houses following crimes in which people were followed from the airport and robbed at places of accommodation.

Earlier this year, the EXPRESS published an article about two dignitaries from the Angolan Parliament and their wives who were robbed in Cyrildene.

Constable Mpho Mashakane, the Cleveland SAPS communications officer, said the couples left OR Tambo Airport to the guest house they were going to be staying at.

When they entered the premises, they saw a white Lexus follow them in. Three men exited the car and pointed firearms at them. They were robbed and the men fled in the Lexus.

During a public meeting held in Kensington recently, Warrant Officer Marx Crouse informed residents that a man who arrived at a guest house in the suburb was shot.

He was also followed from the airport. He died shortly after the incident.

“The person who was exchanging his cash apparently asked him for the address he was going to be staying at and he provided these details. A syndicate is targeting people who leave the airport. People should be careful of what information they hand out and to whom,” said W/O Crouse.

He added that several of the victims in cases opened were people from Angola.

“We have established that several Angolan people are visiting this country to get treatment at hospitals,” said W/O Crouse.

The meeting will take place at the Cleveland SAPS and will start at 10am.

“We want to establish a committee to run this forum. We will discuss crime and possible ways of preventing further attacks,” said W/O Crouse.

He can be contacted on 082 499 0197 for further information.