Final stakeholders meeting of the year ends in celebrations

Brakpan SAPS held their final stakeholders meeting for the year on November 20 at the State Mines Country Club, after which stakeholders enjoyed a lunch at the club’s lapa to close off the year.

Various stakeholders, including the Brakpan Herald, received certificates of appreciation, which read: “For excellent assistance to the Brakpan Police station. Your continued involvement is highly appreciated.”

The crime overview provided during the meeting revealed many common crimes decreased compared to this time last year. House break-ins, theft, business break-ins, theft of and out of motor vehicles, aggravated robbery and house robbery all declined.

Murder and attempted murder, however, did increase, as well as possession of unlicensed firearms, drunk driving, hijacking, rape and sexual assault, and business robbery.

Despite these increases, arrests for the month were above satisfactory, with arrests being made for offences across the board.

A current hot spot for crime is the Mall@Carnival, especially in the gym parking lot, where theft out of motor vehicles is high. SAPS made an appointment with mall management to increase and improve security to address this spike.

The EMPD noted during their discussion that illegal connections are being targeted and disconnected in large operations, with 70 shops in Brakpan CBD found to have illegal connections just the week before the meeting.

These connections were disconnected, fines were issued and shops were closed. This is in conjunction with the ramping up of food safety operations spurred on by the increase in recent alleged food poisoning incidents.

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Another concern raised by multiple stakeholders is fraud and commercial crimes that continue to cause problems. This includes false sales on Facebook Marketplace, where people are asked for holding deposits only to lose thousands as the seller disappears.

Another common scam is selling electricity, airtime or gift cards at “huge discounts”, but the products don’t actually exist and people trying to make ends meet are scammed out of their hard-earned money.

The public is also warned that fake money is circulating again, and cash sales over marketplace are being targeted. Often, the first few notes in a stack are real, while the rest of the notes are fake.

The SPCA calls for the public to not use fireworks over the holidays, as it causes animals to run away to escape the noise, resulting in injuries, and putting a large strain on the society.

The public is also asked to notify the EMPD or SAPS about neighbours setting off fireworks in residential areas, as they often do so without a permit and can be fined heavily for doing so.

The liquor forum informed stakeholders that a liquor licence is not issued to an establishment, but rather to the owner of an establishment for that establishment only.

As such, change in ownership means that the new owner has to reapply for a liquor licence, as they can’t use the previous owner’s for that establishment, or their own previous licence at the new establishment.

Clean Brakpan commended the team and volunteers for almost an entire year of cleaning the town, with close to 60 projects completed in just under a year. They ask for donations to keep going, as they need to repair some equipment and keep being able to buy or rent equipment.

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