Facebook crime posts not true
Various Lydenburg Facebook pages have been flooded by what seems to be false information about incidents in the area.
LYDENBURG – Social media has recently been abuzz with posts of unconfirmed crimes taking place in and around town.
Various Lydenburg Facebook pages have been flooded by what seems to be false information about incidents in the area. One such page stated that five attempted armed robberies had taken place on Tuesday and that a syndicate was operating in town.
Station commander of Lydenburg SAPS, Col Hans Putter said that this was untrue and that residents were jumping the gun when it came to crime in town. “There has been an overall increase in crime in the province and nationally on account of the silly season that is approaching. But crime is not as rife as some social-media pages are portraying.”
This, however, does not mean that residents should not be alert at all times.
On Sunday a woman leaving her flat noticed a suspicious white Golf parked across the road. “As she drove off in her car, she saw one of the suspects getting out of the Golf and deactivating the gate’s censor. He then turned the security camera at the gate away from himself. Fortunately the camera got a picture of his face,” explains Sgt Elizabeth Mogoa, communications officer at Lydenburg SAPS.
This incident occurred at Barko Development’s Bertinka Hof units. The suspects managed to flee with various electronics and valuables. Barko has since issued a R5 000 reward for identifying the suspect caught on camera.
On Tuesday night, an attempted armed robbery took place at the Mashishing flats.
Magoa said that they had received various complaints about the suspected white Golf. She said residents should be alert at all times. “When you are leaving on holiday ensure that you inform the police station and your neighbours and to report any suspicious activities to the SAPS as soon as possible. Take all valuables with you.” Nationally there has been an increase in crime compared to last year. The SAPS recently released their crime statistics for the year 2014/15.
In this report Lydenburg’s contact crimes which include murder, rape, attempted murder, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, common assault, common robbery and robbery with aggravating circumstances increased from 409 cases last year to 476 reported cases this year. This figure is still much lower than those recorded in the years 2006 to 2011 where the highest number of reported cases were 999 and 677.
Property-related crimes have also increased in town from 617 to 631 in 2015. This year, however, have seen the highest rate of these crimes since 2006, where only 532 cases were reported.
