MBOMBELA – Street beggars pose a threat to motorists. This is the shocking revelation by motorists who opened up to this paper about the dangers they face at traffic lights which are infested by beggars. They alleged that thugs who pretend to be beggars were robbing unsuspecting motorists.
One of the recent victims, Ms Angela Mabaso-Sibiya said,
“I was approached by two beggars asking money to buy food. I was very shocked when they started to shout at me as if I owed them something. I then suspected something because I knew I didn’t know them from anywhere.
“When I was about to give them money, I could not believe my eyes. One of them pointed a gun at me and told me not to scream while the other got inside the car, took my belongings and ran off.”
Some of the motorists said incidents like these were a wake-up call for authorities to come up with new strategies to do away with beggars in the CBD because there were many illegal activities happening, especially at traffic lights.
Other motorists complained and said the beggars were disrupting the traffic.
“The problem that I have with the beggars is that sometimes they don’t check before they cross to the other side of the road,”
a motorist explained.
Speaking to the spokesperson of Mbombela Local municipality,
Mr Joseph Ngala said,
“It’s true that it is very distracting to road users. We are appealing to our motorists to be vigilant when they are approached by such people, especially at this time of the year. People want to make money in different ways.
“This is not only a municipal matter since you can find the beggars on national and provincial roads too.
However, since they are generally found in the municipal area and as we are getting into the festive season, we are going to work with all security agencies to find ways to deal with these problems,” explained Ngala.
