About two weeks ago the Herald received an email from Saps asking for help in looking for a certain man (suspect) in connection with a fraud case.
To my surprise it was someone I knew.
I have known this man for years, not especially well, but well enough that we have had a number of decent conversations at times.
The information from Saps was shared on social media as well, in order to help the police locate him.
Suddenly I had a shocking revelation.
I realised I had seen him in town just a day or two ago. My response was: ‘No man! How is that possible?’
How was it that Saps was looking for him, if it hadn’t even been 48 hours since I last saw him?
That was a bit concerning and perplexing, to be honest.
For me, something was not quite adding up.
So, I took it to Facebook to see what others might say and, funnily enough, as expected, I was not not the only one who had seen him recently.
Then, there was another surprise.
The very man (suspect) popped up on Facebook.
It was almost as if he was mocking us by saying to tell the cops ‘he is in town if anyone is looking for him’. The cheek.
So, let me get this straight… the man is roaming around town, not hiding, or seemingly in the least concerned, yet Saps says it has a warrant for his arrest?
Come on Saps, are you really looking for him or is there no one who can get in a van and go find him?
He’s well known, popular in fact, and everyone seems to know who he is and what he does for a living.
Later, the man responded again, saying he had phoned the police, and they asked him to come to the police station three days later.
It raised a question.
How does the Saps issue a warrant of arrest but still say, ‘no wait, we will see you after a few days?’
What is a warrant of arrest issued for if a person who is a suspect can still roam around the streets?
Fast forward: he was arrested and then released a few days later, and back on Facebook again to tell people that ‘he is back’.
In my opinion I don’t know if Saps is really doing what it should be doing, or maybe Saps is doing its job but the justice system is failing them.
I say this because being accused of fraud is a serious offence, and the issuing of a warrant of arrest is done if Saps has been looking for a person it cannot find.
But what can I say or do?
It’s a bit typical in some ways of the South Africa we all love, a country which can achieve so much yet can also blunder in buying non-effective vaccines for something as big and serious as Covid-19.
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