Pretoria – The recent spate of robberies in the Western Cape are just sporadic incidents and the police is on top of the situation, acting national commissioner Khomotso Phahlane said on Thursday.
“Let’s not make a mistake in respect of what is widely reported as mall attacks in the Western Cape. It is sporadic incidents,” Phahlane told reporters during a tour of the Attlyn Shopping Centre in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria.
“One [of the targeted entities] was a bakery that was robbed. It was not in a mall. The second one was an ATM robbery before the opening of the mall. That incident happened before 9am as the security was moving to deliver or collect cash. Another incident relates to a Pick n Pay where they [robbers] were not even successful. Security responded and the robbers ran away.”
Phahlane said a false impression, that malls in the Western Cape province were under siege from robbers, has been created.
“I’ve been following it. The impression created is that malls in the Western Cape are under attack. That is not the case. We are doing very well with our deployments. You go in any mall in our country, you will find the police there. It is exactly what we committed to do,” said Phahlane.
Brazen armed robberies hit at least five businesses, including three shopping malls, in 24 hours on Wednesday.
Phahlane said the SAPS festive season intervention plan was not only limited to the malls, but also had roads and residential areas covered.
In a message to members of the SAPS, Phahlane said he was proud of how his charges had served South Africa in an eventful 2016.
“We were confronted with the 2016 local government elections. We were confronted with the #FeesMustFall and many other challenging operations [and] the police emerged victorious. I can just encourage them to continue flying the flag of our country very high, to remind themselves of what the Constitution demands from us, to realize the code of conduct of the SA Police Service in practice and continue to serve our people with integrity, honesty and pride,” he said.
African News Agency
PRETORIA, December 22 (ANA) – The recent spate of robberies in the Western Cape are just sporadic incidents and the police is on top of the situation, acting South African Police Service (SAPS) national commissioner Khomotso Phahlane said on Thursday.
“Let’s not make a mistake in respect of what is widely reported as mall attacks in the Western Cape. It is sporadic incidents,” Phahlane told reporters during a tour of the Attlyn Shopping Centre in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria.
“One [of the targeted entities] was a bakery that was robbed. It was not in a mall. The second one was an ATM robbery before the opening of the mall. That incident happened before 9am as the security was moving to deliver or collect cash. Another incident relates to a Pick n Pay where they [robbers] were not even successful. Security responded and the robbers ran away.”
Phahlane said a false impression, that malls in the Western Cape province were under siege from robbers, has been created.
“I’ve been following it. The impression created is that malls in the Western Cape are under attack. That is not the case. We are doing very well with our deployments. You go in any mall in our country, you will find the police there. It is exactly what we committed to do,” said Phahlane.
Brazen armed robberies hit at least five businesses, including three shopping malls, in 24 hours on Wednesday.
Phahlane said the SAPS festive season intervention plan was not only limited to the malls, but also had roads and residential areas covered.
In a message to members of the SAPS, Phahlane said he was proud of how his charges had served South Africa in an eventful 2016.
“We were confronted with the 2016 local government elections. We were confronted with the #FeesMustFall and many other challenging operations [and] the police emerged victorious. I can just encourage them to continue flying the flag of our country very high, to remind themselves of what the Constitution demands from us, to realize the code of conduct of the SA Police Service in practice and continue to serve our people with integrity, honesty and pride,” he said.
Phahlane also urged South Africans to exercise patience when calling the emergency line 10111.
During the tour of Attlyn Shopping Centre, journalists asked Phahlane if reported labour-related disputes at the police call center had been resolved, and the general complaints of citizens who allege that they could not use the emergency line this festive season.
Phahlane responded: “As far as the 10111 is concerned, like any other number, there is a peak when too many calls are being made. There is a congestion, so we call upon our people just to exercise patience in terms of the waiting period. You call any call centre, somewhere they tell you that you are number 20 in the queue”.
“If you drop [the phone call], you are falling back, you are not getting closer. People must exercise patience but the number is fully operational. You can gladly call that number at any given time.”
The police chief cautioned against hoax calls being made to the emergency line.
“We must discourage the hoax calls – people calling for the sake of calling and diverting the police from the work they are supposed to be doing,” said Phahlane.
– African News Agency (ANA)