Pretoria - MEC for Community Safety Faith Mazibuko joined members of the police to ramp-up operation Okae Molao in Bronkhorstspruit and Enkangala in reaction to reports of robberies and housebreakings.
Mazibuko and provincial police commissioner lieutenant general Elias Mawela were continuing their string of law enforcement operations in Tshwane when they led the operation that commenced at 6am.
Mazibuko said amid the reports of housebreakings and robberies it was decided to ramp up the Okae Molao operation in these areas while the campaign has been gaining momentum as the police refused to let their foot off the pedal during the lockdown.
She said "We found undocumented minors from Mozambique who are below the age of 15 travelling with another undocumented man, saying they were going to work in Zithobeni.
"The fact that we found little children, minors, being used here is very bad. We wish to urge parents that after 6pm you must know where your children are.
"It can't be right that you are sitting in the house but your child is not yet back in the house. That's how they get stolen (kidnapped)."
Mazibuko also pleaded with adults not to ignore children who are seen wandering around and assume they'll find their way. She said sometimes those children are abandoned because their kidnappers have used them and lost value for them.
"We've also discovered some stolen cars at the roadblock but what is disturbing is that there are a lot of cars that use KwaZulu-Natal registration plates.
"However, when you speak to the motorists they speak North-Sotho. Wherever these people are buying cars we must look at with a beady eye because cars are used to commit crimes and cars are stolen and resold.
"Innocently you'll buy a car thinking that it is a genuine car sale, only to find it's a car that was stolen somewhere, registered again and then sold to you.
"These are some of the challenges we are encountering but we hope that the people of Bronkhorstspruit and Enkangala will be proud that operation Okae Molao did come to their area, and that this is not only something that happens around Sunnyside, Pretoria, or Johannesburg," she said.
Mazibuko said the police and the department were in the area because they were responding to challenges of crime that people complain about as experienced in their homes, on plots and the farms.
She said they have also invested security resources in the rural nodes of the province to ensure that people there get to live a life that is enjoyed by residents of the more urban areas.
The operation also saw some illegal liquor outlets being closed down.
Pretoria News