Victim of ID theft still ‘given the runaround’
A senior lecturer at the University of Limpopo (UL) has warned the public to keep their identity documents in a safe place.
POLOKWANE – This advice comes after Dr Mack Matlabyana (47), who heads the university’s mathematics department, became a victim of identity theft when a bag containing his laptop, cheque book and identity document was stolen from a colleague’s car in 2013.
The thieves removed Matlabyana’s photo from his identity book and replaced it with one of their own before they fraudulently took out a R6 000 bank loan and opened furniture and clothing accounts worth more than R38 000.
“The clean credit record that took me many years to build was destroyed. I am still struggling to clear my name.
“Reporting the matter to the police didn’t help. In fact, it was just a waste of time,” he said.
He said a case of theft was opened at Mankweng Police Station before two suspects were arrested and charged with fraud after they were video taped trying to cash one of his cheques at a local bank.
“It took the police six months to collect the video tape from the bank. The footage was wrong, and then it took them another three months to get the correct footage,” said Matlabyana.
He said the suspects made only two court appearances before the prosecutor dismissed the case based on a lack of evidence.
“I was shocked to learn that the video footage from the bank was destroyed. How can the police lose such crucial evidence? Since then, when I go to the police to enquire about my case, I am given the runaround. I have lost hope of getting justice,” he said.
The Deputy Provincial Commissioner for operations, Major General Lesiba Mashilo, confirmed in a statement that the video footage from the bank was destroyed, adding that an internal investigation has been instituted to determine any misconduct on the part of members of the police.
