Thieves target kids

POLOKWANE – A high school learner was robbed of his cellphone on his way home after school on Monday.

The learner was walking in Dorp Street when a white VW Polo stopped next to him.

The driver of the vehicle grabbed the learner’s cellphone, climbed back into his vehicle and drove off.

This was just the latest incident of its kind over the past few weeks.

On Friday March 6, Joyce Mothapo, a student, was on her way home after a lecture at the college she attends when a man in a maroon Toyota Tazz approached her.

He asked her whether her cellphone had a signal and as she took the cellphone out, the man grabbed it and drove off.

“The man was neatly dressed and spoke very politely so I never thought he was a thief,” Mothapo said.

Mothapo said she had not reported the incident to the police as she did not have a clear description of the man, and she believed not much would come of her complaint.

Other schools in the city also reported that their learners had experienced similar incidents, but that security guards managed to intervene and prevent the robberies by chasing the would-be robbers away.

Schools in the area made an urgent appeal to learners to remain on the school premises when waiting for someone to collect them in the afternoons.

“Most school premises have security personnel who are there for the safety of the learners and if they remain on the premises they will be safe,” Hoërskool Pietersburg liaison officer, Anne-Marié Schoeman said.

Polokwane police spokesperson, WO Lesiba Ramoshaba, said learners should be alert and always aware of the people around them when using their phones or other valuable items like tablets.

“Where possible do not use these items in public areas and report all suspicious people and vehicles to the school office or security personnel at the schools.” Ramoshaba said.

Ramoshaba added that the police would intensify patrols at schools where possible to make sure thieves thought twice before committing crimes.