A video went viral where several foreign shops were looted by a small group of people and shortly thereafter everyone started to join in the ‘fun’.
This took place on Wednesday, September 11 and the Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, strongly condemns the acts of criminality.
Capt Eddie Hall, media spokesperson for Witbank Police on the day said that it is a very small group of people that entered a shop and was nothing at all like on the video.
But locals very soon joined in, they were seen running with various goods from stores and it turned into chaos.
Six suspects were arrested on the day, including the alleged mastermind and several stolen items were recovered.
The video shows several members of the community fleeing from a certain shop with stolen items.
The police however moved swiftly and diffused the situation before it escalated due to a contingency plan which was put in place as a control measure to suppress a possible outbreak of similar incidents within the province.
Police stations have been given a strict mandate to conduct intensive visible patrols in all areas but also prioritize and monitor the areas with a large number of foreign owned shops.
The Crime Intelligence Unit has also been roped in to gather information on possible threats, so that members on the ground can be deployed accordingly.
There are also engagements taking place at local level between the police and representatives of the foreign owned businesses, furthermore, sector managers have also been activated to stay alert at all times.
The police in Mpumalanga urge the community not to participate in such criminal acts but report them to the police instead.
The suspects appeared in Witbank Magistrate’s Court on September 13 on charges of possession of stolen property, theft as well as assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH).
An investigation into their involvement in the looting of foreign owned shops is currently underway.
In light of this incident, General Zuma has warned that such acts of criminality will not be tolerated and further urges people to act responsibly and obey the law at all times.
Capt Hall also confirmed that it was not a planned xenophobic attack and the investigation is still ongoing.
He added that Brig Lindani Ndlovu as well as General Wilson Kekana had a meeting with the foreigners after the attack and numerous alternatives were posed to them, like closing their shops earlier at night.
“The various role players were also present at the meeting like law enforcement, the traffic department, police and more to prevent such incidents from happening in future. They mobilized a plan and no one lost their lives in this incident and no one was injured. The message however, that the police wants to extend to the community is that police will be having pro active patrols to eliminate criminal elements, no matter how big or small. The police will not tolerate such behaviour,” said Capt Hall.
Brig Leonard Hlathi, provincial spokesperson could not be reached by time of going to print for further comment.
