Following the spate of house robberies in the Tzaneen Cluster, where the women stokvel social clubs were targeted and large amount of money robbed, operational strategies were established and implemented to curb this trend of criminal activities.
The strategy brought about an immediate impact when a 26 year old man was arrested at Paledi Mall in the Mankweng Policing area, following another armed robbery at Maake Policing area outside Tzaneen where an undisclosed amount of cash in stokvel money was robbed at gun point by a group of armed suspects.
These suspects were identified in Tzaneen CBD and were ordered to stop by the Police but they sped off and a motor vehicle chase ensued until one of the suspect was arrested at Paledi Mall with the backup from Mankweng SAPS members.
During the arrest, one unlicensed firearm was recovered and this suspect is still being processed to check his history with a possibility of linking him to the previous similar cases in the same Cluster. He will appear before the Mankweng and Lenyenye Magistrate Courts soon and Police investigations are still continuing.
The South African Police Service is still strongly urging Limpopo residents to be vigilant this festive season, especially woman who are participating in the Stokvel Social Clubs, to stop distributing their collected money in cash.
In the Bolobedu Policing area outside Tzaneen, a 54 year old woman was robbed of stokvel money immediately after she arrived at home from the bank.
It is alleged that on 30 November 2017 at about 12:00 midday, the victim entered her room at Ga-Mamaila village after withdrawing stokvel money from the bank for distribution, when two unknown cars stopped on the street in front of her gate, three unknown men entered her room and demanded the money.
Meanwhile in Modjiadjiskloof, also outside Tzaneen, a 42 year old woman was robbed of stokvel money at Goudplas. It is alleged that the victim was asleep when six armed suspects forcefully broke entering her house and also robbed her the stokvel money and Christmas clothing for her children.
The stokvel club members are advised to utilize electronic transactions to distribute their money instead of distributing cash to prevent these types of crimes.
The remaining suspects in all these incidents are still being followed.
Anyone with information about these groups of armed criminals, may contact Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Machimani at 082 451 7181 or the Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or the crime line sms 32211.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
