Byline Andani Matumba
01 February 2022
In his statement earlier today, the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela strongly condemned the reporting of false cases by the community as it is a waste state resources and money.
According to Provincial Commissioner, the opening false cases has a terrible impact in the fight against crime where limited resources and manpower that were supposed to be channeled in areas where they are needed most would then be misdirected and wasted.
This comes after the arrest of a 32-year-old man on Sunday, 30 January 2022 when he fabricated a case of hijacking a day prior being Saturday, 29 January 2022.
According to police report, the suspect is said to have registered a car-jacking case at Mhluzi Police Station.
Upon opening the said case, the suspect said that he was traveling with three of his fellows, a man as well as two women when two suspects hi-jacked his Toyota Yaris vehicle the same day at about 20h30 in Mhluzi.
The Police at Mhluzi police station then mobilised their forces and resources with a hope to bring those responsible to justice however in the tour of their probe they discovered lack of consistency in some of the information that the provided provided in his statement, which raised suspicions to the investigators.
The investigation team later discovered that the suspect was involved in a car accident where a pedestrian was allegedly bumped by his vehicle.
After the accident members of the public who were present at the accident scene took the car keys from him.
The suspect then went to the police and opened a case of hijacking and concealing the fact that he was involved in an accident.
It was then realised by the police that a hijacking incident did not take place on that day.
Police at Mhluzi then explained discrepancy to the suspect regarding giving the police false information and that his actions amount to a criminal offence
The suspect was arrested and a charge of perjury laid against him.
The suspect appeared at the Middleburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 31 January 2022 and the matter was struck off from the court roll due to outstanding information required however the investigation continues.
The Provincial Commissioner also highlighted to the community the fact that opening false cases have a terrible impact in the fight against crime where limited resources and manpower that were supposed to have been channeled in areas where they were needed most would then be misdirected and wasted.
