The South African Police Service (SAPS) has refuted recent social media posts about gang violence in certain problem areas in Gauteng.
While recent social media posts claimed that 13 people had been killed in gang affected areas in Joburg in the last week, the SAPS said there had been just three cases reported in that period, and only in Westbury, Sophiatown.
Police said there were no gang related murders in areas such as Riverlea, Eldorado Park, Noordgesig and other areas as claimed in the social media posts.
Furthermore, one of the most wanted gang suspects, Morgan John, otherwise known as ‘Big John’, was arrested for murder on Thursday and appeared before the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, June 21. He is set to appear in court again on June 29.
The province said it had interventions in place in all areas known to be affected by gang violence, including Eldorado Park, Sophiatown, Langlaagte, Booyssens, Motlakeng and Moffat View.
“There are extra deployments in place to augment members from Anti-Gang and the local stations’ day to day policing. The 24-hour deployments comprise of members from Public Order Police, Tactical Response Unit, Flying Squad, K9 and Johannesburg Metro Police. These multidisciplinary forces are assisted by private security officers as well,” the SAPS said in a statement.
The provincial police force said they arrested 106 suspects between March and June for a wide range of crimes, including armed robbery, attempted murder and drug-related offences. In the process they also seized 14 fire arms as well as drugs and two hijacked vehicles.
“The Management of the Police in Gauteng believes that measures which have been put in place are ensuring that gang violence is reduced,” the SAPS said.
“The SAPS is appealing to social media users to be responsible and desist from posting misleading content which only serve to instil fear among communities.”
IOL