05 Apr 2018

 Letlhakeng Police station commander, Superintendent Daniel Katse has reported a generally peaceful Easter holiday. 

In an interview, Supt. Katse said that was because they did not register many serious cases in their policing area.

He indicated that they only registered two cases of rape that occurred in Letlhakeng and the nearby Serinane on March 30 and April 3 respectively. 

“We also registered three cases of unlawful wounding where suspects used Okapi knives and two of the victims are still hospitalised. 

But all in all, we only registered minor cases such as petty theft and fights as well as operating outside the stipulated hours by alcohol selling outlets,” he said. 

Supt. Katse explained that the tranquility was a result of a pre-holiday clean-up operation in which they targeted criminal activities such as illegal immigrants as well as being visible in the villages through foot patrols. 

He said during their pre-holiday clean-up operation, they registered 20 cases that concerned illegal immigrants in which 13 of those involved were Zimbabweans while Batswana made up the remainder. 

“The involvement of Batswana in illegal immigrants issues is through employing foreigners without proper work permit as well as getting involved in love affairs with them. 

We even have a case in which someone has three children with a Zimbabwean illegal immigrant, and all the children are very fluent in Setswana while they do not speak any language spoken in Zimbabwe, which indicates the person had been illegally harboured for a very long time,” he said. 

Supt. Katse said in their next operation, they intended to focus on a thorough stop and search exercise during which they would also search vehicles, especially for the ill-famed Okapi knives as they were mostly used in criminal activities. 

He also raised concern about excessive alcohol intake, and thus advised people to drink responsibly. 

At Takatokwane police, station commander, Supt. Ocean Maraganyane indicated that they also registered minimal cases which included only two serious ones, one of which involved defilement where two men aged 27 and 30 defiled two school going girls aged 12 and 15. 

Supt. Maraganyane said the two men reportedly took the girls to Somo cattle post near Takatokwane on March 30 and only returned them on April 1. 

However, he said suspects were in custody and investigations were still ongoing. The other case, he said involved theft of a generator worth P95 000 at the Pilane landfill in Kgatleng. 

“The generator was used to power the incinerator at the said landfill, and while we were on our regular patrols we got wind that it was for sale somewhere in Salajwe. We followed up the tip and managed to arrest one suspect while two others are still at large,” he said. 

Supt. Maraganyane said all three suspects were employees of a company that had been tasked to operate the incinerator. 

On other issues, Supt. Maraganyane said stock theft, which had been a challenge in the area, still remained a big concern. 

“Thieves mostly target calves that are yet to be branded and earmarked, so we advice farmers to avoid letting out calves until they are branded and earmarked,” he said. ENDS