Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, the police commissioner of Limpopo, has issued a strong warning to community members to stop filing fake missing person reports after a lady was reported missing.
Police in Hlogotlou opened a missing person file on Friday, 6 January 2023 at approximately 17:00 in response to a report that a woman left her children at home on December 31, 2022 during the day, telling her aunt she was going to meet her lover in Roossenekal, and never returned.
According to the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Limpopo, soon after the matter was reported to the police, a search operation was immediately begun around Roossenekal which even stretched to Dullstroon in Mpumalanga Province. Additionally, social media sites were used to report her as missing.
Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, a police spokeswoman, stated that the victim called her family and notified them that she is not missing, contrary to what has been reported on social media sites. Additionally, she vowed that she would return home the following week.
“The police were able to contact her, and she confirmed that she never disappeared; therefore, the police must cease wasting state resources trying to locate her, as she is not missing,” stated Ledwaba.
Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, the police commissioner of Limpopo, stated that a missing person case is a top priority at every police station in order to save the lives of many individuals.
“If people report false cases and we divert our resources in search of those individuals, police efforts to combat crime may suffer,” she warned.
Members of the community have been asked to tell family members while visiting friends or relatives, should panic ensue and they be reported missing.
»The general public has been urged not to file fake missing person reports«