The police in Gauteng say there was no woman who was arrested in Jukulyn, outside Pretoria, for using counterfeit lobola money at a popular supermarket. This comes after news spread over the weekend with reports that the woman received the money from her Nigerian son-in-law who paid the lobola money in cash.

POLICE INVESTIGATING

The report also claimed that the woman's brothers who were part of the lobola negotiations were also arrested after trying to use the money at shops. It was alleged that the police were summoned to the store and the mother of the bride was arrested on the scene. Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo said an investigation was opened after the false reports. Masondo said that officers from the Rietgat police station probed the validity of the allegations and can confirm they are false. "Police visited a local Shoprite store and spoke to the manager who denied claims that their store caught anyone paying with fake money. There is also no such case registered at Rietgat and the neighbouring police stations," Masondo added.

A WASTE OF POLICE RESOURCES

Masondo pleaded with social media users to stop spreading false information as it was a waste of police resources. He said it was disheartening that irresponsible social media users would deliberately post misinformation about an area while others share carelessly without verifying whether the story is accurate. "The sharing of misinformation puts the South African Police Service at a disadvantage because all the allegations of crime have to be investigated. This leads to the police utilising state resources and losing valuable time that could have been better utilised to investigate real incidents. Eventually that also disadvantages victims of crime and hampers service delivery," he said.