Loan shark pair want cop in a cell
Officer allegedly stole R120 000
An Atteridgeville couple who have admitted to illegally withholding social grant beneficiaries’ cards for cash loans, laid criminal charges against a police officer the pair accuse of robbery and assault.
Bongiwe Matwa and her boyfriend Senong Handy have claimed they were robbed of R120 000 by a police officer while withdrawing money at an ATM using SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries’ cards.
The officer, who cannot be named as he is yet to be charged, allegedly pounced on the couple in Centurion last week. Matwa claimed that an argument ensued between Handy and the officer when the policeman demanded to search them.
She alleged Handy was then brutally attacked by the officer leaving him with five broken ribs and a fractured pelvis.
The couple alleged the officer then made off with the substantial amount of money without arresting them.
According to Matwa, this was not the first time the officer had allegedly robbed them of money because he knew they were running a micro lending business targeting social grants’ beneficiaries. “The first time he robbed us was two years ago when he took R45 000 from us.”
On the night of the latest alleged robbery, Matwa said the officer instructed her to empty out her pockets as he could not conduct a body search on her.
“I refused and told him that he had no right to search me. He then called the police station asking for a female officer to come to the scene so she could search me,” she said.
“We had R120 000 on us from the 120 Sassa cards. We lend money to grant recipients and we were collecting our money,” she said.
Police spokesman Captain Dave Miller confirmed a case of assault and robbery was being investigated.
Asked whether she was aware that being in possession of social grant cards was illegal, Matwa defended her practice saying she was making a living and was not harming anyone.
The spokesman for Sassa, Kgomoco Diseko, said: “It’s illegal for money lenders to retain Sassa cards as loan security and we’ve had several convictions”.