Don’t give window washers cash – cops
WITH Christmas and the festive season approaching and people needing money, instances of begging, hawking and window washing are set to increase.
But, the Joburg metro police department (JMPD) has appealed to motorists not to give out money.
“We know it is the holiday season and people feel sorry for them, but they cause numerous problems for motorists, their safety and themselves,” said Superintendent Zed Mangaliso.
The JMPD is often accused of not acting on these crimes, but since the SAPS put a moratorium on prosecuting these “B” crimes a few years ago, now considered petty crimes, its hands were tied, he said.
“Similarly, we take the women with children to shelters, but they don’t want to stay there – (begging) is too lucrative. The only solution therefore rests with motorists – if these people didn’t get money, they wouldn’t be at the intersections,” he said.
The window washers, especially, were creating many problems.
“We have had cases where if motorists don’t pay, they squirt dirty, muddy water on the windscreen to obscure their vision,” Mangaliso said.
Women with babies were making a lot of money at the expense of their babies, he added.
“These women, some of whom ‘ rent’ children by the day, make these babies and toddlers sit in the middle of an island in small, confined spaces for up to eight hours a day in the wind, sun and rain, putting them at severe risk in case of an accident or if the child inadvertently steps into the road.”
Some hawkers, too, operated illegally as they had to be 5m from an intersection.
Many of these hawkers were decoys for criminals.
“On the pretext of selling, they check what is inside the vehicles and signal to their accomplices, who execute smash-and-grabs,” he said.