POLOKWANE - The Provincial Commissioner of Police in Limpopo Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe and Police Management in the Province are concerned about reports on various media platforms, especially social media, indicating that a motor vehicle that was confiscated by the Police in Mpumalanga in which two suspects were reportedly apprehended along the N12 under Delmas policing area on Wednesday 20 July 2022, was stolen from Thohoyandou SAPS.

The reports imply that the said motor vehicle, a white Nissan NP300 was stolen from Thohoyandou SAPS and one of the Facebook users went to an extend of posting this wrong information with the accompaniment of a marked police van.

Our records indicate that the said motor vehicle, an unmarked white Nissan single cab that was confiscated by the Police in Delmas, Mpumalanga was once a police vehicle that was attached to Thohoyandou SAPS. It was sold during a public auction on 02 June 2022 and was bought by a Zimbabwean national who handed in documents that showed he was in the country legally. The new owner did the change of ownership the next day on 03 June 2022. The registration number on the vehicle is the correct one and nowhere in the eNatis system does the vehicle indicate that it was stolen. The history of the vehicle does however indicate previous ownership and how it was disposed of.

Various people continue to peddle this wrong information on social media that the vehicle was stolen from Thohoyandou SAPS despite the fact that the official media statement issued by the Police in Mpumalanga does not indicate the vehicle was stolen.

Before the said vehicle was sent to a public auction, all police markings were accordingly removed.

“I view these false reports in a very serious light as what they imply have a potential of causing more reputational damage than what was actually said in the official statement,” concluded Lieutenant General Hadebe.

Source: South African Police Service