When bullying becomes criminal

Thabazimbi – When harassing someone based on their gender or age, or when making violent threats, bullying becomes a crime. 

A group of youngsters have been harassing Thabazimbi community members (specifically female and the elderly) who decline to give them money. In a recent incident on Thursday 12 August, one of the youngsters offered to watch the vehicle of a female shopper. She declined his offer.

When she returned the youngster and some of his friends started to threaten her by saying her that she will have to wait and see where her vehicle will end up… When she threatened to call the police, he laughingly told her that because he is a child, the police will not do anything.  

In a previous incident on 10 August, a witness saw one of the boys pestering an elderly couple after they refused to give him money. She confronted the boy who then started to get aggressive. When she told him that she will call the police, he apparently replied that the police are his brothers and that his friends sitting across the street will sort her out.

The youngster also made it obvious that he is taking down the details of her number plate. The matter was reported to the Community Policing Forum (CPF) who arrived on scene within five minutes. The group’s usual modus operandi is to target single females and the elderly, and they are most active between 13:00 and 14:00 at various stores.

Another one of their methods include offering to wash your car, if you decline, they still proceed – using dirty water. When you return and refuse to pay, they bully you. A meeting between the CPF and police was held on 11 August to discuss this issue. Police request the community to please report these matters to the police station directly and not on the CPF groups. 

Although the CPF is always ready to assist, they are volunteers and many of them have full-time jobs, so they are not always available immediately. Also make sure that you take the details of the person you are reporting it to. It is vital that you give as much detail like where the incident happened and what the perpetrator was wearing, to the police.