By Sihle Mavuso
Police have arrested two staff members of a Shoprite branch at City View Mall in central Durban after they allegedly defrauded many recipients of their R370 social relief of distress grants.
The arrested employees worked as cashiers in a busy supermarket in central Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The police rounded them up on Monday.
Initially, the police detained five cashiers, but two of them were later released after no evidence linking them to the alleged crimes could be found.
On further investigation, two were charged and appeared at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday afternoon. The third is still under investigation and has not been charged yet.
According to sources, the cashiers told grant recipients that the government had not deposited their money.
They did that even though the recipients came with messages showing that their grants had been approved.
“They would then cash the money for themselves after turning back a desperate recipient empty-handed,” a source said.
The store reportedly started monitoring the cashiers after receiving complaints from several recipients who had been turned away, and the cashiers were nabbed.
Colonel Robert Netshiunda, the SAPS spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal, confirmed the arrest of the two – aged 29 and 32 – and said the third suspect is being investigated.
Pictured above: Many people line up at Shoprite branches desperate to collect their social grants, but at City View Mall some left empty-handed.
Source: X
