Cheetah confesses ‘I made rugby more important than God’
Bl. 12 | Donderdag 27 November 2014
Robbers prefer shops to banks Ruan Bruwer and Benine Cronjé
TRY using less cash, being openminded and being alert of suspicious people this December to avoid becoming part of the crime statistics. This is the advice of Capt. Chaka Marope, police spokesperson. Richard Phillips, joint CEO of Cash Connect Manage ment Solutions, says despite all the talk about credit and debit cards and mobile payments, cash dominates, as 84% of payment transactions worldwide is made with cash. December is regularly a popular time for criminals to try their luck, mostly as more cash is in circulation. “Since cash is the primary target for armed robbery, and incidents of violent attacks continue to
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Cash still dominates in retail – 84% of payment transactions world wide are made with cash.
grow year on year, it is time for retailers and business owners to step up to this reality and to take action to protect themsel ves, their staff and their customers,” Phillips says. The national crime statistics for 2013’14 indicate that most types of aggravated robbery have increased. In the last year alone more than 18 000 armed robberies targeting businesses were recorded in South Africa. Retailers have a oneinfour chance of becoming victims of armed
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robbery. “Since banks and cashintransit vehicles have secured their cash, the retail sector is now the soft target for criminals. It is common that manual cash management processes directly contribute to increasing the risk for armed robbery. “Cash will remain in circulation for many decades to come – for consumers, businesses and criminals alike,” Phillips adds. Marope says there are more robberies this time of the year at businesses and banks. “Shop owners must be more alert of suspicious people and not keep large amounts of money with them. They must rather take it to the bank.” Monzel Bezuidenhout of Jewel Craft Manufacturing says they are always aware
of the possibility of a robbery. They are very strict on safety and bank more money this time of the year. “We don’t want too much money on us. It stays the client’s choice how they want to pay, but we prefer that they pay via a card.” Two malls where robberies took place were recently in the news. The offices of Spark Parking, the company that regulates the Mimosa Mall’s parking area, became a victim of a burglary. Last week there was also a robbery at a liquor store at the Bloemgate Centre. According to Meryl Henning, the Loch Logan Waterfront’s marketing consultant, the mall has excellent preventative security measures in place which they cannot divulge.
| www.bloemnuus.co.za
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Staking: ontydige einde
Indien die posstaking wel binnekort tot ’n einde sou kom, sou dié kleintjies huisloos gewees het, was dit nie vir twee goedhartige mensevriende nie. Hier wys Meisie Labuschagne van Oranjesig na die posbus waarin twee dagbrekertjies tydens die posstaking nes gemaak het. Lees die berig op bl. 5. Foto’s: Jens Friis
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