Police have rejected as a hoax an email that warns people against ”stonings and shootings” on Gauteng highways on Saturday.
National spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said on Wednesday the email claimed the South African Police Service and metro police were on standby because of the alleged threat.
”We have not received any information on such planned activities and our members have not been placed on standby on Saturday to deal with such incidents on Gauteng’s main roads,” she said.
”We have liaised with the nodal point of the metro police South Africa on this matter and they have also rejected the claims.”
The hoax email, which the South African Press Association has in its possession, claimed police were warning motorists not to drive on any of Gauteng’s highways on Saturday as they might be stoned or shot at.
”It is shocking that individuals seek to cause panic among members of our communities,” De Beer said.
She called on all recipients of the email, or similar correspondence, to ignore the message and not to forward the message on to others and cause ”unnecessary anxiety”.
Youth Day is to be celebrated on Saturday in commemoration of the Soweto, Johannesburg, uprisings of June 16 1976. — Sapa