A recent post in a Grahamstown newsletter by a local photography business said: "The number of people coming to us requiring passport or ID photos, who have had their wallets stolen, is astronomical."
Linking it to the increased muggings in Grahamstown, they warned members of the newsletter mailing group to be vigilant.
A recent post in a Grahamstown newsletter by a local photography business said: "The number of people coming to us requiring passport or ID photos, who have had their wallets stolen, is astronomical."
Linking it to the increased muggings in Grahamstown, they warned members of the newsletter mailing group to be vigilant.
Grocott's Mail followed up with an investigation to see how widespread the reported trend was.
First stop was Home Affairs, in Bathurst Street. There we asked whether there had been an increase of people coming for new IDs and, if so, whether this could be linked to an increase in muggings.
Fezile Somfongo, Home Affairs senior administrative officer, said, "The number of people applying for second IDs is increasing, but this is not because of a rise in muggings but other factors…
"People are abusing the fact you can get a second ID. They give their passports and IDs to loan sharks, knowing they can come get another one at Home Affairs."
Somfongo said this was the reason the cost of applying for a new ID book had been increased earlier this year.
A woman queueing at a cash-loans business, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "The cash loans in town don't take our ID documents – but the ones in the township do. They even take our bank cards."
The owner of another photography business, Kodak Express, Dr Nick Stavrakis, told Grocott's Mail: "We have had an increase in ID photo pictures, but you cannot say it's because of muggings or anything specific. It's not specific to violent crime it is just general crime – an increase in break-ins and negligence from people who leave their wallets lying around."
