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04 Mar 2021

South Coast anglers fall prey to knife-wielding robbers

Nothando Mkhize (ECR News) Picture: Some KZN South Coast anglers say they're now fishing in fear because they're constantly being targeted by robbers.

The Tuna Angling Club there says the several attacks have taken place at the Sandpit area in Port Shepstone. The club’s Myuran Moodley says the problem started when fishermen were barred from parking closer to the beach.

He says he almost fell victim the other day. “The motive of the robberies are occurring where two guys will probably come up to you and ask if you have a cigarette.” “At that point, it’s too late because they will pull a knife on you. So what we do, as soon as we see someone come close to us, we take out our protection and tell them to not come closer.”

Another angler, Kessi Sewsunker says they now fish in large groups. “There are three of us and the guys that robbed us were four and were armed with knives and they demanded cellphones and cash. And since then we hardly go down the beach to fish.”

The Ray Nkonyeni Municipality says there’s construction work taking place around the parking lot. Spokesperson Simon April says they hadn’t been made aware of the attacks. “If they can lodge a formal complaint, the municipality together with the police can attend to the issue.”