Durban - Menlyn Park Mall said the woman who shot a video of a man allegedly following her because he wanted to human traffick her was immediately assisted on the day of her visit and the gent was taken in for questioning.
However according to Nisha Kemraj, general manager for Menlyn Park Mall, the woman opted to not press charges, continued her shopping, and a day later scripted her video.
This was confirmed by police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo, who said police were aware of the video circulating on social media.
“We don't have a report of a case opened at local police stations.”
In the two-minute video, the woman records a man she claims has been following her while she shopped at Menlyn Park Mall.
The video says: “Human Trafficking warning Menlyn Mall. It’s the weirdest thing, he has been tailgating me for no reason.”
The woman then tells the man to stop following her while throwing profanities at him.
“You will not human traffick me. I don’t know. Stop following me.”
She claimed the man knew she was recording him.
The woman said he waited outside a shoe shop for her while she pretended to shop.
She thanked mall security for assisting her by finding the man.
“The security then escorted me to Woolworths where I got a new outfit, new shoes, because I don’t know if its a syndicate and he sent pictures of me to other people. Please be careful. Don’t be quiet, cause a scene.”
Kemraj said: “Given the nature of both the Popi (Protection of Personal Information) Act as well as social media responsibility/irresponsibility, we have declined to openly comment on the situation and will not be issuing a press release or media statement as the video has been customised for purpose and isn’t entirely representative of what transpired on the day.
“We do however take these matters very seriously and have confirmed with both Brooklyn and Garsfontein SAPS that no human trafficking nor kidnapping has been reported both current and statistically at Menlyn Park.
“The reality of situation is that these crimes do occur worldwide and we should not make light of the seriousness.
“Customer and tenant safety is of paramount importance to us and we have built up defensive security measures to mitigate crimes within Menlyn Park.
“This includes a perimeter armed tactical defence team, as well as in-mall presence to support the guarding component. We further have upgraded our security cameras, strategically positioned throughout our property, and are always able to release footage to SAPS on request.
“These help greatly in terms of preventing incidents as we have 24-hour manned camera posts as well as recordings of footage for security protocols.”
Kemraj added that they hoped customers would use their voice and social media platforms responsibly.
IOL