[imagesource: Facebook / Where’s the Kumars?]

If you have spent enough time in Cape Town, there’s a good chance you’ve come across the infamous gang of professional beggars known as the Kumars.

We covered their story last month, and despite featuring regularly in news reports over the years, sightings in and around the Mother City continue.

There’s even a Facebook group, ‘Where’s the Kumars?’, which posts updates, photos, and sometimes even videos of their whereabouts.

Over the past week or so, the group has been spotted in the Muizenberg area, prompting a report on News24.

Henrik Daugbjerg, the Chairman of the Muizenberg Community Safety Initiative, also went on CapeTalk this past Friday to spell out how the group operates:

They are a group of people with a range of cars operating all over the city of Cape Town.

They are quite easy to recognise, they will have a worn-down car that’s parked along the road… the boot will be open in most cases.

They will ask for [financial] assistance with petrol because they’ve run out and they have a small child that is crying…

People normally give them cash… They don’t disappear, they will move to another spot in the same area after they have received a couple of charities.

You can’t blame people for falling victim to the beggars, who are very convincing in their story-telling, and really know how to tug on the heartstrings.

Whilst those less fortunate, who are forced to beg on the street in order to survive, deserve both the right to decent living conditions and our sympathy, this is clearly not the case with this operation.

Community safety groups hope that getting the word out will prevent people from being scammed, and avoid situations where things turn aggressive and nasty, which has happened in the past.

Here’s that CapeTalk interview with Daugbjerg:

[source:capetalk]