Gate motor thieves are continuing their campaign, striking the Dennesig suburb over Sunday night and making off with at least five gate motors in one night!

The five gate motors were stolen from Buller Lane, Danie Theron Avenue and Melrose Street, according to the Middelburg Observer’s knowledge.

• Zanelle Fraser, who lives in Buller Lane, confirmed that their gate motor was stolen during the early hours of Monday morning, “Our dog started barking at roughly 03:30, resulting in my husband getting up to investigate,” she said.

Her husband scanned the live feed on their surveillance system and noticed their gate was open.
By then, the motor had already been taken and the thieves had vanished.

She explained that their gate’s length allows two vehicles to pass through, making it a very heavy gate, “There had to be more than two suspects involved because two people can’t lift the gate. It’s far too heavy.”

The thieves had lifted the gate from its rail to gain access to the yard before making off with the gate motor, “They also stole our neighbour’s gate motor on the same night, as well as one in Danie Theron and two in Melrose Street.”

• André Claassen, a resident of Melrose Street, also confirmed the theft of their gate motor on Sunday night, “When we turned in at 22:00 that night, everything was fine, but at 07:00 the next morning, we noticed the motor was stolen.”

Claassen said that his neighbour’s dogs started barking at around 01:00, and he suspects that is when the motor was stolen.

“They climbed over our palisades, which stand two metres high, cut the locks to the motor and removed the bolts to the cage we had installed around the motor to prevent theft. Not even the cage stopped them.”

According to Claassen, the estimated cost of his gate motor could be between R10 000 and R12 000.

“They also stole another gate motor in Melrose Street on the same night, as well as one in Danie Theron,” Claassen told the Middelburg Observer.

• Gate motor thieves returned to Dennesig early on Tuesday morning, but fled after watchful dogs alerted their owner.

According to Mariëtte Stapelberg from Koos Delarey Street, three suspects were attempting to steal their gate motor at roughly 02:00 on Tuesday morning, but were scared off when her husband woke up.

“My husband awoke to the dogs barking, and while investigating, saw three suspects. One was outside our palisades while the other two were inside our property, lying on their stomachs at our gate motor.”

After her husband yelled at them, the suspects dexterously leapt over the palisades and made a run for it, one running in Saverite’s direction, while the other two made their way to Harry Gwala Street.

Stapelberg immediately reported the suspects and commended the Middelburg CPF and Mid Alarms for reacting in record time.

“A member of the CPF was on patrol and saw the suspects in our yard the same time my husband did. He chased after them, and the area was patrolled.”
According to Stapelberg, the attempted theft coincidentally happened a day after having their gate motor repaired.

“We just had a new battery installed and the wiring redone, which leads me to believe that these suspects knew of the new battery.”

According to her, it was too dark to identify the suspects, and they were unfortunately not apprehended.

• Hans du Preez, from Titon Security, warned last week of an escalation in gate motor thefts in Kanonkop.
At the time, Du Preez knew about a theft in Karee Street and Springbok Street.

The Middelburg Observer also received information that 20 gate motor thefts in Kanonkop were reported to the Middelburg SAPS last week.

Sgt. Nhlanhla Mdluli, media spokesperson for the Middelburg SAPS, could not confirm those statistics, but did acknowledge that an escalation of gate motor thefts had been observed since March, with all reported cases currently being investigated by the SAPS.

Mdluli further urged members of the public to come forward with any information that could assist in arresting the suspects.