MNGANDUZWENI – Community members are worried about the spate of house burglaries which recently occurred in the village. On Saturday night alone, six families said that their households were broken into and food was stolen.

Ms Petunia Nonyane said that she went to bed around 22.00 and when she and her family woke up on Sunday morning, their window was broken.

“I found our clothes scattered all over the house and they looked like they had been searched. I think they were looking for money and when they could not find any, they went for our food in the kitchen. They also took our phones,” she said.

Nonyane added that she suspects that the perpetrators use muti to make them fall into a deep sleep so that they do not hear anything. She said that she was grateful that her husband, who works far away from home, was also at home that particular night.

“If my husband was not at home, I would have been raped. These people can do anything when they are high on Nyaope,” she added.

Another resident, Mr Timothy Nyathi said that money, food and other valuable items were taken from his house on the same night.

“We are a very poor community and it is very sad when the little that we have is taken away from us in this manner,” said Nyathi.

The residents said that they did not report these incidents because they know that nothing will be done by the police.

“These things have been happening for years in this community and the perpetrators are from the very same neighbourhood. We have alerted the police about who the suspects might be, but nothing was done since we have no evidence,” said another member of the community.