Residents of the new RDP houses in Elandspoort were shocked to wake up to open windows and to find that some of their belongings were missing on Monday morning.
On Sunday night, eight houses were broken into and items like cell phones, jewellery and money were stolen.
According to residents, the thieves burnt CDs and threw them in the drains outside. The smoke from the burning CDs allegedly acted like a drug and made residents so sleepy that they could not hear or feel anything.
“The television in my daughter’s room is close to the window, but they did not take it. They walked into my bedroom and took my jewellery and cell phones and they also took the children’s bicycles,” Yolandi Francis said.
She said that the people got into her house and the other houses through the windows. Apparently, they banged the windows until they got them open.
Alta Groenewald told Rekord that she woke up to a man standing next to her bed and when the man noticed that she had seen him, he ran away.
“He grabbed my cell phone, but when he ran away he dropped the phone and climbed out through the window,” Groenewald explained.
Annetjie Groenewald mentioned that she was cut on her face and did not even notice it.
Not everyone in the area can afford to burglarproof their homes, as they are mostly unemployed.
Residents said that they were afraid now because their lives could be in danger.
The spate of burglaries happened less than three months after residents moved into their houses.
“We have not been living here long and people have already moved homeless people into their homes. Two cell phones and a wallet were stolen from my house,” Alta Rheeder spoke out.
Residents said they received no help from the police when they wanted to open a case. Some residents and their DA ward councillor, Danny Swanepoel, pointed out that the open field close to some of the houses posed a danger to the residents.
“I heard about the house break-ins and I was there on Monday. I also organised for someone to check on things there,” Swanepoel said.
He told Rekord that they were going to draw up a petition to the Tshwane metro to have a perimeter fence put up around the houses and they were also going to involve the police to help assist in crime prevention in the area.
The residents stated that they were robbed by three young males. Some residents tried to run after the men, but could not catch them.
Francis and Alta Groenewald said that they patrolled around their houses at night since the incident on Sunday.
Residents felt unsafe and feared for their lives because of the break-in method used.
