‘Be positive’ they said, ‘it’s only a battery’ they said.
Positivity is the last thing on everyone’s minds when it comes to the increase in thefts of motor gate batteries.
Just last week at least 10 households spread throughout Reyno Ridge, Extensions 41 and 16 as well as Del Judor 1 have fallen victim to these thefts.
Compared to the number of thefts that took place in December of last year, thieves seem to be charging their way through the suburbs in search of easy pickings.
On February 25 the Minnaar family awoke to find that their gate battery had been stolen from their home in Claudia Street, Extension 41.
“We woke up that morning and realised the gate wasn’t working with the remote, when we took a closer look at the gate we saw the cover was off and that the battery was gone,” said Ms Ronèl Minnaar.
Mr Jan van Straaten living in Andromeda Street, Reyno Ridge also reported his battery stolen on that day. Ms Nadine Vlooh said on social media that her motor gate battery had also been stolen.
It didn’t end there on Friday February 26 Mr Anton Bolton said on social media that he had caught two culprits on video surveillance showing them stealing his gate battery in Bester Street, he wasn’t available for comment regarding the accusation.
Ms Ronèl Minnaar’s gate battery was stolen from her home in Claudia Street.
Ms Rika Muller reported that her gate battery was also stolen from Del Judor 1.
Another victim in Reyno Ridge, Mr Frank Jacobs, says that it is the first time his batteries had been stolen and that it was quite a nuisance.
“It happened when we had that serious power failure, all the lights were out and both my gate batteries were stolen from their housings,” said Jacobs.
He went on to describe how on looking at the theft it seemed as if the thieves reached through the gate, somehow managed to unbolt the housing, and simply removed both the batteries from his two motor gates, leaving the bolts lying next to the housing.
“I can’t replace the batteries until I can find someone who can make a more secure housing to prevent further thefts,” he said.
He wasn’t the only victim in Frederick Street, Reyno Ridge and reports came that two of his neighbours also fell prey to the same crime.
“People steal batteries because they have value, even though a used battery has no power it still has value because it’s made out of lead. We also encourage the public not to buy any stolen property as the possession thereof is a criminal offence,” said Capt Eddie Hall.
According to studies battery acid is also made use of in the production of Crystal Meth. Which leaves the question are these battery thieves after a quick fix or a quick buck.
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