RESIDENTS of Phase 8 in Kraaifontein, Cape Town are sleeping with one eye open.
This is because amapharaphara are stealing their gates at night.
Resident Ntomboxolo Kewana, said her gate was stolen last week.
“I was called by one of the men who rents our family house to say the gate was not there. I could not understand what he was talking about, so I sent my sister to go and check and she confirmed that the gate was gone,” she said.
Ntomboxolo’s sister, Nomazizi Nama, said she was shocked to find the gate missing.
“I knew that amaphaphara did it again as many people have complained about their gates being stolen,” she said.
After posting on Facebook on various Kraaifontein pages, the family received a call that the gate was dumped next to a spaza shop in the area.
However, they did not open a case as they recovered the gate.
“The man who called us took it and locked it with a chain at the back of his house until we arrived. We are happy to get the gate back,” said Ntomboxolo.
Ntomboxolo’s neighbour, Manelisi Juba (49), said his gate was never recovered after it was stolen two years ago.
Community leader Sila Mawethu said the problem was caused by scrapyards around their kasi.
“These people take everything they see, which they think will help them get something from the scrapyards. When they buy things from these people, they don’t even ask for an ID. They just take things and amapharaphara find it easy to sell,” he said.
A 54-year-old man who runs a scrapyard told Daily Sun amapharaphara came to them with all sorts of things.
“They even bring a railway line that is cut into small pieces. I always turn them away. They go from one scrapyard to another until they sell,” he said.
