Residents discover bombs in their yards

Butha Klienhaans, a ward committee member of Hillside View, says community members have discovered at least four mortars in their yards in Portion 1 this year alone.

The residents usually contact Klienhaans and a 40-year-old man, who chose to remain anonymous, to assist them with the explosive devices. The pair removes them once they have been assessed. Klienhaans says he was part of the military and has knowledge of and is skilled in explosives. When he arrives at the scene, he usually checks the shape, size and form of the bomb before removing it. He also checks whether there’s a fuse or not.

The community members believe the explosives were previously used for training purposes. Klienhaans says the form and substances inside these are different from a high-explosive bomb. According to him, the community members in Portion 2 recently discovered two bullets and what seemed to be the remnants of a detonated bomb.

Colonel Adelé Myburgh, the police spokesperson, says Ikageng police members have been notified of six highly explosive devices this year. She explained that they still have the potential to detonate, which is extremely dangerous. She added that the last device was found on 8 September. “Only an expert would be able to determine if they are highly explosive or not, therefore members of the community are cautioned not to try and retrieve any suspicious devices. They should be left untouched and not moved or carried,” she said.

According to Myburgh, seven more devices were found free of explosives. The last one was discovered on Wednesday, 11 November. These devices were found in Sonderwater, the Eleazer Road and the municipal dumping area. She appealed to residents not to pick these devices up if they find them as they could explode. She advised the public to rather mark the nearest tree with paper or a plastic bag and call the police. William Maphosa, the municipal spokesperson, explained that Portion 1 and 2 were proclaimed part of Extension 2, Promosa as erven 2146 and 2147. “The sub-division of erf 2146 started by scraping and flattening the earth surface in 2018. During the planning process – including the scraping and pegging – there was never a sign or discovery of explosive objects as alleged,” said Maphosa. He explains that the erven were never part of the terrain used for military training.

However, he noted a tendency by some residents to collect deactivated explosive objects from military camps and make it seem as though they were found in the residential settlement. He appealed to residents to call the SAPS’s explosives unit if they should find such devices or objects. They should not touch them as they could be dangerous.

After numerous attempts to get hold of various military communication officers, the Herald contacted Captain Matthew Hlatshwayo, second in command at 17 Maintenance Unit. He said the Department of Defence follows a particular protocol before disclosing any information regarding their operations. “Once it is in writing, then we will be able to respond to what has been written to us,” he said.