A MARIANNHILL centre which caters for more than 300 people, including children, has turned into a soft target for criminals as it has been broken into five times this year.
Jabulani Self Help Centre has been stripped of almost every copper pipe and taps around the buildings.
The centre was started in 1988 to assist the disadvantaged women and children in the Mariannhill community, with the help of the missionaries of Mariannhill. The centre runs projects for women such as sewing, baking, woodworking and gardening to assist them to earn an income
Volunteer at the home, Luis Andrade said they have lost lots of money fixing the pipes and fences since last year. “The problem started last year but it has gone from bad to worse as almost every week, this place is broken into. Andrade said that in the last incident, the criminals broke into one of the buildings and stole 30 metres of copper pipe which supplies water for one of their gardens, a tap which is used by the children to wash their hands, and all the toilets taps and pipes.
“This really affects the centre as the money that we use repairing and replacing the pipes could be used to buy more food or boost some other projects that we are running.
The women who runs the project also expressed their anger about this theft. “These people are stealing from the their community as the money that is used for repairs feeds Mariannhill people. This centre feeds the community and children come here after school for food.”
The women said they are really suffering because they are left with no water after the criminals steal the pipes. “We need water in this place as we used it to cook for the people, and we have gardens.”
They said sometimes they can not even use the toilets. “What makes it worse is that the centre also runs a creche and a pre-school and children gets really affected by these incidents,” they said.
