NKOHLAKALO – Sprinkling a dose of so-called sleeping water is what suspected burglars in the village are using to rob residents of their valuables.
It has been alleged that a group of suspects is responsible for the spate of burglaries, where people fall asleep after water, which is obtained from local mortuaries, is sprinkled.
Residents apparently only wake up after their homes have been ransacked. According to locals, this water is used to wash corpses at mortuaries.
Speaking to Mpumalanga News, one of the community members who claimed to be a victim of these suspects, Ms Mavis Mahlalela said, “I had the shock of my life last Wednesday morning.
When I woke up, I discovered that some of my electrical appliances, including my DVD player, plasma television, microwave as well as my wallet, were gone. I still don’t understand exactly what happened because from what I could recall, I was watching television and my two children were doing their homework.
I heard something on the roof and thought it was raining. I only heard it once. I was scared because it was already very dark outside and we don’t have street lights.
“We all fell asleep where we were seated and the door was wide open. I suspect that they used dirty water from mortuaries,” Mahlalela said. She said they didn’t wake up from where they were sitting until the next morning.
“I woke up at around 04:00 and felt a cold chill as the door was wide open. At first I thought it was just a dream, then I realised that it was real. I saw my kids sleeping on the table with their books open and wearing the same clothes.
“What puzzled me was that one of the windows was broken and we didn’t hear anything,” she said. Another resident, Mr Thulani Chauke told the paper, “A few weeks ago, one of my neighbours experienced the same thing as he couldn’t remember anything about what really happened.
He also said he had thought it was raining outside and fell asleep only to discover his valuables were missing the next morning. I doubt that they are using the water alone, maybe they mix it with something else.
“I wish one of them can be caught red-handed so that they can tell us what they use to make people fall asleep. Those criminals are going to cause havoc in our communities if they are not apprehended,” Chauke said.
The spokesperson for KaBokweni Police Station, Capt Shelly Ngomane said, “At this stage it is very difficult to know exactly what the criminals’ strategies are. We can’t comment on what happened or what is going on because we have a problem, and most victims don’t open cases.
“If there has been a housebreaking or burglary, we normally hear them complain but they don’t come forward. “When we do community outreach programmes or crime-awareness campaigns, we always encourage them to report such incidents, even if it’s minor things,” Ngomane said.
