Beehive removed from Northwold

A local beekeeper removed a swarm of 9 000 bees from a makeshift beehive in Northwold on 21 January.

The bees were living in an electricity meter in Tony Place.

This was not the first time a swarm inhabited the meter, and not the first time beekeeper Rassie Erasmus removed them for free.

The bees first arrived two years ago, and City Power promised to remove them.

But after nine months of waiting, and two children were stung, Erasmus took the bees back to his home in Bromhof.

When a second swarm arrived in November last year, resident Henry Brown turned to Erasmus again. “I am doing this to save the bees,” Erasmus said, while burning cardboard so the smoke would chase the bees into the box where he had moved their honeycomb. He did this without any protective wear.

“We need bees. If all the bees in Africa died, we will also die.” He said bees are important for our ecosystem.

Brown said that it was a “relief for the children around here” for the bees to go.

He added that although he hopes bees will not return, the enclosed space in the meter make it a secure location for a beehive.

“I would say there is an 80 per cent chance the bees will come back,” he said.

Details: City Power 011 375 5555; Beekeeper Rassie Erasmus 011 793 2684.