Stolen purse reunited with owner a month on
Diligent investigative work re-united an Adam's Mission woman with her stolen purse, a month after she had been robbed.
It all started early on Wednesday morning, 13 November, when ward 97 councillor, Andre Beetge noticed what looked like a SASSA grant card and other items below the bridge over the Toti river, while overseeing the painting of the bridge.
“A wallet was retrieved with various bank and retailer cards – one being a Nedbank debit card,” said Cllr Beetge. A call to the Nedbank Amanzimtoti branch manager, Markus Pretorius put the wheels in motion as he used the card number to locate a contact number.
However, the phone was answered by a man as opposed to the account holder, who is female. When Markus asked to speak to her, the call was terminated.
Not content, he searched for more details and noted her work address as being in the Galleria mall. Although the business had closed, Markus walked over to the premises to make enquiries and as luck would have it, they were able to provide him with a contact number for the account holder, Nonhle Joyce Bhengu, who was robbed by two men at Adam’s Mission on 14 October.
“Markus contacted me to say my wallet had been found. I was very happy to get it back, although I had cancelled all my cards,” said Nonhle. She also lost R850 and her driver’s licence.
Arrangements were made to hand the stolen items back to her on the same day. “Thank you to Andre and Markus for finding my wallet and taking the time to trace me,” said Nonhle.
When asked for a comment, Markus just humbly answered: “We make things happen”.
