An aspiring female farmer, who dreams of becoming a successful commercial farmer one day, has had a major setback because of ruthless criminals who take advantage of load shedding.
Tshiwela Lillian Chauke (28) of Nancefield in Musina said she was surprised when she went to her small-scale poultry farming plot last Thursday morning (22nd), only to find that her 2 000-litre water tank was gone. This, she said, was a serious blow to her small business as she used it to store water for her chickens.
She said that she usually did not have a problem with lights at her plot during the night, thanks to the Apollo lights in the Nancefield Township. "I have someone who stays at the plot, but he did not hear anything the night my water tank disappeared. The water tank was there when I left my plot on Wednesday evening and I never expected anything bad to happen. That night, there was load shedding from 23:00 to 01:30 and I believe that the criminals took advantage of the darkness. I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I arrived in the morning, only to find that my precious tank was stolen. I still do not understand how they carried the tank away, because it was filled with water and there is no sign that they had emptied it in the yard."
With the assistance of other community members, she walked around the nearby bushes in the hope of finding leads. Some distance away, next to a thorny shrub, they picked up the lid of the water tank, but of the tank itself no trace could be found.
Tshiwela now wants the public to help her find her missing water tank as this is a valuable asset to her farming enterprise. "I humbly request anyone who might have seen my tank to help me locate it because my farming activities are almost halted."
The chairperson of Musina Crime Prevention, Mr Mashudu Kenny Leseba, said he was worried about the escalating crime around Musina. "We are working with various community stakeholders, including the police, to make Musina a crime-free zone. We can only achieve this if all community members join us in this venture. We are also continuously in touch with Tshiwela, and we will not rest until she gets her water tank back."