The police are searching for two unknown suspects who robbed and stabbed a woman at her home in Tshiozwi on Sunday night (23rd).
Ms Violet Mawela told Limpopo Mirror that she was asleep at around 03:00 the morning of the incident when two men confronted her in her house. "They asked for money, but I told them that I did not have money," she said. "One of them took my grandchild and threatened to kill him if I did not give them money. I tried to fight with them, but they overpowered and stabbed me and took off with some cash, a TV and three phones." The thugs entered her yard through a big hole they had cut in the fence and used a ladder that workers were using to repair her roof to gain access into the house. She described her assailants as "animals".
Although she was injured, Mawela feels very lucky. "While the whole thing was happening, I kept praying to God," she said.
Tshiozwi residents are fed-up with the escalating crime rate in their area and have threatened on several occasions to take the law into their own hands. Earlier this year, thugs broke into at least five houses, robbing the owners of valuable household items.
The chairperson of the local civic association, Mr Bernard Matumba, said the community members had been terrorised by criminals for a long time now. Cases of housebreaking and theft in the area, he said, had reached an intolerably high number. "The police are dragging their feet to address this problem. I urge everyone to unite in the fight against crime and call on the police to deal harshly with the criminals in our area who break into our homes and steel our belongings."
The provincial police spokesperson, Brig Motlafela Mojapelo, said they had opened a case of robbery and attempted murder. He encouraged people who might have information regarding the robbery to come forward and help the police to crack the case. He also urged communities to refrain from public violence and said that the police were working around the clock to arrest these suspects.