A widow of Eltivillas (Louis Trichardt) living in a one-bedroom house was robbed of every valuable item that she had to help support her in her old age.

“I will share my story because I don’t want any other widow or single mother to go through what I went through,” said Ms Vasu Mehta (55).

When Ms Mehta arrived home from work on Saturday, August 15, she found everything scattered on the floor. Even the beds were thrown upside down. The burglars emptied out every single envelope, threw out every cupboard and drawer, until they eventually found what they were looking for, cash and gold.

“They found the jewellery that my late husband and my parents gave me. They knew exactly which pieces were precious and they threw the imitation jewellery on the floor,” Ms Mehta said. She kept the jewellery as security for her old age. The pieces were wrapped in toilet paper and mixed with other jewellery and hidden in the bottom of a chest.

The burglars also took al the cash the widow had been saving up to renovate the dilapidated home.

“I do not go out or buy clothes. I just saved everything for special offers for the renovation. They left with R15 000 cash and a few Kruger coins,” Ms Mehta said. The cash was also in the chest. All her losses together amount to about R170 000.

“Now I have nothing. Should I put up a notice board, don’t come and steal here again, everything is taken?” she asked.

The burglars gained entrance by forcing aside the side gate to create space to go through. They entered through the back by forcing the security door and back door open. Then they started their ransacking …

This happened between 10:00 and 14:00 in broad daylight. Ms Mehta’s son of 22 quickly dropped in at the house at 09:30 and returned to work. Everything was still in its place by then. Later he found that the burglars had pulled his handheld game out of the plug and left with it. The police told Ms Mehta that they could not find any fingerprints. Ms Mehta employs no domestic or garden worker.

“My life is upside down. I live in fear. I sleep with pipes next to me and bar all the doors. I will have to replace the side gate with a stronger steel gate. But all the money is gone now,” the widow said.

Ms Mehta was not the only resident of Eltivillas who suffered from a recent spate of housebreakings.

Mr Mohammed Riaz, a businessman, experienced a housebreaking in July when he was away. The burglar proofing of the bathroom window was cut and jewellery, cash, a DVD and Playstation were stolen.

“Nowadays all the burglaries happen during the day. This is getting out of hand,” Mr Riaz said.

Four other recent cases of housebreaking were mentioned by Mr Narendra Desai, businessman from Eltivillas.

“Have the police found anybody?” he asked.

Local police spokesperson Capt Maano Sadike said last week that they could not find evidence that the situation was getting out of hand.

“The crime in Eltivillas is not so alarming. We find scattered cases in town and in the villages, but the crime is under control. We go out in teams to respond to crime on a rotation basis day and night,” Capt Sadiki said. What they could find was that shoplifting had escalated.

“Shoplifting is committed by adults, both local and foreign, and we ask businesspeople to have male and female security workers in order to search suspects,” Sadike said.