The electricity pay point at Madodonga Village was robbed of a large amount of money last Thursday. The pay point was the only one in the Kutama area.

This has left members of the community stunned and stranded, as they are now forced to travel to Louis Trichardt to purchase electricity. According to the police, more than three suspects broke into the office, damaged the safe and stole more than R22 000.

Const Godfrey Mahuwa of the Tshilwavhusiku police confirmed the incident. He said that it happened at about 01:00. “The suspects first tied up a security guard with a rope before taking the money,” said Mahuwa. “It appeared that the suspects had used a gas welding machine to cut open the safe before taking the money. They cut it into pieces.”

Mahuwa said a case of business robbery had been opened with the police. "We are continuing with our investigation and are also making an appeal to members of the community to furnish the police with relevant information, so that the culprits can be brought to book," Mahuwa appealed. He added that the suspects are still at large.

Several cases of this nature had been reported in the area in the past. No arrest had been made at the time of our going to press.

The security guard who was on duty when the incident happened, Ms Tshifulao Ligaraba of Diana Mike Enterprise Security, said she was in one of the rooms, "when I heard a noise outside. At first I thought it was cats, but then I decided to go outside to see what was happening, because the noise was becoming louder. It sounded like people’s footsteps, and when I opened the door, there were three men waiting outside," she added.

“They ordered me to go back inside at gunpoint. They then tied me up with a rope. One man watched me the whole time while the others were busy cutting open the safe. I saw that two other men had joined the company but could not identify their faces.”

She added that the suspects might have taken more than four hours to open the safe. "I was very scared," said Ligaraba. As far as she could determine, the men were speaking Sepedi.

The headman for Madodonga Village, Vhamusanda Vho-Progress Kutama, urged members of the community to develop a sense of ownership for every project that is happening in the area. He said that the government was trying by all means to take services to the people, but people did not appreciate this.

Kutama is now appealing to members of the community to work closely with the police, so that the culprits can be brought to book. He further emphasized that members of the police must respond in time when there are situations like this one. “I am gravely worried about the ageing and disabled people who used to get services on their doorstep. Now they have to travel to Louis Trichardt again, which is a distance of 54 km away.”

Makhado Municipality´s spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi, said that the municipality was very disappointed that at the same time that they were trying to take services to the people, there were the people who continued to vandalize municipal property. "We are trying by all means for services to reach the people we serve. People must appreciate what we are doing for our communities. Fixing the vandalized property is going to cost us a lot of money," said Bobodi.