A community leader said the community was also living in fear of criminal infiltration.
THE PLATFONTEIN community has denied any involvement in the theft of fencing valued at R45 000 that was reportedly stolen while a contractor was busy erecting a wire fence on Rust en Vrede farm on Monday.
According to the contractor, employees erecting the fence had to flee for their lives after they were attacked by community members carrying “swords and sharp objects”.
The police were called in to disperse the angry crowd.
Stolen property, including 13 rolls of thorn wire fencing, 150 droppers, 90 iron steel poles, a hammer, one generator borehole machine, one hand drill, one spade, one wire fastener machine, a hand saw and a wooden pole were some of the items discovered by the police in the veld.
Platfontein community leader Fanie Moyo stated on Tuesday that the community were also afraid of criminal elements who were infiltrating the area.
“The Platfontein community is being blamed for the theft of the fencing while they are similarly afraid of criminals. There are not many residents who own cars in the area so I know the owner of each car here. It was alleged that a blue bakkie carried away the stolen materials and I do not know anyone from Platfontein who owns a blue bakkie,” said Moyo.
He added that he had noticed suspicious cars driving into Platfontein in the late afternoon. “We do not know what they are doing here.”
Moyo pointed out that since no arrests had been made, no one could state that Platfontein residents had committed the crime.
“It is unfair to blame us because we always tell the community not to steal. If anyone is up to no good we deal with them. If any community member is guilty of a crime, we fully support the taking of appropriate action.”
He added that the Platfontein community did not have access to a police station in the area and had to travel into town in order to report a crime.
