Killer rats in the Western Cape, some said to be the size of full-grown cats, have been preying on Manenberg's poorest frail and sick people, gnawing at the limbs of bedridden victims living next to a rodent-infested canal.
At the weekend, Agmat Fischer, 41, confined to bed with lung cancer, lay helpless in his corrugated-iron room in the back garden of his family's Sugarloaf Street home, too weak to shout for help, while hungry rats nibbled at his toes.
The dazed and barely conscious Fischer, discovered bleeding on his bed by a relative on Saturday morning, was admitted to GF Jooste Hospital in Manenberg, but died on Sunday.
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The hospital's assistant director of nursing, Felicity September, confirmed that parts of Fischer's toes and feet had been eaten away by rats, but the exact cause of death had yet to be established.
They'll eat anything that comes their way The rat attack on Fischer followed the death of Billy Franke, a paraplegic, who lived in the same street and who was attacked about two years ago by two rats which gnawed their way into his room and ate a substantial part of his lower legs and feet.
Franke died in hospital a day later.
Fischer's sister-in-law, Sophia Pretorius, and Franke's neighbours said the men's wounds were "ghastly", and reaffirmed the danger of rats "so groot soos vet huiskatte" (as big as fat house cats) to residents living next to the Elsieskraal canal.
Pretorius said two rats had recently cornered a small dog chained to a pole, killed it and gnawed part of its face away.
Another resident living beside the canal said that about four years ago, a little girl, Shamiela Calitz, three, had been attacked by rats.
Cities have a problem with rodents because people are 'generally filthy' Shamiela tried to run away but tripped and fell, and the rats started nibbling away at her hands as they covered her face. Shamiela and her family have since moved.
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