Pretoria – The furniture donated to destitute disabled brothers, Thomas and Peter Motheone, that was stolen on Christmas Day has been recovered.
It was found from various homes in the area following a tip-off, community leader Fotutu Ntuli said on Wednesday.
The items were recovered by residents who had hunted down the alleged suspects after community leaders were tipped off about where the furniture was.
“The missing furniture had been stolen by criminals well-known in the community,” she said.
The furniture, which included four sofas, two beds and a fridge, went missing on Christmas night. The empty house was discovered by a community member who had gone to visit the two brothers the day after Christmas Day.
The alleged suspects had broken into the newly-built house donated to the family by the Gauteng provincial government as part of its Mandela Day project. The two brothers had been identified as in need of accommodation by the ANC.
Thomas Motheone explains how burglars stole his belongings at his new RDP house. Picture: Bongani Shilubane/Pretoria News
Gauteng Premier David Makhura visited the family and then gave the green light for the construction of the house in July.
The brothers lived in a dilapidated muddy house, and were moved into two corrugated-iron shacks while their brick house was under construction, and due to be handed over by President Jacob Zuma next month.
Ntuli said their mission to trace the stolen items, which also included blankets, was carried out until late on Tuesday evening.
“We as the community leaders called a meeting at which we decided to embark on a search for those responsible for the theft,” she said.
Ntuli said the community was fed up with crime in the area.
She said the angry community decided to confront the alleged criminals and demand they return the items to the poverty-stricken family.
One of the beds and blankets were found in the one-bedroomed house of an alleged suspect, who was assaulted by the angry mob.
The other bed was found at a tenant of a backyard room.
The sofas were recovered from the garage of one of the alleged suspects, who managed to escape the mob.
Ntuli said a fridge was recovered from the house of a woman, who claimed it was sold to her by some men. The woman was dragged to Loate local police station, but she was not arrested, the community leader said. This was however denied by police spokesman Captain Simon Sebola, who said no suspect had been brought to the the station.
“We are still investigating the allegations that the community brought the suspect to the police station and did not receive help."
Regarding the case of housebreaking opened after the theft, he said the investigation was still under way and no one had been arrested so far.
Ntuli said they were fed up with crime: “One of the women in the community was recently raped in front of her husband at night.”
One of the brothers Thomas, expressed happiness at the efforts by the community to come to their rescue. “It was such a relief when the furniture was returned because we were afraid that the people who donated it would accuse us of being reckless and irresponsible."
The office of the premier said they had not been made aware of the break-in and theft of the donated furniture.