Cape Town - Hours after Eid Mubarak, a prominent feeding scheme in Bonteheuwel has closed its kitchen – a daily source of meals for more than 400 needy residents – after a burglary.
The owner of the feeding scheme, Iasa Isaacs, who operated it from her home in Poinsettia Street, said they had just dished up for the community on Saturday morning and, being tired from the work and the festivities, went to sleep at around 12am.
However, on Sunday she said they woke up to an unlocked gate. She said they first noticed a chair at the front door but when they opened the door the padlock at the gate was gone and they started to panic.
“When we looked around we found out that all of my husband’s electrical appliances (grinder, drill machine, saw) and a bag with electrical wires for an alarm system that was in the garage were gone,” she said.
Isaacs said there were no signs of forced entry at the gate, prompting them to think that the assailants had a master key to the gate lock. Isaacs said her husband, who used the tools on weekends for extra income, was upset and that her daughter was terrified.
Although Isaacs could not specify the total cost of the stolen items, she said she now had to generate money to purchase her husband’s tools, including the heavy-duty drill she bought in February at a cost of more than R6 000.
She said the feeding scheme, which she had been operating for five years since the height of Covid-19 pandemic, also catered for those in surrounding areas such as Kalkfontein and Netreg.
“We have a lot of people on drugs and strangers coming to us for food and we never say no, even if they come at night.
“We had just fed them and they returned to steal and that hurts. This is the first time that this has happened and it’s disappointing. In Bonteheuwel people get robbed daily but I honestly never thought that this would happen to us because we feed them, their families and friends,” she said.
Isaacs, however, opted not to open a case with the police.
Ward councillor Angus McKenzie said Point of Giving made a huge impact on the community and encouraged residents to come forward with information.
“It cannot be that people don’t know who did this, because Bonteheuwel is a very small community.
“We also want to thank Point of Giving for what they’ve been able to do over the last few years in ensuring that people were sustained,” he said.
mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za