Limpopo police have mobilised their resources and personnel in tracking down a group of armed suspects who robbed nine foreign tourists of their belongings this week.

The tourists were attacked on Thursday night at their holiday house in Phalaborwa.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo declined to reveal the origin of the tourists.TimesLive reported that the group had returned to their respective countries on Friday following the incident.

Naidoo said national police commissioner General Khehla Sitole called for a massive mobilisation to track down the suspects.

A group of at least three armed men are alleged to have forcefully entered a holiday house on a plot in Siloque, Phalaborwa at approximately 20:00. The suspects held nine foreign tourists at gunpoint and robbed them of valuables which included a laptop, 10 cellphones, jewellery and a cash amount of over R5 000.

“The suspects fled the scene, using the victims rented Mercedes Benz ML which was later found abandoned in bushes next to Siloque main road, about 10km from the scene,” Naidoo said.

He said Sitole was briefed by the provincial commissioner of Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba, who has mobilised the 72-hour Activation Plan by assembling a team of investigators to track down the suspects and bring them to book.

Earlier this month, the Department of Police and Department of Tourism entered into a Memorandum of Understanding between the two departments to decisively deal with crime against tourists, both foreign and domestic.

Police have appealed to anyone with information to come forward.

The 17-year-old bodybuilder who allegedly broke a puppy’s leg in Bloemfontein last week to “test his strength” did not show up at his court appearance and police can’t track him down.

According to Rapport, Phaladi Shuping, Free State spokesperson of the National Prosecuting Authority, said police could not locate the boy.

Shuping reportedly said no warrant of arrest had been issued yet.

The pup, Rover, was rescued from a home in the Bayswater area on December 15 after 23:00, where it was found in excruciating pain.Rover’s leg had to be amputated during an operation on Monday that set the SPCA back around R8 000. But, by Wednesday, enough donations had been received to cover the cost of the procedure.

Local SPCA inspector Duan Matthee said he was “shocked” by the number of people who had donated toward Rover’s surgery and who wanted to adopt him.

“We’ve had more than 300 people saying they want to adopt Rover and we have had more than 30 formal applications. We could also cover all the medical costs.”

Prosthetic limb

Matthee told Rapport that the top candidate for Rover’s adoption is a Pretoria-based woman who offered to take him to Onderstepoort to have a prosthetic limb made for him.

A man also called the SPCA and offered two months’ salary in exchange for the boy’s name.

On Friday, News24 published a video of Rover taking his first steps since his leg was amputated on Monday.

earlier reported that the teenager had told Matthee that he was a bodybuilder who used supplements and wanted to test his strength.He saw on social media how people lifted heavy stuff to see what their breaking limits are. We still wanted to know what had happened to the dog, so we asked him again. He said that he wanted to see what he can lift and how strong he was. So he started by lifting heavy metals and breaking a broom stick, but it was not enough. He then googled how strong bones were and what amount of force can break [them]. He then called his dog and started to press on the dog’s leg.”

The teen proceeded to break the dog’s leg until the bone pierced through its skin. Police arrested him after he initially refused to give SPCA officials access to Rover.

– Compiled by Riaan Grobler

“I have no other home, except this bridge”

These are the words of a homeless man who lives under a railway bridge in Kliptown, Soweto.

Kliptown may be where the Freedom Charter was signed in 1955, but the streets of the township also house a number of Soweto-born homeless people.

Three of them who spoke to  said that the streets of Kliptown welcomed them after they fled their places of birth due to various issues, including drugs.

Nkosana Moloi, 40, ran away from his parental home in Rockville, Soweto, which is a stones throw away from his current home.

He shares the place with three other men who he described as his family members.

During the day, they either make some money as car guards or collect recyclable materials to sell at a local scrapyard.

Their home is six metres away from the busy railway tracks linking Vereeniging and Johannesburg.

“I am aware of the dangers of living on the streets. I never thought that one day I will live under a bridge,” he said.

Inside their home, which is covered with plastic material which doubles as a door and curtain, there are plastic flowers and other ornaments they picked from the streets of Kliptown, where they scavenge for recyclable materials.

Moloi left his parental home six years ago.

He blamed his two uncles and aunt for ill-treating him after his mother’s death in 1993.

The man grew up without a father figure.

Moloi only found out three years ago that his father is living in Pretoria.

“I grew up without a father. I wish he was around when my mother died, maybe he could have taken me in and raised me to be a better man. Instead, I was raised by people who didn’t love me and treated me like an animal.

“I have accepted that, as a child, I was very naughty and would steal and do wrong things. Again, I was not the only naughty child at home. My cousins too were naughty and they are still naughty. They were treated like flowers and angels. I was always blamed for their wrongdoings,” he said.

‘I am not going to blame anyone’

Moloi said he didn’t deliberately choose to leave his home, but circumstances drove him away.

He tried to apologise for his mistakes, hoping his guardians would take him back.

“They called me a dog that deserve to live on the streets. I thought that, after my mother’s death, my aunt and two uncles will be my legal guardians, but they turned against me and left me hopeless and homeless.

“I am not bitter and I am aware that some of my actions as a child growing up also contributed in me being homeless today. I am not going to blame anyone.”

Moloi, who left school in Grade 10, said trains passing nearby help him tell the time.

“I use trains passing here as my watch. They make noise and am getting used to their daily sound. This place is not safe, but where else should I go? The other challenges we are dealing with is water going through our house and rodents that hide here with us when it rains.

“Rodents are like family now, they don’t bite us anymore. Maybe they can’t eat the same meal [every] day,” he said laughing.

“Life is not good here. Christmas is around the corner and it is every person’s wish to spend the day with family members. For us, we have nowhere to go, but [we] will be loitering Kliptown streets looking for something to eat.

“Everyday is the same. Christmas or not is the same to us. There is no difference and we will continue living here until a miracle happens and a Samaritan donates a house to us.”