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THE members of the Mdake family pose at Nhlekwa Michael Mdake’s tombstone after its unveiling.
THE heartbroken Dumisane Mdake and his mother, Grace, show the grave after the stone was stolen. Photos: Tladi Moloi
Thieves steal from dead
} Tladi Moloi
THIEVES have no respect for the dead and they seem to be stealing everything they can lay their eyes on. They are now even stealing from the dead. The Mdake family, who hails from Warden, is in tears after Nhlekwa Michael Mdake’s tombstone was stolen. Nhlekwa, who was the father of the family, died in 2001. His tombstone was recently stolen from the Warden graveyard, situated north of Warden on the Bethlehem road.
According to the family, the stolen tombstone was worth R22 000 and it only stood there for about 17 months. Dumisane Mdake (45), a child of the late Nhlekwa Michael Mdake, said they had no clue who could have stolen it. He said it did not look like the person who took it was just destroying it. “I am suspecting the owners of the mortuary or the manufacturers of the tombstones. When I look at the part which is left, I can tell that the person who took it off was a professional,” he said. Dumisane said it was possible that
it could have been sold to another person. “One could ask, out of all the stones in the graveyard, why did he choose that one?” Grace Mdake (72), the deceased’s widow, said through the tears, “I have been hurting ever since it was stolen. I have never visited the graveyard to talk to my husband.” Grace said they visited him one Easter and the stone was still there. She said when they came for the second time, a while later, it was nowhere to be found. “One of my children, who wanted
to talk to his father, requested me to go there with him and when we drove through the gate, I saw that something was wrong. “I said to him, ‘There is no stone on your father’s grave’. He requested me to stay in the car and went closer,” she said. They drove to the Warden Police Station to report the theft. “I was hurt even more when the police did not even bother to go with us and have a look at the situation.” Grace, a mother of five, said the expensive tombstone was bought by her children, who told her it was the
way to thank their father. She said Mdake, who raised his children well and educated them, did not have a chance to eat the fruits of the trees he planted as he died soon after some of them started working. Sgt. Mmako Mophiring of the police confirmed that charges were laid and added that two cases of malicious damage to property were being investigated. No one has been arrested thus far. “We are still investigating the case and are hoping to arrest the suspect soon,” he said.