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Residents from the affected section of the suburb, commonly known as Number Six, have called upon the authorities to urgently intervene and curb crime in the area.
They said thieves were always preying around the suburb at night and appealed to the police to step up patrols.
Acting police spokesperson for Bulawayo Province Assistant Inspector Bekimpilo Ndlovu confirmed that police received a report about theft of water taps on Saturday.
Chronicle visited the suburb yesterday afternoon where the seemingly angry residents said they feared they would continue losing their property if the issue is not addressed.
Most houses were without water taps.
Residents now use stop corks to control and have connected hosepipes in place of the taps.
A majority of the residents in the suburb use detached toilets and the taps and meters are fitted outside the toilets. The suspected thieves target taps made of copper, which are reportedly used to make coffin handles.
Some of the houses that were visited had no water meters, which were also stolen recently.
The residents said they had not reported the matter to the police because previous incidents had not been attended to.
Mrs Doreen Ndlovu said it was not the first time thieves had pounced on the suburb.
“We noticed on Saturday morning that our tap had been stolen. My younger brother woke up around 5am going to the toilet and on return he said he could not find the tap. I did not take him seriously because he is ill and when I woke up later on I discovered that the tap had been stolen. Fortunately the thieves did not leave the water running otherwise we could have lost a lot of water. We are yet to report to the police but our neighbour made a report on Saturday,” said Mrs Ndlovu.
Mrs Patricia Mutatavikwa, a neighbour, said she could not believe it when she realised that their tap had been stolen.
“The thieves left water running and had it not been for one of the tenants who visited the toilet early in the morning, there could have been water everywhere around the yard. This is not the first time thieves have stolen property, many houses do not have meters because thieves have been terrorising us for a long time,” she said.
“Our wish is that the police introduce the Neighbourhood Watch Committee to patrol at night. We are not happy because last year we had a similar situation but nothing was done.”
Another resident, Mr Khumbula Tshili whose tap was also stolen said the thieves were leaving them helpless.
“We thought that theft of taps had stopped since last time when thieves moved around stealing meters at night. Most people welded the meters onto the walls and this time these thieves are stealing taps. I have not made a report but will do so soon,” said Mr Tshili.
The residents said they heard dogs barking viciously at night but did not suspect that it could be thieves.
“I was told by one of my tenants that our tap had been stolen. We heard dogs barking at night but did not suspect anything and when we woke up in the morning water was dripping from the tap. Last time when they stole the meter I was in the rural areas and I do not know what could be done about these people,” said 70-year-old Gogo Margaret Ncube.
Asst Insp Ndlovu urged residents to report criminal activities in their areas.
“I can confirm that we received one case of theft of a water tap on 27 July. However, that does not mean that such cases are not occurring and we want to encourage people to report to the police because that is one of the ways that help us detect crime. On the issue of patrolling, we encourage people to come forward and take part in NWC because that is a residents thing in collaboration with the police,” he said.
Online Reporter