Waterwitch heroes win acclaim

By Patrick Burnett

City officials, the police and members of the community involved in tracking down thieves that stole the Waterwitch statues in Athlone scooped the bulk of praise in a City of Cape Town civic awards ceremony held in early July.

Life-sized bronze statues of struggle heroes Robbie Waterwitch and Coline Williams, MK cadres killed in an explosion outside the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on July 23, 1989, were brazenly stolen in March from opposite the Athlone police station.
The thieves, who attempted to sell the statues for scrap metal, apparently attached ropes to the figures and then toppled them with the help of a bakkie, before loading them up and driving away. A City of Cape Town task team - dubbed the Copperheads - tracked down 300kg of the carved-up statues and 10 suspects were arrested.
However, four months later the suspects have yet to have their day in court.

Investigating officer Detective Gary Jacobs said investigations in the case had been concluded. Of the 10 original arrests, five suspects had been released due to insufficent evidence.

He said it was expected that the case would be transferred from the Athlone Magistrate’s Court to the Wynberg Regional Court, where a trial date would be set. Of the five accused, all were out on bail and had yet to plead in the case.

Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, speaking at the civic awards function, held to recognise extraordinary acts of service, said the balance of the awards were to acknowledge the efforts of those involved in bringing to book the thieves of the monument.
Zille reserved special thanks for Rens Bindeman, a private individual that helped in tracking down the thieves.

She also made special mention of Arthur October, who had headed the Copperheads’ response unit until he died recently in a car accident.
She said October, the staff of the Copperheads and its head Pieter van Dalen had gone “beyond the call of duty, with almost no resources, to catch the criminals responsible for the memorial’s theft, and to take the fight against cable theft in general to the thieves and illegal scrap dealers.”

She also recognised the efforts of the SAPS in making themselves available.
“They went above and beyond the call of duty in service to the community of Athlone and of Cape Town in general, and we want to give them formal recognition for their efforts.”