They may be seniors, but these four oumas from Athlone are a force to be reckoned with, especially if you’re up to no good.
The quick thinking of Thelma Rajah, 70, Gwen Essyen, 85, Ruwayda Veerasamy, 71, and Sharifa Shah, 71, from Gatesville, all bagged an award for bravery last week after they nabbed an alleged dief.
TOUGH: Oumas retrieved skelm’s loot before klapping him. Photo: Jack Lestrade
The four aunties, who attend a weekly seniors’ club at the local civic centre, say the trouble started as they were walking along Yusuf Gool Boulevard two weeks ago.
SCENE: Incident occured in Gatesville. Photo: Jack Lestrade
Ruwayda explains: “We were walking home and people were chasing a man who had just robbed people. We told people to go look up by the flats and one of our seniors’ son’s came out and said the suspect was hiding because people wanted to kill him.”
The man had allegedly stolen a laptop from the house of a police reservist and also robbed a woman of her smartphone before seeking refuge in Begonia Court.
Thelma continues: “We then took initiative and went to fetch him ourselves. We smacked him a few times because how dare he rob and steal.
“He was crying like a baby and asked us not to hit him. I told him he was playing with lives.”
Ruwayda says the young man had an “honest face”.
“He looked so decent. He told me he was a pastor and I told him ons sal hom ’* pak gee as hy een makeer,” the tough aunty says.
“I told him, ‘ jy hettie vanoggend gedink toe jy wakker skrik jy gaan gevang en platgegooi word deur ’* ou tannie, neh?”
The four handed the man, together with the stolen items, over to police, and he was taken to Athlone SAPS.
Last week, the women attended Community Safety MEC Dan Plato’s Women’s Day event and say they were shocked when he called them up to receive an award for bravery.
“We didn’t know we were going to get something and we were surprised. We didn’t expect anything. We cannot just walk on when something is happening; people work hard for their things,” Thelma says.