A community police forum member was stabbed nine times at night while trying to protect his Daleview church from cable thieves — an attack residents say was inevitable in an area where high-mast lights had been broken for more than three years.
The Despatch residents are demanding urgent action over the broken lights which they say have left about 70% of the community in darkness, creating an environment where criminals can thrive.
Their concerns were highlighted by the brutal stabbing of Jonathan le Grange, 44, who was attacked while trying to stop a cable thief at the Despatch Old Apostolic Church shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
Le Grange, a PA ward councillor candidate, who lives next door to the church, was alerted by an explosion and saw a man stealing the electrical cable supplying the church, which has served the community for more than 70 years.
He shouted at the thief but the man continued.
Le Grange then followed him towards the freeway.
“I found him busy with the cable,” Le Grange said.
“It was dark there.
“I told him I was there for the cable.
“He said we should share it.
“I said no, he should take it back to the church.
“The moment I said that he opened his knife and ran towards me.”
Le Grange said he had struck the man on the neck but the attacker came at him again.
“I do not know what exactly happened but I blacked out.”
When he regained consciousness the man was allegedly on top of him.
“I grabbed the arm that had the weapon.
“He reached into his pocket and he hit me on my head three times.
“I thought, no, he was serious, and I started to realise other parts were bleeding.”
Le Grange said he was stabbed nine times, including five wounds to his upper leg and three to his head.
The deepest wound was to his arm, where the knife cut through muscle.
He eventually managed to pull the attacker off him, causing the man to drop the knife and flee.
Weak and bleeding, Le Grange made his way to his cousin’s home, where he could only tap on the door with his fingers.
His cousin contacted CPF public relations member Branwin Afrikaner, who took him to hospital.
Le Grange claimed police had told him they could not come to the scene because one van had taken an alleged rape victim to hospital while another was at a crime scene in Bayland.
“I cannot eat solids, I have to drink liquids,” he said.
“I am in pain if I move around for a while, and since the incident, I only go to sleep at around 4am.”
Afrikaner said he received the call about the attack at 12.56am.
He later returned to the scene with Le Grange to search for his house keys and other belongings.
“What was shocking for me was seeing the amount of blood in the middle of nowhere in pitch-dark conditions,” Afrikaner said.
“I got emotional because I realised the culprit intended to kill my colleague.”
He said another CPF member had broken a leg about three months ago while chasing a cable thief.
Afrikaner said the area where Le Grange was attacked was supposed to be illuminated by high-mast lights behind a nearby Methodist church, but they were not working.
“The lights up the road from there are not working.
“These issues have been raised with the municipality for years, from as early as 2021.”
The R75 and one of two bridges were the main entry points into Daleview but residents had been without lighting in those areas for years.
Afrikaner said cable theft had become a weekly occurrence, with criminals targeting community halls, churches and municipal buildings.
“There used to be six electric cables on the poles but they were cut.
“About 70% of this community does not have coverage.
“They have never maintained these lights since they put them in, and we are talking 10-plus years.”
The Old Apostolic Church has itself been targeted repeatedly, with its electrical cable having been stolen three times.
Afrikaner said Daleview was the oldest part of Despatch and had a predominantly elderly population.
He said the CPF was concerned about the potential for more serious violence as criminals from surrounding areas moved into Daleview.
Mob-justice incidents in neighbouring areas such as the Bayland and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela informal settlements were adding to the pressure on the community.
The CPF was increasingly concerned that criminals could enter the area with firearms.
Afrikaner also linked the area’s crime and poverty to drug use among some young people.
Residents are now calling for an urgent site inspection of the high-mast lights and a clear timeframe for repairs.
Afrikaner said they had repeatedly raised the issue with authorities but wanted to know when the various stakeholders would take their concerns seriously.
“We do not see our councillor Luyanda Lawu here.
“We even tried to invite him to work with us as the CPF.
“He [allegedly] always says something has come up, he cannot make it, and he is the MMC [mayoral committee member] for safety and security.”
Chief Jan Afrikaner, 78, a Nama Khoi clan member and priest at the church, said criminals were taking advantage of the community’s vulnerability.
“The cable theft is another story.
“The youngsters have no respect for the community.
“What must we do?
“We must come together to say no.”
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya had not responded by the time of publication to a request for comment sent to him at 9am on Friday.
Lawu rejected claims he had failed to engage residents over ongoing street-lighting problems, while confirming that cable theft and vandalism had left parts of the ward in darkness.
The ward includes 18 areas, such as Daleview, Reservoir Hills, Khayamnandi, Zanolwazi, Kingstown, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Mahashe and several other formal and informal settlements.
He said cable theft was a metro-wide problem and confirmed it was affecting Ward 41, with some alleged thieves known to residents.
Lawu said some damaged lights had been out for extended periods and were being repaired by municipal teams.
However, lights stripped of cables required external contractors, with contractual issues delaying the work.
He had been engaging communities about protecting municipal infrastructure and urged residents to help safeguard their neighbourhoods.
“No police, or security guard, can stand house to house or street by street to protect cables,” he said.
Community patrols were already taking place in parts of the ward, he said.
Lawu rejected claims that he had not engaged residents as “absolute lies”, pointing to a recent public meeting at the Daleview sports field as evidence.
On policing, Lawu said he worked with the police from ward to district level, including station commanders and community policing forums.
He said established protocols governed engagement with CPFs and that he would not respond to individuals claiming to represent the structures without following those protocols.
Lawu also provided photographs showing some of the work undertaken in Daleview.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Nobuntu Gantana did not respond when contacted.
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