By Karabo Rammutla
When a group of teenagers said they had been chased by two hyenas on their way back from a tavern, residents thought they must have been very drunk.
But strange animal cries at night made residents of Resort 77 squatter camp in Mamelodi East think the drunk teenagers could have been right.
Last Friday churchgoers coming from their night prayers claimed that they came across hyenas and ran for their lives. Their encounter with the wild scavengers has left the whole squatter camp on lockdown.
Isabella Malapane, one of the congregants who saw the hyenas, said she is still traumatised.
“At first we thought they were dogs. But their eyes were bright and shiny. When the two animals started making sounds as if they were laughing we knew they were hyenas. We had to run for our lives,” she said.
“After our encounter with the hyenas more people have confirmed they have heard the laugh of the hyena. It is as if they are laughing at us for the curfew we imposed on ourselves.”
Resident Abel Lamula said by 7 pm all shops are closed and nobody wanders around in the streets.
He said they think the animals are hunting down the humans since they have no livestock for the carnivores to munch on.
“Yes we’re at the outskirts of Mamelodi near the bushes and game reserves but there aren’t even goats here. It is clear that the hyenas are after us,” said Abel.
Abel said their biggest fear is that there is a creche at the end of the squatter camp near the bush.
“What if a hyena snatches a kid? The City of Tshwane must move us to a safe area before disaster strikes,” he said.
The area that residents of Resort 77 have occupied has a reservoir that supplies most parts of Mamelodi with water.
The city’s spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the city doesn’t recognise the area as a squatter camp.
“The Human Settlements Department in 2013 relocated all the residents who were sitting along the reservoirs to Nellmapius EXT 21 and 24,” said Mashigo.
Pictured above: A cuddly looking hyena. This was not taken at the squatter camp.
