Pensioner On Patrol!

We spend time with MaAnna Dithane, who’s on a mission to get people safely to work.

- Shanaaz Prince 

IT’S pitch dark when we arrive at her home in Mabopane township in Tshwane. Yet the petite pensioner is ready for action as she emerges from her bedroom dressed in a neon orange and blue bomber jacket, combat-like black boots and a beanie covering her grey hair.

Anna Dithane has been up since 3am. For the past 10 years this gogo has religiously risen before the crack of dawn to patrol the streets in her Block X neighbourhood in Mabopane.

Her mission? To ensure those leaving for work in the early hours will get to the bus stations and taxi stops free from bother and unharmed by opportunistic criminals.

At 76 Anna is the eldest member of Mabopane Community Patrol Team.

Her commitment to her community was celebrated last month at the Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards where she received the 1Life Life Changer Award for exceptional civic work plus R50 000 in prize money.

Anna was overwhelmed receiving the award. “I cried and said ‘oooh, God knows what we’re doing.’ It’s not just about me because we’re a group.”

As if on cue, vuvuzelas sound in the distance. The blaring of the plastic horns alerts Anna that the rest of the team are on their way to meet her as they start their morning journey, she explains.

Wearing a whistle on a lanyard around her neck and armed with a wooden baton for protection, she grabs her bright yellow vuvuzela before she dashes out into the chilly morning.

“The tsotsis may try to approach us but they’re too scared,” she says as we leave her yard.

“They don’t have a chance against the loud vuvuzelas and the whistles. When we blow our whistles we know the police will give us backup.”

Luckily, they’ve never had to use their whistles or call for backup.

ANNA, a former nurse, joined the Mabopane Community Patrol in 2007 after becoming a victim of crime in her own home.