Luxury Fish River Resort in Eastern Cape Stripped Bare by Looters, Millions of Rands Worth of Goods Stolen

• Looters have stripped the Fish River Resort in the Eastern Cape of millions of rands worth of property
• The alleged disgruntled community members stole items, including stoves, fridges and IT equipment
• The Fish River Resort was earmarked to become South Africa's premier film location

EASTERN CAPE - The luxury Fish River Resort in the Eastern Cape has been plundered beyond repair in a massive looting spree over the weekend.

The burglary occurred on Saturday, 29 March, when a gang of looters descended on the premises and loaded millions of rands worth of goods and equipment into vehicles with trailers.

Looter strip Fish River Resort of fridges, TVs and IT equipment

According to police spokesperson Thembinkosi Kinana, the looters entered every room in the resort and stripped them of items, including stoves, fridges, TVs and IT equipment, TimesLIVE reported.

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Kinana said:

"A Quantum minibus was completely stripped on the premises. The damage incurred including the stolen property is estimated to be millions of rand.”

Police received a tipoff which led to the arrest of a woman found in possession of property suspected to have been stolen from the resort.

Some of the other stolen items were found hidden in nearby bushes.

Fish River Resort looting comes after bitter struggle with disgruntled groups

The widespread looting of Fish River Resort comes after the owners of the property Prudhoe Community Development Trust and alleged disgruntled community members have been at a standoff over the past few months, Moneyweb reported.

The Prudhoe Trust was awarded the property in 2020 after a highly contested 22-year-long land claims case.

The property was set to become SA's premier film location with the establishment of the world-class Fish River Studios. However, the plan fell apart in 2022 when a group seeking immediate gratification forcibly removed an international film crew from the property.

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The company managing Fish River Resort was forced to abandon the property after being unable to meet its financial commitment to the Prudhoe Trust.

South Africans frustrated with the culture of looting in Mzansi

Below are some comments:

John Stapelfeldt complained:

"Sad state of affairs. So investors will go elsewhere, appears that's what they want."

Mzwamandla Mkunyana added:

"We are running this country to dogs. What a beautiful country."

Haras Muriel Mzilikazi slammed:

"Shameful act!"

Akhona Ngamla Mfanyana criticised:

"Black people sometimes, a million-dollar establishment ran to the ground because of pride."

Tshada Mpfunzeni Samuel claimed:

"Inside job."

Barhule Mnyamatsi commented:

"There is jealousy written all over behind the looting ."

End of an era: 30 workers lose their jobs after Durban Funworld closes doors after 75 years

In another story, Briefly News reported that it is the end of an era for Durban's most iconic beachfront amusement park after over seven decades in business.

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According to SABC News, the amusement park officially closed on Monday, 1 May, and owner Nick Steyn stated 30 people are now jobless.

In addition to the workers, Steyn highlighted that the vendors that worked at Durban Funworld had also lost their business due to this closure. Steyn is the third generation to run the amusement park and lamented that some people hired at Funworld worked there for decades.

Source: Briefly News