CRICKETS PLAGUE DORPIE

A PLAGUE of crickets is making the mense of the Namaqualand dorpie Rooiwal’s lives a living hell.

Besides the endless noise and crawling on residents some of the residents were reportedly bitten. They allegedly bit one man so much that he had to get treatment.

Gerhard van Wyk (47) showed that the right side of his face was vol lumps.

A rash was also visible and his one eye was swollen shut

He claims that the crickets het hom beetgekry. For this, he had to receive treatment at the Rooiwal clinic.

Other residents said that the black and purple krieke made hulle tuis in their riete, sink en plankhuisies.

But especially in the kooigoed. It was especially during bedtime that the crickets began to baljaar on their bodies, according to them.

Ringo Isaacs, originally from Olifantshoek, works on a vegetable farm, as a foreman, near Rooiwal.

According to him, the crickets came from this farm. If the farmers don't spray the area well after a harvest, the insects start to breed.

He continued: “The crickets were very big and I think that Van Wyk was allergic to the crickets. That’s why his rash was so bad.

“It was, also the first time the crickets had been so difficult. After I had reported it to the farmer, he went to spray the vegetable farm twice.”

Kamila van Wyk, acting chief financial officer (CEO) of the hospital in Springbok, confirmed the cricket plague. She is also aware that Van Wyk reported the biting to the Rooiwal clinic.