Residents have allegedly threatened to burn down her house because her nyaope addict son is believed to be the area's number one thief.

The desperate mother, of Esselen Park in Tembisa, on the East Rand, tired of the constant threats, now wishes that her son were dead.

"He is the number one steel thief. He is the first suspect when objects made of steel go missing in this community," she said.

She said he was once seriously assaulted after he was caught stealing, but this did not stop him.

"I asked the community to dump his dead body at the gate once they have killed him," she said.

"The community threatens to burn my house whenever their property goes missing. He refuses to go to rehab, I am tired of living like this, I want him to get help," she said.

The mother said she realised that her son had a problem in May when steel items from the house began to disappear.

"I confronted him every time and sometimes he would not deny it [stealing]. I then locked everything away . He began to steal from other people," she said.

"He steals all sorts of things from neighbours - including braai stands, tool boxes, iron rods and wheelbarrows."

The mother suspects that her son steals from people during the early hours of the morning. "He is around during the day. He leaves the house at 10pm and returns at 3am. When I wake up in the morning, I find all sorts of steel metals behind the house," she said.

The mother said she felt let down by the law.

"When I call the police, they say they cannot arrest him because there is no proof that he stole them [goods in his possession]. He claims he picks them from the streets," she said.

She said sometimes the police would take him for a few hours, then release him.

Tembisa police spokesman Captain Manyadza Ralidzhivha said families who had problems with their children must seek help at the social crime prevention office. He denied that police arrest suspects and release them hours later.

"We arrest people when cases have been opened," Ralidzhivha said.