HEADLINES:
R/€ Mystery of ministerial break-ins
October 04, 2006 Edition 1
Wendy Jasson da Costa
Hot on the heels of the country's shocking crime statistics, yesterday police were still trying to figure out how brazen thieves got the better of its crack-VIP security unit and managed to break into the homes of two cabinet ministers in the Groote Schuur ministerial estate in Cape Town.
The latest victims were Education Minister Naledi Pandor and Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour, who were in Gauteng at the time of the weekend break-ins.
Ironically, this comes after the Department of Public Works had budgeted up to R5 million for the maintenance of the surveillance and detection system at the Groote Schuur estate in its 2006/7 building programme.
Yesterday, police spokesman Snr Supt Vishnu Naidoo said police were following up "some positive leads" and people were being questioned.
The thieves took two laptop computers, a video recorder and a cellphone from Pandor's home. Items stolen from Balfour's home included a DVD player, a video recorder, clothes and a laptop.
Police said the thieves had also broken the window of Balfour's Toyota Land Cruiser and had tried to take off the wheels, but it appeared as if they had been disturbed and fled.
Secure
However, Naidoo said there was no sign of forced entry and that the entire outer perimeter of the area (complex) was still secure. He added that the robbery could not be classified as "an inside job".
Yesterday, Balfour's spokesman, Luphumzo Kebeni, said Balfour had no comment to make."
Pandor's spokesman, Lunga Ngqengelele, said: "It has been reported to the police and the police are dealing with it."
It is not the first time that ministers have been the target of burglars.
In August 2003, burglars ransacked the home of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and ANC MP Kader Asmal, who was the education minister at the time. Manuel and Asmal, who shared a house, were sleeping, as was Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, whose adjoining house was also targeted.
Their homes were in the high-security Bryntirion estate, an official government residential compound in Pretoria. A laptop, camera and other valuables, including crockery and cutlery, were stolen.
Earlier this year, thieves had also gained access to the Sandton home of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and made off with her handbag, a laptop and a cellphone.
wendy.jassondacosta@inl.co.za
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