While residents of the region held Easter weekend celebrations, thieves capitalised on this and embarked on breaking into a school, church and various homes.
At least 16 laptop computers were stolen from the principal's office at Muhadini Combined School in the early hours of 4 April. The unknown suspects damaged the CCTV camera above the hall entrance and proceeded to break the window into the principal's office. The burglar proofing was damaged and the thieves entered the office.
“We found the office ransacked, the monitor camera machine missing and all 16 laptops which had been in the office gone,” said Mr Daniel Leshaba. “We still fail to understand how thieves stole from the school when there was a security guard on duty.”
The suspects also walked away with the CCTV unit.
Leshaba said it was not the first time that thieves had stolen from the school. “They stole our four big speakers last year and we recovered them hidden in the bushes outside the school yard,” he said. “It is high time that we hold an imbizo against crime to find ways for the community members to work with the police in the war against crime.”
The loss and damage has been provisionally estimated at R80 000. No arrests have been made so far.
In another incident, thieves broke into the Elim Episcopal Presbyterian Church in South Africa, where they walked away with a laptop and other valuables. The damage is estimated at R11 000.
In October last year, the Ozias Davhana Secondary School's pupils and members of staff were shocked when they discovered that the thieves had stolen the school's 22 laptops. The case was reported to the police, but neither identification of possible suspects nor arrests have been made yet. The principal for the Ozias Davhana Secondary School said people who were in the evil business of stealing from the school were in fact stealing from the pupils.
“These pupils need to use computers for various subjects and for Internet access when they need to do research,” he said. “But then, some people do not see it like that.”
The spokesperson for the Waterval police, Const Cynthia Ndou, confirmed all the cases and said the police were busy investigating. “It is sad and unimaginable that thieves are targeting churches and schools,” Ndou said. “We strongly urge members of the community to come forward with information reagarding these cases.
