Angella Johnson
It would seem that not even the national police commissioner is safe from South Africa’s tidal crime wave.
Thieves broke into one of George Fivaz’s offices last weekend and made off with two large fax machines and a kettle.
The bold-faced crooks marched into what should be one of the countries’ safest buildings — police headquarters in Schoeman Street, Pretoria — and helped themselves to the equipment.
According to a spokesman for the commissioner, Joseph Ngobeni, it was not clear whether this was an inside job or not. “Someone simply walked into my secretary’s office and helped themselves to the goods. There was no one working at the time and the building is usually empty over the weekend.”
Ngobeni said the theft was only discovered on Monday when people arrived for work. “The police were called in and are now investigating the incident.”
The fax machines were being used in the media department. Their disappearance caused a glitch in the distribution of faxes to media organisations, before they were replaced.
But the thieves will find that not all of their booty will be of use to them — the kettle was electric and in their haste they managed to leave the base behind.
This latest incident once again highlights the question of security within police buildings.
Over the years there have been numerous cases of property disappearing from police stations — the most celebrated incident being the break-in at John Vorster Square, where about R2-million was stolen from a huge safe.
It is rumoured that following his appointment as national police commissioner nearly 20 month s ago, Fivaz raised the possibility of employing a private security firm to guard his offices.
The matter was quickly dropped when it became apparent that this might cause a degree of embarrassment to the department. Security was then left in the hands of the police.