A wave of attacks on cash machines by gangs armed with dynamite has struck further fear into South Africans already dealing with sky-high crime rates, authorities said on Friday.
Robbers who blew their way into an Absa ATM in the latest attack on Thursday on the outskirts of Johannesburg made off with thousands of rands in the 69th such raid on ATMs this year.
And quite apart from the loss of cash, police and banks fear that it is only a matter of time before the wave of attacks ends up in loss of life.
”The use of explosives and the indiscriminate bombings of ATMs can be regarded as terrorism,” said Absa communications manager Errol Smith.
”It has no regard for the safety of the public nor regard for communities.”
While the overall crime rate in South Africa has shown signs of a downturn, the increasing use of violence has even led President Thabo Mbeki to acknowledge that communities have been left cowering in fear.
Recent figures showed that the number of cash heists nearly doubled in 2005/06 to just short of 400 in a sign of the increasing brazenness of robbers in one of the world’s most crime-ridden societies.
With most ATMs situated in shopping areas, customers and retailers are growing understandably nervous.
”It’s no longer safe,” said Amos Chuma, a shopper at the scene of Thursday’s attack at a mall in Lenasia in southern Johannesburg.
”First it was cash-in transit heists, people caught in crossfire, now bombs.
”Banks should also know they are putting our lives in danger by putting [up] machines with so much money carelessly.”
Another businessman in Lenasia, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: ”It is no longer safe anymore to work near these things because any minute it may explode — you [just] don’t know.”
”They put these machines here without bringing security to watch over them and it’s a draw card for criminals. We are left living in fear,” he added.
The gang in Lenasia reportedly held up an unarmed security guard and locked him in a toilet before dynamiting the machine. Ten minutes later, the helpless guard heard the sound of metal being ripped to shreds.
Aside from a twisted hunk of metal, the robbers also left behind scorched notes and receipts.
Police insist they have made ”significant success” in combating the bombings.
About 30 suspects have been arrested this year alone, a number of whom have been employees at gold mines where workers have relatively easy access to commercial dynamite.
”Commercial explosives are mostly used and are often stolen from the mining industry,” national police spokesperson Sally de Beer said.
The South African Bank Risk Information Centre (Sabric) said the number of attacks recorded in the first two months of the year was already bigger than the total, 54, recorded in the whole of 2006. There were 17 in 2005.
According to Anton Wiid, the head of Sabric’s violent-crime office, most of the attacks are taking place in township areas where banks have been putting up machines in an effort to cut travelling costs for customers who would otherwise have to head downtown.
”These incidents seem to be predominantly in previously unbanked areas,” he said. — AFP
