SOUTH AFRICA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM DURBAN CITY HALL Mercury - Burglars break into guarded city hall


Burglars break into guarded city hallBy Zukile MajovaBurglars broke into the Durban City Hall and stole valuable equipment last week. It was the second time this had happened in less than three months.

The burglars broke into the offices of City Manager Mike Sutcliffe's five communications officers, from where they looted laptop computers and other equipment.

A bolt cutter was used to break burglar guards leading into a locked office from the Smith Street side of the building.The thieves cut a hole through the wall and then had unlimited access to the offices of the communications officers.

It is not clear how much equipment was damaged or stolen by the intruders, but The Mercury understands that a laptop and a radio were stolen from one office.

When the staff reported for duty on Monday morning they found shattered glass and drops of blood.The broken window has been fixed and bigger burglar guards will be fitted, but the gaping hole in the wall has yet to be fixed.

Sutcliffe and Mayor Obed Mlaba said they were not aware of the breach of security.

Mlaba said it would be "very bad and unfortunate" if security was breached again in the council headquarters.

In a similar incident in December, the mayor's parlour on the third floor was broken into.

The building is equipped with tight, round-the-clock security and closed circuit television security cameras which monitor everyone entering or leaving the building.

Stronger
The city's acting communications head, Vasantha Angamuthu, said the criminals had not been able to reach the rest of the offices in the building from the basement newsroom.

"We met the staff, discussed the break-in and decided that perhaps we need stronger burglar guards," she said.

"We are now fitting the burglar guards."DA spokesman John Steenhuisen said the break-in was "really worrying because of the sensitive nature of the documents that are stored in the building".

"It is important that buildings like the city hall are secured properly, otherwise we will have problems in the future," he said.

"We raised the issue of security at council before when former executive committee member Lynn Ploos van Amstel's clock radio was stolen, Visvin Reddy's diary was stolen, a microwave was stolen, a packet of biscuits as well at one stage.

"As a consequence of that they beefed up security to an extent and they are likely to get armed response units in.

"The problem is that the city centre itself is full of criminals and this makes the city hall vulnerable." Published on the web by Mercury on March 9, 2006.