Over the long weekend burglars climbed into the roof of President Thabo Mbeki’s official residence Mahlambandlovu on the Bryntirion Estate in Government Avenue in Pretoria and stole between R20 000 and R30 000 worth of aluminium.
Beeld reported on Wednesday that the 10mm aluminium wire which had been installed in the roof over the past three weeks, formed part of a network of the house’s electronic fittings, including closed-circuit television cameras and computer systems, that was designed to protect the house against lightning.
Kevin Bredenkamp of Ubani, the contractors who were supposed to install the aluminium cables, left the premises on Tuesday because he deemed it unsafe.
”We withdrew until we knew it was safe and that things wouldn’t be stolen again,” Bredenkamp said.
He said that the robbery must have taken place between Friday night and Monday night but was only discovered on Tuesday morning.
”We couldn’t climb on the roof [on Sunday] morning because the president was still sleeping and we were instructed to come back [on Tuesday],” one of the workers, Philip van Schalkwyk, said on Tuesday.
He said that when they had wanted to continue their task on Tuesday morning, they were shocked to discover that all the aluminium they had installed over the past three weeks had been stolen. – Sapa