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Concerns over staff safety following another ‘break-in’ at Parly

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There is concern over the safety of the staff members at Parliament’s Language Services Section after an office filing cabinet was broken into and papers were moved around on desks this weekend.

This happened the same weekend as a burglary at the SABC’s Parliament office in the Marks building, which also houses the opposition parties’ offices.

There are supposed to be police guards at the entrances of all the buildings, as well as at all parliamentary gates.

Four laptops were stolen from the office on Friday evening.

Read: SABC’s Parly offices burgled

There was no sign of forced entry in the theft of laptops. There are two access doors to the office.

The one that is ordinarily used for entry was locked, but the alternative door, which was kept locked at all times, was unlocked

Sthembiso Tembe, Nehawu’s representative at Parliament, said the open plan office of the language services, which is on the fourth floor of 90 Plein Street, was also targeted.

“A locked cabinet was forced open. Other cupboards were opened. Papers were moved around on desks.”

It was unclear whether anything had been stolen, since the staff member whose cabinet was broken into was on leave.

According to Tembe, the union was concerned because it wasn’t clear what the motive for the burglary was.

“It looks as though they were looking for something.”

Tembe said Parliament was quiet about this incident, but issued a statement regarding the break-in at the SABC offices. Parliament was aware of it, he said, because Parliamentary Protection Services were on the scene yesterday.”

Tembe reiterated that Parliament was a national key point.

“If you can just walk in here then it is very concerning. We are worried about the safety of our members.”

He said that Nehawu’s members – in particular those working in Parliamentary Protection Services – couldn’t be blamed for the incidents because they didn’t have control over the main entrances to Parliament or over the security cameras on the premises.

Tembe accused Parliament of not taking the incident seriously.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo did not react to queries by the time of publishing today.

• Parliament advised the SABC to thoroughly conduct an internal investigation and provide the institution with a full report, which would assist Parliament to get to the bottom of this “alleged crime”.

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