Parliament passes buck

JOURNALISTS’ LAPTOPS STOLEN UNDER SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES SABC advised to conduct their own internal investigation into theft at offices.

Parliament will advise the SABC to conduct its own investigation into the “alleged break-in” at the broadcaster’s offices on the premises, the institution said yesterday.

“Parliament has received a report of theft which allegedly took place on Friday evening at the offices of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in the Marks Building of parliament,” spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said.

A preliminary investigation by parliament’s security services on Saturday had uncovered the following:

There was no sign of forced entry at the office in question. There were two access doors to the office;

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

Parliament’s night security staff indicated that at about 11pm, there were several SABC staff members working at the said office; and

The stolen laptops’ security locking cables had not been tampered with, suggesting that someone with a key detached the laptops.

“Parliament security services will study all the video footage around the building to establish if there were any unauthorised or suspicious persons around the scene of the alleged theft,” said Mothapo.

“While, as parliament, we continuously employ measures to tighten security, we also rely on entities under whose care office facilities are entrusted to exercise necessary security, care, and vigilance.

“Parliament will advise the SABC to thoroughly conduct its internal investigation and provide the institution with a full report, which will assist us to get to the bottom of this alleged crime,”

City Press newspaper reported that despite police security at all entry points in parliament, the SABC offices were broken into on Friday night and at least five computers were stolen.

Concerns had been raised as to why journalists’ computers were targeted. Eyebrows had also been raised because there was no sign of forced entry into the newsroom.

Parliament had frequently invoked its status as a national key point to justify stringent security measures.

It was, therefore, unclear how the SABC offices were targeted, the newspaper reported.

The SABC offices are in Marks Building, which also houses the opposition parties’ offices.

However, there were supposed to be police guards at the entrances of all the buildings, as well as at all parliamentary gates.

“SABC journalists interviewed by City Press, who cannot be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed the theft of five laptop computers. The journalists said it was concerning that their computers were targeted and other portable electronic equipment in the office was left untouched,” City Press reported.

Two parliamentary sources reportedly said in light of the recent break-in at the offices of the chief justice in Johannesburg last month, the SABC break-in was concerning.

The Democratic Alliance said the break-in and removal of multiple computers of senior journalists was “stunningly suspicious”.

“In light of ongoing intimidation of SABC journalists, particularly those who spoke out against SABC management during the SABC inquiry, we view this latest ‘break-in’ as part of a much bigger coordinated campaign to intimidate and threaten SABC journalists,” DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said.

The DA urged the South African Police Service to urgently investigate.

It was appalling that not a single person had been arrested for the death threats and break-ins at homes of the so-called “SABC 8”, including the shooting in the face with an air rifle of one of them, she added. – ANA