Heists a ‘national crime emergency,’ says investigator
Burgess lifts lid on how cash heists reached epidemic proportions in SA
SHE was a founder member and co-executive producer of the SABC’s hard-hitting Special Assignment for nine years but the former face of the investigative news show, Anneliese Burgess now lives in sleepy Sunrise-on-Sea east of East London where she has written Heist! South Africa’s Cash-In-Transit Epidemic Uncovered.
Since moving to the coast Burgess has not slipped into a lethargic, seaside existence, nor has her journalistic drive been dulled. In fact her recently launched book, which delves into the iniquitous heart of these crimes, is meticulously investigated and written with the story-telling skill of a great investigative journalist.
Her book heists as “a
“This is not random crime,” said Burgess, who was born in Indwe and landed up living back in the region six years ago.
“It is highly organised and highly lucrative and astronomical amounts of money just disappear into the criminal economy.”
She said one of the most shocking outcomes of her investigation was how little of the stolen money was actually recovered.
“In the 10 heists featured in my book, almost half a billion rand was netted. Of that, only about R33-million was ever recovered and R14million of that was subsequently restolen from a police vault.”
Another alarming upshot of her probe was the fact that members of the police were complicit in seven of the 10 heists she wrote about.
In one heist where R104-million was stolen in Witbank, the gang leader was a police detective.
“He was one of the first responders at the crime scene, taking statements and pretending to be a police officer when he was in fact the mastermind behind the whole thing…. The involvement of police in this crime is deep.”
And, while she refers to her book as an uncovering rather than an exposé, Burgess said she also wanted to write a “rollicking cops and robbers story”.
“I wanted it to be a good read in the dubs cash-in-transit national crime emergency”. ‘true crime’ genre and I hope I have achieved that. My favourite part of the book are the accounts of the cops and prosecutors who bring these criminals to book.”
To achieve a compelling insight into the inner-workings of these insidious crimes, Burgess interviewed several perpetrators and criminologists.
“I interviewed a number of criminals. In fact my books starts with a fascinating first-person account by one such cash-in-transit criminal where he talks about the excitement of the hunt, about it being like a shot of ecstasy. He also gives an intimate look into the mechanics of the crime, how these criminals go about doing it.”
Writing this book meant Burgess had to regularly swap her coastal village life with the big city rush of tracking down sources that would help her peel away the layers of the people behind these brazen crimes.
“I loved the fact that I could go to Joburg or Cape Town or Durban and spend the week with cops and prosecutors or dig through archives and then come home and process the information at my desk with the view of the sea.”
Burgess is now a communications specialist, advising politicians and corporate clients on media strategy.
“In 2007 Jacques Pauw and I both decided to leave Special Assignment. The SABC was starting to fall apart and the editorial space was shutting down fast. The freedom we had had for more than a decade to pursue any story we wanted was no longer there. The bosses started wanting to see our scripts, started wanting to sit in on our editorial meetings, started insisting on viewings before broadcast. It was clear that the Special Assignment we had built was heading for the dustbin, so the core of the original Special Assignment team left the SABC. I decided to take a break from journalism.”
As a communications specialist, she landed the job of being the spokeswoman for Oscar Pistorius’ family and was on the inside of a massive global story.
“All my media and communications advisory work comes through word of mouth referrals. So with the Pistorius account, the family was looking for someone to hold their hand through what was becoming completely crazy media frenzy and another client referred them to me. It was an interesting account.”
Moving to her seaside home, with its soothing views of the bush and the ocean, was the “best decision of our lives”, she said. “Our lives have been so enriched living here – the gentle pace, living on this incredible, unspoilt coastline, being close to my extended family. For me it is incredible to have all this and then be in the big city every second week or so. I love being in Johannesburg. I love the energy, the politics, the sophistication, but I am always happy when the plane lands at our little airport and I step out into the smell of the sea.”
● Heist! South Africa’s Cash-inTransit Epidemic Uncovered is available in East London at Bargain Books for R230. —