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IN three separate incidents on Thursday, four local learners were robbed in the close vicinity of their high school.

In one of the cases, a learner had a gun thrust in her face, even though she had nothing to give the robber.

The first of the robberies took place in the morning, while the Bergvliet High School learners were walking in Sweet Valley Road on their way to school, says Berg?vliet High principal, Vernon Wood.

A Grade 10 boy and girl were accosted by a tall, armed, blond man, who demanded money and cellphones.

When the learners had nothing to give the unknown man, he appa?rently tried his luck with another learner mere minutes afterwards. The Grade 11 learner also had no?thing to hand over.

In another apparently unrelated incident in the afternoon, a Grade 8 learner was mugged of his cellphone by a man who made his getaway in a waiting car.

Wood says that the "brazen" attempted robberies in the morning took place about 50 m from the school's back entrance.

He confirms that the learners have received counselling and the police were also contacted.

Wood says a security officer at the school was on the lookout "all the time", and the school has done everything to limit the possibility of incidents such as this occurring.

Furthermore, the school has also been in contact with the local neighbourhood watch, the Bergvliet, Kreu?pelbosch, Meadowridge (BKM) Watch, to see if they can increase patrolling in the area.

BKM Watch co-founder, Tony Schreiber, says they are most certainly concerned about the safety of the learners in the area, but they can only increase their patrols in the area if more resident patrollers join the watch.

He says BKM Watch needs more people to help, specifically those who do not work during the day, to make this work.

Kirstenbosch Police Station sector four commander, Inspector Leon Voget, confirms the incidents took place.

A similar spate of incidents took place in the area last year: People's Post reported on 27 March 2007 of events that took place on Thursday, 22 March 2007 at the Sweet Valley Primary School. At the time, police were put on high alert and tasked with increasing their visibility at local schools when a mother was robbed at gunpoint after she had dropped her daughter off at the school in Dreyersdal Road.

? If you are interested in joining the BKM Watch, visit their website at www.bkmwatch.org.za.

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