A DOMESTIC worker was beaten and tied up with cable ties in a house robbery on Saturday morning at a Valley Vista Road home in Athlone.
Home owner Joan Venn said yesterday their domestic worker Mildred Majola was home alone while they were watching cricket at a nearby field, when three men rang the bell and pretended to be municipal workers there to read the electricity meter.
The men in question were not wearing distinctive municipal uniforms and name tags, Venn said.
“One man stayed in a green vehicle and two got inside the home after she opened the gate for them.”
When Majola walked down the stairs to show them the meter, they grabbed her and tied her up.
Venn said they forced her into the house and demanded to be shown each bedroom, asking who was using it. “They tied Majola’s hands to her back and put her under the bench. They then went into TV room and removed a flat screen off the wall,” Venn said.
She said they also took jewellery, an iPad and Majola’s cellphone — all amounting to over R50 000 — and fled the scene.
Majola was taken to Northdale Hospital with bruises on her face and was complaining of pains in her chest.
Venn’s daughter, who asked not to be named, said while the men were walking away with their belongings, Majola fled and hid in the garden.
She said the man had to remove the gate from its rails to exit and when Majola felt safe, she shouted to the neighbours who then alerted the police. “Mildred was terribly traumatised and in a state of shock when we got here,” she said.
She said this was the second robbery in just six months.
“I feel uneasy. It is dangerous here and we cannot leave our children alone. We need to be alert and vigilant at all times.”
Police spokersperson Major Thulani Zwane said the Townhill police are investigating a case of house robbery. No arrests have been made.
• khanyisnai.dlomo@witness.co.za
The manager in the municipal manager’s office at Msunduzi Municipality, Madeleine Jackson-Plaatjie, said the municipality’s meter readers wear a khaki uniform (skirt or pants and a top) with a cap and navy jersey.
“All meter readers wear a name tag that identifies them as a meter reader from the municipality.”
