HAZYVIEW – While the world celebrated the International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8, three women aged 25, 30 and a pregnant one in her early 30’s, were apparently severely humiliated by the their employer who accused them of conniving with robbers.
Two of the women came to Mpumalanga News offices last week, Wednesday (March 4) with clear bruises and red eyes. They alleged that they were assaulted with open palms, fists, the back of a firearm even pointed at with a firearm and thrown in the cold fridge where a corpse laid after being accused of organising robbers to rob Sizanani Cash Loans.
A doctor’s report even booked one of them off duty between March 3 and March 8 due to multiple injuries.
According to the victims, whose names are being withheld to protect their identity, it all started on March 2 around 06:15 when a couple of unknown men attacked and robbed the business at gunpoint of an undisclosed amount of cash, a cellphone
and a firearm.
Immediately after the robbers left the premises, all staff members were summoned to the manager’s offices where they all had their cellphones taken away from them for purposes of investigations.
From there, the three women were selected as prime suspects for conniving with the robbers because their cellphones allegedly showed that they all had called the same cellphone number that day.
“When we asked them to call the number, nobody listened to us, instead we were taken to some place in White River where we were told that the whole truth will come out. To our surprise, the number in question was a Vodacom self-help number,” they said.
The three were then taken for a polygraph test which relies on electronic sensors to determine whether a person is telling the truth or not.
“The examiner’s polygraph test contained significant and consistent physiological responses on the above relevant questions. It is in the opinion of the examiner that the examinee was not honest when answering the relevant question,” the polygraph report read.
From the Polygraph room the women were taken back to their place of work where they were locked in an office from 15:00 until 19:30. That was when their boss told them that they were being taken to the ‘Jungle’ where the whole truth about the robbery will come out.
The boss, in the company of his wife and another employee, drove the three to a farm where they were locked in separate rooms. They were called to come out one at a time and assaulted and threatened with a firearm.
“He placed the firearm over my forehead and we wrestled on it such that it missed two bullets. His wife joined in and assaulted me. I was told that was round one. They then opened a fridge where I was locked in with a dead person about three times,” said one of the victims.
In the process, some of the victims were punched and sprayed with pepper spray on their faces and a dog was instructed to scratch them.
“We kept on begging for mercy and telling them we know nothing of the robbery,” they said.
According to them, they were released around 23:00 from the farm where they were driven and dropped miles away from their home.
As if this was not enough, pictures of the women were apparently stuck on the windows of the business premises alleging that they were the masterminds behind the recent robbery.
The women opened a case at the Hazyview Police station on Monday, but according to them, police officials disagreed among themselves whether to take them to the scene of crime or not, with some apparently saying they must not take the matter seriously.
Three days later, the suspect was still not arrested and the victims’ cellphones still not given back to them, as a result they reported the matter to the SAPS head office in Nelspruit.
“If these allegations about the conduct of our members are true, it’s a pity. We advise the women to go back to the station and make an appointment to meet with the station commissioner, it is possible that he is not aware of this and he will find out from his members why they didn’t go to the scene,” said Lt Leonard Hlathi.
The suspect was finally arrested on Thursday in connection with the matter.
