Woman allegedly breaks into City of Joburg offices to tamper with computers

Investigations into a break-in at the City of Johannesburg’s offices in Braamfontein are currently underway, after a woman was apprehended early on Monday morning. 

The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) confirmed the incident, saying the suspect had been arrested.

Computer hard drives, memory cards, processors, break-in equipment and voter management device found in her possession have been confiscated. 

City of Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse told eNCA she received a call that the woman had broken in to the metro offices at around 2am, and was caught “in the act” by security officers. 

The woman allegedly broke into the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) office, and removed hard drives from at least five computers. 

Phalatse said it was suspected the woman was a repeat offender, after a break-in at the same offices on 24 January. In that incident, a woman was caught on CCTV breaking into the city’s legal and development planning departments.

She allegedly tampered with around 50 computers, and stole hardware. 

In 2020, a similar incident occurred, but no conviction was secured. 

The motive and potential link between the break-ins is yet to be stablished. 

City of Johannesburg community safety MMC David Tembe told eNCA everything in the woman’s backpack had to do with the tampering of computers. 

He expressed surprise as to how she pulled off the alleged break-in alone. 

ALSO READ: SSA security breach: Vagrant breaks into Musanda headquarters

Vagrant gains access to SSA HQ

In January, another incident involving a vagrant who allegedly gained unauthorised access to the State Security Agency (SSA) Musanda headquarters in Tshwane took place, City Press reported. 

This took place on the same weekend a fire broke out at the Waterkloof Airbase. 

A senior SSA employee told City Press security had been increased since Monday at ‘The Farm’, as the head office is colloquially known. 

According to a report, the break-in was allegedly concealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration for weeks. 

The SSA vagrant security breach is the fourth suspicious incident to take place at a national key point since the start of 2022.

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Compiled by Nica Richards.