“We are a constant target,” said Mrs Lana Pienaar, the principal of SAVF Wonderland Daycare located in Churchill Street, “despite the CCTV cameras and heightened security; criminals break-in weekend after weekend and rob us. We are a NPO (not for profit organisation), we don’t have the funds to keep replacing everything that is stolen. We are a charity that survives off of the kindness of others!”
On Friday, September 7, Mrs Chantelle van den Berg locked up the premises of SAVF Wonderland Day-care and activated the alarm.
One of the men wanted for questioning pertaining to the break-ins at SAVF Wonderland Day-Care.
“I wasn’t surprised when my phone rang on Sunday and it was the security company. The thieves have been making a habit of breaking-in and robbing us weekly,” sighed Chantelle.
Upon arriving at the premises, the management of the nursery school found that a plasma television and a DVD player had been stolen.
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The combined value of these two items is approximated to be R10 000. The thieves also broke the window leading into the daycare’s chemical store and stole all of the “Doom” they could get their grubby hands on.
“Of course it’s not just the value of the items they steal that’s hurting us as an NPO,” Lana stated forlornly, “it’s the R700 we have to pay after every weekend to replace the windows which the criminals break on their way in. They have to be replaced with shatterproof glass for the safety of the babies and toddlers in our care, so it’s even more expensive than it would ordinarily be.”
This man is wanted for questioning in regards to a series of break-ins at a nursery school in Churchill Street.
This weekend’s theft was just one event in a string of terrible thefts. Criminals have also recently stolen the day-care centre’s kitchen’s pipes, the copper taps on their water tank, any loose steel found outside of the classrooms, two gate motors, gate motor batteries, seven air-conditioning boxes, blankets out of the babies’ classroom, jumping castle lead wires, radios, more DVD players and more televisions.
“On one occasion, they loaded classroom televisions into baby prams which they had stolen from the tiny tots’ classroom and made off with them,” Lana stated “we have continued escalating the security measures in place here, but the burglars just don’t seem to notice. They just flatten the razor wire placed on the perimeter walls, ignore the alarms and smile for the CCTV cameras.”
This man is wanted for questioning in regards to the recent break-ins at SAVF Wonderland Day-Care.
SAVF Wonderland Day-Care would like to invite any generous souls who would be willing to donate money, or some of the items lost, to this fantastic charity to contact Mrs Lana Pienaar at 013 656 2450.
Anyone with any information on the break-ins at SAVF Wonderland Day-Care need to contact eMalahleni SAPS in regards to case number 270/9/2018.
