By Shaun Smillie
Police have yet to make an arrest after robbers broke into the home of author Nadine Gordimer, assaulting her and fleeing with cash and jewellery.
On Sunday, Johannesburg police spokesperson Sergeant Sanku Tsunku said detectives were "working around the clock" to catch the perpetrators.
On Sunday poet and adviser in the department of arts and culture, Professor Keorapetse Kgositsile, said the 82-year-old Nobel laureate was doing fine after she was attacked and robbed in her Parktown West home on Thursday.
"Nadine would prefer that the media respect her privacy," was all Kgositsile, who visited Gordimer on Saturday, could say.
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Gordimer was attacked on Thursday morning after three men gained entry to her house through the back door. The men, apparently unarmed, attacked Gordimer and her domestic worker and took money and jewellery from a safe.
"When Gordimer refused to hand over her wedding ring, one of the men hit her," said Tsunku, adding that the men then locked her and her unidentified domestic worker in a store room and fled.
Security guards, alerted when the domestic worker managed to press the panic button, rescued them half an hour later. Police said Gordimer had been extremely traumatised by the event.
Dave Steward, spokesperson for fellow Nobel laureate FW de Klerk, said on Sunday that the former president was shocked by the incident. "This is yet another example of the high and unacceptable levels of crime in this country. We wish her a speedy recovery from the trauma she experienced," said Steward.
Recently, several South African writers have been critical of the government for failing to act on crime and corruption.
Author JM Coetzee, another Nobel laureate, emigrated to Australia - citing crime as the reason for his move. Novelist Andre Brink referred to Safety Minister Charles Nqakula as a monster.
Gordimer is soon due to present Nelson Mandela with an award from Amnesty International.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on October 30, 2006
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