Johannesburg – About 30 disgruntled First National Bank (FNB) customers whose valuables were stolen in a hours-long robbery at the Randburg branch are now mooting a class-action lawsuit.
They say the bank should be held liable for the loss of millions of rand from their safety deposit boxes, which were snatched last week. “You can’t have one person guarding millions of rand worth of valuables,” said Kelly Fraser, whose father, Andrew, a Randburg businessman, lost almost R1m of Krugerrands during the robbery. “We’ll initiate a class-action suit against the bank.”
On Sunday, a gang overpowered a security guard and used a grinder to enter the bank, stealing an undisclosed number of safety deposit boxes from about 300 clients.
The robbers reportedly tied up the lone security guard at the bank and spent at least 12 hours gaining access to the safety deposit box section with a jackhammer before loading the locked boxes into a waiting van.
Fraser has since started a WhatsApp group with other affected safety security box holders. “We have almost 30 people in the group. The plan is to find more and initiate a class-action suit against FNB based on negligence.”
Fraser claimed the bank did not handle the issue properly with its affected clients. “My dad only found out that his box was stolen on Wednesday when he wanted to deposit another Krugerrand. Other victims said they were also not notified.”
Fraser said the information about how the heist was carried out seemed “suspicious” and accused FNB “of trying to cover something up”.
“How can a place with such valuables be guarded by one person? Why did the private security company not check in with the guard? Why did the gang have 12 -15 hours to pull off the heist and where is the CCTV footage?” she asked.
Lee-Anne van Zyl the chief executive of FNB Points of Presence said safety box clients were “required to insure the contents of the box which always remain unknown to the bank.
“When a customer places their articles in a safety box at one of our branches, they sign an indemnity form with terms and conditions,” she said. “One of the terms is that it excludes liability and the other states that the customer should insure all of their articles.
The robbers snatched nearly R400 000 of Krugerrands and family jewellery from Mohammed Osman’s safety deposit box.
“I don’t understand how this could have happened,” said Osman, of Melville.
“Millions of rands worth of customers' valuables guarded by one person who the security company can’t contact?
“This is not the first time I have had a problem with FNB Randburg. In May, I went to deposit into my box but was turned away because there were renovations (under way). I was never contacted. When I complained, the bank manager said they only called people who came to the branch frequently, and now this happens.”
Anne Theunissen, from Duxbury, also lost Krugerrands. “I had over R300 000 worth of valuables in there. I actually took over the box from someone in October, so I will have to read the contract to see what FNB is saying about being liable in such an instance.”
Another safety deposit box holder, who did not want to be identified, told how she battled to sleep. She lost millions of rand worth of jewellery and important documentation in the robbery.
“I’m devastated. I feel completely numb and just want to cry all the time,” she said.
“I had my family heirlooms and all my personal documentation in a safety deposit box for two decades with FNB. I had my late parents’ wedding rings in the box, and my mom’s jewellery. It’s all irreplaceable.”
Van Zyl said the bank had informed all its customers that their safety boxes would be relocated to the Randburg branch from Fourways Mall, but affected clients denied they were sufficiently informed about the relocation.
“We’re revamping the Fourways branch,” said Van Zyl. “When we do revamps, we make a decision whether we will be moving the safety boxes. “When we took a decision to move the boxes, we contacted all our customers to let them know. We even gave them an option to come and collect their boxes, which a big portion of our customers did,” she said.
But the unidentified client was unsatisfied. “The bank is being very cagey about this. No one wants to incriminate themselves by saying too much. My fear is they are going to throw their hands up in the air and deny any liability, leaving me without any recourse.”