Polokwane - Police in Limpopo are offering a reward of up to R100 000 for information that can lead to the arrest and subsequent conviction of the suspects responsible for an attack on doctors at the Letaba Hospital and another at the Lebowakgomo Hospital this week.
On Thursday morning, at about 3.15am, about five men attacked doctors in their residential quarters at the Letaba Hospital outside Tzaneen and robbed them of an amount of cash, cellphones, TV sets, and laptops. One of the doctors was shot and wounded and another was hit with a blunt object. Both have been admitted to hospital, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said on Saturday.
In a similar incident, a group of about seven men broke into the doctors' residence at the Lebowakgomo Hospital shortly after midnight on Saturday morning and robbed the doctors of money, cellphones, and laptops.
In both incidents, the suspects gained access to the premises by breaking concrete bars in the fences behind the residences and then proceeded to the homes of the doctors.
Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba had already put into action the 72-hour action plan to hunt down the criminals. The police provincial task team, led by a major-general, had been hard at work searching for the suspects who attacked the doctors at Letaba Hospital. The same task team would also take over the investigation of the latest robbery at Lebowakgomo Hospital, Mojapelo said.
Anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects was requested to contact Brigadier James Esbach at 082-576-0743 or Captain Richard Boshomane at 079-894-5501, or call the crime stop toll free number 08600-10111, or the nearest police station. All information received would be treated with the strictest confidentiality.
According to earlier media reports, three doctors - two women and a man - were wounded in the Letaba Hospital robbery.