By Botho Molosankwe
Two security guards have been arrested after a Gauteng MEC's house was burgled and burnt down.
The two men, who work for Fidelity Guards, were on duty on Friday at MEC for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Nelisiwe Moerane's Meyerton house when it was broken into, ransacked and torched.
The house's main bedroom, the MEC's eight-year-old daughter's bedroom, a study and a gym were razed.
Moerane is married to Solly, who is the SA Football Association's commercial manager and also works for the South African Navy.
The couple, their daughter and their 21-year-old son were at the MEC's parents' home in Evaton on Friday for a function when a neighbour called and informed them that their house was on fire.
They rushed home to find the bottom part of their double-storey house in flames and some of their belongings missing. The fence at the back of the house had been cut.
The security guards, who were in their guardhouse a few metres from the house, could not say how the burglars had managed to enter the house, break the security doors with a grinder, force open the doors with a crowbar, ransack the house and start the fire without them seeing anything.
They could also not tell them who had upturned the CCTV cameras on the outside walls.
The pain and shock of what happened was too much for Moerane, who had to be taken to a doctor on Saturday and treated for shock.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Eugene Opperman confirmed that the two guards had been taken in for questioning.
"As far as I know, they have not been charged, but if they have they would have to appear in court today," Opperman said.
Inspecting the damage to the house yesterday, Solly said among the things missing were three laptops, a TV, his golf bags, Bafana Bafana tracksuits and travelling bags. Other things, he said, had been destroyed in the fire.
Because the main bedroom burnt to the ground, he and his wife lost all their clothes too.
"What I am wearing is all the clothes I have now. We have also lost all our files," he said.
Solly said their house was in the process of being fitted with security that was to be linked to the premier's office and they had been provided with security guards while the work was still going on.
The MEC has bodyguards, but not does not have guards for the house.
The guards' three-month contract, he said, ended last month, but had been renewed because the work had not yet been completed. But the security system that had already been put in place was destroyed in the fire.
Solly believes that the guards were involved in the burglary and arson, and that the reason his house was burnt down was to get rid of the footage captured by the CCTV cameras.
"How can people break in when there are guards there? They said they did not hear or see anything and only saw the fire, then jumped next door to alert the neighbours.
"The common sense (thing) to do would have been to send a signal to your control room, but they claim that their radios started not to work at the time of the incident," he said.
"And when the police arrived at the scene, they did not open for them, claiming that the gate had jammed. I believe that they had a hand in this.
"Now we have to make a plan of what to do - this is our only home."
Lazarus Kerrs, Fidelity Guard's operations manager, did not want to comment on the arrest of the two guards, but said internal investigations would be instituted from the company's side.
"This is a police matter and I have nothing to say to the media," he said.