Building looted and burnt during protest was not a drug house
"Strangely enough, even though the area had such a bad reputation for drugs and crime, I only had a few petty thefts that I needed to report. There were no real threats to the building."
The owner of a building in York Street, Luipaardsvlei, that was looted and then burnt to the ground during the #WarOnDrugs protests on Monday, 22 January, claims that it was not a drug house and that criminals took advantage of the opportunity to commit a crime.
Copley Sutton said he was on holiday in Port Alfred when he got a call from the pastor who has a building across the street from his home, saying that protesters had broken the lock on the gates of his building using a rock, smashing it for nearly 10 minutes, while police were in the area.
Photo: Submitted.
The building was Sutton’s source of income for more than 10 years. He operated a kitchen furniture business from the premises and had equipment worth at least R200 000 in it.
“I was in the process of selling the building, so most of the equipment was already packed up,” said Sutton.
Read more here: #KrugersdorpWarOnDrugs: Avoid these areas
“The new owner had also already put extra security guards at the building, but they were easily overpowered by the group of protesters.”
Then the building was torched. Large balls of smoke rose into the sky and everything except the walls was burnt beyond recognition.
“A few days later, when I had returned to the premises, I came back to a completely flattened building. The municipality had demolished what was left of the property and everything was gone. It’s sobering to think that because it’s a historical building – it was more than 60 years old, permissions to demolish it would be difficult to come by. But the municipality just completely flattened it.”
Because he was in the process of selling the property and because it was broken down completely, the buyer withdrew his offer and he had to cancel the sale.
Also Read: #KrugersdorpWarAgainstDrugs Protesters shut down CBD completely
The buyer then made a lesser offer and the sale went through as a plot sale and not a building sale.
“Strangely enough, even though the area had such a bad reputation for drugs and crime, I only had a few petty thefts that I needed to report. There were no real threats to the building.”
Sutton said he has lost a great deal, not only money, but also the memories of building a business from the ground up and serving the people of Krugersdorp.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at krugersdorpnews@caxton.co.za or phone us on 011 955 1130.I
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister websites:
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
