Deputy Director General for the province forced out his own home
Two men appeared in court on Thursday morning for allegedly invading the house of deputy director general in the Office of the Premier, Mighty Mgidi.
MBOMBELA – Police had arrested Vusimuzi Fakude (55) and Sandile Zwane (30) on various charges of theft and unlawful occupation of a property.
Mgidi had gone on holiday on December 14 and returned on January 14 to find people living in his home in West Acres.
According to police spokesman, Brig Leonard Hlathi, he has been staying in a hotel and paying for it himself ever since.
Hlathi said Mgidi approached the police about strangers who had occupied his house without his permission. “The matter was taken to the prosecutor, who withdrew it.”
Police went to the house again on Wednesday night. “We found that household items had been stolen from Mgidi. We then recovered some of the items which were found in a house linked to the suspects.”
Office of the Premier spokesman, Zibonele Mncwango, said their department was aware that Mgidi’s house was broken into and all his furniture and clothes were stolen.
A neighbour stated that Mgidi was away for business often and that sometimes a man looked after the house. “We noticed over December that a family had moved in with a man in a wheelchair. We thought it might be relatives of his. We didn’t know what was happening. We saw about seven police cars driving around on Wednesday night but they would not tell us what was going on.”
Mncwango said Mgidi is “devastated and worried about his life, since all the furniture and clothes in his house have completely been cleaned out, (but) he is composed and is focusing on his work.”
He added that Mgidi feels he is being targeted since these criminal activities had been reoccurring: there were incidents in 2009, 2013 and 2018 whenever he was away.
Fakude, in the wheelchair, was arrested and the previous cases – which had been thrown out due to a lack of evidence – have been reinstated. Zwane was also apprehended.
Hlathi said cases of house burglary, the unlawful occupation of property and possession of stolen items were opened.
The men were kept in custody until February 7 for police profiling.
