Reality

Friday, 17th December 2008:

We have a motorised security gate at our home in Pretoria. Due to numerous heavy thunder storms it became faulty, which is not unusual in that area.

The 17th of December was also the day that most suppliers and many businesses closed for our summer holidays.
With our sky high crime rate, there was no way that this problem could be left unattended, and unfortunately no technician could be found to evaluate and repair this motor.

So, during the few hours left of that afternoon, my son James, who stays in our home, had to perform magic to get this motor replaced.

He is no electrician, but working in a related industry, he knew how to disconnect and unscrew the faulty one. Loaded it into the car and went to the suppliers, which luckily was still open, but only for the next hour or so before they too closed for the season.

They were willing to test the machine and to confirm that it was faulty, but understandably that was all they were prepared to do, as they are not technicians who could issue a damage report..
So, a new motor was purchased, and duly installed by James. And voila, once again the gate was secure.

So off James and his family went to have a summer vacation at George-by -the-sea - which is where we now stay.

In the meantime our short term insurance company was demanding a damage report - which, due to the circumstances of that day, cannot be supplied. So this claim is still waiting to be finalised.

Monday morning, 2nd February 2009:

Early Monday morning James called.

At six am he went outside with his coffee - allowed the two Jack Russell's from the washroom where they sleep at night.

He then had a shower, which took him 20 minutes, and by the time he went out again, saw that the security gate was open.
He immediately saw that the new motor was gone, and that the gate had been lifted off it's rail for the purpose of removing the motor ....

This is considered petty crime, but has to be reported to the police in order to obtain a case number which has to be filed with the insurers.
According to the police this type of theft occur daily and that James was not the first to report such an incident in this area ... but being petty crime, nothing further is done about it.

So, off James went again to purchase a second motor which he installed and this time he had it fastened with a safety bracket.
The safety bracket is no insurance that it will not happen again, it serves only as a deterrent that it will take a little longer to get to the object of the criminals' mission.

I had to inform the Insurance people that the claim waiting to be finalised has had it's asset/object stolen, and has now sprouted into a second claim that will soon be lodged ....

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Is there any other country where things like this happen?

It is no use mincing words: most people are gatvol, that means fedup, with the fact that you live like prisoners behind your own walls, and also with the fact that crime has become an accepted way of life .......

We can never accept this.

I guess we should be thankful that we are alive and have not (yet) become the target of robbers who also kill ...

I apologize for being so cynical.

(The image taken early this morning by James and mailed from Pretoria)