MPs being burgled is nothing new. Here are 10 incidents since 2000

Over the years several cabinet ministers and top officials also made the news when they fell victim to crime. Here are just ten examples:

Over the years several cabinet ministers and top officials also made the news when they fell victim to crime. Here are just ten examples:

1. 2000

News surfaced that a man‚ believed to be mentally unstable‚ gained access to former President Thabo Mbeki's official residence in Cape Town. He managed to stay at the presidential pad for about four days and helped himself to food and drink. He was arrested in a bedroom and it emerged that he gained access to the house by breaking a window. However officials indicated that he failed to gain access the president's private quarters.

2. 2003

The then Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel‚ Education Minister Kader Asmal and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad had computers‚ cameras and even cutlery stolen from their homes in the government security residential compound in Bryntirion. Manuel and Asmal shared a home while Pahad lived next door. At the time the ministers were said to be livid.

• Phahlane dismisses conspiracy theories about burglary at Chief Justice’s officeActing National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane on Monday brushed aside conspiracy theories about the theft of computers containing sensitive personal information from the office of the Chief Justice.

3. 2006

Former Correctional Service Minister Ngconde Balfour's house in Cape Town was targeted. At the time police spokesman Vish Naidu was quoted as saying that that cellphones and electrical appliances went missing.

4. 2008

Intruders broke into IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi's house in Ulundi. The Sowetan reported‚ at the time‚ that valuables worth more than R100,000 were taken.

5. 2010

When Fikile Mbalula was the deputy minister of police‚ robbers broke into his ministerial home in Waterkloof‚ Pretoria. LCD televisions‚ a DStv decoder and a home theatre system were taken. Officials from the Department of Public Works made the discovery. At the time Mbalula's spokesman Paena Galane said only his belongings were moved to the house and he was yet to move in.

"Before the deputy minister could move into the house the South African Police Service had to do a security evaluation report‚" Galane told the Sowetan at the time."While they were finalising implementing recommendations of the report some of the stuff (belonging to Mbalula) was moved into the house."

• Security upgrade for all judges after theft The Office of the Chief Justice will review its security measures, and those of all judges, following a burglary at the Midrand, Johannesburg, office early on Saturday.

6. 2010

Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Thandi Tobias-Poloko confirmed that she was about to upgrade her security system when someone jumped over the wall and "stole my garden chairs".

7. 2012

Even former Police Minister‚ Nathi Mthethwa‚ became a statistic when he held the position. A SAPS sergeant‚ tasked with guarding Mthethwa‚ took a laptop and a cellphone from his home in Cape Town. The items were then sold and the officer was arrested.

8. 2014

Deputy Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams had her 65-inch plasma screen valued at about R35 000 and her laptop stolen from her 12-room double-storey home in Mthatha stolen. The Daily Dispatch spoke to Ndabeni-Abrahams' sister Ayanda.

"I opened the door using my keys and threw my purse on the couch. When I turned around ‚ I noticed the plasma was gone. I ran outside and screamed for my neighbours‚" Ayanda was quoted at the time.

• Parliament disturbed by break-in at offices of Chief JusticeParliament said on Sunday it was disturbed by the news of the break-in at the offices of the Chief Justice‚ in which at least 15 computers were stolen.

9. 2015

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services‚ Michael Masutha‚ moved to a hotel in Pretoria after his house in Waterkloof was burgled twice. The first break-in occurred in May. While criminals snatched his personal belongings including clothes‚ he locked himself in the bedroom the Sunday Times reported.

Then‚ in July burglars struck again. This time they took his Samsung curved plasma TV.

"We suspect they jumped over the wall because a blanket was placed over it. It took them five minutes to get in and take the TV‚" said his spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga. He confirmed that the minister moved to a hotel while addition security was being arranged. "This is the minister of justice and we cannot allow him to be placed in such a vulnerable position. We found him a hotel at a reasonable rate to stay in. And he will continue to stay at hotels until the house is security to our satisfaction."

10. 2015

EFF leader‚ Julius Malema's Parliamentary office was burgled in July. Party spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi told The Times files that were stolen contained "highly sensitive information".

"This includes [information on] whistle-blowers working for government departments and state institutions. the files have information on our strategies and on things that we were going to take the government up on‚ especially around parastatals such as Eskom. Files that contain travel and security information of the commander-in-chief [Malema] have disappeared‚" Ndlozi said at the time.

- TMG Digital/The Times