Top ANC MP was assaulted and left unconscious in a brutal house robbery in Cape Town, police said yesterday. Sue van der Merwe was saved by her son who interrupted the two intruders at her Rondebosch home.
She was attacked just before 9pm on Friday, said police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk.
"Two males assaulted and strangled her until she lost consciousness. The suspects fled when her son arrived home."
Van Wyk said the thugs made off in a silver Hyundai. Bank cards were missing from the home. He did not know how badly Van der Merwe was injured. The 58-year-old worked for the Black Sash in Cape Town from 1988 to 1991. She became an MP in 1996 and served as deputy minister of foreign affairs from 2004 to 2009. She was a parliamentary counsellor to the president from 2001 to 2004. According to the latest police crime statistics, house burglaries and theft are the most prevalent crimes in the suburb.
Between April 2011 and March 2012, 350 burglaries, 321 thefts from a car and 429 other thefts were reported to the Rondebosch police station.
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