The robbers of SA, big and small

20 August 2014 - 02:01 By David Shapiro
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DAVID SHAPIRO: Deputy chairman of Sasfin Securities
DAVID SHAPIRO: Deputy chairman of Sasfin Securities
Image: SUPPLIED

On Thursday afternoon I was in good spirits. I was composing notes about the male humour I experienced on the floor of the JSE, for a short talk I was to deliver that evening at the conclusion of a golf day arranged by our firm.

I was highlighting, tongue-in-cheek, that golf was one of the last vestiges of male chauvinism, but the extravagant costs of playing the game together with the inordinate time it took to complete 18 holes was compelling the modern metro male to ditch the sport.

Today, man was more interested in cycling with his partner, watching Masterchef on TV and buying grooming products at Edgar's Red Square. I wanted to point out that sashay golfers would suffer the same fate as the macho traders who once dominated the JSE. On the floor, if a man had one-day stubble it was not because his 18-year-old girlfriend said he looked cool but rather that he had come to work directly from a night on the town.

I was in a rush to complete my speech. I wanted to pop home for a short while to say goodbye to my wife, Linda, before she left for New York. My daughter, Karen, was having minor surgery on her foot and Linda, being a caring mother and grandmother, wanted to lend a hand during her convalescence.

As I picked up my car keys, I received a call from Linda that one always dreads. Four armed men had entered our house at around 2pm, tied up our part-time gardener, our domestic helper and Linda. For an hour, Linda lay on her stomach in our bedroom, gagged and with her hands and feet bound, while these thugs ransacked our home in search of money and jewellery.

It is not a unique incident. It happens 100 times a day to decent, industrious and selfless South Africans, people like Linda, whose family gave up so much for a better life here. It is not the cellphones, computers or TVs that the criminals rob - those are easily replaced - but our dignity, self-respect and trust and confidence in the country's future.

Bramley police were at our home in numbers within minutes of our call for assistance. I was moved by their efficiency and concern, yet, only when I accompanied three detectives in an unmarked car into Alexandra did I fully comprehend the overwhelming challenges that the nation's police force face. Using an app on my iPhone, I had identified the approximate location of our stolen iPads. The detectives - hoping it would lead us to Linda's car, which the gangsters had seized to carry their plunder - asked if I would join the search.

It is difficult to describe my emotions as I drove through the filth and grime of Alexandra. I was not scared at all, only shocked that a country with our wealth and resources could allow its people to exist in such squalor. My thoughts were not on recovering Linda's Qashqai but on the corrupt government officials, who siphon off billions of tax money for their own enrichment, and individuals and corporations that engage in dubious schemes to cheat the fiscus, in the process depriving millions of destitute South Africans of a half-decent lifestyle.

Tracker recovered our vehicle without any harm and, in the final count, the monetary value of our losses was not that severe. More damaging, though, was the theft of so many of our memories and mementos. Gone with our computer were thousands of family photos, while among the number of sensitive items pinched were Linda's silver disc impressed with our grandchildren's fingerprints, a pair of gold crested cuff-links presented to me for my contribution to JSE committee, a Mont Blanc travelling clock awarded to me by SG Frankel Pollak for 30 years of unbroken service and, more painfully, a box full of road-running medals that I sweated blood for.

Incidents like this take a long time to overcome, a lot longer than reconfiguring your phones and recapturing lost data on your computer. But to end my column, a small favour: If you see anyone walking around in a luminous yellow running shirt, embossed with the 2009 Boston Marathon logo in blue, please asked them if you can have it back for a friend.

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