Sylvia Heights Students Held
at Gun Point
Sylvia Heights is a student
accommodation which is under TUTEH properties. It is situated in the North of
Pretoria and caters for approximately 800 students from the faculty of Economics
and Finance in the Ga Rankuwa campus.
On the 15th of
June, around 7h10am, the student transportation was loading students outside
the gate at the Sylvia Heights residence for departure to Ga Rankuwa Campus.
Three men who were driving a White Polo GTI Reg HHP 764GP entered the
bus at gun point and instructed everyone in the bus to keep still and not make
any noise or move.
The two security guards at
the gate, unfortunately did not witness anything because they did not hear or
see anything suspicious that happened. It was noticeably quiet and the cameras
at the gate could only capture the side of the bus facing the gate. However, a
police case was opened, case number: CAS262/6/2022
According to an anonymous
source “The bus driver was told not to move or do anything as one or two
students were going to die if he does so. One of the student assistants who is
the bus facilitator entered the bus through the driver's side not knowing what
was happening inside. The other two men were standing at the door to not let anyone
out of the bus. Students started panicking and taking out their phones. 25-30
phones were taken on that specific day and the last phone they took was the
student assistant one's.”
According to the Sylvia Heights
incident report Conducted by: B Ditshwane (SHER) & Mhlengi Dlamini
(Facility Operations), one of the student phones (iPhone) was able to be
tracked and it was located somewhere in Soshanguve. And as the Res manager was
trying to call a few numbers a guy arrogantly answered one of the phones he
then dropped it immediately.
The CPS representative Mr.
Msoma came onsite to take statements from the driver and students. A cohort of
students came back from campus and were interviewed about the incident. A list
was compiled by all students who were on the bus as well to identify those
whose phones were taken. This is not the first time such has happened,
anonymous mentions that students were once robbed outside of res going to a
closing function and nothing was done about that.
The students that were affected
were very traumatized about what transpired and some reported that their phones
contained valuable information. The incident report issued on the 15th
mentions that some students were even crying and said that they feel scared
even though they are grateful that none of them got hurt. The Residence Manager
was there to support them, and they managed to make it on time for their exams
and no one missed the exam according to everyone's knowledge.
Some students reported that
the robbers are from Soshanguve, and one student reported that she recognized
one of robbers who had a scar on the face and that she could be able to
identify him if she sees him again, but she is not comfortable to make an
identikit for the police. The students reported that they suspect foul play
since the whole thing happened fast and they wondered how the robbers knew
about their transport schedule.
The bus loading students
outside has been identified as a safety issue and it was addressed with the Res
Manager to stop it with immediate effect. The transport now operates from
inside as there is enough space. There is security to supervise the loading as
well as offloading of students. Students will be referred for post trauma
counselling and preferably, if possible, a group counselling might be arranged
since it is the victims were a substantial number.
By: Amogelang Aysha Ramatena
