Tailor made saving plans to meet the long term needs, or goals of an individual, or family.

They are dressed smartly, drive luxury vehicles and are driven by greed. This is the “new” type of sophisticated and organised armed robbers currently targeting Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

These robbers were said to be part of a broader spectrum of thieves which target banks specifically; while others are linked to hijackings, kidnappings and follow-home robberies that often originate at shopping malls.

Speaking to The Citizen security expert Dirk Jones described these criminals as the “play boys” of society.

“They dress in nice suits, they rob… they hijack high-end vehicles that they then use in hijackings, as seen happening in Sandton,” said Jones who is the Servest security managing director.

“We see it mostly in the affluent areas where the robbers don’t stick out, because they are driving vehicles which are the same as the vehicles other people in those areas are driving…

“If they came in an older vehicle, people would be able to identify them more easily; whereas if you are driving in a fancy vehicle, nobody sees you as suspicious.”

Mall Robberies

Crimes originating at malls have become more prevalent in Gauteng and around the country.

“Recent crime trends indicated that mall robberies occurred during the day, mostly between 8am and 10am,” said Jones.

“Restaurants, jewellery stores, cellphone shops and banks remain top targets, with an increase noted in ‘follow-home robberies’ where victims are followed home by robbers.”

Gauteng Police Commissioner Lesetja Mothiba confirmed on Tuesday that a national team of detectives has been assigned to help with investigations related to a spate of recent violent mall robberies.

Jones urged shopping malls to re-evaluate their security systems; prepare a proper risk analysis and to create a security culture on-site, as armed robberies were expected to increase in coming months.

Increase in Crime

Last year’s crime statistics indicated that business robberies had increased by 2,7% to 16 377 reported incidents.

There were an additional 426 armed attacks on businesses in 2012/13 as compared to the previous year. This crime type has increased by 345% in the past eight years.

Senior Researcher for the Institute for Security Studies’ crime and justice programme Dr Johan Burger said retail members of the Consumer Goods Council of SA in general had experienced an overall increase of 36% in aggravated robberies and a related increase of 67% in financial losses.

“The only sub-categories of aggravated robbery that showed persistent decreases in the past five years were bank and cash-in-transit robberies,” said Burger.

“These decreases can largely be attributed to the measures implemented by these industries to protect their assets.”

Kidnapping

Jones maintains that a challenge with regard to such robberies is that suspects are released swiftly on bail following court appearances.

“The justice system lets us down by letting them out, as they almost immediately start robbing again,” he said.

“There are a number of aspects to mall security other than just straight forward armed robberies. We’ve noted that there’s a hijacking aspect linked to it as well as kidnapping.”

Jones said more than 4 000 kidnapping cases had been reported in 2013 which was concerning. He believes that consumers can be proactive by paying attention during robberies to possibly identify suspects, where possible.

“People are security illiterate; however, not talking about incidents is a problem as people are not aware of what’s happening,” he said.

“Education is needed.”

Being in the property valuation game, we find ourselves explaining to clients almost daily why it is wrong to insure one’s building for purchase price or current market value.

Just recently, a client requested that we assess the value of his residence for the purpose of updating his insurance policy. What we found was an upmarket house with high-end finishes, yet in a poor state of repair and in a not-so-affluent neighbourhood; following a physical inspection of the premises, we assessed the insurance value to be in the region of R4 300 000, not including the moveable contents. Within moments of having submitted our valuation report, we had an infuriated client on the phone, alleging unprofessionalism and demanding a full refund seeing as he had purchased the property for a mere R2.5 million just two years ago. In his opinion, insuring the building for R4 300 000 would be an utter waste of money.

We proceeded to explain to this gentleman that the particular location and poor condition of the building have an adverse effect on his property’s market value, yet in the event of total loss it still would cost around R4 300 000 to clear the site of rubble and re-build the house to the same specifications. At a sum insured of R2.5 million, the client was underinsured by more than 40% , meaning that the insurer would pay out only 60% of an eventual claim amount.

The reality is that many property owners are underinsured – not seldom by 50% or more – due to being unaware of the concept of obtaining insurance cover for ‘replacement cost‘ and not ‘market value’.
(Can it be safely concluded that a higher incidence of adequately insured clients will lead to an increase in book value for insurers?)

Please click here to obtain a free quotation for a replacement cost valuation on buildings and/or contents.

Yours sincerely,

Björn Laubscher
Managing Director

www.mirfin.co.za

The organisations include; Friends Day Care Centre, St Josephs and a primary school in Ruyterwacht.

We as Origin took this as a Corporate team building project the past two years and contribute to the fundraising by supporting them in buying the Casual Day stickers.

These enable us to buy and donate toys for 14 children.

We as Origin,sponsored one of the children for the year of 2014. This entitles to give him a bed (especially design for his difficulties) and arranged a birthday party for him.

We had also contributed to the makeover of their home’s bathroom’swith the necessary facilities to accommodate and assist the children in their specific needs.