By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
Another Government office yesterday became the latest target of what appears to be a syndicate of computer thieves raiding offices in the capital and stealing computers.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare was broken into and computers and hard drives, including documents from the Minister’s office and her deputy, were stolen.
The thieves stole five laptops, six computer monitors, two video projectors, two hand digital cameras, and one box of children’s toys.
Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Marlene Mungunda, says the culprits are not genuine thieves but just a group of people aiming at destroying the Namibian Government.
She said the ministry is housed in the Trust Centre building where other private offices operate. Surprisingly, only the offices of the mini-stry were targeted.
While it is well known that thieves usually go for items such as television sets and DVD machines, in this case such equipment was left untouched.
The ministry started op-erating from the Trust Centre building in February 2007 due to ongoing renovations at its premises at Juvenis Building.
The Minister said office security matters will have to be taken to Parliament for deliberations on how that could be improved.
Deputy Minister in the same ministry Angelika Muharukua also expressed concern over the repeated incidents of office break-ins.
This is the third time the ministry was raided.
It could not be established how the thieves gained entry to the building.
Barely two months ago, the Khomas regional office was broken into and not so different from the latest incident, the thieves looted computer hard drives and other equipment. They stole 18 hard drives, six flat screens, one digital camera, one tape recorder, one pair of shoes and compact discs (CDs).