Terrible Security and Administration at The Rondebosch

Hi there,

There was a break in and theft in broad daylight at the apartment I am currently occupying - named ‘The Rondebosch’ in Rondebosch, Cape Town. This apartment building is managed by Land & Sea Development Services, with the portfolio manager being Dhivya Naidoo.

The perpetrator gained access to the building through the main entrance and made his way up through the emergency escapes that are meant to be locked from the outside. He was in the building for a while, trying to break into other people’s apartments when he managed to get into my apartment through the window. Valuable items were ******. He left through the receptionist area. The entire time, this perpetrator went unnoticed by the security as the cameras went unmonitored for longer than 30 minutes.

I contacted Dhivya (property manager at The Rondebosch), and I was met with lousy and pathetic excuses. I was appalled by her lack of accountability and poor reasoning. She admitted to knowing about the security loopholes in the building and mentioned other events where strangers made their way into the complex using the emergency exits. Despite knowing this, her and her team did not take the necessary precaution to make sure incidents like that do not occur again. She has said “loopholes will always be there” and this shows her disregard for adequate security at the complex. All of this constitutes negligence. I could have been harmed because of their neglect for improved security - luckily I was not home when this happened.

The response I received from her and the body corporate was a clause in the code of conduct that was saying that they are not liable for the ****** items. I will not accept this because on the other side of a code of conduct is A DUTY that they were meant to perform. The security guard let this perpetrator in, and left the CCTV cameras unmonitored for a long time. In the footage, you can see the perpetrator trying to break into other people’s apartments. This all happened in plain sight and it would have been noticed if the security guard was performing their duty. In fact, one of the tenants in the building reported the break-in to this security guard in real time, but she did not even block all the main access point to make sure the perpetrator does not leave the building. In the footage, you can see the perpetrator leaving the building and walking right past the security guard who is not even stationed at the front desk like she is supposed to be. The property manager admitted to me that she knew about strangers entering the building through the emergency escapes and *****ing people’s possession, YET she did nothing to ensure that this does not happen again. None of these parties performed their duty, yet they have the nerve to pull out the code of conduct when THEY DID NOT PERFORM THEIR DUTY to uphold the security at this place.

The property manager has said that a security report will be compiled by the security company, and that the body corporate will perform an investigation. They have not gotten back to me about this supposed investigation or security report.

They have downplayed this situation completely. They are highly ***********. They show no sense of urgency when I could have been killed or ****d if I were home that day! I have handed all the security footage over to the police and they are also shocked at how useless the security at this place is.

I need full compensation of all the items that were ****** (valued at approximately R14000.00) under their watch!