Security is always a cause for concern at the annual National Arts Festival. Although this year may have been better than most, a number of break-ins, thefts and arrests occurred.
Security is always a cause for concern at the annual National Arts Festival. Although this year may have been better than most, a number of break-ins, thefts and arrests occurred.
Rebecca Glover, a third year BA student, had her Blackberry 8520 stolen along with R160 while watching Body Language at Princess Alice Hall on Saturday 7 July.
“I was really irritated,” said Glover,” I’m not an easy target as I keep my bag close to my body and it’s always closed. I’m a local; I know what it’s like during Fest”. During the show, Glover placed her bag near her feet on the stands and it is assumed that whoever stole the items did so from beneath the stands.
“It was relatively easy to reach my bag” she said, “but I just did not expect it to happen in a venue”. As soon as Glover realised what had happened, she immediately went to the venue manager.
“The Festival security were very helpful and did as much as they could”, said Glover, “ In the future I think they should put signs outside the venue telling people to keep a careful eye on their things because clearly, even with security around the venues, items are still being stolen”.
The security person questioned one suspect at the venue but there was no clear evidence to link him to the crime. A fourth year photojournalist student, Sara Garrun, also had her camera bag stolen while at Café Blanca. Opened especially for Fest, Café Blanca was hosting a well-known event, Singing for Soup.
“I was working for Cue and doing my own night-life photography”, said Garrun, “I placed my camera bag down by my feet while I put on my jacket and the guy next to me took it.”
Garrun had a full description of the man but her camera equipment was never found. The question of security in Grahamstown during the Festival period is clearly very important. Kenny Knoetze, assistant manager at Hi-tec said, “We have 100 extra staff members during this time and five response vehicles on patrol.
The main problem for us was theft from the stalls and a few house break-ins during the two weekends either side of Festival when people were either coming into the town or leaving it. Overall, in terms of reported theft, I think this year’s Festival has not been that bad.”
According to Grahamstown police spokesperson, Captain Mali Govender, there were a few reported cases to SAPS of normal theft such as stolen wallets, cell phones, cameras and the like but nothing out of the ordinary.
“Crime is never good but if we compare it to previous Festivals, the police were not overly alarmed or concerned about the number of crimes that occurred” said Govender. One street vendor in particular was prevented from selling BB guns during Festival as an agreement had been made between the Festival organisers and SAPS that prohibited it.
“We have a number of robbery cases involving the use of toy pistols which are often mistaken for real ones”, said Govender, “and this agreement was made in an attempt to deter such robberies from taking place”.
Most of the Festival security is divided up between Laser Tech, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Hi-Tec, with SAPS being the general overseer of security in the area.
“We were assisted a great deal by the private security companies”, said Govender, “there was a great relationship and good team work allowing us to make a number of arrests during Festival”.
