Home Sweet Home

THEY say there’s safety in numbers, but how safe are you really living in a gated community?

- Vanessa Papas

THEY lived in a secure complex. They thought they were safe. The injuries Soutie Durant, 61, suffered were extreme. They testified to the tenacity and courage of his final moments – a man who chose to fight to death to protect his wife against armed robbers who ambushed their complex in Rustenburg early on a Sunday morning. Soutie and his wife Etrecia, 59, were asleep on the top floor of their doublestorey home when they heard noises from the lower level. As Soutie started walking down, two armed men tried to come up. Stopping them from reaching his wife, Soutie was shot in the stomach. He died of his injuries. 

No-one likes the idea of turning their homes into fortresses, but with crime statistics on the rise, the safety of your home and loved ones has to be your first priority. An Institute for Security Studies report showed that South Africans fear being victims of a house robbery most – even more so than rape and mugging. As such, the high numbers of house robberies and contact crimes has prompted residents to abandon freestanding houses for the security of estate houses, complexes and gated estates. However, armed robberies within these homes are also escalating at an alarming rate. In many cases, the biggest problem is the fight against indifference in body corporates and residents who have a false sense of security.