‘She Had No Money'

"The ‘grandmother’ of the Gauteng woman arrested for a R4-m mall robbery has spoken of her shock and disbelief"

- By Siphokazi Zama

From the outside the house is unassuming – modest and neat with a concrete yard. Inside, the home is bright, comfortable and tastefully decorated.

Vangile Dlamini has lived here since 1973 and her grandchildren have helped her renovate it through the years, putting up a new boundary wall and installing new windows to thank her for helping to raise them.

For two months the house in Zola 3, Soweto, was also the home of a young woman Vangile (82) regarded as one of her own grandkids. Like she would do with one of her own flesh and blood, she welcomed Bathobile Mlangeni in when she needed help and provided her with a roof over her head.

Never in her wildest dreams did she foresee what would happen: that the police would arrive on her doorstep one day and tell her that her “granddaughter” was under arrest for one of the most brazen crimes in recent South African history.

In July 2019 a guard working for SBV, a security company that processes, moves and manages cash and high-value assets, was caught on camera calmly leaving Midrand’s Mall of Africa allegedly with R4 million in cash.

The alleged thief had cut open two bulk cash bags and transferred the money into plastic bags, then placed the bags in a supermarket trolley and pushed the trolley out of the shopping centre.

For over two-and-a-half years the culprit remained at large. But recently cops, acting on a tip-off from the community arrested, Bathobile (31) in Soweto.

The young woman is now in custody pending her trial after abandoning her bail hearing.