Online Reporter
Ronald Mpofu
Talk about watching your own horror movie live. A Plumtree businessman, Mandla Donga, found himself glued to his phone as a daring burglar broke into his betting shop, and it was all happening in real time on CCTV.
Nqobile Ncube, 40, of Mathendele suburb, was the hapless burglar identified following his arrest a day later. He left a satchel full of human waste at the crime scene.
The bizarre break-in happened around 10 PM on 4 October at Dingumuzi Shopping Centre, where Donga’s company, Lingwale Enterprises trading as Bhogwe, runs a betting outlet.
“I got a call from our night duty workers saying they were hearing strange noises,” Donga said from South Africa. “When I opened my cameras, boom, there he was, crawling around like he owned the place.”
For several minutes, Donga sat frozen, watching the drama unfold from hundreds of kilometres away. “I couldn’t believe it. He was tiptoeing like a cat burglar in a cheap movie. At one point, he looked straight at the camera. I almost shouted at my screen,” he laughed.
The chaos didn’t stop there. Court records revealed that on the same night, Ncube smashed a window pane at Bhogwe Liquor Hub at around 9PM to gain entry. Once inside, he began vandalising four computer CPUs, mistaking them for till cash boxes, while searching for cash. His crime spree almost had a successful ending if not for alert staff on the night shift in the bakery department, who caught sight of him.
After realising he had been spotted, Ncube ran away through the smashed window, leaving behind a small satchel containing the tools he had used for break-ins. Shockingly, the satchel also had fresh human waste on it, adding a stinky twist to the bungled robbery.
Donga immediately took screenshots and blasted the footage on WhatsApp, offering a R5 000 reward to anyone who could help identify the “wannabe ninja.” Social media detectives were on the case within hours, replaying, zooming in, and joking about the thief’s “audition for Dumb Criminals 101.”
By Sunday, the show was over. Police pounced on the suspect after a public tip-off. Inspector Chiratidzo Dube confirmed the arrest, stating that it was an unlawful entry case, but nothing was stolen.
Although the thief walked away empty-handed, Donga says the free entertainment was priceless. “He did not steal a thing, but he gave me the best late-night show I have ever watched,” he joked.
The man behind the bungled heist turned out to be a repeat offender. Court documents revealed that before his Bhogwe flop, Ncube had broken into Andile Anele Grocery Shop, stealing cash, groceries, and gadgets. On 9 October, he was convicted on two counts of unlawful entry under Section 131(1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23. He was sentenced to four years in prison, 24 months for each count, with six months suspended on each and a previous suspended sentence brought into effect.
Magistrates noted that the CCTV footage from Bhogwe Liquor Supplies served as Exhibit A, a “self-shot confession” that left little to argue. In Plumtree, even thieves cannot outsmart the cameras or the WiFi, and for Ncube, his starring role in his own arrest has now earned him a long, silent viewing behind bars.
