The Department of Human Settlements has refuted media reports of a break-in at the department.

This, after the department has noted with concern a media report in one of the publications in which a negative picture has been painted that the department’s security system is compromised.

“We can confirm that the department does have fully operational CCTV cameras and these have not been tampered with. The footage which might be used for further investigation has been handed over to law enforcement agencies.

“We further wish to underline, without jeopardizing the investigation, that there was no forced entry into the department’s building. The two offices of the Deputy Minister and the Director-General are not on the floor in which the two laptops were stolen.

“Therefore, the misinformation that the offices of the Deputy Minister, Pam Tshwete and the Director-General, Mbulelo Tshangana were broken into is a lie and dismissed with contempt it deserves,” the Department of Human Settlement said in a statement.

The department says the two laptops that were stolen were at the offices of officials on the fourth and fifth floor at 240 Justice Mohamed street.

One of those was a brand new laptop and the other one belongs to an official who does not deal with procurement issues as alleged in the article. The two incidents are completely separate and did not take place on the same day.

“It is regrettable that the information peddler/s went on to state that the files were stolen, the DG’s safe was broken into and that no video footage exists of the robbery. We can state without any fear of contradiction that this is not true.

“The department can categorically state it is confident that it’s security services and systems are fully operational and is equally confident that the law enforcement agencies conclude the case as quickly as possible,” the department said.

Source: South African Government News Agency