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- A Cape Town radio presenter, who survived a stabbing, is back at work.
- Reinette Myburgh was injured during a home invasion last month.
- She has since had two more burglaries at her home.
A Radio Cape Pulpit presenter has returned to work almost a month after surviving a home invasion in which she was stabbed.
On 8 April, Reinette Myburgh entered her kitchen to find a stranger standing in it.
"I called out 'Wat maak jy hierso? Wie is jy?' (what are you doing here, who are you). He then started fighting me. I just decided I had to scream my lungs out," she recalls.
Myburgh was stabbed, with the knife puncturing a lung.
The wound was only millimetres from a major artery, she said.
"I felt the pain in my chest and the blood spurting out, and I knew I had to calm down," she recalled.
Her assailant ran off, taking her bible bag and cellphone. He dropped the knife and bag as he leapt over her property wall.
But Myburgh's experience didn't end there.
A month after the stabbing, her property has been the target of several burglaries, she alleges.
In the last burglary, on 4 May, one of her Bellville neighbours made a citizen's arrest, and she identified him as her attacker. However, he was later released, she claimed.
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Myburgh is a presenter on Radio Cape Pulpit 729am and a social psychologist for Join Bands, Not Gangs, a crime prevention and intervention non-profit company.
She returned to the air for the first time since the incident on Thursday.
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk confirmed that a house robbery and assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm case was opened on 8 April, and is currently still under investigation.
"No suspects have been arrested yet. Anybody with information can contact the investigating officer, Detective Captain Matyobeni, at 082 411 1795," he said.
'Completely hopeless'
He also confirmed that a break-in had been reported in May.
"During May 2021, another house breaking case was reported at the same address. The community saw suspicious looking people in the road and apprehended them. Theses suspects were then taken to Bellville SAPS for profiling. The suspects were negative. They could not be linked to the reported case of Reinette Myburgh," he said.
But Myburgh insisted her ordeal could have been avoided.
She said the suspect had attempted to break into her property as early as March, but because nothing was stolen and no one was hurt, police had not opened a case.
"I feel completely hopeless. We need to be agents of change, but there seemed to be a sense of disconnection. However, the police have now stepped up and are taking the case very seriously," she added.
Van Wyk added: "The complainant is encouraged to lodge a complaint with Bellville police management or IPID, so that her allegations can be investigated."
