Under the shadow of darkness a crafty thief went to work.

Armed with the master key to Fort Hare’s Gertrude Nhlabathi Residence and others, he went from room to room removing laptops, cellphones and other personal items.

So clean was the job that George Clooney of Ocean’s Eleven fame would have been proud. On the night, even the newly renovated residences’ CCTV cameras were not working. No one saw a thing.

As students danced the night away at a bash on campus, little did they know their rooms were being raided in the biggest single heist in the campus’s history.

In his wake, the thief left more than 40 students distraught over personal assignments and nearly finished dissertations that disappeared into the night.

This happened in recent weeks. Last week, Fort Hare’s Equicent Eastern Cape Development building – housing the private service provider responsible for security and the construction of the R400-million, 200-bed residence – went up in flames and many thought the arson was related to the ongoing #FeesMustFall protests engulfing campuses throughout the country.

But the revolt by Fort Hare’s Alice students was a protest over security on campus and anger over the mass theft.

Last week a “disgruntled” former employee, Madoda Sityi – who was fired by Equicent earlier this year in connection with theft – was arrested at his Alice Golf Course home. He was allegedly found with a bunch of locks and a master key to the students’ rooms.

He appeared in court last week.

He was released on bail last Friday. This was confirmed yesterday by university spokesman Kgotso Moabi, who said the Equicent former employee was taken into custody after investigators found him with the keys.

Alice police spokeswoman Captain Siya Nontshinga also confirmed the arrest in connection with the spate of Fort Hare burglaries.

However, she could not provide more details because she “could not get hold of the investigating officer who is in possession of a docket in relation to these cases”.

However, this was not the first theft at the campus.

Sityi’s arrest came after the university had been hit by a spate of burglaries where students reported theft of valuables such as laptops, cellphones, electrical appliances and clothing.

In most of the reported burglaries there were no signs of forced entry, resulting in students suspecting that it was an inside job.

In some of the affected residences, CCTV cameras are said to have been non-operational when such burglaries took place in recent weeks.

At Fort Hare’s Alice campus, students have boycotted classes since mid-September in protest over the lax security.

Equicent’s multimillion-rand building was razed to the ground, amid calls by students for the company to be removed.

Equicent maintenance manager Charles Nkomo could not be reached for comment at the time of writing yesterday.

Student leader at the Alice campus Thandikhaya Mathokazi yesterday said students have vowed not to return to class until all locks in their rooms are replaced and Equicent is removed from the campus.

Mathokazi said close to 50 students had reported theft cases to police and 41 had since been compensated by the institution for their laptop losses.

Mathokazi said a suspected burglar was caught red-handed on campus by students recently while in possession of the master key to their room.

“When this guy was caught in one of our residences, he told us that he had received duplicates of the master key from a former Equicent employee who was accused of theft and fired.

“He was arrested, and on further investigation, police found master keys and other university equipment at [the suspect’s] house, resulting in his arrest as well,” Mathokazi said.

According to Mathokazi, incidents of burglary were on the increase at the campus and students were living “in constant fear” as they did not know when these syndicates would hit.

All attempts to reach university vice-chancellor Mvuyo Tom had proved fruitless by deadline yesterday. — asandan@dispatch.co.za