An undisclosed amount of money was stolen shortly after midnight on Monday morning, when an ATM in Madombidzha was severely damaged in an explosion.

The explosion also caused severe structural damage to Mulaudzi’s Highway Bottle Store in Madombidzha Zone 2.

According to one of Mulaudzi Highway’s employees, who did not want his name mentioned, he was asleep at the time of the bombing. He added that the incident happened at about 01:30. He said he was woken by three heavily armed men who had broken in and was ordered to cooperate at gun point. "The three men were wearing masks and were speaking Sepedi. They ordered me to follow them to the ATM machine and that is where the bombing occurred," he said.

According to Supt Freddy Shirinda of the Tshilwavhusiku police, cases of malicious damage to property, unlawful use of explosives and armed robbery have been opened. "We do not know the kind of explosive was used to bomb the ATM yet, but the explosive unit has already sent the findings to the forensic laboratory for tests," he indicated.

He further outlined that no one has been arrested yet and that investigations are still continuing.

The community of Madombidzha was left stranded as they used to withdraw some cash from the machine without having to go to town. Mulaudzi Highway Bottle Store was the only one with an ATM in the Sinthumule area.

A similar incident happened at the Lwamondo area near Thohoyandou last year.