The cash room at the garage owned by businesswoman Thami Malatsi is protected by a bullet-resistant glass on the public side of station's building.
However, that could not prevent the destructive power of looters who broke into the cash room while raiding the garage's convenience store and offices.
On the evening of July 12, mobs of vandals attacked business premises in Alexandra. The group that attacked Malatsi's garage, vandalised the store and also managed to break the thick bulletproof glass and gain entry into the cash strongroom.
The petrol pumps of Malatsi's Engen Garage, situated next to Alex Mall on Far East Bank section, were also vandalised.
The looting thugs took laptops, coffee machine, a microwave oven, desktops, printer and scanner, and laminator and Wi-Fi CCTV cameras.
"My shop was fully stocked and they stole stock worth R380,000," she said.
They also made off with a 2,000 litre capacity diesel trailer.
"At the time the trailer had 1,200 litres of diesel remaining."
At the current fuel prices, this means diesel worth at least R18,000 was stolen.
Her business is one of hundreds of businesses that are cleaning up and rebuilding following a wave of senseless attacks and looting unleashed mainly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng following the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma.
Following the attack, she spent the rest of the week cleaning up her store, opening a criminal case, filling out insurance claims and explaining to her 27 workers that her filling station would be down for a number of months.
That cold fact meant the no-work-no-pay rule has kicked in.
The filling station was bought by her late husband in 2013 after he cashed out his pension following 25 years of service in the marketing division of Transnet. He died in January 2014.
"Around 1pm on Monday, these boys started [gathering outside my shop]. I told my son that they should block the door with a freezer just in case [the mob attempted] to break into the store.
"However, around 5pm we had to reopen as motorists had been asking for fuel. Around 9pm, they (mob) came back and I advised my son that they must close the filling station. There are taxis that usually park at the back of the filling station. On that evening I requested the drivers to park in front of the shop," Malatsi said.
"It was all in vain as the group of vandals broke into the shop, "damaging and looting everything".
"We had just received stock from Engen and there was a lot of [tins and containers] of oil. My shop was fully stocked [with food and beverages]. They took everything.
"They even damaged the system that communicates between the pumps and the back office. They even took fire extinguishers and all the computers."
The only thing that was left alone was the water purifying machine inside the shop.
Malatsi said while she is waiting for insurance's response before starting work to revive her business, she was grateful to a neighbour who went to social media to raise funds for her business.
"I'm also thankful to the police for coming to my filling station while it was being attacked as they prevented the vandals from setting it alight."
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.