False Alarms Set off by Headboards That Go Bump in the Night

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OUR house alarm has gone off mysteriously at all times of the day and night, but never for the reason discovered in the parliamentary villages of Acacia Park, Pelican Park and Laboria Park.

Parliamentarians couldn't understand why about 98 percent of the 2 500 call-outs to the police were false alarms. Then ANC MP George Lekgetho, who lives in one of the villages, put his finger (as it were) on the problem. He explained to fellow MPs: "Our headboards are so close to the alarm buttons against the wall, they hang loose."

When his colleagues began giggling at the implications of this statement, Lekgetho felt a further explanation was necessary. "They hit against it," he …