Khayelitsha: hot spot for hijacking company cars
KHAYELITSHA has been identified as one of the hot spot areas where Western Cape Government workers are being hijacked.
On Friday, Western Cape Department of Social Development (WCSD) workers were nearly hijacked in Site C. The incident followed shortly after a Cape of Good Hope SPCA cadet inspector also survived a hijacking in Khayelitsha.
The WCSD employees were left traumatised on Friday after they escaped the hijacking in Site C, Khayelitsha.
Spokesperson Sharna Fernandez said the employees were returning from facilitating a substance abuse disorder and crime prevention programme along with SAPS and NGOs.
“Four staff members were nearly hijacked in Site C, Khayelitsha, but fortunately they were able to get away in their work vehicle.
“Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Nyanga, have been identified as hot spots for these kinds of attacks on government workers.
“This is not the first time that the workers have come under attack while attempting to perform their duties. When staff have to conduct home visits in these areas, they can usually only do so if accompanied by SAPS or law enforcement officers, which is not sustainable due to limited resources.”
Fernandez condemns the violent attack on staff members, also pleading with community members who may have information that could lead to arrests to contact the SAPS.
“I implore residents to protect WCSD staff, where it is safe and possible, when they are trying to deliver crucial services to communities. We cannot have a situation where staff members are unable to enter areas due to the callous acts of criminals. This could have dire consequences for vulnerable residents like children.”
Meanwhile, also in Khayelitsha, on June 13, SPCA cadet inspector Sindiwe Nkosi came under attack when six armed men obstructed him before throwing him in the back of his vehicle while handcuffed.
Nkosi survived the hijacking incident, which left him with a knee injury, after he bravely kicked at the bakkie’s tailgate until it opened before he jumped from the moving vehicle into the street.
“I was driving in Khayelitsha at around 7.30pm when two vehicles, one in the front and one behind me blocked the road and six armed men appeared. Two of them were on each side of the vehicle and they banged on the driver’s window with a gun.”
SPCA chief inspector Jaco Pieterse said: “This alarming incident highlights the immense risks faced by SPCA inspectors in carrying out their work.
“Unfortunately, it is not an isolated occurrence. In the last year we lost one vehicle in a hijacking, had two attempted hijackings and now this.”
SPCA’s spokesperson Belinda Abraham said their bakkie was later recovered so they did not file a report as that would have resulted in their muchneeded vehicle being impounded as evidence.