Hijacked man fears for wife’s safety

A ZIMBABWEAN businessman who travelled to Durban with his wife might have to return home alone after they were allegedly hijacked and the criminals made off with her in their bakkie.

She has been missing since Monday. Annointed Shiremba, 39, and his wife Sasha, 34, were apparently hijacked on K E Masinga (Old Fort) Road.

Shiremba was driving an Isuzu KB 300 loaded with goods at the time.

“We were going back to Zimbabwe at around 9.30pm on Monday when my wife said she was hungry and we decided to stop at Mcdonald’s for some food,” said Shiremba.

He said he noticed they were being followed by two cars when they left the restaurant.

“I kept calm because I didn’t think we were going to be hijacked.

“I didn’t even tell my wife about the cars that were following us,” said Shiremba.

He said as they approached the Kingsmead cricket stadium, he had to stop because the traffic lights turned red.

“As I stopped, one car overtook me and stopped right in front of me.

“The car at the back blocked me from reversing. Two guys came out of the cars. “They came straight to the driver’s side. “I tried to fight off the hijackers, but they overpowered me after one hit me with a wheel spanner in my stomach.

“They then threw me out of my van and sped off. That’s when other motorists stopped and tried to help me to call the police, who arrived at the scene,” said Shiremba.

He said there were laptops and cellphones in the car valued at R23 000, which he bought to sell in Zimbabwe.

Shiremba said he had an electronics business and often came to Durban to buy stock to sell in Zimbabwe.

He said he intended going back to Zimbabwe on Tuesday to tell his family “face to face” what had happened.

Shiremba said he feared the worst might have happened to his wife because there was no trace of her whereabouts.

The couple have two daughters, aged 11 and five.

“I have told my family in Zimbabwe, and they are all stressed about this. It’s very painful that I have to go back there without my wife. I don’t know how the kids will react to this,” said Shiremba.

“I want to see my wife alive. I don’t care about the car because it is replaceable, unlike a human being,” said Shiremba.

He is now living with his sister, Simangaliso Muzira, in Chatsworth.

Muzira said it was painful for her to see her brother languishing in such a “miserable” state.

“When his phone rings, he jumps, hoping that it’s a phone call that will inform him that they have found his wife. “He hardly sleeps at night,” said Muzira. She said she prayed every day that Sasha would be found alive.

The police confirmed they were investigating a case of hijacking and of a missing person.