Former Ekurhuleni councillor Felix Pretorius (73) told the City Times of his experience of nearly being mugged twice in Benoni CBD on January 17.
The first incident occurred in Bedford Avenue at about 10am, opposite the taxi offices, when two young men came up behind him, grabbed him by the shirt and searched his pockets for valuables.
“I asked them why they are doing this to an old man, but they didn’t respond and just walked off when they decided it was going to be too much of a struggle,” Pretorius said.
“Nobody came to help me – it was broad daylight.”
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Not long after this, he was caught off guard by a young man claiming to know him, on the corner of Howard Avenue and Tom Jones Street.
“While he was talking to me I felt his hand in my pocket; he was trying to take my phone.
“I asked him what he thought he was doing and he just walked off,” Pretorius said.
Shaken by these two incidents occurring within 30 minutes of each other, Pretorius said he approached four female EMPD officers and started telling them what had happened.
“They also just walked off,” a shocked Pretorius claimed.
Disappointed by the attitude of the officers, he ended up reporting all three incidents to the Benoni Municipal Customer Care Centre.
“I didn’t open a case at the police station because I think it would have been a waste of time,” Pretorius said, who has lived in Benoni for close to five decades.
“In the past, we enjoyed clean and pothole-free streets, neatly cut grass, visible street markings and road signs,” he said.
“Now, the state of the CBD is shocking.”
He also expressed his disappointment in elected councillors for wards representing the old Benoni and Actonville areas for not getting things done.
“I wonder what the future holds for the next generation,” Pretorius pondered.
“What are we leaving as landmarks and cornerstones for them to build on?
“What are they learning from our leaders?”
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