Highway Mail’s top 3 stories of 2019

THE Highway Mail has reported on a number of incidents which have shocked, outraged and amazed the upper Highway community.

Here, in no particular order of importance, are the top three stories covered by the Highway Mail journalists in 2019.

The Westville Village Market shoot out

On 28 November the Highway Mail received reports of a shooting along Jan Hofmeyr Road, near the Westville Village Market.

Initial reports received was that one person had been shot and killed.

It was later confirmed that the deceased was a member of an alleged gang of heavily armed men, who had targeted the Post Office at the Westville Village Market.

When police arrived at the scene, the suspects opened fire and police retaliated.

Videos of the shooting, which featured two Westville police officer, went viral on social media.

Concerns were quickly raised on social media regarding one of the police officers, and on 29 November National Commissioner of Police, General Khehla John Sitole confirmed that both officers were unharmed in the harrowing incident.

To date there have been no arrests.

The kidnapping of Westville mother, Sandra Munsamy

Sandra Munsamy – the daughter of Poonsamy and Lutchmee Naicker, owners of logistics company, Crossmoor Transport – vanished off the face of the earth on Thursday, 30 May, after an apparent kidnapping on Stapleton Road in Pinetown.

Her disappearance sent shock waves throughout the community, with everyone showing concern for the mother of two and her family.

But as the weeks dragged on and very little progress was made on the case, various rumours began circulating on social media, one of which claimed the kidnapping was linked to a tender process.

The family addressed the rumours in early June.

For months the Highway Mail’s Eve Morris kept track of the case, but to the newsroom’s dismay there had still been very little progress.

Then on the morning of 8 November, after nearly six months, there was chatter that Munsamy had been found.

That same day the family confirmed that Munsamy had been rescued and was “beginning her road to recovery.”

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi also confirmed that the Westville mother had been found by police, chained in a house in eMalahleni (formerly known as Witbank) in Mpumalanga. Four suspects had been arrested in connection with her kidnapping.

On 11 November the suspects made their first appearance at the Durban Regional Court. They face charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances among others.

On 18 November the suspects abandoned their bid for bail, and the case has been postponed to 20 January 2020.

Another Durban tremor

Social media once again buzzed with excitement after a tremor shook through Durban on 31 October.

People from the coast (uMhlanga and Durban North) and as far inland as Hillcrest confirmed that they had experienced the tremor.

This was the fourth tremor to hit Durban since 2016.

One was on 6 February, 2016, then 18 August, 2016 and another on 3 April,  2017.

At the time the many assumed the tremor was a residual effect of the 6,6 magnitude earthquake in the Philippines, which affected Indonesia and Malaysia.

However, the Head of Marketing and Communication at the Council for Geoscience speaking for the South African Weather Service (SAWS), Mahlatse Mononela, refuted the assumption hours after the tremor struck.

Mononela said they had traced the source of the tremor to the R612 near Ixopo.

The tremor measured 3.7 magnitudes.

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