Hijackings cast in doubt
While the police say they are only aware of one hijacking that occurred in the city recently, several eye-witnesses say there have been more.
POLOKWANE – While the police say they are only aware of one hijacking that occurred in the city recently, several eye-witnesses say there have been more.
Provincial police spokesperson, Col Ronél Otto, confirmed that the hijacking case being investigated involved a blue Toyota Corolla that was hijacked last Thursday at the intersection of Landdros Maré and Potgieter Avenue. The vehicle was recovered, abandoned, in Welgelegen shortly thereafter.
In the latest incident, which was reported at the time of going to print on Wednesday, people in a silver double cab bakkie attempted to hijack a Toyota in Suid Street. The bakkie had a GP registration number.
Polokwane police spokesperson, WO Lesiba Ramoshaba, said the incident had been reported on the police radio, but no case had been opened yet.
Three separate eye-witnesses to a hijacking that occurred in the Thornhill area on Monday told Review what they saw.
They said the hijackers were wearing balaclavas and travelling in a silver BMW. They attempted to get a man out of his white Toyota Corolla at the intersection of Veldspaat Street and Munnik Avenue.
“It seemed as if the targeted vehicle’s doors were locked, because some shots were fired and they knocked out the car’s window,” one eye-witness recalled.
The driver of the targeted vehicle was thrown out of his vehicle, and one of the suspects drove the vehicle in the direction of Bendor, disregarding a red traffic light.
One of the eye-witnesses to this incident said she later spotted the same BMW at a nearby shopping centre and then saw it drive into a housing complex nearby. She contacted the police to report this.
“I first spoke to a woman at the police station and she said I needed to talk to her superior. When I told him my story, he said the police would send someone,” she said.
Last Tuesday, it was reported by the Edwel neighbourhood watch that a car was hijacked near Lebowakgomo by people driving a grey BMW. On January 28, a white Polo was involved in what was thought to have been a hijacking attempt on a BMW in Polokwane.
At a meeting of the city’s community policing forum with the police Tuesday, delegates heard that only one hijacking was reported to the police and no other incidents of attempted hijacking or actual hijackings were reported.
Also on Tuesday evening, there were posts on Facebook pages about sightings of a BMW containing men wearing balaclavas travelling in Pietersburg Street in Ladanna.
Otto said besides the one case that she confirmed, additional hijackings or hijacking attempts had not been reported to the police by the victims, and the police could only work with information they had received.
“A hijacking is a traumatic incident, especially when shots were fired. Somebody must have helped the victim or victims if they were thrown out of the car.”
She said it was strange that nobody contacted the police regarding the shots allegedly fired at a busy intersection, as there were many residences and businesses in the area.
She requested witnesses to this alleged incident to contact the nearest police station or their sector policing manager.
• According to the police’s official crime statistics, from April 2013 to March 2014 there were 252 car hijackings reported in Limpopo, five of which occurred in Polokwane. From April 2012 to March 2011, nine hijackings occurred in Polokwane and in the year prior to that, 11.
