Hijacking leaves charity stranded
Hijackers spared his life, but working conditions for the driver of a charitable children's home in Lanseria have become very difficult.
A driver and chef at Refilwe Community Project was hijacked in his white Toyota Quantum mini-bus near Silverstar Casino at around 11am on 5 June.
Artwell Motaung explained that he was on his way to fetch one of Refilwe’s disabled children who lives in Krugersdorp. While stopped at the major traffic intersection by Silverstar Casino, three men opened the passenger and sliding door of his vehicle. “One of them cocked a gun to my head and told me to drive,” said Motaung.
En route to Kagiso, they made him pull off the main road where another man with a white Nissan NP200 bakkie was waiting. They beat him, tied him up, and threw him in the back of the bakkie, before putting a mattress over him, and sitting on top of it. Then they started driving.
At one point they stopped, took Motaung’s wallet, and demanded the PIN for his bank card. He got a call on his cellphone from staff back at the office to say that Tracker had called because they weren’t picking up any signal from the Quantum. The hijackers forced him to make an excuse.
After two or three hours of driving around, the hijackers dumped Motaung in the veld. He managed to untie his feet, but not his hands, which were behind his back. He started walking and found some people who told him he was in Braamfischerville in Soweto. They untied his hands and gave him money to catch a taxi to the nearest police station in Dobsonville. The hijackers had taken his bank card, plus all the cash he had on him. He later found out that they had withdrawn money from an ATM at the Shoprite in Zola.
A case was opened with the Dobsonville Police.
Refilwe Community Project has made an urgent appeal to the public for the donation of a similar 10-seater mini-bus, or the money to buy one. They are battling to cope with the demands of transporting the 35 orphaned and vulnerable children in their residential care to and from their various schools in Fourways, North Riding, Randburg, and Weltevreden Park.
Corné Engelbrecht, Refilwe donor relations manager, 084 580 8883
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