Durban — A KwaZulu-Natal government official who survived a hijacking in eThekwini on Sunday afternoon has blamed City law enforcement agencies for failing to man crime hot spots or alert motorists about high-risk areas.
Nomusa Phungula, a communication officer for provincial legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce, survived the hijacking by two men in the city centre who first smashed her car windows and then demanded the car keys.
Narrating her ordeal to the “Daily News” on Monday, Phungula said she was entering the city from the M4 highway from Port Shepstone at about 5pm.
She said she stopped at the traffic light just before joining Pixley kaSeme Street (West St) but a minute later she heard a big bang and realised her car windows were being smashed. She said she found herself surrounded by two men who demanded cellphones and the car keys.
Phungula said there was a scuffle between them (she and a friend) and the men as they were trying to protect their belongings, including the car keys, from the criminals.
They were saved by two gentlemen who were driving behind them -- who stopped and chased the thugs away.
“I was going to Pietermaritzburg where I live but I had to first come to Durban to drop off the person I was travelling with.
“It was a traumatic experience and I still feel it even today. When I opened the case with police they said there are many smash-and-grab incidents in that area, but I asked myself what the City was doing about it. For me even putting up signs warning motorists about the crime hot spots will do,” said Phungula.
There have been many calls to the City and police to remove vagrants living under the M4 bridge who are mainly drug addicts and still roaming the area terrorising motorists.
On Sunday the “Daily News” team witnessed an incident where a man was nearly overrun by a car he tried to hijack.
A driver had stopped on the road entering the city centre through Margaret Mncadi Avenue (formerly known as Victoria Embankment). The attacker grabbed the steering wheel, but the driver sped up and the man was hanging on the car door for several metres.
Metro Police head Sibonelo Mchunu said that as much as he had assigned two officers and a van to be static in the area, it should be noted that the presence of drug addicts in that area was supposed to be addressed by the relevant departments, not the Metro Police alone.
“We have as Metro Police put in a dedicated motor vehicle to be static there from dusk till dawn. However, when this vehicle and two officers are engaged the place remains vulnerable. We have to use limited resources to deal with what is referred to as an unfunded mandate,” said Mchunu.
SAPS had not commented by the time of publication.
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