Mr Mashudu Ligunuba (63), a well-known businessman from Ha-Luvhimbi village, whose car was hijacked at gunpoint at Makonde village last Wednesday night (10 May), says the fact that businesses cannot even operate safely in this country anymore because of criminals is a crying shame.
Ligunuba's Toyota Fortuner, driven by one of his staff members, was hijacked at Mudaswali River at about 18:00. According to the driver (22), he was washing the car at the river when he was ambushed by two gun-wielding young men. Pointing to a big gash on his head, the still-traumatised young man said they had hit him with the butt of a gun and demanded money and bank cards. "I told them I did not have a cent with me, and I had only R200 in the bank. They put me into the boot of [the Fortuner] and drove into a bushy area and demanded my bank pin. They said if I gave them the wrong pin, they would shoot me and throw my body in the bush. They drove to the garage and bought petrol for R70 before driving towards Tshilamba."
He said that, after some time, they had entered a gravel road and driven for about 20 minutes before they had stopped the car, pulled him out of the boot and told him to run without looking back while they had pointed the gun at him. "I thought they were going to shoot me from the back while [I was] running, but I ran as fast as I could, until I heard them driving away."
He said he later realised that they had dropped him off at Ngalavhani village, which is about 10 kilometres from Tshilamba Township. There he sought help from the villagers, who managed to phone his boss and his parents. "My father and my boss arrived after a while and, as I was still bleeding, they rushed me to a local clinic, but unfortunately it was closed. They took me to the Donald Fraser Hospital, which is about 30 kilometres away from Ngalavhani village," he said.
On Sunday, the police spotted two young men who were struggling to start a white Toyota Fortuner next to Thavhani Mall. When they approached them, one ran away, but they managed to arrest the other suspect and recover the stolen car.
Ligunuba said that when he had arrived at the scene, he had been told that the arrested suspect was an undocumented Zimbabwean national. "Our borders are so porous that illegal foreigners come to our country every day to commit crime, then leave again without a trace. It is obvious that my car was going to be sold in Zimbabwe. How are we going to operate in such situations as businesspeople? When your drivers are out there working, you don't even know whether they will come back alive or in a plastic bag," he fumed.
According to Ligunuba, the village is becoming a hotspot for car hijackings in the Vhembe District. Over the past few years, many cars have been hijacked at Makonde and the nearby Khubvi villages, without ever being recovered. "This area must be prioritised as a hijacking hotspot and monitored regularly by the police," he said.