By OBAKENG MAJE

The statistics shows that there is a steep increase in car hijackings across South Africa despite the impact of lockdown. According to the police reports, the aggravated robberies such as car hijackings increased by 92.2% compared to Quarter 1 in 2019.

Now, the North West police urge motorists to be cautious at all times. This comes after a few car hijackings were reported in the province recently. Meanwhile, the community members in Molelema village near Taung discovered a grey Polo Vivo sedan abandoned in their area on 30 December 2021.

North West police spokesperson, Col Adele Myburgh said: “Apparently, the vehicle was abandoned for two days and community members became suspicious. They then informed the police on 2 January 2022 and the police were summoned to the scene.

“The police discovered that the vehicle was reported stolen in Klerksdorp in December 2019. The owner of the vehicle, who resides in Pampierstad in the Northern Cape, came and positively identified his vehicle.”  

Myburgh said currently, the vehicle is still under investigations and it will be handed back over to the rightful owner afterwards.  

Meanwhile, one of the social activists in Molelema, Mothibi Makoro, lambasted police at Taung Police Station for ‘dragging’ their feet while attending to a crime scene. He also urged community members to continue to be vigilant and report any transgression taking place in their area.

“I think as community members, we need to be more vigilant and report any criminal activity taking place in our area. This vehicle was abandoned here for three days and funny enough, some community members tried to strip it off.

“However, I want to warn them that if the police can link their fingerprints to the stolen car, they could be easily arrested. So, I urge those community members to refrain from committing a crime,” he said.

Makoro said he wanted to understand when the police at Taung Police Station will know that they have actually taken an oath to serve and protect.

“I am saying this because apparently some police officers arrived at the crime scene on the second day, but left without doing anything. So, I want to give credit to those police officers who attended to the crime scene when they were called even though they came after four hours.

“We urge our police to be diligent enough and respond to crimes with efficiency. My message to other motorists is simple. Please, be cautious at all times and to our community members, let’s continue to use social media platforms for information-sharing. These platforms have proven themselves as good tools for communication,” said Makoro.

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