Motorists accosted by violent windscreen washers
Windscreen washers are allegedly threatening people with just about anything they can find at the Allum Road, Marcia Street and Albertina Sisulu Road intersection.
A Kensington resident, who did not want her name published, said windscreen washers are threatening motorists with bricks, rocks, sticks and even tyres.
The woman said, “Have you ever felt absolute dread, fear and loathing when you drive somewhere? Have you ever planned your route just so that you do not encounter an area or intersection that makes you feel uneasy? I have.”
She said the Bruma intersection makes her feel this way and she now tries to choose alternate routes due to “crude, ill-mannered, violent, glue sniffing and threatening” windscreen washers.
Speaking about the most recent incident, on August 3, the woman said she, her fiancé and brother were heading towards the highway. They stopped at the intersection.
“My fiancé, who was driving the vehicle, left a space between the car we were driving in and the windscreen washers. They still came up to the car. When he said ‘no’ they started taunting him. He told them to move away from the car. This then escalated into the filth swearing at us, spitting on the car and eventually throwing a stick at us,” said the woman.
The two men exited the car to get the windscreen washers away from the vehicle. According to the woman, they were pelted with rocks, with one rock hitting her fiancé on the back of his head. Her brother narrowly missed being struck by a metal object.
She said her fiancé did hit one of the windscreen washers, but purely to defend himself.
“This became a whole fracas, weaving in and out of traffic with the windscreen washers eventually running off through the park towards Eastgate.
“The guys climbed back into the car and as we turned right and proceeded towards the Eastgate bridge, one of the windscreen washers ran across the highway and threw a brick at the car,” she said.
She added that all this transpired in clear sight of a metro police officer.
“We stopped behind the officer and asked why he was doing absolutely nothing to assist or arrest the hooligans. He said ‘Ag man they are kids, leave them.’ He said we had an attitude. He even asked what must he do to which we retorted ‘your job’. We then left the scene,” said the woman.
She said she now has little confidence in the SAPS and metro police.
“I would not even waste my time going to the station to report this as I have little or no faith that anything will be done. I feel that I will probably be treated like the one in the wrong instead. Are they not supposed to be arrested every time they set up camp there? Are metro police officers not supposed to be there to protect us, the tax paying, law-abiding citizens, from thuggery and outlaw behaviour? Do we as South Africans need to fear when we climb in the car and stop at a traffic light, that we might be mugged, hijacked, hit, spat on, shot, raped or murdered by these ills of society? Why do we feel we need to bear arms to protect ourselves? Had we crashed, would this not be tantamount to attempted murder or even murder? What is being done about this?” she asked.The EXPRESS forwarded an enquiry to Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
@JoziReporter
