Sgt Elizabeth Mguni and her colleagues told the CHRONICLE it was a normal day for them until they noticed something terrible was bound to happen.
“My colleagues and I wanted some refreshments in the early hours of the morning. We were in the area and drove to get something at the filling station in Glenanda, and that is when we noticed something dodgy is about to happen,” she explained.
Mnguni said they spotted an untrustworthy white Jetta that was following a girl’s car. The young girl also stopped at the filling station and then went inside the shop.
“The girl parked her black BMW and right after that, the white Jetta parked next to her. We noticed they were plotting and planning to hijack her while they remained in the car.
“We were then also parking next to them and they noticed that we were noticing what they were about to do.
“I got out of the van and saw them discussing to move away from us because they saw trouble coming. They moved away from us and pretended to fill their car with petrol.
“While I was outside the van, I went to check how much petrol they bought and it was petrol that was worth R30. I became suspicious and went straight to the girl’s car,” she said.
Under watchful eyes
A few minutes later, the girl came out of the store while Mnguni was waiting next to her car.
“I asked her where she came from and where she was going. She was confused and felt uncomfortable about why she was getting interrogated. I told her there is a white Jetta with three guys following to hijack her, and we needed to make her feel safe until we got to the bottom of this.
“I told her she needs to cooperate until we are done with our investigation and then she may leave under our watch,” said Mnguni.
Const Elton Smith said the girl admitted she didn’t notice any cars behind her and was thankful for the experience of the SAPS and the alertness that saved her.
“We went over to the Jetta and thoroughly checked what their mission was. Unfortunately, we did not find anything illegal in the car, and they decided to drive off.
“To ensure the girl will be safe, we had to escort her to her home,” said Smith.
He said they are truly grateful for the job they are doing. They want to show that people in the community can rely on the police regardless of what the country is going through.
“People should know we are doing the best we can to assist communities. We took an oath to protect communities and that is our duty. All we want is a healthy and safe environment for our communities,” he said.
A grateful mother
The mother of the 19-year-old, Beverly Williams, sent her gratitude to the men and woman in blue for a job well done.
“I’m eternally grateful to these men and women who made it their duty to protect my daughter. I almost lost all faith in our South African police, but I want to salute and applaud them for protection.
“I also felt it’s important to share so that our community is aware and on high alert when you are just going out to a garage for a quick coffee or even just a loaf of bread. We need to educate our children to be more vigilant,” said Williams.
She said if the police were not there it would probably have ended tragically.
“My daughter is not streetwise. She is just an innocent young girl. She is always busy with her studies as she is a first-year BSc Software Engineer student. Our innocent children cannot go to the filling station anymore because of such incidents. She doesn’t even want to drive herself to the gym, which she used to do.”
