Are criminals taking over our streets?

The drama took place on Friday morning, January 14, at the corner of Bierman and Rondebult roads where a police van transporting detained prisoners to the Vosloorus Magistrate Court was ambushed.

The attackers freed the prisoners locked inside the van. Later, police disclosed that all the prisoners, including the three armed men, were Zimbabweans.

A police special task team was launched to investigate the ambush and apprehend the escaped prisoners and their countrymen. That same evening two of the fugitives, Nkululekp Moyo and Robert Hlatshwayo, were arrested at a filling station on the R55 outside Pretoria.

By mid-morning on Saturday, January 15, the police confirmed that a third escapee had handed himself to the police.

Early on January 19, the police announced that three of the fugitives were already in custody.

Brig Brenda Muridili later confirmed that five of the awaiting-trial prisoners were due to appear at the Vosloorus Magistrates Court for a business robbery in Dawn Park. They also faced a charge of attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

The sixth man was also scheduled to appear at the Volsoorus Magistrates Court on a charge of shoplifting.

The is no doubt the police officers escorting the awaiting trial suspects were caught unaware and were overwhelmed by this first-ever human cargo heist.

The incident has left many residents around Kathorus traumatised, knowing that there are people who are capable of such a daring criminal act in full view of innocent onlookers.

Residents commenting about the incident said they were neither impressed nor excited by the fact that a few of the perpetrators are now behind bars.

They said they were more worried that something like this has happened and it has affected their lives.

Some residents believe this is a serious wake-up call for the country’s law enforcement agencies to start working hard in rooting out criminality in our neighbourhoods.

Communities must join hands and stand together if they are to defeat the scourge of crime or face being overwhelmed and consumed by lawlessness.

“We are appealing to anyone with information on the whereabouts of the escapees as well as the suspects that were involved in freeing the accused to contact our Crime Stop number on 08600 10111,” said Muridili.

The SAPS provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, has commended the swift apprehension of the other fugitives.

“The public as our eyes and ears in the communities is playing a vital role in the fight against crime. Your tip-offs are all assessed and followed up to ensure that we do not leave any stone unturned in our quest to bring all the escapees back to prison,” he said.

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Congratulations to the matric class of 2021 and to all those of you who studied hard enough and did your best to be counted among the successful matriculants.

You’ve made us proud and congratulations on a job well done.

You’ve proved to yourselves as well as to your teachers, your families and your friends and peers that you have acquired the necessary discipline to catapult your academic ambitions to a higher level at university.

Kathorus MAIL wishes the matric class of 2021 the best with their new ventures in 2022.