Armed attack on Lodge

At approx. 01:00 on Thursday October 3, three armed criminals held guests at gunpoint at Aan De Vliet. A school group from Hennopspark who were on tour had booked out the lodge for a few days. The criminals held one of the teachers at gun point and went from bungalow to bungalow demanding money, cell phones, laptop and valuables.

“Luckily no one was injured,” says Christo du Plessis , lodge manager. “But the children were all traumatised by the event. The whole incident happened so fast!” Christo managed to activate his panic button during the burglary and within minutes 20 to 30 farmers arrived. The criminals fled on foot. The police and the White Rive Dog unit was also called out. Foot prints were found and evidence such as clothing and shoes worn by the attackers were handed to the dog unit. However the dog unit did not follow the suspects’ tracks and left the crime scene. According to Constable Lebello the dog unit should not have left the scene. “The dog unit is the last to leave a crime scene,” he said.

Lowveld media went to the scene to cover the story. While collecting information on the night’s event the Hi Tech task force unit arrived at the Lodge. “We heard about it on the radio and decided to come and see if we could be of any assistance, says Rudi van Niekerk, operational manager Hi-Tech. At approximately 08:15 Hit-Tech’s Task force unit came out to the scene and did a search of the surrounding bush. At 08:30 they discovered that the three suspects were still on the scene band hiding in bushes just across the river from Aan De Vliet. The Hi-Tech team gave chase and shots were fired. Unfortunately due to the dense bush the criminals managed to escape. Immediately additional police back-up was called in together with the White River Dog Unit to track the suspects. The suspects were heading via Grasskop towards Maritie. The Graskop police were called in to monitor the Grasskop road and Hazyview police monitored the situation from a position below Hippo Hollow and also on the Sabie road. The Police helicopter was also called in for air surveillance.

I have on numerous occasions put out media releases questioning the saps’ ability to protect the residents of Hazyview says Ken Robertson DA councillor Hazyview. “To date I have never received a responses to suggestions that I have made which would most definitely have improved circumstances in Hazyview. Now I ask when will the SAPS on local, provincial and National levels make a conscientious decision to start addressing issues of rural safety?”

Lt. Col. PM Makamu, station commanded Hazyview, cancelled his meeting for the day to attend to the matter personally and was managing the operation on site from Aan De Vliet. “ We request the public to keep an eye out for these suspects who are wearing blue overalls. Should the community have any information they must contact Captain Manzini on 082-449-0231, says Lt Col. PM Makamu