MAPUTO – Two South Africans were the victims of an armed robbery and an attempted kidnapping when they went to Xai Xai last week- a popular holiday destination in the country.
Ms Annetjie Zeiler and Mr Jan Brand reside in Pretoria and Zeiler shared their story with Lowvelder. She said the incident happened on March 31 at around 16:00.
“We were driving in my Toyota Landcruiser, just passing the soccer stadium in Maputo when we were stopped by two men dressed in police uniforms.
“I was driving so I pulled over, and then one of the men accused me of driving over his foot.”
She said the other man, also dressed as a policeman, demanded Brand to get out of the vehicle. She said then three other men crossed the road towards their Landcruiser. “Now there were five of them, three dressed as policemen and two men in army uniforms.”
According to Zeiler, they started rummaging through their whole vehicle. ‘This is when the trouble started, as I was still in the driver’s seat. The one man threatened to hit me with a fire extinguisher in my face.”
She said when the men demanded their passports, they refused to give them to the thugs and the men started threatening to lock them up. “They took R1 700 from Jan’s wallet.”
According to her, that was when they demanded R6 000 for the so-called injuries done to the man’s foot. Zeiler said the man also kept a gun pointed at her while she was sitting behind the steering wheel.
She said at this time she saw the men trying to force Brand into a car “It was strange as it was not a police vehicle.”
According to Zeiler, luckily that was when Brand’s business partner phoned him to find out how they were progressing on their journey.
“Jan’s business partner has a Mozambican friend who then tried to speak to these men to find out what was the problem, but they didn’t want to talk to him. The one man just grabbed Jan’s phone and put it in his pocket.
“I then realised the call had upset the men, so I pretended to speak over the phone that I had managed to contact the police commissioner.”
Zeiler said the men then let them go and ordered them to drive off.
“I will never go back to Mozambique, not after this, it is just not worth it.”
