SANDF soldiers open fire on marked police vehicle
One witness described the incident as an "ambush" and added that the shots fired were not warning shots, but aimed to kill.
MBOMBELA – Three soldiers of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) allegedly “ambushed” a marked police vehicle and that of a tracking company after a hijacking near the Mozambican border on Wednesday.
The incident came after a vehicle was reported stolen in the Tonga area that night. The vehicle was fitted with a tracking device and the managing company, Cartrack, located the abandoned vehicle a few hundred metres from the Mozambican border.
When they arrived at the vehicle, they saw the hijackers had abandoned it and had taken the keys.
To ensure the suspects would not take the car upon their return, Cartrack removed the battery and returned to the victim’s home to retrieve the spare key.
Cartrack notified Tonga SAPS of the recovery and invited them along to where the vehicle had been left. Cartrack and the police also notified a South African National Defence Force (SANDF) commander that they would be returning to the abandoned vehicle.
“Soldiers are patrolling the border and we wanted to warn them that we would be returning to the scene, so that they would not open fire on us,” a source who was at the scene, told Lowvelder.
On their way back to the abandoned vehicle, they came across three SANDF soldiers next to the road and picked them up.
With the Cartrack vehicle travelling in the front, followed by the marked police vehicle, the party approached the hijacked vehicle. “We had our emergency lights and sirens on,” the source added.
The recovery party was then fired upon.
The occupants of both vehicles saw it was SANDF soldiers patrolling the fence who were shooting at them.
They shouted and called on the radio for the soldiers to cease fire, but to no avail. The soldiers kept on firing at the convoy. The police vehicle’s engine was hit and it eventually seized.
Bullets missed the two occupants of Cartrack’s vehicle by mere centimetres and the shrapnel apparently hit one of them in the arm.
One witness described the incident as an “ambush” and added that the shots fired were not warning shots, but aimed to kill.
The SANDF soldiers accused of firing the shots claimed to have thought the approaching convoy to be hijackers, despite the notification from SAPS.
Col Piet Paxton, SANDF spokesman, confirmed the incident and said the SANDF had requested a panel of enquiry. “As far as we know, five shots were fired, believed to be from one firearm.
“One soldier could not account for five bullets and it seemed as though five shots were fired at the convoy. The panel of enquiry will investigate the circumstances around the shooting, as well as which disciplinary steps would have to be followed.”
Paxton added that it was almost impossible for the major on duty to notify troops in the field of the police’s arrival, thus the troops had been unaware. Cartrack’s CEO Mr Johnny Smit could not comment on the incident due to the police investigation.
Provincial police spokesman, Brig Selvy Mohlala did not respond to enquiries at the time of going to print.
