The owners of an articulated truck are calling for public assistance to locate their vehicle and its driver who went missing on Wednesday, November 12.

The goods he was hauling are valued at more than R500 000 and the trailer is worth a further R500 000.

According to the truck’s owner, Emanuel Noobi, the driver, Makhosonke Nxumalo, originally from Eswatini, left Mbombela for Malalane, where he collected goods scheduled to be offloaded in Boksburg on November 12.

“He drove close to the address where he was supposed to deliver the goods, but did not park the truck at the location. Instead, he parked the truck about 13km away from the warehouse. When asked about this, he told us that he was at the truck stop to clean up, as the warehouse was still closed. He said he would offload once it had opened,” Noobi explained.

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According to Noobi, a few minutes later, the truck’s tracker indicated that it was on its way to Kempton Park.

Nxumalo did not answer his phone. The tracking company was contacted and they traced the truck to where it was parked on the side of the road.

However, the double trailer was missing and only the horse was left behind.

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“Strangely, his belongings were not in the truck. We only noticed a few scratches on the dashboard, which I suspect indicate someone was searching for the tracker,” Noobi said. “Since then, we have been searching for him and the trailer. We have contacted his wife in KaBokweni and his family in Eswatini. No one has heard from him. We are offering a R50 000 reward to anyone who can assist us with information in locating Nxumalo and the trailer,” he concluded.

Hijacking and missing person cases have been opened at the Kempton Park Police Station. They hope that they will find Nxumalo alive and that he will be able to assist the police.