Locked in and told ‘Pay up’

REGARDLESS of the scale of the demand, just R5, it can be interpreted as extortion if not kidnapping.

An older couple were in town on a Wednesday earlier this month, when the man, Mr X, (whose identity is withheld to protect his dignity) needed to use a toilet. Desperate, the couple drove to the toilets in the Post Office parking area in Mark Street. It is a notoriously filthy facility but he was desperate.

The toilets have been in the news for years because they are used as a water source for the informal and illegal car washes that operate in the parking area. As a result they are always a mess with spilled water all over the floor.

Mr X, on entering the toilets remarked to one of the presumed car washers that they were wasting water, while the car washer demanded that Mr X pay R5 for the use of the toilet.

He refused.

So the car washer swung the security gate at the toilet’s entrance closed and locked it with a padlock.

Mr X was detained against his will in the toilet. His captor then approached Mr X’s wife who was sitting waiting in their vehicle, and threateningly demanded R5 for the release of her husband.

Intimidated, she complied and handed over the R5 ransom.

Humiliated, Mr X was released.

And another chapter is written about this appalling municipal facility that the authorities seem to be unable or unwilling to manage.