A Delmas fuel attendant raised the alarm after a family was taken hostage and later abandoned in the bushes near Delmas on August 17.

At around 21:05, the fuel attendant contacted a member of the AfriForum Delmas Valke, who arrived and found the stranded family of three.

According to information, the family’s white VW Polo hatchback broke down at 19:00 on the N12 towards Johannesburg. The female driver and her daughter were stranded. The driver contacted her son, who arrived about an hour later to assist.

While the son worked underneath the vehicle, two armed men emerged from the nearby bushes. They ordered the three victims into the son’s vehicle, forcing them to cover their eyes and warning them not to resist.

The men repeatedly prodded the victims with firearms and a knife while demanding money, bank card PINs and other personal information.

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They forced the victims to unlock their phones, increase transfer limits and do mobile cash-send transactions under duress. The victims were then apparently driven around for about two hours and ordered to keep their heads down until the suspects left.

The suspects discarded the son’s car keys in nearby bushes and fled in another vehicle, which the victims described as sounding like a VW fitted with a free-flow exhaust, downpipe and performance filter.

After recovering the car keys, the victims drove to Delmas to help. Members from the AfriForum Delmas Valke Neighbourhood Watch immediately notified the SAPS, who dispatched a patrol vehicle.

The victims were escorted to the Delmas Police Station to open a case of hijacking, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.

One man was described as heavily built, while the second was slender. According to the victims, both men communicated in Ndebele, wore balaclavas and were armed with pistols and a large knife.

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