IT was a close encounter for Sabelo Radebe when he was attacked with an axe and then knocked over by his male attacker who also ran him over with his car.
Sabelo, who owns a taxi business, Sisonke School Transport Service, had just picked up children he collects daily from a school in Townsview, on Wednesday, June 8, when he was stopped by a driver in an oncoming vehicle, who barred his way on the corner of Valda and Main streets in Townsview. “I had just left the school and the driver of a car pulled over to my side of the road and blocked my way. I didn’t know what he was doing and immediately stopped. He wouldn’t move his vehicle so I got out of my taxi. He then leapt out of his car with an axe and tried to hit me. I ran round to the back of my taxi and he hit out with the axe, narrowly missing me but hitting the registration number plate, smashing it and hitting a hole in the taxi’s rear end.
“He kept shouting obscenities at me and chasing me with the axe, and then he took out a knife as well. I was really scared. The next thing he ran to my taxi, taking the keys and my driver’s licence. It was unbelievable. I’d managed to pull off one of his number plates as evidence and he then jumped in his car and reversed down the road a short way and back into the correct lane. I shouted at him to give me back my taxi keys but he paid no attention, accelerated up Main Street and ran into me.”
Radebe was sent flying onto the opposite side of the road and the car driver sped off.
By now residents in the street had heard the commotion and had come out to see what was happening. “A man was lying in the road in front of a taxi and we weren’t too sure what had taken place,” said one of the residents.
After Radebe was pulled up from the road he told the concerned residents what had happened and they phoned for the police.
“SAPS took a while arriving and in this time Radebe organised for other transport for the children in his taxi, so they could be taken home,” said a man on the scene.
“When the police arrived I told them what had happened,” said Radebe, “and they left.”
According to other residents who live in the area, this isn’t the first time the attacker has acted violently. “In December he shot a resident’s window out across the road from where he lives and SAPS were called. He was taken away by the police officers but was back again not long after.
“On January 4, my partner and I were waiting at the bus stop when he came out of his gate, swinging a baseball bat. We didn’t hang around to see what he may do and walked away.”
“I came out to my gate one afternoon and he was about to drive past but stopped his car, got out and he said he was going to shoot me, pulling out a gun,” added another resident.
Moffatview police spokesperson, Constable Rebecca Bila, was asked for comment and said: “I can confirm that a case of assault and malicious damage to property has been opened. The case is being investigated and the suspect has not yet been arrested.”
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