Police Dismiss Zeerust/Tlokweng Road Car Hijack Claims
Pini Bothoko | Monday June 4, 2018 12:57
This follows allegations on Facebook recently that some Batswana were cautioning others on ‘Fight crime in Gaborone’ Facebook page to be on the look out for car hijackers when visiting South Africa via Tlokweng border post. Facebook users revealed that of late car hijackers have been targeting motorists from Botswana, threatening them with guns before escaping with their victims’ cars. Some of the people who commented on the post maintained that car hijacking along that road remained a concern and that a number of Batswana have lost their cars at the hands of South African car hijackers.
One user posted on the page claiming to have recently witnessed a local Toyota Hilux being hijacked in front of his car. He was pleading with Batswana to avoid stopping when driving along Zeerust/Tlokweng road and between Zeerust and Rustenburg identifying the routes as hot spots for car hijackers. He claimed that a police officer stationed at Zeerust informed him that they are currently dealing with more than 10 cases of car hijacking from Batswana occurring along Tlokweng and Zeerust road.
Tlokweng police, however, dismissed the allegations stating they have not recorded any car hijacking case along the road. The station commander, Superintendent Robson Maleka admitted to have seen such reports on Facebook, but was adamant they were false.
“My station is not at the moment investigating any car hijacking case along Zeerust/Tlokweng road. Maybe such cases have been reported at police stations in South Africa, but they (South African police) have not yet contacted us concerning such reports. We often hold meetings with them concerning cross border crime, but they have never raised such reports,” Maleka said.
Another Facebooker stated that recently when visiting South Africa, they were given leaflets by South African police alerting them about car hijacking incidents involving local motorists. Facebook users said there is a need for the police, with the help of the DIS, to intensify cross border operations with their South African counterparts before the situation gets out of control.
One group follower claimed that on their recent trip to Mahikeng, carjackers disguised as uniformed South African police officers, took their car and demanded P10,000 from them, before driving into the bush where they dumped them. They had to walk to seek help and report the matter to South African police. Another Facebook user also claimed to have been a hijacking victim along Lephalale road on their way to Durban. In the incident, their driver was tragically shot dead. She stated that luckily they reported the matter to the South African police who later arrested the culprits.