Hijack horror

<p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">It was a 70km hell-ride that has left him traumatised, the "ferocious" faces of his hijackers forever etched in his mind.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361565601935552162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7pPOMiP266NxH1z9DdHn7IlWXk-t8xPj7wObawFgfbzRl60xHXI2jI6ZJNIaHA_1pPsHu5F9bO0cdy6nCTERekZcqV766UNp6Oeh8r8_c_xWZ0VrlcFOjgjErKZLp9WnAGQR1GxY46-Q/s400/HI-JACK.bmp" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 234px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /> He was hijacked by two men dressed as police officers, stuck in the boot of their car, before being dumped in the veld in Bapsfontein without a cellphone.<br /><br />Kilometres away, on the other side of Gauteng, a getaway was taking place across the city - complete with a high-speed car chase, a shootout with police, a car crash and an arrest. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361565609191209858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPbEX56xpf0x7SuYT1AwUK6TJ2maBMzTWAlmIJ9dQdQUfjVdv0_KrxdDGmS771BBr3OYrf2NdE61rUYMqoM2ScbBg8BVw2W9lPIGPlthiaP4LqVItLZyHe3-2uxG35SKma4GsK0H5Rv0g/s400/hi-jack01.bmp" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 263px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /><br />It all started early on Tuesday morning when a man from a Toyota dealership was tasked with driving a new white Toyota Fortuner from Kempton Park to Bapsfontein.<br /><br />As he made his way on the R25, he was pulled over by two men dressed as police officers in a Nissan with a blue police light on the roof. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361565609417875202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9BpeZFZ-NFIoiDfHAIae3Xex0XqwxkvPf1M_6qUPiV1CtcDlQGSoqPafPbQblF4ZX1Gm3TAZB2q8UN1layw2ZDoK-TdlH_p-PYnrKm5-fk1_VQUhN1dIZHBajAFQdh_iu6_sIbyPiJFs/s400/hi-jack02.bmp" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 263px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /></span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><em><span style="font-size:78%;color:#000099;">After a long police chase, hijackers jumped out the moving Toyota Fortuner leaving it to hit a cement fence, in Eikenhof.</span></em> </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Bennie Viljoen, a colleague of the hijacked man, related the driver's experience to The Star.</span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The "police officers" were questioning the driver, asking where he was going. As they were talking, another Nissan parked across the road and two men came towards them.<br /><br />"One of the men dressed as a police officer pulled the key out of the Fortuner and told the driver he would be killed if he didn't keep quiet," Viljoen said.<br /><br />The two from the car across the road then loaded the driver into the boot of their Nissan.<br /><br />"They pulled down one of the back seats and one sat in the back holding down his hands," said Viljoen. "They drove about 70km and dumped him in the veld in Bapsfontein near a dam.<br /><br />"They held him at gunpoint and told him that he would be killed if he didn't wait there for half an hour," said Viljoen.<br /><br />"He is really traumatised, and what stood out in his mind was the look on their faces. He said they looked ferocious."<br /><br />The driver waited a few minutes and then walked towards a tar road, where he flagged down a car. Viljoen was then informed of the hijacking.<br /><br />Viljoen then contacted CarTrack to activate the vehicle's tracking device. It picked up the car as it was being driven towards Eikenhof, south of Joburg,<br /><br />Jean Brand, from Capital Air, a company subcontracted to CarTrack, said they traced the car to the N12 near Etwatwa and immediately called the police. The Joburg anti-hijack task team set out to follow the Fortuner.<br /><br />"We were tracing the car and giving police feed (information) the whole time," Brand said. "They must have been moving at one helluva speed. It moved so quickly we couldn't catch up."<br /><br />The car travelled past Boksburg through the Gillooly's interchange. It turned left and then right, travelling along the N12 towards Kliprivier Road. A helicopter and at least two police vehicles caught up with the vehicle at Eikenhof.<br /><br />When the hijacker saw the helicopter and police cars, he started firing, and the police returned fire.<br /><br />The Fortuner had at least two bullet holes in its side, and a police car had a bullet hole in its windshield.<br /><br />The bullet narrowly missed the officer driving the vehicle, who ducked as the shot was fired and then did a handbrake turn, before he tumbled out of the car and injured one of his arms.<br /><br />"As soon as the police returned fire, the driver gave up. He opened the door and jumped out of the moving vehicle," said Brand.<br /><br />The car then crashed into a wall.<br /><br />The hijacker ran into a house nearby but was later apprehended.<br /><br />"We arrested one suspect," said spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"></span></p>

Hijack horror

It was a 70km hell-ride that has left him traumatised, the "ferocious" faces of his hijackers forever etched in his mind. He was ...

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Education MP splurges R1,7m on luxury cars

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAoeQiBFYbmqgGmsAquDou3MnBM-gLvGD2p_Boc23uhRHCmkZ-QDCw2r4XK_TnegoqNcKvNsviwR0SQtXj6V_RRl3Ysd-tmqt0T8mzb_s27ohLdFgGKnuZN7-nJEMgYkDJ98K9ClRN_I/s1600-h/RangeRoverSport.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361561584295384114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAoeQiBFYbmqgGmsAquDou3MnBM-gLvGD2p_Boc23uhRHCmkZ-QDCw2r4XK_TnegoqNcKvNsviwR0SQtXj6V_RRl3Ysd-tmqt0T8mzb_s27ohLdFgGKnuZN7-nJEMgYkDJ98K9ClRN_I/s320/RangeRoverSport.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 197px" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga bought a BMW 7 series and a Range Rover Sport for use in Cape Town and Pretoria when she was appointed.<br /><br /></span></strong></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">The luxury BMW 730d, based in Cape Town, cost R894 500, while the sleek Ranger Rover Sport TDV8 she uses in Gauteng is valued at R807 000.<br /></span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrH0dUuLi7nNYjgQ2p8JZ2RtdsWs48n6XNBj7yfZO1k0hTYaBXwrTtMSqamtBdw3Bow4-EyJxfcJfIKPZHhDvDEnvC3vpEn0g21adfc3l815rrOBPXNW1bXAT0RB4HeR66pWe17p_QxA/s1600-h/BMW-2010.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361557807446266274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrH0dUuLi7nNYjgQ2p8JZ2RtdsWs48n6XNBj7yfZO1k0hTYaBXwrTtMSqamtBdw3Bow4-EyJxfcJfIKPZHhDvDEnvC3vpEn0g21adfc3l815rrOBPXNW1bXAT0RB4HeR66pWe17p_QxA/s320/BMW-2010.bmp" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 163px" /></a><br />Less than a week after it was <a href="http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=136533&sn=Detail">revealed that</a> Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda spent R2.4-million on two new luxury vehicles, the Department of Basic Education has confirmed in a reply to a DA parliamentary question that Minister Angie Motshekga has also purchased two new vehicles - one BMW 730D, and one Range Rover Sport TDV8 - at a combined cost of R1.7-million.<br /><br />In a written reply to a parliamentary question by the DA she said on Tuesday that the only extras fitted were mudguards, which cost an additional R2 500. for the Pretoria-based vehicle. The Cape Town car, she said, was not accessorised.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuz0IEmgSfSiBu9y35rmljlBFnbS6bggmpszRYIJt6alvpMoJkFOm3J5JoVhuqkSVhXlz3QnoArCkrASWrkgLJ0cMOuIKnaXD2NaXWCEbqC8ngH39t193aduBUHYehL87GuKgUfamnBAo/s1600-h/Education%2520Angie%2520Motshekga.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361558359318193426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuz0IEmgSfSiBu9y35rmljlBFnbS6bggmpszRYIJt6alvpMoJkFOm3J5JoVhuqkSVhXlz3QnoArCkrASWrkgLJ0cMOuIKnaXD2NaXWCEbqC8ngH39t193aduBUHYehL87GuKgUfamnBAo/s320/Education%2520Angie%2520Motshekga.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" /></a>Motshekga said she bought the Range Rover because the car she was supposed to inherit on becoming minister was allocated to Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande.<br /><br />The BMW was bought because the vehicle she inherited in Cape Town would have reached the end of its cycle next month.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7jyfsEhqPyyYMzevKLgHDmE3_rguPdJ9jTnpKVJr8caKnGY61eWt-QABu60XV4TmyUtA7caGAvJ2MB5Bj48F50CsXBUIDWX7tP6mwLbvrIH5FzNlSOFL6WeKv-3wkikd6uhrOhuzhSg/s1600-h/RangeRoverSport.jpg"></a>According to the ministerial handbook, a minister may replace a vehicle when it has clocked up 120 000km or is five years old.<br /><br />Responding to the same question, Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi indicated he might buy new vehicles soon.<br /><br />Baloyi said the two cars he inherited - a 2004 BMW 530d and a 2005 Mercedes Benz E350 - had travelled 106 238km and 119 410km respectively.<br /><br />This meant they were almost at the end of their lifespan in terms of ministerial guidelines.<br /><br />However, he did not say when he would buy new vehicles, or what models he would opt for.<br /><br />A departmental spokesperson said this information would be provided at a later stage.<br /><br />Sports and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, who has been in government for years, said he was still using two Mercedes Benz S350 models which he bought three years ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Opposition says minister two new state cars are extravagant and unnecessary <br /><br />A copy of the reply follows below.<br /><br />This sort of spending is extravagant and unnecessary - certainly it far exceeds the Minister's needs, the triumph of status over prudency. To put this kind of expenditure into context, if every government department is to spend this amount on new vehicles for its Minister over the course of the next year or years, it will cost the taxpayer approximately R60-million.<br /><br />In delivering his budget vote to Parliament, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan warned that the state had to be more disciplined in the way it manages its money. He stated: "After seven years of growing budgets and rising revenues there is a degree of fiscal looseness in the system and now is the time to tighten up on that looseness." He continued, "Money is not the problem ... it is how we spend the money. This has to improve. In several sectors, budgets have grown exponentially but outputs have not increased in tandem".<br /><br />That request seems to slipped passed the national administration's attention unnoticed.<br /><br />The ANC government's continued misuse of public funds aside, South Africa is in the grips of a recession and of all people the Minister of Basic Education should be finely attuned to the strain on finances available to government and the urgent need for resources to be devoted to productive purposes. Nowhere is this more urgent than in education, where ordinary teachers and principles battle to come out on their salaries at the end of each month.<br /><br />There is absolutely no reason that a new minister should be spending R1.7-million on luxury vehicles. The general public outrage that followed last week's revelations over Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda's R2.4-million vehicles demonstrates that the South African public is not willing to tolerate this kind of exorbitant wastage. The DA will be submitting a follow up parliamentary question to establish how this expenditure could possibly be of public interest.<br /><br /></p></span><p></p>

Education MP splurges R1,7m on luxury cars

Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga bought a BMW 7 series and a Range Rover Sport for use in Cape Town and Pretoria when she was appoin...

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Minister blings up luxury cars

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23as3u-QOdBr5hXJlbtLQj4JwQOjP18jUdK_W69VylN9SqAO8RDMvYV7z3oLIYPEktzcfIjawrNWUeoCtMV8bgrQxL5Xzhuwof3RkYvY0RCCZuibThpxHy0J_6RvAvaUNe5cm7ZUYsUw/s1600-h/BMW-WTF1"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359211091694112162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23as3u-QOdBr5hXJlbtLQj4JwQOjP18jUdK_W69VylN9SqAO8RDMvYV7z3oLIYPEktzcfIjawrNWUeoCtMV8bgrQxL5Xzhuwof3RkYvY0RCCZuibThpxHy0J_6RvAvaUNe5cm7ZUYsUw/s400/BMW-WTF1" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 290px" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">New Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda has treated himself to a pair of German luxury cars, one to use in Pretoria and the other in Cape Town. </span></strong><br /><br />In a written reply to a parliamentary question, posed by the Democratic Alliance, he said the new vehicles - both <a href="http://www.wheels24.co.za/Content/NewModels/13/e15b9994f1534f72bac87024f5a6e133/First_drive_New_BMW_7_Series">2009 BMW 750i models</a> - cost R1 135 500 each.<br /><br />His reply also reveals that the cars are fitted with R148 400 worth of extras, including, in the Pretoria-based vehicle, a R23 400 "rear-seat entertainment" system and a R5 600 "high-gloss satin chrome" paint job.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbeTbA6tKvZMaU5PT9UY6PCHUAuG6QINNnxHR4rajpUyb6kpjmFPf-_mAmzY5cwXO2ZlGzCeJGtOUghRdaJyeT1HjRi1JArpkaqkaOgnwRRoxo0AQSYeL8WGT3YZbzo_uBIYD1Hf6_-tw/s1600-h/minister-of-communiccbeed7.jpg"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTeacrepe7N5_kVJeu0yYua3okHktRYOiRgEHKn8y5JVjLoBzAIGpDY0Z6jljWrGBmaU5BUzUeILzCJ2hPJY53v6zKchvjX0V7y5FmfzBh6TzbdswMVkgXZTWhYF26nNXQz4kN6M3irGg/s1600-h/minister-of-communiccbeed7.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359213653135863618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTeacrepe7N5_kVJeu0yYua3okHktRYOiRgEHKn8y5JVjLoBzAIGpDY0Z6jljWrGBmaU5BUzUeILzCJ2hPJY53v6zKchvjX0V7y5FmfzBh6TzbdswMVkgXZTWhYF26nNXQz4kN6M3irGg/s320/minister-of-communiccbeed7.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" /></a>Nyanda said the existing official vehicles available for him had either done more than 120 000km, or were more than five years old, and in terms of the Cabinet-approved Ministerial Handbook he was entitled to new ones.<br /><br />"The vehicle for use in Cape Town was nine years old, and had reached 115 072km. The vehicle for use in Pretoria was four years old, and had reached 137 194km," he said.<br /><br /><strong>Extras...<br /></strong><br />His new Pretoria vehicle has an array of extra features.<br /><br />These include a R35 800 "innovation's package inclusive of... rear-view camera, ceramic surround for controls, ambient interior lighting, adaptive headlights, high beam assist, lane departure warning [and] lane change warning".<br /><br />Its Cape Town twin is fitted with a three-spoke leather steering wheel. It too has a rear-view camera.<br /><br />In a statement on Thursday, DA communications spokesperson Lindiwe Mazibuko described the purchase of the vehicles as "frivolous and a massive waste of public money".<br /><br />Her party would be submitting follow-up questions on the matter.<br /><br />"During this time of economic crisis when hundreds of thousands of ordinary South Africans are losing their jobs and businesses across the country are shutting down, government should be setting the tone for austerity and sound financial management," she said. </span><p></p>

Minister blings up luxury cars

New Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda has treated himself to a pair of German luxury cars, one to use in Pretoria and the other in Cape...

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