Three workers of a contractor employed by the City of Cape Town were ambushed by a group of ten armed men in broad daylight on Saturday.
The incident took place at 13:05 in Macassar Road in Macassar, Western Cape.
Peter Helfrich, local ward councillor, says the workers were busy building a pipeline of 400 mm diameter to connect the treatment effluent network of the Zandvliet waste water treatment plant with the Macassar plant.
“According to one of the workers, who does not want to be identified, the group of men stopped at the construction site in a white 1400 Nissan bakkie. They then ordered the workers to lie on the ground,” says Helfrich.
All the men were armed and aggressive, says the victim.
The men said that if the workers did not cooperate, they would be shot.
“The victim says what scared him the most was the fact that one of the criminals held the firearm right to his head throughout the ordeal. All that went through his mind then was his family.”
The three workers were robbed of their mobile phones and cash. They also looted the victim’s car keys and five of the armed men then sped away in his blue Citi Golf – which was parked on the opposite side of the road. The rest fled in the van they arrived in.
Helfrich says he arrived on the scene minutes after the incident took place.
“I was on my way to residents affected by the recent flooding in the area to take them supplies when I came across the scene,” says Helfrich.
“One of the workers informed me upon my arrival there that the incident took place several minutes ago.”
The path of destruction
Helfrich says he is extremely frustrated with the police’s management in the province as they undertook to increase visibility on the very road after three bodies were found on the road between 28 May and 3 June.
He confirmed that the ten suspects are not from the area.
“Once again, criminals who do not live in our ward come to our ward to carry out their criminal activities. These criminals know our local Macassar police station is understaffed and they are taking advantage of this.”
He says it is unfair to residents and the local police officers.
“We have a lot of respect for our local police officers. It is unacceptable for police management to expect our local police officers to manage a large ward like ward 109 with almost no resources. It’s not fair to these officers and it’s certainly not fair to the residents they’re obligated to protect.”
Felicity Solomons, community leader, says residents are now starting to call Macassar Road “the road of doom”.
“This is because of all the crime that takes place on this road. Our council member, Peter Helfrich, called for the police to increase their visibility on this road. It clearly did not happen, even after they undertook to do so,” Solomons said.
Helfrich once again asks the police management to keep their promises and increase visibility in the ward and especially at the hotspots.
