Photo: Twitter
Photo: Twitter
The driver of this cigarette truck has been praised, after his sharp reactions got him out of a potentially life-threatening situation. Three hijackers tried to halt the van in Khayelitsha, only to be outsmarted by the man behind the wheel.
The incident took place on Govan Mbeki Road, in Site B of the township near Cape Town. Security footage from Friday shows the heart-stopping incident unfolding just after 13:00. While driving into the bustling streets of Khayelitsha, a group of men appeared in the road. They then gave chase to the lorry, just as it came to a halt.
One of the men can be seen brandishing a gun, waving it in an attempt to intimidate the driver. However, this cool customer takes his truck full of smokes and reverses it all the way back to where he came from. After putting some distance between himself and the hijackers, he turns in the road – eventually escaping to freedom.
#hijacking Attempted hijacking of a cigarette van in Khayelitsha, Cape Town on Friday. Three men tried to hijack van. But driver backed out safely.. @BOSBEER2006 @1SecondLater @MARIUSBROODRYK @News24 @SAPoliceService pic.twitter.com/Cs86iXqB0m
— BOSBEER.COM (@BOSBEER2006) April 14, 2021
Khayelitsha has found itself in the news for all the wrong reasons recently: An eNCA film crew were mugged shortly after delivering a live broadcast earlier this month. Prior to that, extensive service delivery protests had spilled onto some major commuter routes leading into Cape Town. The situation remains volatile in this part of the Western Cape.
Thankfully, in this instance, the would-be victim was able to avoid a harrowing altercation, and escaped unharmed. Nearby Mitchell’s Plain was recently listed as a ‘hijacking hot-spot’ in South Africa – but the trend is also prevalent in Khayelitsha. As a province, the Western Cape has the third-highest carjacking rates, behind KZN and Gauteng.