crime wave at Vaalwater P. 2
R1-20/FREE
2016
22 April
“Suspicious men” crash into resort wall
Two traffic officers checking the papers of the foreigners nabbed in a truck. Photo: TK Mashaba
Skid marks on the road where the Toyota had been going before it struck the wall. Photo supplied
78 foreign nationals nabbed for illegal immigration TK Mashaba
One of the walls at the Bela-Bela Forever Resort’s caravan park has been damaged after a high speed chase between an unknown driver and members of the Bela-Bela Crime Support unit. Photo supplied Justin Steyn A Jinnah Park resident faces charges of reckless driving after crashing his blue Toyota Condor into a wall at Bela-Bela Forever Resorts’ caravan area in the early morning hours of Friday, 15 April. The accident took place at around 02:00 in the morning. A case of reckless and negligent driving was opened against the driver of the vehicle, who has not yet been identified. The owner of the vehicle was identified as Lukas Modise. Modise was a passenger in the car at the time of the accident. According to a report by Forever Resorts’ medical officer Pieter Scheepers, Modise said that the driver of the vehicle had dropped off a friend after prayers at church. Arriving at their home in Jinnah Park, they were intercepted by two vehicles. The driver apparently told Modise that he was scared because he had been hijacked
three weeks ago in Pretoria, and decided to drive to the police station. According to the driver, the other vehicles followed him, shining bright lights at him, and he couldn’t see the wall. He drove straight into the wall at speed. He was taken to the Bela-Bela Local Hospital for a check-up. The other vehicles turned out to be members of the Bela-Bela Crime Support unit. The unit’s chairperson, Elri Arlow, said that the unit had made a drug-related arrest earlier that night and were on the lookout for suspicious activity. In this case, the vehicle was apparently “looking suspicious” and they decided to investigate. This resulted in the chase, which led to the accident. Lieutenant-Colonel Abel Phetla of the BelaBela Police said that the matter is still under investigation. At the time of going to press no arrests have been made and the damage to the wall is estimated at approximately R4 000. The AA advises citizens who are
The badly damaged Toyota Condor that drove through the wall. Photo supplied uncomfortable stopping even for the police late at night to follow the following procedure if ordered to stop by a legitimate authority: *Slow down to 40km/h and turn your hazard lights on; *Place your right arm out the window and gesture for the vehicle to follow you; *Proceed to the nearest police or petrol station — a well-lit and safe area; *Call 10111 and try to get the registration number of the car following you; *Inform the operator that you are being flagged down by a police officer and are stopping at a safe place; *When you arrive at the police or petrol station, remain in the vehicle until instructed otherwise by an officer. These instructions are, according to the AA and First for Women, a compromise between the fact that it is illegal to disobey an order from a police or traffic officer, and the fact that stopping for anyone at all late at night may be considered dangerous.
A group of 78 illegal immigrants had their journey interrupted when Sello Maleka, a traffic officer at Bela-Bela, smelled a rat and stopped their truck on Wednesday, 13 April. According to Maleka, the truck had just crossed the railway line to divert around Bela-Bela’s town centre. It was on the R101 en route from Modimolle. “I followed the vehicle and stopped it. When I asked the driver he said he was carrying fridges and furniture, but I could hear noises in the back,” said Maleka. He opened the back of the truck and found 78 people, mostly Malawian, hiding in the back. He took them to the Traffic Department to check their documents. During an interview the truck driver, Bandah Hamza Manzie, said that he met the passengers at the border gate, and they asked him to transport them across the border and into South Africa. Continued on page 3