Durban - eThekwini Municipality employees are under siege from brazen criminal syndicates who are hijacking council vehicles, putting the lives of workers at risk and compromising service delivery.
The City yesterday acknowledged the problem, saying in the current financial year at least 95 vehicles had been hijacked from municipal staff and contractors.
The latest incident took place on Wednesday when a municipal employee was accosted by two gunmen who demanded that she hand over a City vehicle that had been kept at her home overnight.
There are several social media posts by City employees, pleading for help after vehicles they were driving were stolen or hijacked at gunpoint.
City councillors have warned this could have a serious impact on the City’s ability to deliver services.
The Mercury has seen at least eight internal City communications detailing the theft and hijacking of vehicles.
One post recently said: “Our artisan was hijacked this morning; this is the fourth hijacking in a space of two months – all in similar fashion.”
In the latest attack, the victim said it seemed her attackers had been monitoring her movements.
She said at about 5.20am she was preparing for work.
“At that time I normally go out and clean the car. As I was about to start it, two men appeared in my yard, both of them armed. One came to my side and demanded that I hand over the car keys and my phone.”
She said they insisted that she give up her car, saying it was a municipal car, and forced her out of it with one of the hijackers poking her in her back with a gun.
“The way they were dressed, their faces covered and with one of them wearing a bulletproof vest, suggested they were professionals. It is quite clear that they were monitoring my routines. They knew that at that time, I was preparing to go to work.”
She said several of her colleagues had also been victims of vehicle hijacking.
In a statement, the City’s communication unit said mayor Mxolisi Kaunda had raised the issue, stating that service delivery in several parts of eThekwini was being hampered by a sharp rise in hijacking incidents involving municipal and contractor vehicles.
Head of the City Fleet Unit, Malcolm Joshua, said light commercial vehicles were targeted the most, adding that hot spots were Mayville, Folweni, uMlazi, KwaMashu, Inanda, Zwelibomvu, Hammarsdale and KwaNdengezi.
He added that communities often blamed the municipality for delays in effecting infrastructure repairs, not knowing that a crew that had been sent to undertake the repairs had been hijacked.
This is especially so because the vehicles that are targeted belong to core service delivery units such as Electricity, Water and Sanitation and Roads and Stormwater.
“The City is working with the police to root out this scourge, but communities also have a role to play in keeping our teams safe while they deliver services throughout the municipality,” said Joshua.
Mdu Nkosi, of the IFP, said there should be a way to protect municipal cars.
“The cars should have tracking devices. Criminals take cars that are meant to deliver services to their communities. It’s the same criminals who will take part in protests complaining of poor service delivery and forgetting they are the ones who undermine that service delivery (by stealing the cars).”