The mayor of South Africa’s capital city was hijacked as he left as restaurant in the early hours of yesterday.
He was not injured but police statistics indicate he was one of nearly 17,000 victims of this particular violent crime this past year in a country where more than 50 people are murdered every day.
Thirty-seven-year-old Solly Msimanga has been mayor of the Tshwane metropole, which incorporates the capital city of Pretoria, since the opposition Democratic Alliance won local elections in 2016.
He says two armed men approached him when he left a restaurant and demanded the keys to his silver Mercedes Benz.
He believes he was lucky they did not try to take him as a hostage.
Msimanga says he was shaken by the incident but believes he was fortunate to have escape unharmed.
His car was armed with a tracker system that enabled authorities to track it down before it stopped working.
Carjackers have in the past taken children strapped into their safety seats when they sped away in stolen vehicles.
Violent crime is rife in South Africa.
Last year’s official crime statistics say 16 717 carhackings were reported.
That/s the highest number in the past decade.
South Africa’s murder rate is currently 52 people a day.
Per capita that’s thhehe eight highest in the world.