The Table View Neighbourhood Watch has warned residents in the area to be on high alert as hijackings have spiked in the past few weeks.
“Criminals are stealing occupied vehicles in a violent manner, focusing on those members of the public that are going about their business very early in the morning or very late at night,” the notice said.
Just last week, Parklands resident Colleen van Rensburg was the victim of a failed hijacking as she was about to leave her complex.
Another resident, Carmen Kopke, said she was the victim of a smash-and-grab at the weekend. Kopke said two men smashed the passenger window of her car while she was stopped at a red light and demanded her cellphone.
“When he saw it wasn’t anywhere in sight he climbed through the window to grab my daughter’s nappy bag. Thankfully my husband was driving in front of us and ran to haul the guy out of our car.
“Two men then grabbed my husband and hit him on the back of the head. By the grace of God he was not hurt badly and the attackers ran off. We quickly drove away as fast as we could.”
Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Grant Lemos said: “We noticed that quite a few cab drivers are getting attacked and it’s people that are getting into cars and are opportunistic.”
Lemos said people should always be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behaviour.
“If you feel that you are being followed then alert law enforcement and try to change your route.”
The area’s community policing forum chairperson, David Harris, said: “Table View has the fastest-growing population in the Western Cape and has the worst resourced SAPS station.
"The provincial average is one SAPS member to 560 community members. We are sitting with a ratio of 1 to 970. We have a very committed SAPS station that is battling to cope with the chronic lack of resources.”
Cape Times