M1 highway robbery: ‘We were all sitting there waiting for our turn,’ says motorist

It was a chaotic scene on the M1-M2 split at the Crown Interchange in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning as motorists stuck in traffic, who witnessed other motorists being robbed at gunpoint by pedestrians criss-crossing through the queue of cars, tried to flee.

About five armed men, believed to come from the illegal mining operations area on the side of the highway, brazenly robbed motorists in plain view, even allegedly pistol-whipping one who tried to resist. 

“People trying to escape the situation were scratching their cars. I scratched my car on the driver-door side on the steel barricades that curve onto the M1 north. It was that bad! People were just trying to escape the situation, which caused even more chaos,” said a motorist who spoke to TimesLIVE Premium. The woman asked that she not be named. 

She said it was just after 7am and she was stuck in what she initially believed to be normal standstill morning traffic when the horror unravelled before her. 

“I saw two guys walk up to the car [a BMW in front of her]. One had a gun in his hand, and I thought of an assassination because they have been happening quite a lot in Johannesburg,” she said.

“This guy [the motorist being robbed] wrestled with them throughout. I think he had his window down, and they eventually got something out of his car through a window ... They tried to get into his car and the other guy’s body [an attacker] was inside the car through the window. They moved on to the next car. It was one of those big Range Rover cars.  They walked up to that man who I think was on his phone.”

“They wrestled him for his phone, and I think he managed to chase them away. All this is happening amid traffic,” she said.

Besides the usual traffic, the motorist said a white Almera had been stationary on the road. 

“It didn't look stuck because it didn’t have hazards on, it was just on the road, right in the middle of the road. They [the attackers] might have created the traffic [jam] so that we all got stuck there, so that they could execute the whole thing,” she said.

It doesn't even look like they are in fear of doing it because they were just walking, they didn't even run to a bush or anything, they were just going around walking like animals looking for blood.

—  Eyewitness 

“When I started seeing more and more cars getting smashed and people’s belongings being robbed, I managed to escape by driving on the yellow line, on the right,” said the motorist.

As she witnessed the cars in front of her get robbed, she said she was convinced she was next.

“At this point we were all just sitting there waiting for our turn because of how congested it was. You would just have your eyes all around thinking, ‘I could be next.’” 

She said the ordeal happened for what felt like an hour.

“They were going around in traffic just smashing whoever’s car that they can see or can get through to ... I have never imagined myself seeing such a horrific incident,” said the motorist who claimed she used that same route daily for work. 

“I am shocked. I got to the office, and I was shaking the whole time. I am a woman driving by myself, and I think they are targeting people like me, the vulnerable-looking, the women,” she said. 

“It was such a horrible thing to watch happen around you when you realise that you are helpless. You can’t do anything. You can’t move. You can’t drive over the cars,” she said.

The trauma of the incident will take a while to erase. 

“Every time I have to drive there I will think about what will happen next because, at that particular fork, there is usually traffic. There is never a time where it’s free-flowing. This smash and grab can happen anywhere, any time.

“It doesn’t even look like they are in fear of doing it because they were just walking, they didn't even run to a bush or anything, they were just going around walking like animals looking for blood,” she said.

She commented on their brazen nature of the attackers. 

“That’s the scariest part — that these guys were walking around without masks, nothing. They were not even trying to hide their faces. They were just walking freely doing their thing. That is why I am convinced that this was a well-executed crime. It wasn't some random ‘here’s traffic, let’s try here’.”

“These guys looked like if you ever had any weapons or tried to wrestle with them, they would kill you if they could. I saw their faces because they were doing this in front of my eyes,” she added.

The incident has sparked urgent police action. National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola has ordered “maximum mobilisation of resources” to monitor and patrol Gauteng highways and other strategic locations during peak-hour traffic.

Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said they have bolstered the deployment of highway patrol, police air wing and Gauteng flying squad units to monitor and conduct regular patrols along identified routes.

Mathe said engagements with the Johannesburg metro police department and other law enforcement agencies are ongoing.

She appealed to motorists who fell victim to the gang to open cases with police.

Late Tuesday, metro police said eight suspects believed to be illegal miners were arrested during a search for the robbers.