If Tammy Treleven had not bent forward to put her handbag on the floor while driving with her husband Paul on Cape Town’s notorious N2 highway towards the airport, she would not be alive today.
Her horror ordeal is now part of the shameful history of attacks on the infamous highway. But unlike some victims, she survived — despite severe injuries — to tell the tale.
Shortly after 4pm on Sunday, July 13, the couple from Johannesburg were heading towards Cape Town International Airport in their rental car after a relaxing weekend, when a group of attackers on the side of the road attacked their vehicle.
A concrete slab was hurled through the passenger window of the vehicle, smashing onto Tammy’s head.
A spate of similar attacks has occurred along this infamous stretch in recent years, making travellers fearful..
In 2023, Leonie van der Westhuizen, 69, succumbed to cardiac arrest two days after a rock struck her on the head while driving to the airport with her husband. Three months later, 22-year-old Lucilla Vlok’s jaw was fractured by a rock thrown at her vehicle while she too was on her way to the airport.
Speaking about the latest incident, Paul Treleven — an established artist now turned anti-crime activist — says he recalls what happened as if it were yesterday and not two months ago.
“Had that concrete slab hit my wife full in the face, it would have killed her.”
He said that shortly after the concrete block was thrown, a car with two men in it drew alongside his vehicle.
“They cut across in front of our car, put their hazard lights on and started slowing down to try get me to stop. I accelerated and swerved around their car, and headed towards the airport. I used both our phones to call 10111. Neither call was answered.”
Treleven — whose son was killed by a drunk driver shortly after his 18th birthday — believes a concrete wall along the side of the road could stop such attacks.
Wayne Coetzer, the MD of Vergelegen Wine Estate in Somerset West, said staff and customers frequently used the road. He described being “inundated with horrific stories of people from our community and visitors who have been attacked on this freeway in rock-throwing and hijacking incidents”.
“There have also been a number of incidents with rocks and bollards laid across the road, in an attempt to stop cars.”
Then police minister Senzo Mchunu, in a parliamentary reply to questions in May by IFP MP Liezl van der Merwe about an apparent lack of visible policing around the airport, confirmed 42 criminal cases were reported at the airport between April 1 2024 and March 31 this year.
According to his reply: “The scene of crime for these cases is the exit 18 off-ramp from the N2 into Borcherds Quarry Road in the vicinity of Nyanga.”
Cases reported to police at the airport are transferred to Nyanga police station.
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) recorded more than 200 crime-related incidents on the N2 and R300 in Cape Town in 2023, including stone-throwing and robberies targeting motorists.
Provincial SAPS spokesperson Col Andrè Traut said the perpetrators often placed rocks and other objects on the road to damage tyres, causing motorists to stop, after which they were assaulted and robbed in isolated areas.
“SAPS, in collaboration with the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government, has heightened police visibility and increased patrols along high-risk sections of the N2,” said Traut.
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the city was deploying more than 40 new metro police officers to the N2/Airport/Borcherds Quarry precinct as part of a broader group of 700 new officers.
He said a project to erect a “security wall” along the N2 around the airport would cost an estimated R180m.
“This is going through city planning and budgeting processes, and we are committed to ensuring it is done, notwithstanding the high costs.”
Asked what was being done to clean up piles of garbage and debris alongside the road, Hill-Lewis said: “The City has regular scheduled cleaning services along the N2 and main arterial routes.”
This would soon be bolstered by a new highway cleaning unit.
“We expect [this] will significantly improve cleanliness along Cape Town’s freeways and in business districts.”
Safety and security MMC JP Smith said attacks on the route were primarily opportunistic, where criminals targeted motorists who had stopped to drop or collect passengers, take a phone call, or who had broken down.
“In the 12-month period between July 2024 and June 2025, the metro police deployment on the N2 and R300 recorded 2,215 incidents. Of these, 85% were breakdowns related to mechanical issues, motorists running out of fuel, or as a result of flat tyres.”
Motorists were most vulnerable after dark when there was less traffic.
“We urge motorists to be incredibly vigilant at all times, and to ensure they are able to call for help immediately should they be stranded or spot anything that could be a risk to public safety.”
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