Mitchells Plain commuters were left traumatised on Wednesday after two gun-wielding skelms boarded a bus and robbed and assaulted passengers.
Golden Arrow Bus Services reveal it was the TWENTIETH such incident in the past three months.
A 26-year-old commuter, who asked not to be named, says she is lucky to be alive as the bus driver had stopped the bus just as a robber turned his gun on her and another woman.
“We took the bus from Town Centre to (Cape) Town and it came at 9.05am,” she says. “The two black guys got on the bus in Merrydale Avenue and they paid and sat down.
“The bus drove through Philippi and as it took the turn, they just stood up and pointed a gun and started taking cellphones.
“They took more than 10 phones and I took my earphones out and put my phone in my bag quickly.
“The girl next to me put her iPhone under my bum and I told her to put it in my bag and when I looked, the guy was pointing the gun at us.”
She says passengers shouted for the driver to stop, and he slammed on the brakes, causing the skelm to stumble.
“But he got up and as they were moving to the front, they assaulted people and got out of the bus. They hit more people, but only three commuters made cases against them.
“The bus drove to Philippi Police Station where the officers told us that they can’t help us because it did not happen by them, but my relatives who are police officers came to help.”
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut, confirmed the incident was reported and says there have not yet been any arrests.
Golden Arrow spokesperson, Bronwen Dyke-Beyer, says about 20 similar incidents have been reported since September.
She says the company is working with police on a plan to catch the bus bandits: “We are offering a reward of R50 000 for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of these robberies. We are also looking at additional covert measures which we, unfortunately, are not able to outline in any detail as that could compromise their efficacy.”
monique.duval@inl.co.za