A man was left injured when a hijacked car crashed and landed on his shack.
The 48-year-old man was sleeping in his Khayelitsha home yesterday morning around 2am when he got a rude awakening.
Hours after the incident, shocked residents still stood around the shack where the car was lay on its roof on top of his bed.
The white Mercedes-Benz C230 Kompressor was driving at a high speed on Swartklip Road in the Harare area.
Neighbour Lungelo Magada explains: “I was woken up by a loud bang. At first I was too scared to go out and investigate but then I heard someone screaming.“I went to look and saw my neighbour’s shack was flattened by the car. My other neighbour was also outside so we went to check where the man was. He was under iron sheets, on his bed.”
Lungelo adds that they removed the sheets and had to drag the man out.
He says: “He was screaming really loud, so we pulled him from the shack. We managed to lift the car up.
“At the time we pulled him, he was able to walk. We called the ambulance and he was taken to the hospital in Lentegeur.
“The alleged hijackers had already fled because there was no one in the car when we looked inside.”
Lungelo and his helpers dismantled the shack to save his neighbour’s belongings.
He says: “We are keeping his things safe with us and we hope he will be back soon.”
He adds that the incident has left residents concerned about the lack of traffic control on Swartklip Road, saying: “Motorists speed when they drive here.
“Back then, before we built shacks along the road it was kind of understandable, but now we are here. This is not the first time that we have had an incident like this.“In Tafelsig, a car drove into a shop and in another incident, two children were killed in an accident. Just on New Year’s Eve a child was killed on the same road.
“I think the authorities should start looking at installing speed humps or residents will end up digging the road themselves.”
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk confirms: “No case was reported to the police. We urge the owner of the car to come forward.”