Five players and a coach of Cape Town City Football Club say they are lucky to be alive after they were hijacked at gunpoint in Nyanga.
The group was en route to the Nyanga sports field on Tuesday where City’s under-18 side were due to play a friendly match against one of the local teams in preparation for next week’s Engen Knockout Challenge tournament.
The group were gunpointed and robbed of their possessions including soccer boots, cellphones and passports.
The club’s white Toyota Avanza, branded with the team logo, was also hijacked in the process.
The car’s tracker was activated but was found ripped out and lying in a street in Nyanga after it was apparently removed within minutes of the hijacking.
A message posted on WhatsApp by Head of Football Development and Recruitment at the club, Grant Veitch, read: “Hi guys. It was 5 players and a coach. Held up at gunpoint in Nyanga. Thank goodness all the boys are ok. Just sad. Wanted to give back to the community by playing in the townships.”
The Avanza was recovered later in Browns Farm in Philippi.
Julian Bailey, a spokesperson for the club, on Wednesday didn’t want to elaborate on the incident, saying they will let SAPS do their work in finding the skelms.
“At this stage, the club won’t be making any statement until the case has been resolved by SAPS. At the moment, all we can say is that the vehicle has since been recovered and all our staff and players are safe,” he said.
However, police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi couldn’t confirm whether the hijacking was reported by the club or not.
Dumisani Qwebe, secretary of the Nyanga Community Policing Forum, said that the suspects are believed to be from Brown's Farm.
He says crimes such as this affect the community negatively as it prevents people and organisations wanting to assist residents from going into the area for fear of being targeted.
He urged residents to piemp the skelms to police and help protect visitors.
Bennett Bailey, the president of the South African Football Association (Safa) Cape Town, says it is unfortunate that the group was targeted.
“The experience that those players went through is traumatic and difficult to process.
“We certainly hope that they will recover fully and are given full support so that they are able to continue participating in the beautiful game,” he says.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za