Brits - A Beeld newspaper reporter and photographer were hijacked in Majakaneng, outside Brits in North West, the Afrikaans daily reported on Thursday.
Crime reporter Leanne George and photographer Deaan Vivier were driving on the R104 on Wednesday to cover protests in the area when they were accosted, according to the report.
The two were just outside the area when a man in a grey T-shirt banged on the passenger window where George was sitting.
George called the office to get help, but only managed to tell them they were on the R104 before her phone went off. Another three or four men pulled on Vivier's door and forced him out of the car at knifepoint.
George's door was opened and she was pulled out of the car. She said someone grabbed her from behind but she turned around, freed herself and ran into oncoming traffic. A man in a silver car saw her.
“I just know him as Solly,” George told the paper. “He is an angel, he turned around and came to help me.”
The hijackers asked Vivier to show them how to start the car and drove away.
Solly took Vivier and George to a crossing where traffic police were sitting. A policewoman took them to the Mooinooi police station.
Tracker found Beeld's car in Rustenburg. The hijackers had reportedly tried to set it alight, but people threw sand on it to stop it from burning.
Vivier and George's cameras, laptops, and an iPad were found in the car.
Lt-Col Tsolofelo Matlhoko, from the Mooinooi police station, confirmed the crime was being investigated.
Sapa