Johannesburg - For R7 000 cash you could score a VW Polo. Add R500 to that and a Toyota Etios would be yours.
And if you upped the stakes and shelled out R10 000, you could drive off in a Toyota Corolla.
That’s how much a gang alleged to have targeted rental cars around Soweto traded the hijacked cars for.
For a long time, they got away with it - until car rental companies like Budget, Avis, Europcar and Imperial lodged a complaint with the police, leading to the formation of Operation Vigor.
There had been 54 hijackings between April 1 and July 31, 2013 alone - all of them in Soweto - and all the hijacked vehicles were rental cars, Warrant Officer Johan van Dyk told the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Monday.
He was testifying in the trial of Thabo Mayekiso, Lawrence Zwane, Bheki Nkabinde, Thokozani Buthelezi, Joseph Bongani Khoza, Ralph Bongani Mazibuko, Sicelo Siwela and Philani Thulani Skhosana.
Their co-accused Musawenkosi Nene is said to be too sick to stand trial, so he will be tried later this year.
“From Budget alone, 30 vehicles - Toyota Corollas, Yaris, Etios, Ford Figos, VW Polos - had been hijacked,” Van Dyk said.
Nine of the hijacked vehicles had been hired from Avis, nine others - including a Mercedes-Benz and a Hyundai - were from Europcar and the rest were from Imperial.
One of the cars belonged to a Wits University employee and the person had just bought the car from Avis, with a sticker indicating it was a rental car.
That Toyota Corolla sold for R10 000.
Broken down, the numbers worked out at 13 cars a month, Van Dyk testified.
Asked why the syndicate would target rented vehicles exclusively, Van Dyk said it was “because there’s no tracking device on them, so it’s easy to dispose of them”.
With Operation Vigor set up and an informant having supplied the police with four names, undercover police agents were introduced to gang members, and whenever there was a hijacking, the gang would contact the “buyers” and meet them at an Engen service station in Jabulani, Soweto, and trade cash for the cars.
Unbeknown to the gang, the agents were recording and filming their every move, including the negotiations and the cash the cars traded for.
“Ninety percent of the purchases were Toyota Corollas and sold for R10 000. There were instances where a VW Polo sold for R7 000 and a Toyota Etios for R7 500,” Van Dyk added.
On one occasion, they were forced to abort their mission after a car they had been promised - a VW Polo that had been rented from Avis - was spotted by a different set of police officers who had stopped Nkabinde while he was on his way to meet and hand over the car to the undercover agents.
“Nkabinde never pitched up and we later realised he had been arrested with Buthelezi and Khoza by other police officers. The car had been flagged as hijacked,” Van Dyk said.
The trial continues.
The Star