Cape Town – Five people appeared in the De Doorns Magistrate's Court on Thursday over alleged looting after a truck accident in which the driver died after a rock-throwing incident.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed that Johan Brown, Thandisile Matingwa, Alfredo de Bruin, Aron de Bruin and Elrico Oliphant – between the ages of 26 and 48 – were, however, not connected to the case of murder being investigated. They will appear in court again on Wednesday.
A case of theft had been registered on Monday for the items that were stolen from the clothing truck.
The incident occurred at about 5.20am on Sunday on the N1 when a rock was flung from the Stofland footbridge at around 5.20am, landing on the truck's windshield. The driver lost control of the truck and his injured assistant was lucky to survive.
In a video of the incident circulating on social media, the rock struck Christopher Kgomo, but it did not kill him on impact. The second driver, who was resting in a bunk bed, tried to take control of the truck before it crashed.
Time Link Cargo CEO Kamal Mitoo said Kgomo and a second driver were transporting R2.5 million worth of clothing to Cape Town when someone threw a rock at the truck, TimesLIVE reported.
Mitoo said Kgomo was still alive after the crash, but thieves trampled him before looting the truck. Mitoo said Kgomo's death was a "tragedy".
"It's a sad day for us," he said.
Mitoo said Kgomo was the second driver from the company to die in the past 15 years and added that the company had been relatively lucky in escaping such incidents, adding that "stoning trucks is becoming the norm".
Western Cape Traffic chief Kenny Africa said two trucks were also the target of stone-throwers in the De Doorns area at about 4am on Tuesday in separate incidents soon after each other. No one was injured in the incidents.
"We are now going to try to increase the visibility of traffic officers in the area," Africa said.