I thought I was over it

The hijacking that is. It's been 18 months and you'd think I wouldn't be having issues. But I am. I went to the local mall yesterday morning, just an average grocery run, nothing special. I parked, went in and paid for everything I wanted. When I came out to the car, I hesitated. Right next to my car was a ute with 3 young black men sitting in the open back. It took me probably all of 5 minutes to unload the cart and get into the car, all while my heart was beating up in my throat. I kept expecting them to jump out and do something, anything. Instead, they sat there talking quietly to each other while I had a mini breakdown. I felt ill when I got home.

Survival guide : Stolen vehicles

After spending a couple of hours twiddling our thumbs at the Centurion Police satelite station vehicle clearance centre at the testing centre, my little car is no longer on the stolen list! After all the phoning around and just about speaking to every single police officer in the area we're done...until it happens again that is.

A few observations for those poor sods who ever get caught up in the Stolen Vehicle Twilight Zone :

1) Expect to stand in loooooong queues.
2) Expect to be treated worse than a criminal if you are white (yes, I know, I should stop being so damn sensitive and give some black people in this country a chance but when you are spoken to and treated as if you're a piece of shit on the bottom of someone's shoe just because of the colour of your skin, then the Rainbow Nation is not so Rainbow anymore now is it?)
3) Expect to be sent from one department to the other with no one knowing what it is you are supposed to do.
4) Make copies of EVERYTHING! Including the police file if you can.
5) Get everyone's name, telephone number and superior's details. It helps.
6) Make multiple copies of your ID book and the car vehicle registration papers.
7) Take a book, bottle of water and something to snack on, it's a long wait.
8) If you have a recording option on your cell phone, USE IT!
9) Be nice, nice is good. It doesn't help you shout and scream obscenities at the people you encounter along the way. Sometimes they really don't know how to help you and shouting at them just makes it worse.
10) Be prepared, keep 11tybillion pens and pencils in your handbag or car.

Above all, be vigilant, try not to be a victim of a crime. Sucks but that is the reality.

Incompetence at it's best?

On the 27th of May last year, I posted about being hijacked at gunpoint and it's aftermath.

In December Himself had to renew his vehicle licence and enquired why we hadn't received a notificiation for mine which was due then too. He was told that the database showed it was a stolen vehicle and therefore no renewal notice had been sent out. We couldn't do anything about it then as Himself was flying out the next day to join us in Cape Town on holiday.

Since we've been back, he's been calling the entire countryside trying to find out what we have to do in order to get the vehicle cleared as a recovered vehicle so that we can carry on with our lives and not worry about it.

The day after the hijacking Himself and the detective overseeing the case drove to Waltloo testing station, they did all of this there and then. It was cleared dammit!

Himself now has to take a day's leave, drive out to Waltloo and stand in a queue, show the vehicle to the police and get a receipt. Then he has to stand in another queue, show the person behind the counter the receipt and request a new vehicle licence. Why the fuck didn't the idiot who was on duty on the 28th of May 2010 do all of this there and then? Why?

Becoming a legal person again (according to the government)

When you have your life stolen and have to replace things like ID documents, you come face to face with the bureaucracy that is the department of Home Affairs.

When we were hijacked, my handbag containing my drivers licence, ID book, bank cards, cellphone and various other things was under the drivers seat. Of course that was cleared out of the car long before the cops found it, all having to be replaced at some point.

The bank cards were easy, the drivers licence is going to be a pain in the arse and the ID book maybe just as bad or so I thought.

Well, guess what? It wasn't. I went in on the 29th of July (ja please don't lecture me about the length of time between the hijacking and actually going in to apply for a new ID document, I'm a lazy sod) and received an sms (Seriously! An sms! Who'd have thunk Home Affairs actually used 21st century technology??) last Thursday to come and collect it. This morning I pulled into the parking spot the car guard indicated, stood in the queue for about 30 minutes and walked out an hour later the proud owner of a brand spanking new ID book (the photo is horrific). (No I am not sharing it here.)

Focusing on the good

There's no point dwelling on the sad state of affairs that is part and parcel of living in this country. There is no point in wondering when it will happen again (for it will). There is no point in living each and every single day in fear. Seize the moment, live life.

It's been almost 2 weeks since the hijacking. I have relived each and every single second over and over until some nights I wake up in a cold sweat thinking about all the what ifs. What if they had been in a bad mood or what if they had been out for more than just a car? What if all they wanted was to kill?

It's easy for me to rationalise that in this country at this particular time poverty has led to a culture of give me what you have and if you don't I will take it by force. It's also easy for me to rationalise that these 4 young men are living somewhere in a hovel and this is their only means of supporting themselves. But reality is that they are not living lives of utter despair. They were far too professional for that. They live off of their bad deeds. They don't steal because they are hungry, they steal because they can.

We have become so used to crime that it doesn't shock us anymore, we are used to reading news stories every day where people are killed for the 5 bucks in their pocket or the cell phone in their bag. We should be shocked every time it happens.

One sad legacy of this incident is that J&C now fear black people, not just black men but black people in general. This in turn adds to a racial tension that previously wasn't present in our lives. It's heartbreaking when your 7 year old daughter asks you why black people hurt white people or do they hurt anyone and you have to think for a second before answering. Because all you really want to say is that you hope those black bastards die a slow and horrible death for causing this fear in the first place, that they are animals not human beings.

Then you remember that every single day in black South Africa there are far more horrific crimes, crimes that go unnoticed or unmentioned. You also remember the two teenage black youths that live next door who came to your aid, took your children into their home and kept them safe while the street crawled with police, who offered you sanctuary and whose names you didn't know until that day.

Aftermath

After the police, security company and neighbourhood watch arrived on Thursday, Himself contacted a security specialist friend. He in turn contacted someone and they used my cellphone to triangulate the direction the hijackers took. My car was found about 45 minutes after the incident, safely parked and locked near a centre in Tembisa.

Of course, my wallet containing my drivers licence, ID document, cards and cash, my handbag and a few other things were no longer in the car. They even took the school lunch bags I pack for J&C. Their school bags with school books were still in the boot, which they never opened.

Even though we got the car back and the kids could go to school on Friday with their own school bags, our lives will never be the same.

Even though I am going to see a trauma counselor, I will probably never feel safe.

Even though my children seem fine on the surface, they now know that all those promises we as parents make are not true. We can't keep them safe all the time.

Now I am truly just another crime statistic

J&C and I were hijacked at gunpoint today outside our home.

Motherfucking cunts got away with some cash, the car, the kids' school books.

I hope that karma fucks them over so bad in their miserable little lives (if they are ever caught).

I am thankful that the one who came running up to me with the gun didn't shoot me or harm my children.