by Kirk Olivier

Created on: June 15, 2008

To say that South Africa is a war zone of daily violence and fear is a total understatement. More people are murdered every single day in South Africa than are killed in most war torn countries throughout Africa. People are terrified to go out at night. Most South Africans live in fortresses not homes. These unfortunately are not always the solution, as criminals scale the high walls and have place to hide, unseen by anyone on the outside of the property.

Many people are woken early hours of the morning by criminals in their homes. Most of these will then endure hours of beatings, rape and other abuses. If they are lucky they will live to tell the story. Hi-jackings have become so common that there are signs at intersections warning of high crime areas. One dares to speak on a cellphone or leave a bag on the seat of a vehicle whilst driving in a city. Criminals will smash a vehicle window and steal these items at a busy intersection, without fear.

I can relate to a horrific personal experience at the hands of hi-jackers. I am not one to scare easily; however, in September 2002 I spent 2 of the longest and most horrifying hours of my life trapped in my vehicle with two hi-jackers. My day started as normal, calling in at my office and planning my day. My first call of the day was in the middle of Durban, a built up city center. It was raining quite hard that day. I drove to the city which was approximately 23km from my office. I thought it was my lucky day, as I managed to find an open parking spot right outside the building I was calling at. I parked got out and locked the vehicle. As I walked away I noticed the car guard, (something that is now common at every parking area in the country). He acknowledged me and I shook my head in agreement that he could look after my vehicle. These are usually homeless people trying to earn enough money to buy a meal, so obviously most drivers will give them some change for their efforts.

I continued into the building and visited my customer. I was there for about 45 minutes. When I left my customer, the lift was extremely busy, so I ran down 8 flights of stairs to the ground floor. When I left the building, it was raining very hard, so I ran to my vehicle. As I pushed the key into the driver's door, I caught sight of a man approaching me from the rear of my vehicle. I recognized him as the car guard who had greeted me earlier. I reached into my pocket and took out some change. As I turned to face him and to hand him the change,

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