Almost killed by an angry mob

A resident of Mangaung, Lanco de Beer, is lucky to be alive after he was attacked by angry mob in Grasland last week.
Last week Wednesday evening at about 20:30, De Beer was on his way to pick up a friend in Grasland. As he entered a road, which is currently under construction, he was confronted by a large group of men.
“As I approached the first curve – there’s a corner and a soccer field on the left hand side – I saw a group of men walking in the middle of the street. I started wondering what was happening,” De Beer said.
He then started flashing his lights and hooting at the group to get them to move out of the street, but this did not happen. He decided to make a U-turn, but soon realised that four men were approaching his car from the back
“This is when I started getting scared, and as the guys approaching got closer, I saw the pangas and baseball bats they had in their hands.”While trying to make a U-turn, the men stopped him and started asking questions in Sesotho. Although he is Afrikaans speaking he could understand them. He explained to them that he was in the area to pick up a friend, but the men would not hear of it.
They told him that they were a neighbourhood watch, aware of vehicles which often come to the Grasland area to collect items that have been stolen during robberies.
“They didn’t believe me and they were looking into my car. Then one guy, with a baseball bat in his hand, insisted that they search my boot.”
He realised that the cable linked to his boot was broken, so he would have to unlock it manually. As he was placing one foot out of his car door, his instinct told him that he was in danger. De Beer then managed to speed off, but not before the group of men had pelted his car with rocks, cracking his windshield.
Shaken, he then drove to the Bloemspruit police station. “I told them what had happened. I asked them to come with me to those guys but they said that one car was out on patrol, and the other one was damaged.”
Police Provincial Head of Communication, Brigadier Sam Makhele, said that De Beer can still open a case with the police, however, at the moment De Beer is more concerned about the trauma he has faced and the damage to his car. – Seithati Semenokane
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