Mmusi Maimane was the victim of a brazen business robbery at a posh Cape Town restaurant, and the former leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) lived to tell the tale of a horror encounter with a reality faced by millions of South Africans on a daily basis.
Mmusi Maimane details horror robbery
Maimane, who spoke candidly about the robbery to TimesLive, has had sleepless nights since he and other patrons of a popular eatery in Claremont, Cape Town, were accosted by three armed men on Wednesday evening.
According to the OneSA leader, the incident took place at approximately 19:00 while he was out catching up with his brother-in-law, who was visiting from overseas.
The three men, who remain unidentified, entered the restaurant posing as patrons and asked for a table. Everything was cordial until one of the suspects pounced onto a table and, wielding a loaded firearm, instructed everyone to “get underneath the tables.”
“They just pulled out their guns. They didn’t even cover their faces. They were so confident. We took out our belongings and placed them in front of them. They took watches and all the valuables they wanted,” he revealed.
The brazen robbers were spooked by the sounds of an approaching armed response vehicle and fled the scene with laptops, cellphones and Maimane’s watch.
Robbery suspects are still at large, police confirm
By the time police arrived at the crime scene five minutes later, the suspects were long gone. Maimane revealed that one of the patrons targeted in the robbery was pregnant.
“The police came and secured the area and we knew that police were not going to find them. They took a watch … but these things don’t matter because people didn’t lose their lives,” he added.
Per News24, Cape Town police confirmed, in a statement, that a case of business robbery was opened and is currently under investigation.
At this time, no suspects have been linked to the crime.
“You think of what could have been. Crime in our nation is out of control. I wonder and lament the lives of all people that were shot at a tavern. They, like us, went out to have a drink and they lost their lives,” Maimane reflected.