WATCH | Madlanga inquiry-linked man survives hail of bullets

“Guys, No. 13 Klappe Street, Van Dyk Park, Please come and assist me. They shot my bakkie. I don’t know if it’s a hit or something.”

This was a frantic distress message Wiandre Pretorius sent to a community WhatsApp group moments after unknown gunmen emptied 16 bullets into his car while he hid inside.

The attempted hit on Pretorius happened on Thursday morning in Van Dyk Park, Ekurhuleni. The occupants of the car who shot at him sped off. Police are investigating a case of attempted murder.

Pretorius was implicated by slain Marius “Vlam” van der Merwe, also known as Witness D at the Madlanga commission of inquiry, in the murder of Emmanuel Mbhense. Mbhense was allegedly tortured by the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department members in April 2022 during interrogation.

Pretorius stepped out of his car with only a small scratch on his leg.

A neighbour who was with Pretorius at a garage earlier said he was shocked to get an alert that his car was shot at 10 minutes later.

“I raced that side and helped him [Pretorius] out of his car, but he wasn’t injured at all. He only had a scratch but otherwise he was alright,” he said.

Lt-Gen Tommy Mthombeni said they hope to find crucial evidence from CCTV footage around the area.

“You can see the area looks affluent. Hopefully, we’ll get the CCTV footage which will assist us in terms of the investigation,” he said.

Sowetan understands that the police collected several videos from three houses in the area.

One of the neighbours who provided the police with video evidence said two cars had followed Pretorius home.

“One was white and one red. You can clearly see this on the CCTV footage...A large number of shots appear to have been fired, but from the footage, we couldn’t clearly see how Mr Pretorius was positioned or whether he was in distress, but you could see flashes of light from the gunfire as the shots were fired,” she said.

Another neighbour said this was the first time such an incident had happened in 33 years of living in Van Dyk Park.

“I was working in my office when I heard gunshots. I looked through my window. I didn’t see any cars or anything at first. Then I looked again and saw a white bakkie in front of the driveway at my neighbour’s house. After that, I heard gunshots again...I was too scared to go outside,” she said.

Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Tommy Mthombeni said he could not link the attack to the Madlanga commission yet as the investigation was ongoing.

Sowetan