South African Parliament Members Attacked in Their Vehicle

First a brick burst through a car door window. Then another. And another.

Three members of South Africa’s parliament—ironically, the chair and two other members of the parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Policing—were the victims of the attack. Ian Cameron, Lisa Schickerling, and Nicholas Gotsell had just visited a police academy in Philippi, a district in Cape Town, South Africa. While stopped at an intersection, three assailants descended on the vehicle and threw bricks through the windows. Cameron had a firearm and managed to draw the gun and shoot at the attackers, apparently hitting one, which caused the attackers to flee.

“I was driving yesterday and suddenly Lisa just said to me, ‘Something doesn’t feel right,’” Cameron told a local news outlet. “We started looking around and kind of, I don’t know, anticipating something and the next moment… a brick came through my side that hit me in the face.”

Cameron suffered several broken teeth and Gotsell’s head was heavily bandaged after the incident due to significant lacerations.

“When I looked around, I saw that my colleague Nicholas was bleeding really badly and they were trying to get in on his side and the same on Lisa Shickling’s side,” Camerson said. “They just kept coming after which I realized that if we don’t do something then this can go really bad. So I did my best to act in self defense with my firearm and then we sped off to the closest secure location” and called emergency services.

Two of the three alleged assailants have been apprehended and detained on attempted murder and hijacking charges. One of them was at a hospital seeking treatment for a gunshot wound.

It is not yet known if the attack was a carjacking attempt or smash-and-grab style robbery, and there does not seem to be any evidence that the members of parliament were specifically targeted.

The U.S. State Department lists South Africa as a Level 2 alert country, meaning travelers should “exercise increased caution.” Other countries in the Level 2 travel tier include France, Spain, India, Turkey, and the UAE. The crime description for South Africa says, “Violent crime is common and includes robbery, rape, carjacking and mugging. There are also 'smash-and-grab' attacks on vehicles.”

The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office also lists “carjacking” and “’smash and grab’ attacks on vehicles” under a heading that notes there is a high crime rate in South Africa.

Arrive Alive is private informational site endorsed by the South Africa government. The site includes a "Road Safety and Preventing Smash-and-Grap” page that includes the following advice:

• Lock all your doors and close the windows when driving. Never open vehicle windows or doors for strangers.
  
  
• Avoid opening your windows or getting involved in discussions with street vendors or anyone handing out flyers.
  
  
• Be constantly on the lookout for suspicious looking characters.
  
  
• Always be conscious of your surroundings and remain alert when coming to an intersection or stopping your vehicle.
  
  
• Be wary of people standing at intersections. They may be innocent, but perpetrators mix with these people while waiting for an opportunity to pounce.
  
  
• If you encounter obstacles such as rocks or tires, do not get out of your vehicle to remove them. Immediately reverse and drive off in the opposite direction.
  
  
• If it’s late at night, slow down well in advance so that the light changes green by the time you reach the intersection.
  
  
• Leave a gap between you and the car in front of you to give you room to escape (i.e. drive away from the scene) if anything should happen.
  
  
• Be especially wary whenever you see broken glass lying on the road. If the pieces of glass are still scattered across the road, chances are that a smash-and-grab occurred just recently.
  
  

In a different interview, Cameron said the attack in no way deterred him from his work. “I don’t know what the motive was. The charges seem to be attempted murder and attempted robbery or hijacking. …[We’re] going to do our jobs. It’s not going to stop us whether it was targeted or not, we’re going to continue doing what we do.”

In fact, he said later in the interview, he plans to join neighborhood watches in the area of the attack. “I think the best way to tackle crime is through community involvement.”