Everson Luhanga
It took two years of painstaking saving up for DJ Lapie to be able to become an Uber driver – and it took only one day for him to get threatened with a firearm, hijacked and lose it all.
Tembisa DJ Molapisane Hendry Masala, known as DJ Lapie, started working last week after he finally saved up enough to buy a car.
But he was hijacked by his second client of the day.
The thugs dropped him a few streets from the police station before they made away with his car.
“I was left not far from the police station when I started walking and seeking help from people I could find on the street,” he said.
Thankfully, a tracking company was able to locate Lapie’s car, but retrieving it wasn’t straightforward.
He said his car was hidden at one of the houses in the township, but he complained that the police made him wait for over two hours before helping him.
“While at the Alexandra police station, I was getting information from the tracker company sending me the current location of the car. But none of the officers was willing to escort me to the car. It took them hours until we finally went to recover the car,” he said.
“There was no one in the car and it was locked. My girlfriend brought the spare keys which we used to get the car.”
Lapie said he wanted to venture into the Uber business as he was not able to make a living performing at shows for the past year due to Covid.
“It has been tough for artists,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that we encounter life-threatening troubles.”
Police spokesperson Simphiwe Mbatha said police are investigating a case of theft.
