If you don’t pay this car guard on Jorissen Street before you park, you might come back to a vacant spot, like one Zambian radio student found out this week.
A Zambian student received a Johannesburg welcome hen he looked through the University Corner window on the ninth floor and his Toyota was gone.
Jason Kruger, a student studying towards an advanced certificate in radio, parked his car at the corner of Jan Smuts and Jorissen at 8am on Tuesday morning. Kruger says the car guard wasn’t there when he parked and in the afternoon his car was missing.
Patrick Genu, a car guard opposite University Corner, says he looks after cars from 8am till 4pm. He says drivers must pay him before parking or he won’t look after their cars.
“I won’t even call the police if I see your car being stolen, if you don’t pay me before you park”.
Genu says that he has heard of many cars being stolen in Jorissen Street, but he had never witnessed the theft.
“I always park my car by the Senate House parking and pay about R4 but the parking was unfortunately full on that particular day,” Kruger says.
He says he contacted campus control. They were helpful and they offered to take him to the Hillbrow police station.
He then reported the crime to the Honeydew police station and they took his statement and sent him his docket number on Wednesday morning.
Jimmy Mthethwa, a security guard at University Corner, says he once witnessed an attempt to steal a car last year in Jorissen Street parking and he called the owner of the car and the police. The thieves noticed that he saw them and ran away.
“They were long gone when the police arrived,” he says.
On the other hand, a car guard at the Senate House parking, Godffrey Nkosi says he has worked there for 10 years and no car under his surveillance was stolen. He also says that some drivers pay him before parking whereas others pay after and he doesn’t mind that.
“Come park at Godffrey’s garage and your car will be safe”, he adds.
Kruger says there is theft in Zambia but not as much as in South Africa.
“I felt that my personal property and public space was violated.”
