Classic South Africa

Lisa (one of the other research fellows from the US) had Kylie, Sara (another of said fellows), and myself over for dinner Tuesday night. We all arrived at her house at 6:30 in a nice part of Durban about 2-3 minutes from the medical school. She lives in the guest house behind the home of a family of 4. Like many homes in South Africa, this family lives behind 10 foot walls with electric fencing over the top. These features are requisite barriers if you hope to not be robbed in Durban. We had all parked inside the castle walls originally, but needed to move them out around 7:00 or so to let the father drive his car inside. We decided just to leave the cars outside the gate for the few remaining hours of dinner. Afterall, it was a safe neighborhood and our cars had all the antitheft devices that are fairly common in South Africa. These included a gearlock (basically a locking deadbolt to keep the stick shift in place so that you can never shift out of neutral) and and immobilizer (a second electronic key that is also necessary to start the car). These items are pretty common place here in Durban.

So we sat in Lisa's apartment, drank red wine, ate a wonderful Thai dinner, and continued to drink red wine once all the food was gone. For three medical students and a nurse, this was a welcome lifestyle change. We no longer had to be at the hospital the next morning at 6:30 am.

Just as we were about to head home, Sara received a phone call from the landlord of her apartment down the street. He was telling her not to worry, that the police had found her car. We all thought this was some mistake. Did they have the right Sara? "No, thats not possible, my car is parked outside, I just moved it there..." Sarah replied to the claim that her car was stolen. "I'll go check, but I think there must be some mistake..."

Sure enough, we all went outside to find not 3, but 2 cars parked on the street outside the gate. Somehow, in the 2 hour span of dinner, someone had broken into her car, bypassed the security measures, and drove it away. We were stunned. Many questions came to mind. First, why steal one of our cars? They were all old pieces of crap. I personally drive a 1991 Ford Sapphire. Sara's was like a 1991 Honda Ballad or something. Even in South Africa, these cars wouldnt sell for more than $1-2,000. Second, my car doesnt have a gear lock. Lisa's car has one, but it was not engaged at the time. Why they chose the only car with all the security measures in place, I do not know.

To make a long story short, they had essentially rolled the car less than a mile from where it was parked. Thus, they didnt need to start it or get it out of neutral. The police explained that many car theifs will roll the car to a less conspicuous location where they can then remove the security devices. These guys had tried this, but didnt factor in the combination of gravity and incline and had ditched the car at the bottom of a hill.

The police were tremendously nice and helpful, and seemed to be used to this sort of thing on a daily basis. The car wasnt damaged, and Sara drove it to work the next day. After the shock of the whole incident was over, we found ourselves laughing at the situation.