Families of stoning victims on Cape Town’s N2 ‘Hell Run’ are still waiting for justice

Five months after Leonie van der Westhuisen’s car was stoned on the N2 in Cape Town on a stretch of road known as the “Hell Run”, her family is still seeking answers after a lack of communication from the police.

Van der Westhuisen (69) suffered a cardiac arrest when a stone struck her head during the attack. She was hospitalised but died two days later.

Gauteng-based Van der Westhuisen and her husband, Gert, had been in Cape Town to celebrate their wedding anniversary when the attack occurred.

Jaco van der Westhuizen, the couple’s 48-year-old son, spoke to Daily Maverick this week, almost six months after the attack. He said his father, who was in the car at the time of the incident, was still recovering from the trauma of the event, which occurred in March.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Husband desperate for justice after stone hurled by robbers kills academic en route to CT International Airport

He expressed frustration that he has to constantly contact the police and ask them for updates. “It feels like I have to remind them how to do their work,” he said.

“It’s always been me who has to contact the police, and every time the answer has always been the same: ‘We don’t have any new updates yet.’ It hurts for me to say this is the worst, it’s just too traumatic to deal with.

“My father is still suffering from the stress of seeing something like that happen. It is really too traumatic for him, with no developments from police indicating any progress achieved.”  

Van der Westhuizen added that there appeared to be a lack of interest in investigating the attack on his parents’ car and trying to find the perpetrators. After the car was stoned, someone reached in and stole a cellphone.

“It’s been five months and communication from their end has been almost zero. We’ve repeatedly urged that they look at the CCTV, but nothing has been done, not even sending someone to interview my father in six months; there is really a problem.”

Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm Pojie confirmed to Daily Maverick that no arrests had been made in the case.

Another police spokesperson, Captain FC Van Wyk, said recent stonings on the N2 were sporadic incidents sparked by taxi strikes or service delivery protests.   

Still waiting for justice