'I was ready to die', says hijacked Ethiopian spaza shop owner

A map of Soweto, highlighting Tshepisong. File photo.
Image by: via

A man who narrowly escaped death after he was hijacked and driven to an open field to be executed, says he had prepared himself for dying.

The man, Fayisa Lire, was with a friend when the two were hijacked at White City in Soweto on Wednesday.

They were eventually driven to an open field in Tshepisong but Lire said they were rescued seconds before the hijackers would have pulled the trigger.

A traumatised Lire, who is Ethiopian born, relived his ordeal with News24.

"They told me that they had been planning to rob me five times before. Today they were going to kill me."

Lire owns a spaza shop in Soweto.

'I was so scared'

"They hit me and threw me in the back of my car blindfolded. I was so scared."

Lire said all he could think about during the agonising hour in the hands of the two men was his wife and 5-year-old son.‎

Lire said while blindfolded, he was driven across rough terrain with the two hijackers laughing and making jokes between them.

When asked what he would do when he eventually made it home, Lire said all he wanted was to smoke a packet of cigarettes.

Lire and his friend, who was badly assaulted, were eventually freed after police officers were able to track the vehicle. Lire's friend was recovering in hospital.

When police found the car, a shoot-out with the hijackers ensued. One was killed while the other escaped.

Police spokesperson Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng said police responded to a distress signal from the victim's car tracker.

Police helicopters were still searching for the suspe