The vehicles a teacher was seen driving around in his community of Umzimkhulu recently turned out to be stolen vehicles that people in Pietermaritzburg and Chatsworth are missing.
Siseko Ludongeni appeared before the Umzimkhulu Magistrate’s Court in KwaZulu-Natal on 11 September on charges of possessing stolen vehicles and an unlicensed firearm.
Police received a tip-off that the teacher at Dulati Combined School in Magqagqeni, Umzimkhulu, was driving around in a stolen vehicle.
Investigations confirms teacher possessed stolen vehicles
On 10 September, HAWKS members from the Port Shepstone Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit and other law enforcement groups monitored the teacher’s movements.
According to HAWKS spokesperson Colonel Simphiwe Mhlongo, the reported vehicle was intercepted in the vicinity of the school where Ludongeni teaches.
“A search was conducted, and police found a 9mm pistol with live rounds of ammunition. The vehicle was circulated, and it was confirmed that it was stolen in Pietermaritzburg in November last year,” said Mhlongo.
Ludongeni was arrested. Upon further investigation, police discovered a second vehicle, a stripped VW Polo, in a garage at the teacher’s homestead.
Mhlongo said the VW Polo was also stolen in Bayview, Chatsworth, in December 2024.
The illegal firearm is in police possession and will undergo ballistic testing to determine if it was used in any acts of crime.
Ludongeni’s case was heard before the court in absentia.
The case was postponed to 22 September 2025.
The South African reported recently that Operation Shanela in KwaZulu-Natal arrested 360 people for possession of illegal firearms. Seventeen people were nabbed for stealing motor vehicles in August.
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