I remember listening to some comedy record or other a long time ago, which featured a radio interview (à la Bob Newhart) of a captured Confederate soldier just before Antietam. When asked his opinion about Union soldiers being armed with the new Winchester repeating rifles, the Reb thought for a moment, and said laconically, in a deep Southron accent: “Yeah? Well that’s all well and good for you Yankees… but we know how to aim, boy.”)
I was reminded of that exchange when I read this report (sent to me by several Readers, thankee) concerning this little incident in Seffrica:
Heavily armed attacks on armored cars are so common in South Africa they are known as Cash-in-Transit heists (CIT).
“15 robbers armed with automatic rifles carried out a CIT heist in Hoedspruit, killing the Fidelity driver,“ reports YouTuber Willem Petzer.
According to police spokesman Colonel Matimba Maluleke, the suspects shot at the escort vehicle before disarming the guards (a driver and crew) of their official rifle and pistol. “Unfortunately the two guards were shot at and sustained injuries that resulted in the death of the driver. The suspects then pursued the armoured vehicle while shooting at it until it stopped. The driver of the armoured vehicle and his crew were allegedly ordered to disembark the vehicle, disarmed of two firearms and chased into the nearby bushes. The suspects used explosives to blast the vehicle and made off with an undisclosed amount of money,” Maluleke said.
All was seemingly going according to plan for our Robbin’ Hoods; however, things went downhill for our choirboys soon thereafter:
“A community crime watch group, Hoedspruit Farmwatch, was alerted to the incident and went in pursuit of the robbers, putting obstacles on the road to prevent their escape. A shootout ensued,” Petzer writes.
“The volunteers blocked the roads outside of Hoedspruit with boulders after they were alerted of the attack. A skirmish, lasting about 20 minutes, ensued at one of the blockades between the robbers [armed with AK-47s] and the farmers, who were armed with pistols. The farmers managed to kill 4 of the robbers and wound 3. No farmer was hurt. The other suspects fled into nearby bushes after the shootout on foot.”
Apparently, untrained criminals spraying bullets from their rifles are not a match for trained shooters with handguns. But it gets better:
“The Hoedspruit farmwatch tracked them down using their dogs and arrested the rest of them, recovering all the money from the heist.”
One of the arrested suspects is a highly wanted Mozambican suspect who has been on the run for some time for a spate of crimes he committed in the Free State in 2022 including the murder of a police officer. The injured suspects were found in possession of suspected stolen money, a rifle and a pistol.
For background on the whole “neighborhood watch” thing, read the full report.
So to summarize:
Asshole criminals with AK-47s: 1
Trained Afrikaners with pistols: 4, plus 3 wounded and the rest captured.
I don’t know the full details, but the farmer’s dogs were likely a mixture of Boerboels and Ridgebacks.
Yeah, I’d pretty much give up, too.
We may now begin the 
As Jeff Cooper correctly observed:
“If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.”
now if only the carcasses of the perpetrators could only be put on display as a deterrent to others planning such crimes, it would be a completely happy ending
JQ
I have a feeling that if the farmers had gone Old School and used Mauser rifles, there would have been no survivors among the goblins, and it would have been over in a lot less than 20 minutes.
Armed with long guns and losing a shootout to a bunch of farmers armed with pistols. I’m going to go with…marksmanship driven by “style points” vs trained, serious people.
As someone said once (Colonel Cooper?), You can’t miss fast enough to win.”
Those Ridgebacks are handsome dogs. When I get back to a place with enough room for a dog bigger than a babe in arms, that’s on my list. My brother would probably prefer I get a Dobie, but he’ll have to pony up something to influence my decision.