Veteran gospel singer Sipho Makhabane is grateful to be alive after gunmen robbed and hijacked him while at a traffic light in Johannesburg CBD. Fondly known as Big Fish,he tells ZiMoja that he let his guard down when a car with blue lights stopped next to him near Booysens in Johannesburg. But the men turned out to be robbers who were driving in two cars.

HIJACKING

He says he thought he was safe as the car that had stopped next to his belonged to the police. "I thought it was law enforcement but it turned out to be robbers disguised as police. The supposed officers stopped me and Iasked that I get out of the car before another group of men in another car came and forced me to get into the vehicle with blue lights," he says. That is when he started being afraid and realised it could be a kidnapping. I was afraid. I asked them not to hurt me, I have a family. I don't think they recognised me," he adds.

ROBBED AND KIDNAPPED

Although he went unscathed because he co-operated with the robbers, the Calvery singer says the armed robbers managed to take his car and kept him hostage for three hours demanding money. "They wanted my bank pin and for me to withdraw money from my account. They said I needed to increase my limit on my banking app, which I did and they took everything from my account and left me stranded. They kept me there for more than three hours, so they could get all the money from my account." Makhabane says the incident has left him traumatised. "I prayed through the ordeal.I thought I would die; all I could do was pray."