Gone in 60 hours: The curious case of the stolen grader

Updated Sept. 1, 2025, 8 a.m. | By East Coast Breakfast / Skyye Ndlovu

If you thought hijacking cars was bold, someone just stole a grader machine (yes, the massive slow yellow one)

Picture this: a grader machine the size of a small house… gone. Vanished. Stolen.

Now, we know cars get hijacked, maybe a bakkie here and there, but a grader?

That’s not just a crime, it’s a comedy sketch waiting to happen.

According to IOL, Umdoni Municipality is reeling after their grader machine (the giant, yellow, slow-as-molasses-on-a-winter-morning road flattener) was stolen.

Nobody knows how. Nobody knows where, and frankly, nobody knows why.

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Mayor Mbali Cele-Luthuli is not laughing though. She strongly condemned the theft, calling it a direct hit on service delivery in rural areas.

To make things worse, during the heist, a municipal employee was allegedly assaulted. Thankfully, he escaped with only minor injuries and is on the mend.

Although let’s circle back to the main question: how do you steal something that moves slower than an elderly woman crossing the street with a walking stick?

You don’t just sneak off into the night with a grader like it’s a handbag. Did they push it? Tow it?

Or (my personal theory) did they just drive it off casually, waving at people along the way?

The municipality has since opened a theft case at Umkomaas SAPS and is appealing to the community to help track down the missing machine.

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If you spot something very, very big, very, very yellow, and taking three hours to travel one kilometre, it might just be the fugitive grader.

Mayor Cele-Luthuli put it best: criminals who pull stunts like this are not just robbing the municipality; they’re slowing down development for communities that need these services most.

In the meantime, if anyone offers you a “slightly used grader” at a discount price - run.