Money, money, money...
2007-01-24 23:34
Johannesburg - Motorists in rush-hour traffic on the N3 near Germiston on Wednesday could hardly believe their eyes when a shower of "R100 notes" rained from the sky.
"People thought it was real money. They jumped out of their cars and stuffed their pockets as quickly as possible," said Billy Rendall of Bedfordview.
The "money cloud" was blown across a distance of about 500m between the Van Buuren off-ramp and the Geldenhuys interchange.
Rendall was on his way to work about 08:00 when he nearly crashed into a lorry in front of him.
"The lorry driver stopped in the middle of the highway, jumped out, and went hunting for money.
"Other people drove slowly in their bakkies and tried to grab as many R100 notes as possible.
Hour-long traffic jam
Inspector Jimmy Maboko of Ekurhuleni metro police said the notes caused chaos and brought traffic to a standstill for about an hour.
"When we arrived on the N3, we quickly realised that the notes were counterfeit," said Maboko.
"Most of the fake notes were recovered, although some people did drive off before we could collect their 'money'," he said.
Neither the metro police nor SAPS could say on Wednesday where the notes came from.
Maboko said: "There were thousands of rands in counterfeit notes, but no containers that could give us a clue about their origin."