“Toyi-toyi in Shaka’s Head bridge turns deathly.”

Stories:

'Toyi-toyi in Shaka’s Head bridge turns deathly.’

It’s Monday 9:28 in the morning on the 12th of July 2021, and I’m running for my life.
Bullets are flying all over and missing my head by a millimetre. I don’t duck; I just run.

Finally, I don’t hear any shots, so I stop running. My heart is pumping fast, but I am not scared.

I look around to check on everyone else: one of our men is wounded.
A bullet hit first the knife that he carries on his waist, and then it hit him; luckily, it only left a nasty bruise and a small puncture wound.

And just like that, I found myself caught up in the middle of a civil protest that went deadly very quickly.

Not long after moving away from the shooting rioters, more shots started coming from the bushes on the other side of the road. Some of us tried to take cover behind a car parked right in the direction from where the shots were coming; it all felt dangerously close.

“This car is not safe; bullets are coming under it.” someone shouted.

Seconds later, the brave team of private security members moved toward the armed rioters, and the shooting finally stopped.

On July 8th 2021, former president Jacob Zuma was arrested in relation to a 15-months prison term for contempt of court. Zuma repeatedly disobeyed a court order to testify in connexion to government corruption during his 2009-2018 presidency.

In 2016, during his presidency, Zuma was accused of receiving bribes from his former financial advisor. He was ordered to pay back millions of state money he used for personal use.

The former President also allegedly allowed the Gupta’s brothers — recently arrested in Dubai for their alleged involvement in a massive corruption scheme and looting of South African state money— to use their connection with the President to build wealth and ensure political power.

In response to Zuma’s imprisonment, a group of supporters of the former President allegedly started a wave of civil unrest.

The violent looting and arson gripped cities across South Africa, especially in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, resulted in over 350 deaths, and left hundreds bankrupt.

Many small businesses responsible for employing the locals are now utterly ruined; most did not have insurance.

“A calculated, orchestrated effort to destabilise the country, sabotage the economy, and undermine constitutional democracy,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa.

A public report released Monday on last year’s unrest found police failed to predict and respond to the deadly riots.

“There was a failure by intelligence structures to anticipate and respond adequately to the violence,” the report said. The police, meanwhile, had “insufficient capacity” to curb the unrest and were taken “by surprise” by the chaos.

Shaka’s Head mother, Smangele Dube, should have been celebrating the 19th birthday of her eldest son, a Sizani Combined School pupil Lwazi Dube today.

A chocolate cake and yoghurt were all Lwazi wished for his 18th birthday last year — instead, he was put in a coffin and buried.
At least two people died, and six sustained gunshot wounds during a protest on the morning of the 12th of July last year.

“A detective from SAPS Umhlali came to see me after I was notified of his death. The detective took my statement, but that was the last time I heard from him or anybody else,” said a grieving Dube. “I need to know what happened to my son, and I need justice for his death to get closure.”

“I told the police I could identify the man who killed my son. I saw him standing over m son’s body, and our eyes met,” cried Dube. “ He leaned over my son’s body and moved it.”

A year after his son’s death Dube went to the local newspapers to ask for help and see if they could find out anything about her son’s murder case.

The NorthCoastCourier published a short article on the story but was removed a few days later from social media platforms after several disrespectful and cruel comments from the community were posted on Facebook.

31st of July 2022 marks one year since Lwazi’s funeral, and no arrest has been made.

'uMhlanga Lagoon Deathly Waters’

On Friday 16th July, after hearing rumours that dead fish and crayfish were littering the uMhlanga Lagoon and beaches in uMhlanga and UmdIoti, I decided to drive to the area and find out what was happening.

At the entrance of the uMhlanga Lagoon, I met with Cllr. Rory Macpherson (DA) who’s trying very hard to assist and control the situation.

Mr Macpherson informed me that on Monday 12th July, the looting of a factory in the Cornubia area had led to multiple fires, including a warehouse [UPL] storing pesticides and other farming chemicals.

While the firefighters tried to fight the blaze started by riots, the polluted water ran down through stormwater drains reaching the river system and into the local uMhlanga Lagoon, killing all marine life.