‘It felt like a violation’

“For a few minutes I couldn’t move, I just sat there on the side of the road in disbelief. I didn’t wear a wig for a week after that because I was paranoid and afraid that it would happen again. The experience felt like violation, because a hairpiece is an extension of yourself.” — Journalist Lwandile Bhengu, whose wig was stolen as she waited to cross a road in Durban city centre