All hell breaks loose over roosterbrood

A FIGHT over cold roosterbrood at a church fundraiser ended with a woman being rushed to Livingstone Hospital after she was stabbed in the neck with a fork by another congregant.

Nokuzola Mati, 50, appeared in the New Brighton Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm after the attack on Phathiswa Mazwi, 32.

Mati was arrested on Monday and released on warning yesterday pending further investigation.

Mazwi – who said she had been getting threats from fellow churchgoers since the incident at the Old Apostolic Church in Nikiwe Street, New Brighton, on Sunday – decided to drop the charges yester- day after congregants spent four hours at her home on Monday night, trying to convince her to do so.

“To cut this whole thing short, I decided to drop the charges for the sake of my children and my safety,” she said.

“I got really scared because of the threats I received. I don’t want to die because I’m still young and so are my children. I’m just thankful that I escaped with my life.

“I feared for my life and also did not want to create further bad blood with people I considered my family here in PE.”

The mother of two children, aged five and 15, said she was not sure why Mati had attacked her.

Mazwi said they had become involved in an altercation over cold roosterbrood that Mati had sold to her.

She had sent a child to buy

her the bread, which was sold as part of the fundraiser for a trip to Humansdorp.

She claimed the child had been short-changed and she had sent her back to query it. “The roosterbrood was cold and almost burnt so I went to try to swap it and get the correct change.

“He [the vendor] told me that mama Mdekazi [as Mati is known] had sold them to him and I went to her to try to exchange it,” she said.

“Another woman was next to her and she gave me some money and said I would get the rest when they resold the roosterbrood. Later, as I was packing up to leave, she attacked me.”

Mazwi alleged that Mati had hauled her up from her seat by the neck and yanked her church blouse over her head, before slapping her around and beating her with her fists.

“I heard people intervening and shouting for her to stop and something inside me said ‘duck’, and as I did, I felt something [jab me] in my neck.

“It wasn’t a deep cut, but I shudder to think what could have happened if I hadn’t ducked.”

Attempts to obtain comment from Mati and church members were unsuccessful.