Woman struck by stray bullet seeking justice

Durban mom says her life has been ‘hell’ and police have made no progress with her case

A DURBAN mother who was allegedly hit and badly injured by a stray bullet during a looting incident is still waiting for justice.

Mbali Gcabashe, 32, was wounded when she got out of a taxi in Isipingo in April. It is believed she was shot as security guards trying to protect a truck that was being ransacked fired to disperse the looters.

She has had three operations after the bullet left 11 puncture wounds in her abdomen. She also lost her job at a leading retailer because of the incident and is on the verge of being blacklisted as she cannot pay her debts.

Gcabashe said she did her own investigation because police had made no progress on her case. “I am angry, frustrated and miserable. I didn’t know what happened to me and only started asking when I realised the police were not interested,” she said.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said police were investigating a case of attempted murder and the investigating officer had been in contact with Gcabashe – although she denies this.

Describing the incident, Gcabashe said she had been on her way to do grocery shopping and was getting out of the taxi when she heard gunshots.

“I was thinking, ‘why am I not moving and panicked like everyone else?’ I felt flushed and saw blood on the left side of my body,” she said.

She remembers collapsing as people flocked around her. She said her sister-in-law, who worked in the area, rushed to her and said she would call someone to take her to the hospital.

“I remember being put into a taxi and taken to hospital. That’s the last thing I remember before waking up in hospital the next day after my first operation.”

Since then, Gcabashe said her life has been “hell”. She was discharged after 15 days and spent two days in her grandmother’s Pietermaritzburg home before her second operation.

She said she had to be operated on for the third time as septicaemia started to set in to her wounds.

“There was complication after complication. I have been through a lot and, right now, life doesn’t seem worth living because those who are responsible and those who are meant to investigate are treating me as if I don’t deserve justice,” she said.

In August, Gcabashe began piecing together what transpired on the day she was shot. She spoke to people who helped her and eventually spoke to Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) as she suspected it was one of their guards who shot her.

However, the director of Rusa, Prem Balram, said they had conducted an internal investigation.

Balram said a Rusa guard had been accompanying the truck, but his firearm and ammunition was accounted for.

“We investigated the matter at length. We do welcome a further investigation by the authorities and they are welcome to take the firearm for a ballistics test,” he said.

Balram said their investigation also revealed that other security companies and police were called to the scene of the looting and Gcabashe may have been shot by the police or another company’s guard.