There is no limit to the lengths some mothers would go to to protect their children, something a brave woman showed recently when she fought off intruders to keep herself and her children safe.
On Thursday, June 16 three Sotho-speaking men broke into the home of Zama Simelani, a mother from West Village, and she fought them off. She told the News that she had moved from KwaZulu-Natal to West Village with her husband. Unfortunately he died in 2018 and since then she, her four children and a grandchild were living in the house. There are large windows in her living room and back room.
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She explained that at about 21:05 she heard the sound of something breaking and upon realising that the sound did not come from her neighbours’ house, she checked her home. When she walked into the dining room she saw that lights were on in the back room.
“I realised it was happening here.”
The intruders had broken the window and entered through it, but Zama managed to lock the door between the back room and the living room with a J-lock. When Zama’s daughter asked what was happening she told her that there were people inside the house. After a few minutes she saw shadows moving around the house. By that time she had placed a wall unit in front of the large window in the living room to try and keep them out. But it did not work and the men broke the window and pushed past the wall unit.
“I realised they were coming in.”
The family’s phones were off due to a power issue and they could not call anyone.
“I rushed back and found my kids were awake.” She told them to go to her bedroom and huddle in the corner. When she saw the men coming down the hallway she closed her bedroom door and locked it. She got a knob kerrie and stood behind the door waiting for them.
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“They knew there were people inside, they checked the bedrooms.” When they got to her bedroom they kicked down the door.
I held my ground because I knew it was do or die.”
When an armed man put his hand through the door Zama hit him as hard as she could. The gun fell from the intruder’s hand and landed at her feet. She picked it up and the men ran. Zama fired three shots at them. One bullet hit a dining room chair, and another hit the wall close to the window through which they escaped. Zama said she did not know where the third bullet landed.
When she looked outside she noticed the men regrouping. Ten men were standing in the field outside her house. She was outnumbered, so she gathered her children and they ran out the front door into the street.
She knocked on many doors but no one opened for them. When a good Samaritan on his way to his night shift stopped, she asked him to please phone the police. But is was already too late as the men were running towards them. She pushed her children into the car and when her attackers grabbed Zama the man in the car drove off with her children.
I thank God for that gentleman, I don’t know his name. I needed to make sure that my kids were safe. That guy took them straight to the police station. I wish I could thank him because he did something that I did not think would happen. He saved my kids.”
Alone in the street with her attackers she was ordered to give back their gun. They forced her back to her house where they told her to jump over the fence. She believed they wanted to take her into the field at the back of the house.
“There they’d just do whatever they want – they could rape you, they could kill you. I knew if I jumped I was not coming back.” So she told them it was too high for her to jump.
They asked for the key of the gate and she told one of the men she would show him where it was. She made the man walk in front and as soon as it was safe to get away she ran to one of the outside rooms. There she barricaded herself inside with mattresses and bed bases, found a knife and waited for them to come in.
“I realised that once they break this door, they were going to finish me. I knew my kids were safe so now I had to protect myself.”
The men continued to shout at her and periodically came back to try and break through the door. Eventually her daughter brought the police and when Zama saw the blue lights she knew she was safe.
“And that is how I was rescued.”
She said it was no longer safe for her and her children in their home.
I am leaving, I am taking my kids home. I have been here, telling myself that it was going to be fine, maybe things would get better. We kept on receiving messages on the groups about people getting attacked by zama zamas but it never happened to me. Now that they came into my house, I am no longer safe. I don’t feel safe.”
