Community Guardians leader breaks silence on Alexandra shooting
“I got shot in the leg, it has a lot of holes, and my bone was shattered,” recalls Zandile Mojapelo, who spent nearly a month in the hospital after a brutal attack on 2nd Avenue.
Public Safety official and provincial Community Guardians leader Zandile Mojapelo has spoken out since surviving a violent attack in Alexandra last month.
Mojapelo, who was discharged from the hospital less than two weeks ago, sustained serious head and leg injuries after being shot by armed assailants on 2nd Avenue on September 6. She had gone to the area to deliver reflector vests to patrollers who were working at a local function.
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“I got injured on the head, I had scans, and I’m still being treated,” she said. “I got shot in the leg, it has a lot of holes, and my bone was shattered. They [doctors] had to do a bone graft to make me a new bone.”
The attack has left her unable to walk and with a huge financial burden. She said her in-hospital medical aid covered fees associated with her hospitalisation, leaving her to pay out-of-pocket for costly prescriptions after she was discharged.
“My medication is very expensive. On Monday, I met with three doctors and got three different prescriptions. Just one cost R2 100, I couldn’t buy other medication.”
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Reflecting on the night of the attack, she said that while walking with a colleague, she noticed a group of men on 2nd Avenue walking suspiciously. “They weren’t walking like normal people. They were on the sides of the road, and when the person I was with tried to quickly open the gate, everything happened.”
She said the men were looking for their phones, and they were all armed. “When I turned, I realised they had pointed a firearm at the person behind me,” she recalled. Mojapelo was pistol-whipped and shot in the leg.
Despite the trauma, she’s finding strength in survival. “Speaking to a professional helped me understand that they took what they did, but they didn’t take my life.”
Two suspects who were arrested in connection with the attack appeared in the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court on October 7. Their case was postponed to October 20 to allow them to get state-appointed legal counsel.
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