By Lungi Langa
What was supposed to be a normal day for gogos to collect their old age grant ended up dramatically when armed men stormed a Post Office and held staff at gunpoint in Lamontville township, KwaZulu-Natal.
The robbers demanded that the workers open the safe and took the money.
But they didn’t get far. The elderly heroically chased the robbers and managed to apprehend two men.
However, one of the robbers who had a gun and the cash managed to make a run for it with an undisclosed amount of cash.
While the elderly escaped unscathed, the experience of the day is still hard to get over.
One elderly woman who claims to have heard the commotion from her home while planning to join the queue to get a grant for her sister who is disabled said they are still in shock.
The woman who asked not to be named as she feared for her safety said it was around 10am when something burst inside the post office.
“Everyone thought the men who came in wearing masks were there to help. It was only after someone recognised a gun on one of them when it was realised they were not there to help,” said the woman.
In one of the voice notes and videos, community members are heard asking why the two suspects are being whisked away by police vans instead of being let go so the community could deal with them.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Nqobile Gwala said there were about 200 elderly people who waited patiently for their pension pay-outs when the gunmen entered the Post Office.
“Unfortunately the suspect who was carrying cash and had a firearm managed to flee the scene into the bushes. No shots were fired and no injuries were reported,” said Gwala.
She said the suspects aged 26 and 28 were arrested and would appear before the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of business robbery.
Image source: @TimesLive
