“I saw death coming” - Elmon Tshikhudo

I cannot tell whether it was a coincidence or not.

I had just returned from Donald Fraser Hospital where I had covered a story of a livestock herder, Tenious Chihari, who had survived an attack by an angry leopard.

I was then asked to cover the protests at Univen. The protests were sparked by the death of a masters degree student, who died while waiting for an ambulance from the campus clinic.

Before heading for the campus, I tried on several occasions to call student leader Uhuru Mofokeng, but in vain. As it was a student protest, the right person to explain about the protest was the president of the SRC, but he ignored me and also insulted me for no apparent reason. When I arrived on campus, I tried calling him again, but he chose to ignore my calls.

Maybe it was just a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I arrived just when the students were howling at the management who were trying to address them at the main gate. They were later escorted to their cars without addressing the students.

As I was taking photographs, a man came running to me and told me we should run away. Still confused and not knowing what was actually going on, I let the man take me by the hand, while others tried to wrestle the camera from me. We ran as far as we could. Looking back, I saw a huge crowd of angry students, some holding sticks, some pelting us with stones. Some were shouting that I should be killed, with some saying that they wanted my camera.

Fearing that we might not make it away from the mob, the man took whatever I was holding and tried to calm the mob by telling them that he had taken my diary with my notes and my camera.

Two men unknown to me, who were parked not far from the gate, took me in the back of their bakkie and whisked me away. The angry students tore the sail that was at the back of the bakkie.

It was really a terrifying experience. In a normal situation, I just know myself as a person who cannot run, but that day I outran the angry students. The experience has left a wound in my heart that will take a long time to heal. I have worked with Univen students for many years and I take them as my brothers and sisters.

I was so scared. I stared certain death in the face and I can still see them coming at me like a pack of wild dogs.

It is part of the job. I have seen so many dreadful scenes, and this happened just after I had interviewed a survivor who told me he had seen death but had fought back and survived.

With me it was a different story, because I did not know that I was under attack. I thank God for saving my life but a luta continua.

News - Date: 17 April 2014

Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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