Master photographer Moses Sabase, popularly known as Sabase or Kalito, must be very thankful after surviving a brutal attack at the hands of ruthless thugs. The incident happened at Maniini at a notorious spot next to Maguluvheni last week on Friday.

Sabase (34) of Maniini Ha Tshikovha said he was accompanying a friend at about 22:00 when he was accosted by three armed bandits. “I am a resident of this area. I know all the crime hotspots, and I always try to avoid them, but the road I chose was the wrong one that night,” he said. He added that he deliberately did not use the busy tavern road as he suspected that he might meet some thugs, waiting to waylay victims in order to mug them.

“I was passing behind the tavern when, suddenly out of the blue, three men appeared and halted me with knives. Before I could realize what was happening, they were all over, me searching me for my money and all my valuables,” added Sabase. He said they wrestled with him, with one grabbing his hands and the other gripping his legs, so that he could not fight back.

“I tried to resist, but this incensed them. They stabbed me several times, with one blow to my finger and another serious blow to my shoulder, but the worst cut was on my back,” he said. He said they searched him before relieving him of R700 in cash and a cell phone and then fleeing the scene.

“I sought help from passersby who took me to the police station, but they could not take me to the hospital as I was bleeding profusely. They arranged an ambulance, which took me to the hospital where I was treated but hospitalized for a week. They nearly killed me. Just imagine three men, all with knives, cornering you with nowhere to run to. I have never been so frightened,” he said.

Sabase is making an appeal to the community to expose criminals in their midst. “What type of people are we who keep quiet when people are being robbed and mugged on a daily basis by people we know? Let us uproot them from amongst ourselves, and our villages will be a better place to live in,” he said.