A man in his late 20s was seriously injured after he was stabbed in a street fight on Monday afternoon, after two groups of friends were involved in a brawl .

The incident, which had another man from the other group running for his dear life after being stoned in revenge, happened in the heart Thohoyandou central business area. Eyewitnesses said a man from one group stabbed another with a beer bottle after an argument, not far from where they were drinking.

It is alleged the one man, who is believed to be a Zimbabwean, had a lot of money after working as a transporter of goods that people buy at shops. The other man is believed to be a local and is alleged to have tried to rob the Zimbabwean, whereupon a struggle ensued, leading to the stabbing of the Zimbabwean.

The Zimbabwean, who was bleeding profusely, called for help from his friends, who quickly grouped themselves and went straight to the man who had stabbed their friend. A further argument ensued and, on realizing that the Zimbabweans meant business, he ran away, with the group of about four Zimbabweans in hot pursuit.

They caught up with the suspect next to a busy fast food outlet, where he was stoned. All hell broke loose, with late commuters having to duck from the raining stones, which left some of the vehicles damaged.

The man tried to ward off the stones by using a plank, but all they wanted was to kill him to avenge the damage he had caused to their friend. Sensing that it might be his last day on earth, the suspect ran like lightning while the Zimbabweans were still arguing with a man whose car was damaged by stones during the commotion.

After the argument , the Zimbabwean group went looking for the suspect, who had by then vanished into thin air. They retreated in the direction of Maniini, but not long afterward they were surrounded by police after they were pointed out as the ones who had damaged the car at the taxi rank.

The badly injured man explained that he was supposed to be the one opening a case as he is the victim. He alleged the man who had pointed out their group was biased against them as they were foreigners, thereby leaving the real culprit who had stabbed him and damaged the cars.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Captain Mashudu Malelo said there had not been any report about the incident.