Paintball guns and golf clubs as Durban residents fight back

Residents of Durban suburbs under threat are forming human chains and arming themselves to protect lives and property.

From Overport and Reservoir Hills to Malvern, Ballito and Phoenix, they have drawn clear lines and have banded together to keep looters and protesters at bay.

Imtiaz Syed, of private security company eThekwini Secure, said residents were trying to reclaim their streets after a night of looting and violence.

He said they were assisting police and security firms.

“We started in Alpine Road, Overport, last night, where we drew a line. We went to Reservoir Hills, where we mobilised the community to draw a line as well. We were called out to Sydenham police station, where we got a report of a threat.

“We mobilised the community of Asherville as well, to assist in holding a line there as well. They formed a human shield in front of the police station.

“The same thing has happened in many areas.”

Syed said residents of Sydenham and Overport formed a human shield on Monday to keep opportunists at bay.

“They are holding a line there with some barbed wire. There is SAPS in attendance, but the numbers are very few.

“We also trying to get food to nurses stuck at hospitals, who can’t leave and need something to eat. 

“We have paintball guns and rubber bullets. A mosque has been burnt in the Bellair area.

“We are in a proper state of anarchy. We should be doing what Swaziland did by shutting down the internet completely. One area is looking at what the other is doing and now we just have opportunistic criminality. The SANDF needs to lock down everything and bring back normality.”

The fightback campaign came as wave after wave of looting and vandalism exhausted private security companies and stretched police to the limit. 

On Monday the SANDF announced it would deploy army personnel to Gauteng and KZN. 

Residents at a flat complex in Eastbury, Phoenix, fought off invaders who entered their premises on Monday.

One resident who did not want to identified related what unfolded.

“A large group of protesters, who tried to loot a nearby garage but were unsuccessful, entered our complex in Eastbury Phoenix.

“But residents were ready for them.

“Residents grabbed on to whatever they had at home, from golf clubs to sticks and even kitchen knives.

“They managed to chase the group out, but the same group has surrounded the complex.

“It is terrifying. We are actually sitting ducks.

“But I think people are fed up because this is the first time residents are actually standing up. We now have to wait to see what happens next, but the residents have formed a human wall to make sure no-one gets in.”

A Phoenix community activist took to Facebook to encourage residents to arm themselves and gather at hotpots in the area to form human chains to only allow emergency services and residents into the sprawling north Durban suburb.

“We need to now form what is called a civil defence force ... Sadly the police are under-resourced and they can’t manage themselves.”