‘Leaving a war zone’: refugees from KZN tell of the horrors they escaped

“It was like leaving a war zone. I have never seen anything like that before, and I won’t be going back for a long time, which is sad,” said Joburg businessman Kabelo Zondo on his return from battle-scarred KwaZulu-Natal.

Zondo works for Transnet and spends Mondays to Fridays in the coastal province, returning home to Joburg for the weekends. But after his experience there last week, and making it onto an evacuation flight out of Durban’s King Shaka International Airport, he has no intention of going back any time soon.

“Infrastructure, development, industry ... everything will be on hold for a long time,” he said.

Zondo flew into Durban last Monday, having been unable to book a direct flight to Richards Bay, where he was based.

“I landed at 8am and I couldn’t even leave the airport. Eventually I got a hire car and tried to drive out over rubble and around rocks. There were children of about 10, 12 years old stoning cars. It was madness,” he said.

Last year the military was out chasing people off the beaches. This time when there was real trouble, there was nothing. No teargas or riot units when there was all-out war.

—  Stefan Wynne-Jones

He made his way onto the N2 highway where he saw a motorist with a shattered windscreen and slowed to help. But he realised the damage had been caused by a rock thrown from overhead and he too was now a target.

“I managed to dodge them and got through with a only a few scratches.”

Zondo stayed booked into a hotel in Richards Bay, but found there was no access to food supplies and no petrol. By Friday the situation had calmed a bit and he felt ready to return to the airport and get a flight home with charter flight company CemAir.

“The queue for petrol at the garage on the N2 must have been 5km long. People were out with jerry cans. It was like something you would see on TV,” he said.

Another passenger on the flight to Joburg was Stefan Wynne-Jones from Devon in the UK, who was on holiday with his family. Wynne-Jones and his wife both grew up in Johannesburg, but have lived in the UK for 20 years. They were on holiday with their 13-year-old twin sons.

“We came in from England and landed in Joburg on the Friday, but decided to escape Covid and headed straight to Durban where we booked into the good old Elangeni Hotel just as the situation was starting to unravel,” he said.

He and his family, joined by his father and mother-in-law who lived nearby, decided to bunker down in the hotel as looting and raids went on outside. They were unable to go out, as local people set up road blocks and shops were stripped bare.

“Last year the military was out chasing people off the beaches. This time when there was real trouble, there was nothing. No teargas or riot units when there was all-out war,” he said, adding that a local Muslim group cam to their rescue by giving them a loaf of bread or bottle of milk through an underground help system.

“The twins just turned 13 and have never been exposed to anything like this. And the old man who lives here got quite teary, as we watched the country burning down in front of us — witnessing a whole lot more than was shown on TV. At one stage we drove to Umhlanga but everything was closed off. You just saw guys walking around with bloody shotguns,” said Wynne-Jones.

And so he took the decision to get his family back to Joburg on the CemAir evacuation flight. They are now staying with relatives in Joburg’s Steyn City. Their holiday is booked until mid-August, so they are hoping that they will be able to return to Durban before then.

“We are a well-travelled family. My children have been all over — Nicaragua, Ecuador, Machu Picchu, South America, you name it. But what we saw on this holiday — the looting, the queues, the very tough times — is not the sort of war story you plan for. But it has been good to see people come together and to believe again that people are inherently good. Things just get spoilt by the bad apples.”

First officer on the flight was Oral Roberts, who co-piloted the CemAir mission.

“Durban is a regular route on our scheduled operations, but every flight out is full of people evacuating,” he said, explaining that he had done two return flights to Durban on Friday.

“Normal days now involve flying packs of special cargo there — loaded as full as legally possible — and returning with people desperate to get safely away.

“I have family and friends who live there and they are going crazy. They can’t get hold of the basics. There is no bread, milk, baby formula or nappies. People queue for hours only to find out there’s nothing left,” said Roberts.

He said airports were busy, as many carriers were trying to deliver supplies to Durban. Flights now entailed crew members having to oversee loading operations before take-off, and then managing delivery on the other side.

“There is a backlog in Durban and the ground handling services are under huge pressure. I can’t imagine what kind of overtime those guys are putting in.”

Struck by the desperate need, Roberts is now joining up with friends who are coordinating some delivery trucks to do a road trip to take basic supplies to KZN people in need.

“It’s great to be able to play a small part,” he said.