This woman was a matchstick away from death when she was rescued from an angry crowd that wanted to burn her.
As a resident from Vosloorus she said her uncle, with whom she lived, died in September.
After his funeral in September, she said, his girlfriend allegedly organised community members to evict her.
She said she was at her uncle’s house when a group of men and women arrived.
“One woman asked me to come out. When I refused, they dragged me out. They forced me to kneel. They beat me up and destroyed my belongings in the house. They also stole some of my stuff,” she said.
The woman said one of the leaders put a tyre around her neck and the other one brought five litres of petrol.
She said the group said they would burn her alive if she didn’t give them her uncle’s death certificate.
She said the cops saved her and took the tyre off her neck.
“I don’t have my uncle’s documents. My mother, who lives in Soweto, owns the house. She took everything the day my uncle died.
“I don’t know why I was punished.
“I lost everything and was badly assaulted. I didn’t deserve it.”
She said the community had been threatening to kill her.
“I live in fear. My five children and I are not safe.
She said one of the people who beat her up had moved into the house.
“I had to sleep in the bush for two days before someone took me into her one-room shack.”
The woman said the shack owner gave her until this month end to move out. “I have nowhere to go with my children.”
She opened the case with the police.
Sergeant Rufus Tema of Katlehong police said cops were investigating cases of assault, intimidation and malicious damage to property.
He said five suspects were arrested on Thursday and were being held in police cells. They were expected to appear in Palm Ridge Magistrates Court yesterday.
