A Zimbabwean mother and son – in Polokwane to apply for South African residency – were attacked by panga-wielding robbers on Thursday.
Footage of the attack went viral on Facebook this week‚ and shows Jeanette van Vuuren and her son Tony grappling with two assailants in a petrol station forecourt. The men had been after money in a moon bag on Van Vuuren’s waist.
Her brother‚ Bruce van Vuuren‚ said that pair had crossed into South Africa by bus and arrived in Polokwane in the early hours of the morning.
“They were coming to the Department of Home Affairs to apply for residency because our mother was born here. They landed up at the garage and they were attacked by the men…they were after her money‚” he said.
Van Vuuren said that his nephew was badly injured in the assault‚ having sustained cuts to his arms.
Police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said that he had received word of the incident but that investigators had not yet viewed the footage.
