DURBAN - TWENTY-SEVEN years ago Adhir Ramsamujh was a newborn in a Durban hospital when South Africa had its first democratic election on April 27.
Adhir and others born on the day became known as Freedom Day babies. On Monday, as voters head to the polls, he is in hospital having fluid drained from his left lung after being shot in a home invasion in Sea Cow Lake on Thursday. He will not be able to vote.
His father Suren Ramsamujh, 58, was reversing out of their driveway when two cars blocked his path. His wife Rekha said eight men, some armed, got out of the cars and rushed on to the property. She said they assaulted her husband severely. They forced him to open the gate and door to the house. The men ransacked the house taking items of value.
“Adhir and I were in the same room. I stepped out to bring my other child inside to safety. Adhir screamed and then we heard a bang. A gunman, we presume, was standing outside his room window, and shot him at close range. The bullet went through Adhir. We later found the bullet on the bed. We are still traumatised.”
The family were undecided on whether they would vote or not.
“What kind of democracy do we live in? We were supposed to be living in harmony and not engaging in crime. What change have we seen since 1994? I’ve lived here for 48 years. Kenville and Sea Cow Lake have deteriorated dramatically. Informal settlements have encroached on every piece of land. Theft of water and electricity is rife. We have frequent power outages.”
Adhir, who is studying phlebotomy (the drawing of blood for procedures), was featured in the Daily News in 1995 when he turned one. The same birthday as South Africa’s democracy.
No arrests have yet been made.
Meanwhile, Ungakhohlwa Alfon Zulu, 76, is due in the Greytown Magistrate’s Court on November 19 over the murder of farmer Ajay Haripersad, 58. He was shot and killed last Sunday.
Haripersad was a sugar cane farmer. He had taken two employees to round up cattle that had strayed on to his plantation. Zulu handed himself over to police after the shooting. He was released on R1 000 bail.
Daily News