A brave 72-year-old ouma fought off her attacker when he tried to stab and rob her.
Gafsa Vermeulen of Woodlands, Mitchells Plain, says her years of fighting and quick thinking helped her to save her pension money.
The partially deaf grandmother says her instincts kicked in when a man approached her while she walking from Athlone Civic Centre last Monday after collecting her pension.
"I was walking towards the bus stop and although I cannot hear properly, I heard footsteps behind me," she says.
The grandmother of eight explains that she did not keep quiet when she realised she was going to be robbed by a man 50 years younger than her.
"I told him, 'vir wat follow jy 'n ou vrou?' (Why are you following an old lady?) and then he said to me, 'jy trek nog slim'," (Don't get smart with me) she says.
"I told him, 'f*k jou en wat wil jy try' (F*** you and what you're trying to do)."
The grandmother says she wasn't going to allow a "snotgat laaitie" (a little brat) to rob her of her pension money and decided to stand her ground.
"He took out his knife and lifted his arm into the air," she says.
"I grabbed his arm quickly and skopped (kicked) him on his ankles.
"The knife fell to the ground and as another man passed us, the jong ou ran away."
Vermeulen says this is the first time anyone has attempted to attack her.
"I've always been an old fighter and I would never allow anyone to rob me. I picked up the knife and I got into the taxi," she says.
And Vermeulen's younger sibling Amina Smith, 67, says her sister always did have a fighting spirit.
"She doesn't stand back for anything," says Amina.
"If that man didn't run, Gafsa would have stabbed him in the eye with his own knife."
She says she didn't lay a charge and has decided to keep the knife as a souvenir. - Daily Voice