'Angry mob tried to kill us'

The angry mob were shouting that they would kill us if we did not leave but our car was parked in and a sea of people had surrounded the vehicle.

The grating of metal on metal could be heard as the mob used crowbars to try to force our doors open. They were rocking the car and above their angry cries we heard the explosion of glass behind us as the back window shattered.

Minutes earlier I had been speaking to Mncedisi Twalo, the Anti-Eviction Campaign co-ordinator, about their plan to invade empty flats in Langa.

The mob, armed with hammers, pangas and crowbars chased him

What had started out as a tense standoff between two groups of people erupted into violence, and neither group wanted the media watching.

Seconds later I saw stones flying and people attacking each other. I ran for cover, ducking under a stairwell.

Photographer Daylin Paul had become separated from me. He had been following the mob taking pictures, and was now in the nearby Joe Slovo informal settlement, taking pictures of old women being hit and kicked. A man in a brown jacket saw him and ordered him to leave. The mob, armed with hammers, pangas and crowbars chased him.

"Adrenalin kicked in and I just ran. I thought they were going to kill us, I thought this was it," he said later.

Paul ran towards me and we jumped into the car. There was a police van parked in front and we decided to stick with it, thinking we would be safe with police protection. But there were only two policemen, loading injured people into the van, and they could not do anything to control the situation.

'I thought they were going to kill us, I thought this was it'

Paul was still taking pictures as the angry crowd formed around us, yelling at us in Xhosa to leave or they would hurt us.

I told Paul we had to make a plan quickly, but this was when we realised we were parked in. Paul, who was behind the wheel, said: "I remained calm because I knew we had to get out. I'm pretty sure they would have killed us, I could see the anger and rage in their eyes."

In the melee the car's immobiliser had fallen to the floor and Paul was scrabbling for it. By now the grating of the crowbars on our locked doors was terrifying.

Paul's cameras were on the back seat, containing their evidence of the violence we had witnessed.

The crowd was shouting, and hammer blows were raining on the vehicle's sides. I was panicking, but I did not dare show it. A stone hurtled through the air, smashed the passenger window and struck me on the shoulder.

I heard an explosion as the back window shattered. Glass was flying everywhere; my face was bleeding.

Paul got the car to start and mounted the curb in an attempt to get away, but the crowd did not step back.

Paul put his foot down and we went, tyres screeching, hooting and revving, as people scattered and more stones crashed into the car.

- Cape Argus

InternAfrica is dismayed at the treatment of the media. The media is the only grouping of people who actually make it out to the informal settlements to cover stories.

It is unacceptable that people attack reporters who are putting in time and effort in the informal settlement human habitat to bring us this plight. Much more than any politician can lay claim too.

As such turning on reporters, reporting on the human habitat is utterly unacceptable.