Retired SAP colonel Johannes Hermanus 72 -- still fighting crime -- survives ten gunshots, Valley Road, Waterfall, Durban
journalist: Stephen Clark The Mercury, (sourced from July 8 2013 - Eblockwatch
KwaZuluNatal A retired police colonel had 10 shots fired at him when he challenged thieves who were breaking into his neighbour’s Valley Road home in Waterfall, Durban yesterday.
Johannes Hermanus, 72, a former dog handler and head of the police’s emergency 10111 line, was unhurt, but he said afterwards that he had wished he was “a bit thinner”, like his former partner, Vincent Mazibuko, so that he would be a smaller target.
Hermanus said he had been chatting to another neighbour, a Mr Khumalo, about the two German Shepherds that were poisoned less than a kilometre a way last week.
They had just finished talking when he heard a bang from over the road and went to investigate.
A grey Audi was parked outside the house where four men were trying to force open the gate.
He asked the men what they were doing but they ignored him.
“I went back inside, told my wife Lorna to call the police, and grabbed my gun.”
When he went back to investigate, the car had “disappeared” and the gate was open.
The car was parked at the bottom of his neighbour’s driveway which was steep. The house alarm went off and he spotted the men breaking open the kitchen door.
“They were busy loading computers in the car,” he recalled.
He shouted: “Stop! What are you doing?”
Hermanus said the gang had panicked when he shouted and one drew a gun and shot at him.
“I shot back and dived to the ground for cover,” he said The men jumped back into their car, abandoned some of their loot and drove out with their heads covered.
Hermanus fired eight times and he believes he hit one of the robbers who, despite being wounded, escaped with the others.
The gunfire lasted for two minutes and at least 10 shots were fired at him. Hermanus, who once led anti-drug operations in Durban, said today’s criminals were brazen and did not hesitate to kill.
He retired in 1993 with heart complications. Yesterday, he said, there was no time to be afraid.
“I couldn’t let them do as they please. My neighbour needed help.
“They did not hesitate to shoot at me. All four of them had guns with bullets.”
Fortunately, nobody was home at the time of the robbery.
He said memories of a shootout he and Mazibuko had been involved in in the ’90s in uMbumbulu, involving six robbers, came flooding back.
“I never thought this would happen to me again after retiring.”
His neighbours thanked him but declined to speak to The Mercury.
Karen Buxton, the head of Reaction Waterfall Three, a community protection group, hugged Hermanus and praised his bravery.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said no arrests had been made. He commended Hermanus’s bravery, describing him as a “hero” who was committed to fighting crime even though he was retired.
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