Maternal instinct made a mother take the harrowing decision of throwing her daughter to safety off a ledge close to a high-rise burning building set ablaze by looters at ground level amid widespread violence in parts of South Africa.
A petrified 26-year-old Naledi Manyoni held her head in shock as she released her grip on the 2-year-old girl after she made her way to the first floor of the building with the hope that bystanders would catch her.
“They kept screaming ‘throw her,’” she said of the rescuers, adding that she had to concede because leaving her baby behind was not an option for her.
The footage of the scene showing the brave mother, who told reporters she lived on the 16th floor of the building with her fiancé, has since caught online frenzy.
“After throwing her, I held my head in shock, but they caught her,” Reuters reported Ms. Manyoni as saying outside the building as her daughter, dressed in a red coat and hood, sat on her shoulders.
“She kept saying, ‘Mama you threw me down there.’ She was scared,” she added as the girl babbled and clapped her hands.
“What was important was for my daughter to be out of that situation… I couldn’t escape alone and leave her behind,” she noted.
It was one of countless scenes that have left South Africans in shock after six days of looting and arson in Johannesburg and KwaZulu Natal.
Seventy-two people have died and more than 1,200 people arrested, according to official figures, since former president Jacob Zuma began a 15-month jail term, sparking protests that swiftly turned violent.
Looting has hit supply chains and transport links especially in the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, impacting goods and services around the country.
The government said 208 incidents of looting and vandalism were recorded Wednesday, as the number of troops deployed doubled to 5,000.
President Cyril Ramaphosa met leaders of political parties and cautioned that parts of the country “may soon be running short of basic provisions following the extensive disruption of food, fuel and medicine supply chains”.
State-owned logistics operator Transnet declared a “force majeure” on Wednesday — an emergency beyond its control — on a key rail line that links Johannesburg to the coast because of the unrest.
In the port city of Durban, hundreds of people queued outside food stores hours before they opened, as lines of cars also formed outside fuel stations, an AFP photographer saw.
Ada Peter
