WATCH: Security inspector recounts saving Mhlengi Gwala
Security inspector Themba Gumede describes how he helped a bleeding Mhlengi Gwala on Rick Turner (Francois) Road last week after the triathlete had been attacked with a saw. Picture: Bongani Mbatha/African News Agency(ANA) Security inspector Themba Gumede describes how he helped a bleeding Mhlengi Gwala on Rick Turner (Francois) Road last week after the triathlete had been attacked with a saw. Picture: Bongani Mbatha/African News Agency(ANA)
Durban - Triathlete Mhlengi Gwala was bleeding so much as he was transported to the hospital that the security inspector who came to his aid thought he would not make it.
“I thought he was dying. When we got to hospital and I put him in the wheelchair, I felt like he was fading. I told him ‘no baba, be strong’.
“He was badly injured, very, very bad,” said Themba Gumede.
The 35-year-old security inspector, who works for Fidelity Security, was driving on Rick Turner (Francois) Road en route to inspect a site when he unwittingly interrupted three people who were attempting to saw off Gwala’s legs.
It is believed the three stopped when they saw the headlights of the van that Gumede was driving.
On Wednesday, Gumede recounted the events after the attack last Tuesday.
“I saw a man standing on one leg, waving a torch. At first I thought it was the police... but when I got closer, I saw he had on a training kit, so I thought he had a cramp or something.”
Watch: Themba Gumede on how he helped Mhlengi Gwala after the #sawattack. @TheMercurySA pic.twitter.com/NXZGtVnAIG
— Nosipho S Mngoma (@Mzoeloe) March 15, 2018
When Gumede stopped, a limping Gwala opened the passenger door and tumbled into the passenger’s seat.
“He just fell onto my lap, crying ‘please take me to hospital’. I had to mind his head when I was changing gears.”
Gumede said throughout the short trip to the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Gwala was crying, saying he would not see his children grow up.
When they arrived, he was told to bring Gwala in on a wheelchair.
“I put my hands under his arms and lifted him into the wheelchair.
“He was asking for water, so I thought maybe he was dehydrated because he bled so much,” said Gumede.
He left Gwala in hospital about two hours later.
He said he had planned to visit him, but heard in the news he had been transferred to another hospital which wasn’t named.
“That’s when I started to learn he was well known. But for me, I helped a person who needed it; it made no difference who he was. When you help someone, you don’t do it because you expect someone will do something for you and thank you.
“I did it because it was instinctual to help. That is how I was brought up, that is how my family is. For me, the glory was in helping that man, not the praise now.”
On Sunday, Gumede visited the triathlete in hospital, where he was warmly received by Gwala’s grateful family.
“He was startled when they told him who I was, because he was in so much pain that night he didn’t recognise me.
“He was emotional and thanked me. I just wish for him to recover.
“He is my brother, I am his brother and I want him to get through this and still have a good future in his sport,” said Gumede.