Brave Pretoria woman dodges bullets in dramatic showdown with car hijackers

Not all heroes wear capes; sometimes they're just ordinary people who are willing to put their lives on the line to help others.

Sitting in Pretoria morning traffic, Mpho Nefuri didn't think anything of it when she saw some men jumping into the VW Polo in front of her. She thought they were just catching a lift.

But unbeknown to Mpho (44) she was in the middle of a hijacking.

When a taxi driver alerted her to the fact that the car was being hijacked, she sprang into action.

"I saw that the driver was alone in front, which meant that the other guys were at the back. I hooted and shouted, 'Release the driver! Take the car and release the driver!'.”

Mpho recalls noticing that one of the guys was wearing a balaclava and the car chase began.

One of the alleged hijackers shot Mpho’s windscreen, but instead of scaring her off, it just made her more determined to stop them.

“That’s when I knew that this was war, so I’m not backing off."

The shots continued.

“I started taking videos just so there is evidence of how I died.”

Mpho, who is an attorney, couldn't see whether the driver was male or female. All she was aiming for at that point was to ensure they were not harmed.

“Humanity, according to my definition, is doing what is good. And I had to do what I had to do at that moment, without even thinking twice about the consequences of what could happen to me," she says.

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When the hijackers realised she wasn’t backing down, they abandoned the car and made their way to a getaway car waiting for them further down the road.

As they fled, one of the hijackers with a gun came back on foot and started shooting at her. Mpho thinks that this must have been an act to distract her and buy more time.

When it was safe to do so, Mpho approached the car and asked the driver, Agreement Mathebula, what had happened. He told her that the hijackers had forced him to give them his banking pin, them made him open his banking apps so they could take all his money.

Mpho says that her family wasn't impressed by her actions, but she believes all that matters is that she is alive and managed to save someone. (PHOTO: Supplied)

Mpho says her wife, Thandeka Nefuri (43), was the first person she called after the ordeal.

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The couple have three kids: twin daughters, Denga and Muofhe (23), and a son, Siphosethu (15).

In addition to being an attorney, Mpho, who grew up in Limpopo, is also an advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community and assists children in need through the Nefuri Foundation.

She says it's just in her nature to reach out and help when she sees someone in trouble. Even though her family weren't impressed about how she put her life at risk, Mpho has no regrets about what she did. 

“They keep saying I could have been killed and they said I should never do that again. But to me, it’s a sign that I was supposed to be there because I was not killed. My actions that day saved that guy and myself.”

EXTRA SOURCES: CITIZEN.CO.ZA,BUSINESSTECH.CO.ZA,CITYPRESS