KATLEHONG MASS SHOOTING: Girl, 11, who survived mass shooting still has bullet lodged near her spine

It had been an ordinary Tuesday. Eleven-year-old Grace Ndlovu* had returned from school that afternoon and eaten lunch before going to buy sweets at a spaza shop around the corner from her home.

Just before 6pm, her grandmother, Queen Mkhonto, heard gunshots. The sound startled those inside the house.

Grace was at the shop when she heard the gunfire. She didn’t see what had happened but realised she had been shot.

ANC Youth League members were attending a memorial nearby. As people scattered, Grace noticed that a 14-year-old boy had also been wounded.

“I saw that he was bleeding and realised the bullet went in his hand and came out the other side,” the child recalled.

Katlehong community members are still reeling from the mass shooting that claimed the lives of four ANC Youth League members on Tuesday night, 13 October 2026.

Seven people were wounded during the shooting. Two young men were fatally wounded at the scene, while another two succumbed to their gunshot injuries later in hospital.

Two children, aged 11 and 12, are among the three survivors.

Grace is the 11-year-old who survived the shooting, and after receiving treatment at hospital, she has returned home, but the bullet that struck her in the waist remains lodged near her spine.

Her grandmother, speaking to Daily Maverick on Thursday afternoon, 15 October, said doctors were waiting for the wound to heal before they attempted to remove the bullet.

Asked about her grandchild, Mkhonto pointed to the girl, who was seated next to her. Grace appeared eager to tell her own story but hesitant to interject.

Although she was in visible pain from her injuries, when invited to speak, the 11-year-old joined her grandmother in recounting the events of Tuesday evening and delivered a detailed and clear articulation of what she had heard, felt and saw.

“I couldn’t see anything, but I heard multiple blasts, Gogo,” Grace said, looking toward her Grandmother.

After she was shot, Grace ran home and alerted her family. Her uncle rushed her to a nearby local clinic, where medical staff attended to her wound before calling an ambulance. She was taken to Germiston Hospital at about 9pm.

Mkhonto recalled the devastation she felt, seeing her grandchild lying in a hospital bed, wounded.

The suspect

Fani John Sibeko (46), who handed himself in to police shortly after the shooting, appeared in Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Thursday morning, 15 October 2026.

Sibeko is facing nine criminal charges, including four murder charges, three attempted murder charges, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and failure to safeguard a firearm. The State has alleged that the shooting was premeditated and is pursuing a Schedule 6 case.

His bail application is set for Thursday, 22 October.

Grace told Daily Maverick that the shooting had terrified her and that she feared the worst.

She could move around the house, but sitting down was another matter. Her guardians had placed a pillow on her chair to make her more comfortable. She winced as she lowered herself onto it.

She described the pain from the bullet as an intense heat, strongest around her waist but spreading into her lower abdomen and back.

An X-ray showed how the bullet lodged close to her spine.

Despite the pain, she had visitors on Thursday afternoon. Neighbourhood friends stopped by to greet Mkhonto, check on their friend and send their love.

The girls embraced warmly, although the 11-year-old asked them not to hug her from below or hold her too tightly, wary of aggravating the wound.

For Mkhonto, having her grandchild home was a relief. She said she was grateful to God that the girl had survived.

But the shooting has left the family uneasy. Mkhonto, who has lived in the area all her life, said she had never witnessed or heard of violence of this nature in the neighbourhood, particularly involving a child.

She also said she had gone to the police station at about 10pm on Tuesday to report the incident, because officers had not yet visited the family to offer assistance or take a statement.

Mkhonto expressed further disappointment that SA and ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile had not visited the family when he was in the neighbourhood the previous day to meet families affected by the shooting.

She said her grandchild had no involvement in politics, yet had been caught up in violence involving people from Mashatile’s party. She said the least he could have done was visit the family and pay his respects.

While the motive of the shooting has yet to be established by investigators, some community members speculated that the attack may have been politically motivated.

Task team investigating

The shooting occurred roughly three weeks before the local government elections, when mourners were leaving the memorial service of 51-year-old Jeanette Magugu, a leader within the ANC and its youth league in the Ekurhuleni region. She had been shot dead by unknown gunmen at Mandela Informal Settlement a week earlier.

The accused in the case, John Sibeko, who is allegedly known to the community and described by some as “trigger-happy”, was an EFF PR councillor from 2016 until 2021. According to community members, he has been politically affiliated with the Afrika Mayibuye Movement ever since. 

Addressing the media at the scene on Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Police Polly Boshielo said that the case had been escalated to Gauteng’s Political Killings Task Team to assist with the investigation.

She urged political party members within the community to resolve their differences without resorting to violence.

“We said to them, they need to tolerate each other… they are staying in the same area. Where possible, they must talk to each other when there are differences. The solution is not the gun,” she said.

Boshielo also said law enforcement officials planned to visit the provinces to assess police readiness and ease tensions before the local government elections. DM

*A pseudonym has been used to protect the identity of the minor child.