When a Nelson Mandela Bay politician and whistleblower was on a video call with a friend, the last thing she expected was to dive for cover as bullets flew past her home.
Kayzel Forbes, an activist for the Patriotic Alliance (PA) in the Eastern Cape, said she came under fire outside her Kariega home on Monday night.
The attack, she believes, was linked to her work exposing alleged corruption and mismanagement in the city’s healthcare system.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa said officers responded to the scene.
She said no one was injured and no criminal case had been opened at the time.
Speaking to Independent Online, Forbes said she was sitting outside her home when she noticed a suspicious vehicle passing by.
“So what happened was a car was passing by and I thought that this person was looking for the shop, because next to my house is a shop,” she said.
“And then I thought to myself, OK, but here’s a car coming back.
“So I then immediately knew that he drove around the block … then he put his fog lights on and stopped in front of my house.”
What happened next, she said, played out in seconds.
“As I was on the phone with a friend, the maroon Polo stopped and from the passenger side they were shooting out of the window,” she said.
“Me being on the video call with my friend, I told her, ‘shit, someone is shooting at me’.
“In my mind, I thought I was shot at because I’ve never been through things like this in my life.”
She said she dropped to the floor as shots rang out.
“When it’s raining bullets, you need to lay low,” she said.
“I fell into my front door and my [22-year-old] daughter and her friend pulled me in.
“We thought that I was shot. I went immediately into panic mode.”
Forbes said neighbours later told her they had heard up to five gunshots as the vehicle sped away.
“I heard two bullets in front of my house.
“From what I heard, the guys drove a short distance, stopped again, and fired more shots,” she said.
The activist said she was still in shock days later, but she believed the shooting was not random.
For months, Forbes has used social media to expose conditions at Nelson Mandela Bay’s public hospitals, including Uitenhage Provincial Hospital and Dora Nginza Hospital.
Her live videos and public complaints have drawn both support and criticism.
“I’m that person who would go there and make a live video exposing these people not helping our people — patients sleeping on the floors,” she said.
“They’re claiming at Uitenhage Provincial Hospital and Dora Nginza that there are no beds, but I know there are.
“The chief executives are sitting in hotels having vacations while our people suffer.”
Forbes said she had received messages of support from residents who said they were too afraid to speak out.
“People tell me ‘you are brave, Kayzel, you say what we can’t’.
“But now this happens and I’m scared for my life, for my child, for my family.
“Still, I can’t stop.”
The activist, who has been involved in community work for several years, said she started speaking out after seeing the conditions patients faced in local health facilities.
She said people in her community had been left without proper access to medicine, treatment or even basic care.
“I’ve seen old people sleeping on the floors because they say there’s no beds,” she said.
“At the same time, they are renting out houses that are meant for doctors and nurses.
“So where is that money going to? Our people’s files are getting lost.
“Our babies are dying. Our elderly are dying. Somebody needs to take accountability for this.”
Forbes described how she often visited hospitals and clinics to record videos of what she saw, hoping to draw attention to the issues.
“I’m not trying to embarrass anyone,” she said.
“I just want things to change,” she said.
“When people go to hospital, they must get help … they must not suffer because of corruption or greed.”
In recent weeks, she had been vocal about the closure of the Rosedale Clinic, which had been moved to a different centre.
“They moved Rosedale Clinic to a centre here in the northern areas,” she said.
“But that too is not right because you’re talking about people here who cannot even afford a loaf of bread.
“Now they must take a taxi to get there. And when they get there, they don’t even get medicine.”
She said she had long suspected that her activism might put her in danger, but she never imagined facing gunfire outside her own home.
“You hear about these things, but you don’t think it will happen to you,” she said.
“I was just sitting there, talking on the phone, and the next thing I knew, bullets were flying. I thank God I’m alive.”
After the shooting, she said she went into shock.
Despite the fear, Forbes said she remained determined to keep speaking out.
“I’m not going to stop,” she said.
“If they think shooting at me will make me keep quiet, they’re wrong.
“I’ll keep fighting for our people.”
Forbes added: “Maybe they wanted to scare me,” she said.
“But now I know what I’m fighting for is even more important. People are suffering, and someone has to speak for them.
“I don’t want to die for this,” she said. “But if I stay silent, then who will help the people who have no voice?”
The small front yard where the attack took place still bears faint marks of that night — a reminder of how close she came to harm. But for Forbes, those marks have become something else too: a symbol of her refusal to be silenced.
“I’m still here,” she said quietly. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
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