A Qumbu woman who claims she was shot by police in 2017 is suing the police minister for R750 000.
The shooting allegedly happened on December 31 at a petrol station in KwaBhaca while Ncumisa Mjindi, 31, was on her way to celebrate the end of the year on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Her attorney, Vakele Funani, filed the court papers at the Mthatha high court on May 4 last year.
Mjindi wants the court to compel police minister Bheki Cele to pay the money as compensation for pain and suffering, among other things.
However, in responding papers, Cele’s lawyers have disputed that Mjindi was shot by the police.
In an interview on Thursday, Mjindi said she had been travelling with her sister to Margate when they stopped at the garage in KwaBhaca.
“It was December 31 so everyone was in a jovial and relaxed mood.
“So we decided to hang around [the garage after someone we had given a lift had alighted the car] there while we waited for our friends who were on the way.
“Out of nowhere, a group of heavily armed police officers arrived and started shooting at us. I was hit with four bullets and no one else was injured.
“I later heard they were looking for the guy we had given a lift to because he was allegedly wanted for a robbery,” she said.
Mjindi said she was shot in the right thigh, left breast, left arm and left side of her lower abdomen.She said she was treated at Madzikane kaZulu Memorial Hospital in KwaBhaca and later transferred  to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha.Mjindi said as a result of her injuries, she still has pain and cannot even pick up a 5l bottle with her left hand.“I cannot work because I get tired quickly and I am often in pain,” she said.In her court papers, Mjindi is asking to be compensated for: 
General damages for pain and suffering;
Loss of earning capacity; and 
Contumelia (a deliberately offensive act).
“[Mjindi] was maliciously, wrongfully and unlawfully shot at by members of the SAPS,” part of her papers read. In their papers, the police deny that any of their officers were at the location where Mjindi was shot.‘“The damages allegedly suffered by [Mjindi] were not suffered as a result of the police. “If [Mjindi] indeed suffered the said damages, they must have been caused by someone else and not police officers.“The R750,000 damages cannot be claimable from [Cele],” the papers read.Mjindi’s legal team is waiting for a court date to be allocated for the matter to go to trial...