THROWN INTO THIN AIR

The Durban mom whose act of courage made headlines around the world tells YOU about the agonising moment she decided to hurl her daughter from a building to waiting strangers to save her from a fire set by looters

- ZAMA NTEYI

IT’S an image that sent shockwaves around the world: a terrified mother tossing her toddler from a burning building as a crowd on the ground reach their arms up to grab the child.

Holding her head in her hands, the young mom waits to see if her daughter lands safely into the embrace of the sea of strangers. She does – and the footage of the child flying through the air towards outstretched arms has become symbolic of the horror and the hope that have characterised one of the darkest periods in South Africa’s history.

Wanton destruction on the one hand, the banding together of people on the other.

For Naledi Manyoni (26), gratitude doesn’t begin to describe it – although the day she was forced to throw her child into thin air will haunt her forever.

“I couldn’t think of anything except saving my baby’s life,” she tells YOU.

“We were inhaling smoke and we could hear things exploding right behind us. There was no time to think it through– I just threw her in the air hoping someone would catch her.”

If she hadn’t been caught, two-year-old Melokuhle may well have become another statistic of the protests that spiralled into an orgy of looting and violence, leaving 212 people dead and billions of rands worth of damage to shops, warehouses, businesses and infrastructure.

The blaze that engulfed Naledi’s building in Smith Street in central Durban was started by people stealing from shops on the ground floor. The flames quickly spread upstairs to the City Life Pearl Towers’ block of flats where she lives on the 16th floor with her fiancé, Simthembile Matomane, and their daughter.