THIS WON'T GET ME DOWN
YOU South Africa|22 August 2024
Gauteng headmaster Noko Selepe tells of the day he was gunned down in the corridors of his beloved school
NOKUTHULA ZWANE-EJIKE
THIS WON'T GET ME DOWN

HE STRIDES though the corridors with a broad smile, greeting pupils and staff which is what he's done throughout the years he's worked at this school.

But for Noko Selepe, the principal of Primrose Primary in Germiston on the East Rand, each day he goes to work is all the more special now. For four months he was absent, recovering from two bullet wounds that ripped through his abdomen he was shot by a Grade 6 learner.

Noko missed the kids at the school and when he finally returned at the start of the third term many of them ran up to him and hugged him.

"They just wanted to look at me," he says. "I was pleading with them to go to class and assuring them I'd come and visit them in their classrooms. I could see they missed me too."

Noko, standing at the spot where he was attacked as he was coming out of the restroom that fateful day, remembers what happened as if it was yesterday.

He asked the boy why he wasn't in class and his only response was to point a gun at him and squeeze the trigger. Noko was knocked off his feet and fell to the floor.

"The boy came closer to finish me off but I pretended to be dead. He looked at me for a while and he could see I wasn't moving or blinking. Then he walked away."

Investigations revealed that Noko, his deputy and the boy's class teacher* had all been on the learner's hit list but after shooting the principal the 13-year-old fled the school.

Noko says he was unbelievably lucky: the bullets did no serious internal damage and were successfully removed in surgery.

"The next morning I was eating breakfast," he says. "My intestines and kidneys weren't touched by the bullets. To me it was just a miracle."

He was in hospital for two weeks before being discharged to complete his recovery at home.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM YOU SOUTH AFRICAView all
BALLON IN THE BAG
YOU South Africa

BALLON IN THE BAG

Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
IT WAS ALL A LIE
YOU South Africa

IT WAS ALL A LIE

A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story

time-read
5 mins  |
14 November 2024
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
YOU South Africa

'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'

After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country

time-read
10+ mins  |
14 November 2024
AGREE TO DISAGREE
YOU South Africa

AGREE TO DISAGREE

Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
PAUSE THE CLOCK
YOU South Africa

PAUSE THE CLOCK

Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down

time-read
5 mins  |
14 November 2024
MPOOMY ON TOP
YOU South Africa

MPOOMY ON TOP

We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
YOU South Africa

MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME

Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
MATT THE RECLUSE
YOU South Africa

MATT THE RECLUSE

A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024
A LEAP OF FAITH
YOU South Africa

A LEAP OF FAITH

After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love

time-read
5 mins  |
14 November 2024
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
YOU South Africa

THEY'RE MY KIDS!

This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it

time-read
4 mins  |
14 November 2024