Security guard killed in Ballito shoot-out

AN ARMED reaction officer from Enforce was killed and another from a different company was injured during a shoot-out with robbers in Ballito yesterday.

According to police, reaction officers had responded to an alarm at the Mangwanani Spa premises when robbers opened fire on them.

Enforce’s Anthony Feuilherade said reaction officer Moses Makhoba had been killed. Makhoba had responded to the alarm activation at the spa, but appeared to have been ambushed on arrival.

Police spokeswoman Captain Nqobile Gwala said the robbers fled in a white Mercedes C Class.

Umhlali police gave chase, and the robbers’ vehicle was stopped at the Tongaat toll plaza. One of the suspected robbers was arrested and the other ran away. The arrested robber had been injured.

Police also recovered from the vehicle several computer screens, which they suspected had been stolen from the spa.

KwaZulu-Natal acting provincial commissioner Major-General Bhekinkosi Langa yesterday condemned the attack on the security guards.

Feuilherade said: “We are really heartbroken at the death of Moses. He was a fantastic worker who had been with us for about four and a half years. He was such a wonderful man, and everybody liked him.” LONDON: An extreme marathon runner launched a successful appeal to be reunited with a stray dog with which he formed an ‘unbreakable bond’ during a 250km desert race in China.

Dion Leonard, 41, hoped to raise the funds that would allow him to be reunited with the dog, named Gobi, who joined him during the annual 4 Deserts Race Series in March.

Gobi began running alongside the 101 competitors as they ran through the Tian Shan mountains. Despite her small size the dog managed to run half the race through the Gobi desert.

Leonard, of Edinburgh, developed a particularly close bond with Gobi.

‘At the start of day two, Gobi was on the start line next to me looking up at me,’ he said. ‘At the finish line she followed me into the tent and we slept next to each other. That was it, then.’

Leonard set up a crowdfunding page to raise funds towards Gobi’s transport from China to Scotland.

The process will take up to four months and cost £5 000 (R88 000), with the dog having to be medically checked and quarantined before she can be cleared for entry.

The £5 000 target has already been smashed, the page having already received more than £8 000 in donations after it went viral on social media. – The Independent