KATLEHONG MASS SHOOTING: Girl, 11, who survived ANCYL mass shooting still has bullet lodged near her spine

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> When a gunman opened fire on ANC Youth League members in Katlehong, killing four people, an 11-year-old girl buying sweets was among the surviving victims.

It had been an ordinary Tuesday. Eleven-year-old Grace Ndlovu* had returned from school that afternoon and eaten lunch before going to buy sweets at a spaza shop around the corner from her home.

Just before 6pm, her grandmother, Queen Mkhonto, heard gunshots. The sound startled those inside the house.

Grace was at the shop when she heard the gunfire. She didn’t see what had happened but realised she had been shot.

ANC Youth League members were attending a memorial nearby. As people scattered, Grace noticed that a 14-year-old boy had also been wounded.

“I saw that he was bleeding and realised the bullet went in his hand and came out the other side,” the child recalled.

Katlehong community members are still reeling from the mass shooting that claimed the lives of four ANC Youth League members on Tuesday night, 13 October 2026.

Seven people were wounded during the shooting. Two young men were fatally wounded at the scene, while another two succumbed to their gunshot injuries later in hospital.

Grace is the 11-year-old who survived the shooting, and after receiving treatment at hospital, she has returned home, but the bullet that struck her in the waist remains lodged near her spine.

Her grandmother, speaking to Daily Maverick on Thursday afternoon, 15 October, said doctors were waiting for the wound to heal before they attempted to remove the bullet.

Asked about her grandchild, Mkhonto pointed to the girl, who was seated next to her. Grace appeared eager to tell her own story but hesitant to interject.

Although she was in visible pain from her injuries, when invited to speak, the 11-year-old joined her grandmother in recounting the events of Tuesday evening and delivered a detailed and clear articulation of what she had heard, felt and saw.

“I couldn’t see anything, but I heard multiple blasts, Gogo,” Grace said, looking toward her Grandmother.

After she was shot, Grace ran home and alerted her family. Her uncle rushed her to a nearby local clinic, where medical staff attended to her wound before calling an ambulance. She was taken to Germiston Hospital at about 9pm.