With a baby on her hip, a brave mother fought off armed robbers who shot at her after pouncing on her family in Pinetown, west of Durban, on Saturday night.

Video footage of the incident shows the woman manually closing the gate on the armed men.

Later, a man joins her to help. Shots are fired and the man falls to the ground.

The woman does not give up and continues to try to keep the gunmen at bay. They eventually flee.

Blue Security spokesman Andreas Mathios said the woman and her family were in the driveway of their home in Tyrone Road at 10.40pm when three armed men pounced on them.

“The residents were busy saying goodbye to their friends, whose vehicles were still parked in the driveway, with the main driveway gate open because they were about to leave,” said Mathios.

"The suspects spotted the opportunity and stopped outside the property. As they approached the victims, one of the women standing in the driveway screamed when she saw a suspect armed with a firearm."

One of the visitors had been reversing his vehicle out of the driveway when he realised what was happening. "He quickly drove back onto the premises, smashing into the garage door,” said Mathios.

One of the victims wrestled with one of the gunmen during the incident for cellphones. "The man threw cellphones into a bush to avoid the gang getting away with them, but a suspect managed to grab one of the cellphones out of the bush," said Mathios.

He said a man, who was armed with a rifle, fired four shots before the gang fled the scene.

"No injuries were reported,” added Mathios.

Police did not respond to queries at the time of publishing.