A 26-year-old man was stabbed and robbed in Canelands, KwaZulu-Natal, on Saturday evening. His three friends ran when the attackers came. He did not.

The man had been travelling back from Verulam's central business district with the three friends. They had just stepped off a taxi when two armed men stopped the group.

The attackers had Okapi knives. They demanded valuables.

The three friends ran. The man stayed and tried to fight the attackers off. One of them stabbed him in the left arm.

The robbers grabbed his plastic bag and fled. Inside was 5kg of mixed chicken portions, beef, lamb, spinach and cabbage.

He was left sitting on the roadside, bleeding.

Community members found him and bandaged his arm before Reaction Unit South Africa officers arrived at about 7.42pm. The officers had responded to reports of a robbery and stabbing in the area.

When they arrived, the suspects were gone. The direction they fled in is not known.