Cosmo City Housing: October 2017

Thursday, October 19, 2017

SHOPRITE ASSAULT COSMO CITY: GAUTENG MEC HOPES GUARDS RECEIVE HARSH JAIL TERM

The private guards were caught on camera last Saturday, manhandling and handcuffing a mother whose child relieved herself outside the shop.

A screengrab shows a mother being assaulted in front of her toddler at a Shoprite store.

JOHANNESBURG - Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane has welcomed the arrests of three security officers for assaulting a patron at the Shoprite Usave in Cosmo City.

The private guards were caught on camera last Saturday, manhandling and handcuffing a mother whose child relieved herself outside the shop.

The MEC says she hopes this sends a strong message that gender-based violence won’t be tolerated.

Her spokesperson Busaphi Nxumalo said: “Following the shocking assault incident, she is confident that with evidence at the police’s disposal, they will represent a water-tight case to ensure that these security officers receive the harshest possible terms behind bars.”

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

29-year-old in the dock for housebreaking RANDBURG-COSMOCITY – The Case against housebreaking accused postponed for trial date to be set.

The case against a 29-year-old Saamagile Seleka was postponed at the Randburg Magistrates Court.

The case against Saamagile Seleka was postponed to 28 November for a trial date to be set at the Randburg Magistrates’ Court.

The 29-year-old is charged with housebreaking with intent to steal, and theft.

The state alleges that on 24 January, the accused broke into a property at Cosmo Creek in Cosmo City where he allegedly stole two laptops, three cellphones and one Play Station.

Seleka is out on R2 000 bail

Missing pastor found dead near COSMO CITY

Pastor Martin Beneke.

The pastor was last seen with two unknown males.

The senior pastor and founder of Life in Christ Network 45-year-old Martin Beneke has been found dead in Magaliesburg after an apparent hijacking, Rooderpoort Record reports.

According to unconfirmed reports he was last seen on CCTV footage at about 10am on Monday morning (October 16) with two unknown males at the Total Garage on 14th Avenue.

His double cab Nissan Navara bakkie was also tracked at one stage close to Cosmo City.

A family member, who does not want to be named and says she is not at liberty to discuss the details, told the Record that all she could say was he was “found murdered in Magaliesberg yesterday evening”.

Beneke’s mother wrote on her Facebook page: “My son is now part of the statistics – hijacked and murdered!”

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Usave security guards face charges of assault COSMO CITY – A video of a mother being assaulted in front of her 3-year-old daughter at USave in Cosmo City went viral on social media.

Thandi Shaparadzo is assaulted and roughly handcuffed by two Vigilant CQ Security guards at Usave in Cosmo City. Photo: Twitter

A video of a woman being assaulted by security guards at a Usave Shoprite in Cosmo City has gone viral on social media.

WATCH VIDEO:

The assault took place on 7 October and came after the woman’s three-year-old daughter allegedly relieved herself outside the store. In the video, you see the mother being roughly handcuffed by two security guards while being pushed to the ground.

As this takes place you see her daughter crying next to her as she clutches her mother’s handcuffed wrists.

Social media users were outraged by the incident:

Social media users were outraged by the incident:

What Shoprite had to say:

Captain Bulan Muthan of Honeydew Police Station said investigations are underway for the two security guards in question.

“They have been charged with assault and could also be charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm,” said Muthan.
Operations manager of Vigilant CQ Security, Qhubani Ngcongolo – the security company in question – said they took heed of the advice given to them by MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane when she requested that the guards be handed over to the police.

The two security guards have since been suspended and Vigilant CQ Security plans to meet with the victim along with the MEC after the media storm dies down in hopes of finding a way to assist the victim.

Ngcongolo added that the security guards would appear in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on Monday 9 October.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Woman transported to hospital after stabbing incident in Cosmo City

The woman was found in a critical condition by ER24 paramedics.

A Cosmo City woman is fighting for her life in hospital after being stabbed multiple times at her residence in the early hours of 28 September.

ER24 paramedics found the woman in a critical condition after they had been called to the scene by a hospital.

According to Russel Meiring, ER24 spokesperson, “Paramedics arrived on the scene at 1.30am and found the woman lying in the doorway of the residence. She was assessed and found to have sustained numerous stab wounds and was in a critical condition.

Paramedics treated her and immediately transported her to Life Fourways Hospital for urgent treatment.”
Meiring concluded by saying that local authorities were on the scene to investigate the exact cause of the incident.

Following an increase in violent attacks on paramedics, Johannesburg Metro Police officers will now escort emergency services to crime hotspots. Photo: Ekurhuleni Emergency Services / William Ntladi

Criminals slammed for disrupting ambulance services
“We cannot afford situations where every time we have an emergency we have to go via the nearest police station,” said Joburg EMS spokesperson.

Following an increase in violent attacks on paramedics, Johannesburg Metro Police officers will now escort emergency services to crime hotspots. Photo: Ekurhuleni Emergency Services / William Ntladi

City of Johannesburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi says communities need to work together to report crime which hampers the response time of ambulance services.

The spokesperson for the City of Johannesburg’s Emergency Management Services, Robert Mulaudzi, has urged residents to protect EMS personnel while they are rendering an essential service to the community.

The appeal follows the robbery and hijacking of a Joburg EMS night shift ambulance crew in Cosmo City on Saturday, 23 September.

According to Mulaudzi, the ambulance crew was responding to an emergency call in the area. “While they were looking for the physical address they were requested to go to, two male suspects came from nowhere, pointed a gun at them and instructed them to get out of the ambulance which they did, and the suspects drove off with the ambulance,” said Mulaudzi.

He added that the traumatised crew managed to walk to the nearby Cosmo City Police Station to seek help and a case of hijacking and robbery was registered.

Metro police to escort paramedics to crime hotspots

Following an increase in violent attacks on paramedics, Johannesburg Metro Police officers will now escort emergency services to crime hotspots.

JOHANNESBURG – Following an increase in violent attacks on paramedics, Johannesburg Metro Police officers will now escort emergency services to crime hotspots.

On Saturday an ambulance crew was hijacked and robbed while responding to an emergency in Cosmo City, Johannesburg.

MMC for Public Safety Michael Sun said: “Our paramedics and firefighters are not trained to fight criminals whilst they're attending to an injured patient. About a year ago we started to identify these hotspots, we've built a trend map to map out the hotspots where attacks have taken place. So when we do receive calls from these areas we will dispatch JMPD officers to accompany them to a scene.”

“Fortunately a lot of private companies like security companies they are also coming to assist. But mostly we are calling on residents to please note that when paramedics are out there saving lives, they need to be looked after so if you can and willing please ensure our paramedics are being kept safe,” Sun added.

WATCH: For GOGOz, the gloves are on COSMO CITY – Age is nothing but a number for these grannies.

Clara Nose (65) lands every punch to show that senior citizens are as active as everyone else.
Over the past four years, Claude Maphosa has been keeping grannies in the north of Johannesburg fit through boxing.

Maphosa, who has established himself as a bodybuilder, started hosting bodybuilding contests in the townships of Johannesburg. When he held a contest in Cosmo City, he realised there wasn’t a gym or fitness centre in the area. Maphosa decided to take the initiative and opened up a gym in Cosmo City.

He said even though the programme had become successful, the gym did face certain challenges. The first was that of transport. “As active as these ladies are they still struggle to move to and from the gym, it would be helpful if we could provide transport for them,” he said. Maphosa does provide transport for those that he can assist.

Another challenge was maintaining and supplying boxing equipment. “We have over 30 grannies and I need to ensure that they have a set of gloves and equipment that they can all use at the same time.” He added that he did not want a situation where he had to turn away grannies that were interested in signing up because he could not accommodate them.

“I would love to expand this programme to other townships so grannies all over Johannesburg can get fit, healthy and active.” He is planning to host a gogo’s boot camp in October where senior citizens will compete in a boxing showcase and businesses will get involved in sponsoring prizes. Maphosa said all proceeds from the event would go towards buying boxing gloves.

He is appealing for help to grow this initiative and make it sustainable.

Details: Claude Maphosa 082 395 5115, info@ateamfoundation.co.za

Before the punching and ducking begin, the gogos of Cosmo City begin their morning with a warm- up session.

Gladys Ngwenya (68)is still active enough to dodge anything her trainer throws her way

Gladys Ngwenya (68), gives her all during her morning boxing workout session.

Clara Nose (65), shows that the boxing programme is a full body workout as she performs an abdominal exercise.

Mabel Mokgosi (66) is still as energetic as ever as she spars with her trainer

The gogos of Cosmo City do boxing to keep active, healthy and fit.