The 24-year-old man received his sentence for stabbing a woman in KwaThema on February 25.
Capt Johannes Ramphora, Springs police spokesman, says Ngwenya was armed with a knife when he approached the 29-year-old woman in Reedville.
Ramphora says the suspect took the woman’s cellphone and stabbed her with the knife.
When she screamed for help seven community members came to her rescue and grabbed the suspect before he could run away.
“She was stabbed several times in her upper body,” he says.
The suspect was arrested after one of the community members phoned the KwaThema police.
Ngwenya will serve his sentence at Modderbee Prison.
“He was also found unfit to possess a firearm,” says Ramphora.