Alexandra philanthropist Linda Twala has come to the rescue of a 22-year-old man who was assaulted by a security guard and left paralysed.
Twala, a community worker who runs the Twala Ama-Afrika funeral parlour in Alex and the Phuthaditjaba Community Centre, donated a wheelchair to enhance Tumelo Matsimela’s mobility.
On 27 August, Matsimela was beaten and left for dead by a man who claimed to be a security guard at the Oliver Tambo Centre in Wynberg. On that fateful evening, Matsimela, a computer programming student had gone to the centre to pick up house keys from his mother, Ngwanaboroka.
He knocked on the door of his mother’s dress-making business and as there was no answer he started to head home. On his way out, Matsimela was confronted by the security guard who claimed to have mistaken him for a thief. The security guard assaulted Matsimela using a metal rod without allegedly asking any questions.
Matsimela’s mother was only called the following morning to identify her son who was lying in a pool of blood. “For sometime, I kept thinking I was having a nightmare and that I was still fast asleep,” Ngwanaboroka said when she saw her son.
The guard was subsequently arrested and released on R1 000 bail. The case has been remanded on numerous occasions at the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court where the guard was initially charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The charge was then changed to attempted murder in view of the severity of Matsimela’s injuries.
