Resident pleads for help

A Malvern mother, Ms Nokuthula Khumalo, is appealing to the local community and businesses for the donation of a wheelchair for her son.

Her 26 year-old son, Mr Lindani Khumalo, was attacked on his way to work on May 27. He was attacked in Denver at about 4am, at the Denver Hostel entrance.

“He was viciously attacked which resulted in him being wheelchair-bound. All they took from him was a cellular phone and they left him unconscious. When I arrived at the scene, my son was covered with a blanket. I thought he had died. He spent five days in a coma at a hospital. He is still in hospital,” said Ms Khumalo.

He was discharged from the Germiston Bertha Gxowa Hospital on Wednesday, August 10.

“I stay in a rented room and the environment is not wheelchair friendly. I don’t know what I am going to do. I don’t know where I am going to get the wheelchair for my son.

“I am currently unemployed and we all live in one room. I am pleading with the community to assist my son and I,” she said.

“The Cleveland SAPS refused to assist me at the time. They told me to call an ambulance instead of opening a case. They refuse to go with me to the scene where my son was attacked,” said Ms Khumalo.

“I would like the Cleveland SAPS to help me open a case so that they can arrest the perpetrators. I want the residents of Malvern to open up when it comes to such crimes because they know the perpetrators but they are afraid of speaking about them,” she said.

The Cleveland SAPS spokesperson, Constable Mpho Mashakane, said she is unable to comment on the matter without clear facts of what transpired.

“The Cleveland SAPS will meet up with Ms Khumalo so that she can make a formal complaint to the station commander, Colonel Bongani Dlamini.

Officers who were working on that day should be held accountable but for now I cannot comment as I don’t know what happened,” she said.

Anyone willing to assist Ms Khumalo with a wheelchair can contact her on 071 273 4711.