Photo: Madiba Cosmos players line up for a photo after routing Glamour Boys 4-1.

Madiba Cosmos rampant over Glamour Boys

By Tebogo Senosha

A Tshepiso Maropola-inspired Madiba Cosmos, walloped Glamour Boys 4-1 in their SAFA Tshwane Super League contest recently at the Extension 2 Sporting Ground.

Cosmos came into the match targeting their third consecutive league victory while Glamour Boys were looking to rectify their errors from their 1-1 draw against Thiba Home Stars.

The home side threatened first when Bongani Seroke connected well with captain, Tshepang Mathiba’s corner-kick which forced a decent save from the visitors’ shot-stopper, Abram Kotsane, 15 minutes into the match.

The visitors looked disorganized especially in the middle of the park and as a result, defended deeply for the better part of the first half.

Cosmos’ midfield maestro, Kagiso “Fire” Msiza tried his luck from range in the 35^th minute but his shot narrowly missed the target as the home side pressed on for the opening goal.

Bongani Mnguni should have opened the scoring for the home side on the stroke of half time, but his shot went inches wide of the target following a great pass from Mathiba.

The match went into the half-time interval still locked at 0-0 stalemate.

An electrifying second-stanza followed as both teams pushed numbers forward in search of an opener and the visitors were unlucky not to open the scoring 10 minutes after the restart when Lebogang Selokana fired his shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.

It was the home side that drew the first blood in the 63^rd minute through their play-maker Tshepiso “Scara” Maropola who did well to bury his effort after showing some great individual display to make it 1-0 to Cosmos.

Bongani Seroke extended the home side’s lead 10 minutes later with a cheeky chip over the goalkeeper after getting on the end of a defence-splitting pass from Msiza to go 2-0 up.

With time running out, Glamour Boys pushed numbers forward looking to half Cosmos’ lead and as a result they opened at the back, suffering from successive counter-attacks from the home side.

As a result of their continuous pressure on the visitors, Cosmos were awarded a free-kick in a promising area in the 75^th minute and Maropola stepped up to complete his brace with a well-placed shot to make it 3-0 to Cosmos.

The visitors soon pulled one back through Lebogang Selokana in the 77^th minute, however Cosmos’ second-half substitute, Khutso Boshomane, sealed the home side’s victory with a thunderous shot from range to put the final score at 4-1, giving Madiba Cosmos a well-deserved victory over Glamour Boys.

The all smiles Cosmos coach, Ronny Ramaru, praised his charges for converting most of their chances.

“I am happy with my boys today; they worked very hard for one another as a team. Our main focus is now on collecting maximum points in our upcoming game,” said Ramaru.

The visibly disappointed Glamour Boys coach, Simon Matseni, rued his team’s costly defensive errors especially in the second half.

Matseni said, “The boys looked rather unconvincing in their defence today and that cost us a lot. We will try to rectify our errors and get the team back to winning ways as soon as possible”.

Cosmos would be looking for their fourth consecutive league victory when they go away to log-leaders, The Movers, on Sunday afternoon, while Glamour Boys would be hoping for positive results when they host Mike One Stars on the same afternoon at Giants Stadium.

Thugs terrorise Winterveldt residents

By Tebogo Senosha

Residents of Mathe  area in Ward 24 in Winterveldt, north of Pretoria, have recorded countless incidents of house breaking, robbery and hijacking  from last year but are dismayed that the culprits remain on the loose in the community, free to strike any time.

These thugs target homes that have no one during the day and break in. A community meeting was held in the area on Sunday to discuss possible solutions to crime in the community. Police Forum as well as Community Street Forum were expected to attend the meeting, but did not pitch.

The meeting went on as planned, despite members of the Police Forum and Community Street Forum's absence, and among other suggestions, the residents agreed on buying whistles for each home to be blown every time a crime takes place in the area.

Speaking to Sosh Times, Community Street Forum chairperson, Mr. Jonas Phahlane, emphasised that crime have escalated in the area recently and residents live in fear in the community because of these thugs.

According to Phahlane, few thugs that they have caught in the area were released by the police just days after  being arrested and are now walking freely in the streets.

He also said that they need the police to impose harsh punishments on the culprits before the residents resort to taking the law into their own hands.

"The sad truth is that families of these thugs refuse to disclose them to us and this makes it even harder to get rid of this problem," said Phahlane, adding that all the victims of these crime must come forward with their case numbers in the next meeting so that they could be able to track the progress of their cases.

Several homes in the area were broken into since last year. One of the victims of these crimes, Mr. Tebogo Modiba, said that thugs broke into his home in November last year when he was at work and helped themselves with his laptop and some of the electrical devices.

Mathe area resident, Mr. Jimmy Mokoka, urged community members to attend the meetings and to voice out their grievances.

Mokoka said, "The issue of crime is totally out of control in our area, and the police do not seem to do much about it because we report these crimes to them, but  never get to know how these cases end up".

The residents are hopeful that the Police Forum and the members of the Community Street Forum will attend the next meeting scheduled for March 8, to figure out solutions to the community's woes.

                     Photo: Participants at last year's event pose for a photo before take off.



 The Color Me Run event countdown

By Tebogo Senosha

Community Health Living in partnership with Hashtag Meat Café and Mighty Media will host the Color Me Run event in Ga-Rankuwa Stadium on the 29th April 2017, with its objective being to bring local communities together in the name of sports mainly running and walking.

The event consists of all sorts of fun activities such as participants painting one another in different paints and colours, aerobics, as well as walking and running for 5kms and 10kms.

The event was held last year in May and was nothing but a success and the number of participants increased from last year’s 850 to over 1500 this year

To enter to compete in this year's event, people can buy tickets which are available at Computicket, Shoprite, Checkers and House and Homes. Each participant will get a T-shirt, colouring powders and a Bandana (Kerchief). And winners will walk away with medals.

The event organiser and Chief Executive Officer of Community Health Living Cooperative, Mr. Obakeng Moagi, said that many people loved the theme and the number of potential participants in this year's event has grown hugely in terms of their Facebook Events Page's response, also adding that, securing sponsorship is still a challenge for them at this stage.

"Our main aim is to get more sponsors on board for the event to be as professional as possible, and for it to match the standard of other events that happen in the suburbs," said Moagi.

The safety of participants is in check, as emergency services are set to be on site during the event to ensure maximum precaution for all participants. Late registrations will also be conducted on the day from 5am to 6:30am.

For any queries pertaining to the event, people can contact Mr. Obakeng Moagi on: 083 862 9404, Tukza on: 078 518 4395, or Grace on: 072 474 7270.