PROFILE: An unconventional lookout on Wits’ doorstep

by | Apr 12, 2024 | News

While crime usually thrives under the cover of darkness, Sibusiso Motaung has taken it upon himself to help protect students on Empire Road at night.

By day, Sibusiso Motaung uses the intersection between Yale and Empire Road as a place to ask motorists and passersby for change to buy food. But by night, he becomes an informant for Wits Campus Security.  

Sibusiso can be found outside the Wits entrance on Empire asking for change at the intersection.
It is this same area he guards at night. Photo: Kabir Jugram

Hailing from Daveyton, Motaung has been travelling to Wits daily for the past two months in the hopes of raising funds to take care of his niece, his sole family member in Johannesburg. Even on a cold, rainy day – such as when Wits Vuvuzela interviewed him – he can be seen walking up and down the street to make enough money to survive the day. 

But life is not all about money for Motaung.  He lives by a philosophy of spreading as much love and joy as possible in his lifetime. For this reason, he says he has taken the initiative of “watching over the streets” as students leave and enter campus at night.  

He waits by the intersection up to 23:00 to perform this voluntary role. He notes suspicious vehicles or people hovering around Wits’ entrance on Empire, and reports incidents to campus security as soon as they arise. 

Motaung sayss muggings and robberies from Uber drivers are the most prevalent crimes he witnesses. 

Campus control officers said they could neither confirm Motaung’s claims, but a nightshift guard said tip-offs from multiple off-campus sources are used to assist vulnerable students, especially relating to muggings and robberies from Uber drivers (as claimed by Sibusiso).   

Camus Security offers 24-hour patrol services both inside and surrounding the campus. Importantly, these tip-offs enable them to respond to situations quicker and deploy back-up as necessary. 

One of the busiest entrances on Wits University’s East Campus, Motaung says he has witnessed countless crimes just on the other side of these boom gates. Photo: Kabir Jugram

If Sibusiso is an informant, he plays an important role in keeping students safe as they leave Wits at night. All this he does whilst appearing as a mere beggar to the students that pass him by.

This does not phase him, as his philosophy of love is enough to give him satisfaction: “Life’s not about money. (It) is about love, joy and God. Life is about that, so we must all help each other.” 

FEATURED IMAGE: Sibusiso Motaung pictured near the Yale and Empire Road intersection. Photo: Kabir Jugram.

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Dead body found outside Wits residence

by | Nov 4, 2014 | News

The unidentified body of a small child was discovered in a plastic bag outside Wits University residence Noswall Hall earlier this evening.

A homeless child picked up the bag on Empire Road after it was dropped off by someone in a passing car. The child picked up the packet thinking it contained “something nice,” according to Campus Control officer George Masilo. The child walked up Bertha street and only discovered the body in the packet when he opened it outside Noswall Hall.

The child is still being questioned by the police and was not able to speak to Wits Vuvuzela.  His friends, while reluctant to answer other questions, said the car that dropped the packet off was a VW Polo. At the scene, the police cordoned off the body with barricade tape and cones, and a police car blocked off onlookers.  The body, which bystanders say was wrapped in cello tape, was covered by an insulation blanket. The police were not able to make a statement.

“How dare they … how can you do this to a baby!” said Palesa Hlungwane, 1st year BA, who lives in Diamond House. “What about conscience? What about maternal attachments?”

“I feel bad, it’s so bad to have so many irresponsible mothers in this day and age,” says Nonkululeko Njilo, 1st year BA from Diamond House. “I feel like we’re a lost generation.”

 

VIDEO: He’s not just a beggar at the stop street, he teaches Zulu to passing motorists

by | Jun 17, 2014 | News

Twenty-three-year old Veli Moses Mackenzie,  is a homeless man who teaches isiZulu to motorists on busy Empire road in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Mackenzie also known as ‘Jovies’ teaches the language to motorists using only a placard that he uses for his ‘word of the day.’ He boasts that he once taught isiZulu to a man from Wits University who used Mackenzie’s word of the day to compile a list that he eventually memorised.

This video is a production of the 2014 Wits Journalism short course in television.