Moz national’s humane bravery recognised

Fame and glory were last in his mind but a fatherly and humane instinct when he rescued a seven-year-old boy from possibly drowning in the Jukskei River.

The man, Vincent Khosa, an unemployed Mozambican national said this when he was conferred with a Certificate of Appreciation by councillor Teffo Raphadu after his brave deeds on 7 March went viral on local and in social media further attracting mainstream media to track, talk to, praise and honour his selfless act. This by a foreign national struggling to get employment and like many, an occasional victim of scorn for entering the country ‘illegally’.

Of small stature and with a soft voice, Khosa said he left his room in Setswetla informal settlement which was kneedeep in water from a flash flood in the Jukskei River and joined others on a footbridge to watch the torrent. “With children behind, at home, the fatherly instinct kicked in and without a word or fear, I went to the pipe crossing the river on which the child was perched on, and moved in to saved her.

“He represented my child away from home and future potential for the country as a teacher, doctor or president of the country.”

Khosa said with his swimming knowledge, he wasn’t scared and left it to the government to do whatever would have been necessary if the rescue mission had gone awry. He is in the country looking for a job, rare in his own country and difficult to get here, except for piece jobs, because he doesn’t have South African documents.

Ward 105 councillor Teffo Raphadu who conferred the certificate said, “We are fortunate to have among us people like Vincent who go beyond the call through selfless acts of bravery to save others, least related to them but bound together by a spirit of humanity.”

He said many instead, chose to take videos of the desperate child certainly at risk of being swept away without Vincent’s intervention. “He is an example of Ubuntu at work, parental care exercised on children who will always gravitate towards danger in the absence of concerned and proactive residents.”

Raphadu decried the council’s inaction on promises made years ago to barricade the river bank against such danger.

ANC member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Godfrey Tsotetsi commended Khosa’s action saying this should help to bond humans as regional and global citizens. “His bravery should be a lesson against ill-founded hatred which leads to occasional xenophobic attacks on those prepared to risk their own lives to save South African or others at large who are at risk.

“Humanity has no borders.”

According to Raphadu, a motion has also been raised in the Joburg City Council to honour Khosa.

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Man who saved boy from flooding Jukskei River is tracked down by MEC

UPDATE: Brave man who rescued child from Jukskei River, Alexandra is named