For the second time in as many months a Jewish man has once again been murdered in cold blood in Johannesburg YWN has learned. 47-year-old Sheldon Cohen HYD, was shot dead outside a football field last week while waiting for his son after football practice.
According to 702 Eyewitness News, Cohen was shot in the neck outside the Balfour Alexandra Football Club in eastern Johannesburg. Apparently, three men, one armed with a pistol, attempted to rob a woman (who was also waiting for her son) of her cell phone.
The report claims that the woman managed to lock the doors of her car, so the robbers then went to Cohen’s car. He was found shot in the neck and was R”L declared dead on the scene. According to police, nothing had been taken from him.
Thousands attended his Levaya – and he was buried on his birthday, Pretoria News reported.
“Sheldon’s death cannot go down as another statistic,” Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein said at the Levaya, according to a newspaper report. “Our government needs to be held accountable for this. We as the community are not going to stand for this, and we say that one murder is one too much.”
YWN had reported (HERE) on December 24, 2007, about the cold-blooded murder of another Frum Jew – who was killed while walking to Shul on Shabbos morning. In that story, the man was killed for his “Tallis bag”, which was found empty nearby.
According to a report in the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish population of South Africa has dropped from about 120,000 in 1970 to an estimated 75,000 today. They claim that some Jews are leaving the country – and many more are thinking about leaving because of a combination of factors, including crime, corruption, non-supply of services and the weak currency.
Additionally, many cannot live with the constant power outages, which can last up to three hours each day.
While Jews throughout the rest of the country are affected by the power outages, it is really only those living in the greater Johannesburg area that are affected by frequent violent crime.
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12 Responses
Could someone from the area tell of kindly – where is that football field? Is it in the areas of Glenhazel / Sydnham / Orchards / Waverly? Is it within the area protected by SWAP GAP or CAP?
WELL,
YOU CAN THANK NELSON MENDELA FOR THIS ..
The football field is at Balfour Park.
In the area of Sydenham.
While this is a terrible tragedy anywhere, the fact remains that South Africa under Mandella was safer than Israel under Rabin, Sharon or Olmert. Before the Zionist start harping “Come to Israel”, get rid of the source or terrorism. Those that negotiate with it and try to appease it.
The country has gone crazy, it is the inmates running the asylum. But, sammygol, can you call a country that had laws akin to the Nuremberg Laws (of Germany) normal?
BTW TOMIM, I think it is a bit simplistic and misinformed to blame the issues in South Africa on Nelson Mandela. Do you know anything about the Afrikan?
HEY , LEFT BKLY’N.. DO YOU ??
#3 Tomim i’m with you on this one.. some great thing Mandela did…Apartheid may not have been politically correct, but it was necessary to control those in their society that when given freedom act on their most primative instints and resort to violence. Most of the continent is a mess, violence is prevelant,mass murders, tribal warfare, corruption galore..and the list goes on….and in South Africa our Jewish brothers and sisters suffer……
Obviously TOMIM I do. AfTer treating the “inmates” like animals for 100 years why is any surprised that they act any differently?
Sorry # 12..some groups just can’t handle freedom when it’s offered up…look at what happened in Haiti after their dictator Baby Doc left…violence, violence, violence… little self control, continuing poverty and disease etc…. Freedom isn’t always free it comes with a price…respect for the law of the land, no crime/murdering, act civil to your fellow man, be productive members of society etc, etc, etc…
# 1I think it was by the swap area. I might be wrong but it is that area.