Year in review: Top dog shines, Mayweather in SA and riots
Here is a summary of news that made our papers throughout 2014 (January to March):
January
* The new year started with a bang with eight babies born on New Year’s Day at the Tambo Memorial Hospital.
* Shock as Brogan Mahony is brutally assaulted and left unconscious on Commissioner Street, after being attacked on his 26th birthday. No one has been arrested.
* Nikisha Baijan from Sunward Park High School obtained 10 distinctions in the 2013 matric finals. Schools in general faired very well with CBC, Sunward Christian Academy, Hoërskool Oosterlig (130 distinctions), Woodlands (50 distinctions), Voortrekker (130 distinctions) and St Dominic’s achieving 100 per cent pass rate. Boksburg High celebrated 150 distinctions, EG Jansen 245 distinctions and Sunward Park High 159 distinctions while Reiger Park boasted a 82.2 per cent pass rate.
* Boxing icon Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather visits Emperors Palace as a part of his goodwill mission to save the sport of boxing in South Africa.
February
* A Reiger Park police woman, Const Cynthia Monkwe, is allegedly stabbed to death by her boyfriend, who also serves as a officer as the same station. Charges against the boyfriend was dropped and no further arrests have been made.
* Rioters from Comet – an old mining village – storms the streets of Boksburg, demanding better services from government, such as running water, electricity and land.
* ’n Plaaslike shih-tzu, Danny (ook bekend as Midnightdream Thril’F Victory) , is gekroon as Animaltalk se top-skouhond van 2013. Danny het 5 234 punte op verskeie hondeskoue ingepalm. Later in die jaar is Danny ook as die Amerkinaanse shih-tzu koning gekroon.
*R250 000 worth of mandrax tablets is found inside a Teddy bear at a courier company in Boksburg.
* Over R100 000 is raised during the third Cansa Jail and Bail, held at the East Rand Mall.
March
* Ekurhuleni mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele dedicates the 2014 State of the City Address to those who fought for freedom. He highlights the progress the metro has made, also touching on initiatives to re-urbanise and re-mobilise to ensure a liveable Ekurhuleni.
* Efforts to clean up Boksburg Lake takes another knock as Boksburg Lake Forum withdraws its private partnership with the metro. The forum, which had been meeting for over 10 years to find solutions for the lake issues, cites lack of assistance from the metro. By the end of the year very little progress has been made to revitalise the lake.
* The East Rand Traders’s Square joins many other shopping centres by hosting a Cansa Shavathon on March 1.
* Remax Randgro breek die Guiness World Record deur 15 493kg kos vir nie-winsgewende organisasies, soos die DBV, bymekaar te maak.
* EnivoServ Waste Management donated a house to Zandi’s Angels Orphanage in Boksburg.
* Rand Water is in the news locally, as complaints stream in regarding the open pipelines in parts of Boksburg, which have not been filled up. Despite Rand Water saying the new contractor will complete the project by the end of February 2015, and the open trenches will be covered up, by the end of the year not much had happened regarding this eye-sore.
* The Irish Festival, incorporating St Paddy’s Day, is held at Emperors Palace on March 16.
