Daily Archives: July 26, 2012

POLICE NEGOTIATORS RESCUE 12-YEAR OLD BOY

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BY Obakeng Maje

Stilfontein– Yesterday Police were called to the house where a 22 year-old suspect held her younger brother hostage and threaten to kill him.

The 12 year-old boy met this gruesome event at home after school and fortunately his elder brother was also at home. A 22 year suspect allegedly took out the fire-arm belonging to her parents who were at work by that time.

Their brother called for help and the police arrived shortly. The Hostage negotiators were summoned to the scene to try and convince the berserk sister to let go off her brother.

“The Police did splendid job by rescuing a boy and and his sister out of that ugly even. Even though the cause of this is still unknown, the suspect was charged with attempted murder, unlawfully found in a possession of a fire-arm and ammunitions” said Capt Adéle Myburgh.

The 22 year-old sister has been taken to the local hospital for examinations and will appear before magistrate soon

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Compensation fund fraud witness ‘erred’

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gavel_may 14

A witness in the trial of a Northern Cape doctor accused of fraud has apologised for the mistakes in his testimony.

Former Compensation Fund forensic investigator Tshepo Sexwale told Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court magistrate Dawie Jacobs that he had omitted some aspects from his testimony.

“I must admit that I made a mistake,” Sexwale said.

The magistrate responded that Sexwale had not only made a mistake, but “a big mistake”.

Sexwale was giving evidence at the trial of Pampierstad, Northern Cape, doctor Tebogo Ephraim Kaeletsa, who is accused of defrauding the Compensation Fund of R700 000.

Kaeletsa, who was arrested in 2010, is out on bail of R5 000.

It is alleged that Kaeletsa, with the assistance of a Compensation Fund official, made false claims against the agency, which is part of the Department of Labour.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Patient killed in hospital attack

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IOL news june 26 hospital bed

A Zeerust Hospital patient was killed on Wednesday morning when he was attacked, allegedly by another patient.

North West – A Zeerust Hospital patient was killed on Wednesday morning when he was attacked, allegedly by another patient, North West police said.

The 43-year-old struck three men, aged 68, 75 and 90, on their heads with a steel drawer he had removed from a cabinet. The 90-year-old died from severe head injuries, Captain Adéle Myburgh said.

Myburgh said the crime was committed in the early hours of the morning.

Provincial health department spokesman Tebogo Lekgethwane said Zeerust Hospital was a “normal” hospital that catered for patients with normal illnesses.

However, it had holding rooms in which mentally ill patients could be kept until they were sent to psychiatric hospitals.

Lekgethwane said the attacker was admitted on Sunday.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Sexual attraction always gets in the way

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harry met sally lib

London – It turns out that Harry was right when he told Sally that men can’t be “just friends” with women.

Researchers have found that men’s friendships with the opposite sex are driven by sexual attraction, regardless of whether they are single.

Women, however, are more likely to consider their friendships with men as platonic – and only hoped for more if their own relationship was in trouble.

The scientists’ findings mirror the plot of 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, in which Harry, played by Billy Crystal, tells Meg Ryan’s Sally: “Men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.”

The researchers said the study had “potential negative consequences” for people in long-term relationships.

They said the impact of work, hobbies and university has seen friendships between men and women reach unprecedented levels.

But our mating instincts, which have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, may get in the way.

In a survey, 88 pairs of young male and female friends were asked to rate their attraction to each other in a confidential questionnaire.

Men – whether attached or single – were more likely to be attracted to their female friends and want to go on a date with them than the other way around.

They also assumed their female friends were more romantically interested in them than they actually were – and women tended to be unaware of this.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Anni’s family slam latest delay

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IOL news apr 11 nov 12 anni

The family of murdered honeymoon bride Anni Dewani on Wednesday night slammed the latest agonising setback in their quest for justice.

They spoke out as it was confirmed that the long-awaited murder trial in the Mother City will NOT now go ahead as planned on Monday.

“Is this how justice is supposed to work?” Anni’s uncle Ashok Hindocha asked when informed of the latest developments by the Daily Voice.

“There are too many people involved. There are the British and the South African authorities and then there are the health authorities.

“But it is quite simple actually – you are either guilty or you are not guilty.

“All we want to know is what happened to Anni.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

R100m drug bust shocks neighbours

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Copy of drug bust [1]

Photo: Antoine de Ras

Shocked neighbours have described the suspects arrested in a R100 million drug bust in northern Joburg homes as “decent” and “polite”.

Police said on Wednesday they had smashed a multimillion-rand drug manufacturing operation in Bryanston and Douglasdale on Wednesday morning.

Five people, including two brothers, who are originally from Soweto, were arrested during raids by the Crime Intelligence Unit, said police spokesman Colonel Vish Naidoo.

Police were investigating a third Joburg home linked with the suspects, but declined to specify where it was or what part it might have played in the manufacturing or distribution of the drugs.

All the suspects are expected to face charges of drug dealing and possibly the manufacturing of drugs.

First, a husband and wife were arrested at their home on Mount Street in Bryanston in possession of chemicals and powder worth about R50m. The chemicals and powder are believed to be the ingredients for Mandrax.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za/

Madibeng intervention deferred

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BY Obakeng Maje

The provincial intervention into Madibeng Local Municipality has been deferred by three weeks pending conclusion of investigations into allegations of fraud and corruption within the municipality, North West Provincial Executive Council (Exco) resolved in a special meeting held with the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Richard Baloyi in Mahikeng on Wednesday afternoon.

MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, China Dodovu says that his department will proceed with deployment of an administrator and technical experts  as part of Implementation of provincial intervention in accordance with Section 139(i) (b) of the constitution.

The process as adopted by Exco was put on hold pending consultations and engagements with Minister Baloyi.

The Minister is to expedite the appointment of a team from his office to expedite investigations that would amongst others cover, reinstatement of dismissed Municipal Manager, termination of Gobodo mandate; termination of De Swartdt Vogel Myambo Attorneys mandate and failure to pay them and fraudulent activities in supply chain management.

The high-powered team is expected to conclude its investigation within the next three weeks.

“We will support the investigation process in the spirit of promoting cooperative governance and sound intergovernmental relations within and across all spheres of government. The Department and the provincial government will cooperate with the Minister during the process because all spheres of government have a responsibility to promote good governance based on trust and mutual respect, support and cooperation within the framework of the laws of the country” says MEC Dodovu.

The municipality had taken the provincial government on the Madibeng Matter to court on two grounds: first ,for an interim interdict against the execution of the intervention decision; and second ,for the review of the decision to invoke section 139(1)(b) intervention.

The court dismissed the interdict application and the substantive review application is still pending.

Once and for all’ sale of property a burden on SA

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br landless

Angela Merkel describes dysfunctional things like Greek bonds as s***-storms. The seemingly incurable and inexplicable property dogmas of the Free Market Foundation (FMF) qualify for the same label. At the very least they also refute the rule of law.

The article “Land reform can be achieved cheaply and legally” in Business Report, July 17, refers.

The FMF has an obsession with freehold tenures, the code for land transactions that are settled by a one-off capital payment. The result is high taxes and high land prices. In Claremont we have experienced land price increases of an average 15 times to R2.5 million over the past 24 years, which is quadruple the cumulative consumer price inflation rate.

These are unearned profits, a state subsidy of landowners! The cause is the undertaxation of land (including all natural assets below and above the earth’s surface) and the overtaxation of labour (wages and salaries), capital (profits and interest) and consumption (VAT). The latter are also known as dead-weight taxes as they slow economic growth by raising the cost of living to satisfy demands of the SA Revenue Service.

As a car can be powered by petrol which pollutes the air or by sun-charged batteries which do not, so the national budget can be funded entirely from beneficial land revenues, excluding improvements.

These are “jumbo” rates and taxes charges. An average monthly R5 000 extra rates bill levied on the 11 million formal house and flat owners will equal the R650 billion budgeted by the National Treasury in 2012 for personal income tax and VAT.

There is a different ratio for the corporate taxes of R190bn. These figures need auditing but illustrate the point that whatever income taxes and VAT might be, a land rates system can match them.

for more info go to http://www.iolnews.co.za

Harmony ‘starves out’ illegal miners

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IOL dec 8 of mine worker

Welkom – One of South Africa’s biggest gold firms has taken the drastic step of banning all food underground to cut supply lines to gangs of illegal miners used to staying deep in the mines for months on end, threatening lives and official production.

With gold mining around Welkom, 200 km (130 miles) south of Johannesburg, dating back to the 1930s, the bedrock is criss-crossed by a myriad network of tunnels that provide perfect cover and multiple entry points for illegal miners.

Bosses of Harmony Gold’s 2.4 km deep Phakisa mine – one of the world’s deepest – have tried blocking up old shafts and installing stadium-style turnstiles at the top of the main shaft to stop imposters slipping through.

In January this year, they tightened the screw by imposing a total ban on food to prevent official miners bringing in supplies to sell or give to their unofficial counterparts.

“There are two things you need to survive underground: food and water. You can always get water down a mine but the food ban has made a real difference,” Harmony chief executive Graham Briggs told Reuters this week during a mine visit.

Unions agreed to the ban – as long as it was accompanied by a free meal at the end of a shift – even though it means teams of men will consume nothing but water during an eight-hour shift pounding at the gold-bearing rock in sweltering heat.

for more info go to http://www.iol.co.za

Limpopo firearm licences uncollected

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IOL news june 25 gun

Limpopo – A total of 783 firearm licences are waiting to be collected from police stations across Limpopo, police said on Wednesday.

The uncollected licences included competency certificates, new licences and renewal of firearm licences, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

“We have tried in vain to locate (the) owners of those cards. Some applicants have relocated whilst others have changed their addresses.”

Those who applied for firearm licences were advised to inform the police when relocating, so they could be informed when the licences were ready for collection. – Sapa

for more info go to http://www.iol.co.za