Scores of ANC members are celebrating the arrival of centenary flame
in the North West today. ANC members from all over North West are in Moretele to celebrate the arrival before the torch tour the province. We are there and we will keep you posted.
The lighting of the flame is a time to reflect on historical achievements and the price that was paid for democracy.
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Cape Town – The board of Cricket SA (CSA) had “failed to exercise leadership”, members of Parliament’s sports portfolio committee heard on Wednesday.
Briefing MPs on the recommendations of the Nicholson Report, following the bonus and administration scandal that has rocked the cricket body, board member Chris Nenzani said there had been a “lack of oversight” by CSA.
The report, compiled by retired judge Chris Nicholson, found among other things, that now suspended CSA chief executive Gerald Majola had “surreptitiously negotiated the payment of bonuses” totalling R1.8 million, after the hosting of the Indian Premier League in South Africa in 2009.
Nenzani said on Wednesday that the CSA had accepted the Nicholson Report and was committed to sorting out the problems in SA cricket management.
“We made a public commitment… to fix the mess that we have created… I believe the board might, to some extent, have failed to exercise leadership.
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Picture:Itumeleng English
ohannesburg – The policeman who shot dead Thato Mokoka placed the gun next to his body then ran away, the High Court in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday.
“He didn’t walk away, he ran,” testified a pregnant, 15-year-old friend of Mokoka, 16, who was shot dead on February 14 outside his home, allegedly by student constable Sipho Mbatha.
The police went looking for Mokoka with two youths and two women who accused him of being part of a gang called the BWA, and of having a gun.
“I heard one of the boys say Thato had a gun while we were still inside the shack,” the girl, who may not be named, testified in camera. She told the court that one of them had not got along with Mokoka.
“He didn’t like Thato. He was jealous because Thato was always around girls. He didn’t like me because he proposed to me and I turned him down.”
She confirmed that Mokoka was part of a group of friends who called themselves the BWA (Boys With Advices).
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Photo: Brenton Geach
Johannesburg – Gauteng police commissioner Mzwandile Petros on Wednesday admitted the province was labelled as a ‘gangsters’ paradise’.
“I was fascinated by the beauty of the walls of Gauteng because the walls are five metres high instead of two metres high,” he said during an interview on Talk Radio on 702.
“Something is not right. The people are living in fear.”
He said the term ‘Gangsters’ paradise’ was given by the people of Gauteng themselves and this fear was justified.
He recalled in the interview when he moved to Gauteng from the Western Cape in 2010 to take up the post as provincial commissioner.
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21-YEAR-OLD ZIMBABWEAN NATIONAL DIE WHILE HIS CO-ACCUSED REMAINS IN CUSTODY FOR BUSINESS ROBBERY IN BRITS
Two suspects were arrested for business robbery at a local supermarket in Brits yesterday 31 July 2012 at about 17:32.
It is alleged that the victim was busy inside the shop when three suspects entered the shop and pretended to be customers. One of the suspects threatened the victim with a firearm and robbed him of an undisclosed amount of cash, cigarettes and airtime. It is also alleged that the suspects took the victim’s father’s passport and driver’s licence. The victim switch the alarm and the security guards and members of the Tactical Response Team (TRT) came to the rescue.
When members of TRT and the security guards arrived at the scene, shots were exchanged between the suspects and the police. A security guard and members of TRT chased the three suspects. One of the suspects was shot, one was arrested and the other one managed to flee the scene and he is still at large. One suspect was found in possession of a firearm and the other suspect was in possession of money and airtime. The suspect who was shot was taken to Brits Hospital under police supervision. This morning 01 August 2012, it was reported that the 21-year-old Zimbabwean national died at the Brits hospital.
The Brits police are investigating a Business Robbery case and one suspect is expected to appear in Bits Magistrate Court soon.
The less-talked-about information bill – the Protection of Personal Information Bill – is not another attack on mainstream media, ANC and opposition MPs have assured, but will instead crack down on direct marketing companies.
On Tuesday, the portfolio committee on justice and constitutional development discussed the bill, which had been before Parliament the longest out of those yet to be finalised.
Its main intention is to reinforce Section 14 of the constitution, which grants everyone the right to privacy. Now in its seventh draft, the bill is expected to be made into law before the end of this year. It aims to “promote the protection of personal information processed by public and private – bodies” and to introduce information protection and establish minimum requirements for the processing of personal information. The bill also makes provision for a regulator to provide for the issuing of codes of conduct to cover the handling of personal information.
ANC MP John Jefferies and his DA counterpart, Dene Smuts, defended the bill following concerns that journalism would be a victim of the legislation, because it also dealt with the gathering and dissemination of individuals’ information without their consent.
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Tokyo Sexwale, with Judy Favish (right) and other members of the audience at the UCT campus on Tuesday night. Sexwale gave a lecture on Nelson Mandela and said unity in the ANC was of paramount importance for the continued existence of the party. Picture: Courtney Africa
Unity in the ANC is paramount, irrespective of who is elected to lead the party later this year, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has said.
ANC members who wanted to “pursue victory” at the party’s national conference in Mangaung in December should also consider what such a victory could cost a party watched closely by an electorate that should not be taken for granted, he said in giving a lecture on Nelson Mandela at UCT on Tuesday night.
The event was arranged by the ANC Youth League as part of the ANC’s centenary celebrations.
Sexwale lamented the divisions in the ANC.
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Colin Naidoo, airport communications and brand manager, recalls some of the strange objects that airport scanners have picked up.
Durban – From sex toys to curry powder, these are only some of the quirky items that air passengers try to sneak past security scanners at airports.
After an Egyptian couple was caught by United Arab Emirates security personnel attempting to get their baby son past security by hiding him in their hand luggage, the Sunday Tribune visited King Shaka International Airport to get a first-hand look at the luggage scanning process.
Colin Naidoo, the communications and brand manager at the airport, confirmed that they do pick up some strange items on the X-ray machines at security check points.
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Durban – There were no words to describe the euphoria of Chad le Clos’s family and over a hundred fans last night when the Durban swimming star beat the odds to win the men’s 200m butterfly race by a split second and give SA its second gold medal of the Olympic Games.
Chad’s older brother Justin and sister, Bianca Matos, along with extended family and friends, all in supporters’ T-shirts were at the Stella Sports Club in the Durban suburb of Glenwood to watch his race. Chad’s little brother Jordan, 14, was with his parents Geraldine and Bert at the Olympics.
Three police officers and a clerk have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the rape of a woman in the toilet of a police station and the filming of it.
Theodore Syster, Jaede Fillies, Beverly Carelse and Theo van Wyk – appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
The State alleges that on June 15, 2010 Syster raped the woman in a toilet at Elsies River police station after he and Fillies “kidnapped” her and her boyfriend.
Fillies had allegedly filmed part of the ordeal on a cellphone.
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The Guardian 