Kimberley – A city policeman, who had recently returned from duty in Marikana, died yesterday morning after accidentally shooting himself in the head with his service pistol, which he apparently thought was not loaded.

Mabotho Faizyle Moilwa, 27, who was allegedly drunk at the time, was apparently playing with the weapon when the accident happened around midday.

“He and his friends were sitting on the veranda and had been drinking alcohol since the early hours of the morning,” his sister, Jamila Moilwa, said.

Moilwa apparently left them and went into his bedroom where he opened his safe and took out his gun. He returned to the veranda and told them that the gun was not loaded and then put it against his head and pulled the trigger.

When the DFA arrived at the scene, hundreds of residents, including many school children, were gathered outside Moilwa’s grandmother’s house in Sago Crescent in Galeshewe, where the incident occurred.

The street was already cordoned off by the police and many police officers were moving in and out of the Moilwa residence.

Moilwa’s body was lying in a pool of blood on the veranda, which is enclosed by a small brick wall and metal bugler-proofing.

It took the police’s forensic unit hours to move Moilwa’s body from where he was lying into the mortuary van.

“Since the incident happened inside the enclosed veranda it will take us more time to conclude our forensic investigation,” one police forensic official said.

Although most of the residents at the scene refused to speak to the DFA about the incident, a group of learners from the school opposite Moilwa’ home, said that they heard a single gun shot.

“The incident happened at lunch time. We just heard a loud bang and we panicked, thinking that a taxi had hit something. The next thing we saw people running out of the yard, followed by a woman who was crying,” one of the learners said.

Moilwa’s uncle, who did not want to be named, said that he had warned him not to play with guns but he did not want to listen.

“This is a serious tragedy. I warned him earlier because he was carrying two hand grenades and was playing with them while holding my niece’s 11-month-old child with his other hand. When I cautioned him about this, he became furious. So I left them,” he stated.

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An NGO has welcomed Justice Minister Jeff Radebe’s call on the Farlam Commission to fund slain Marikana mineworkers’ relatives’ costs to attend the Farlam Commission of Inquiry hearings in Rustenburg.

The justice department had caused the families distress with a statement on Saturday that it would pull their funding to attend the hearings, the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution’s chairman, Sipho Pityana, said in a statement on Monday.

“We call on the department of justice to act with urgency to make the necessary arrangements for the families to attend the hearings,” he said.

“The interests of justice demand that the families are put at the forefront of the commission of inquiry.”

On Monday, the department announced that Radebe planned to ask President Jacob Zuma to change the rules of the commission to require it to fund miners’ families attendance of its sessions.

“The department has liaised with the commission this morning (Monday) to convey its intention to submit the proposed amendment to the president before the end of business… today (Monday),” justice department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said in a statement.

“Mr Jeff Radebe regrets any confusion and misconception that may have been created by the decision taken by the department this past Saturday.”

On Saturday, the department said it would no longer fund the attendance, at the commission’s hearings in Rustenburg, of the families of some of the 34 miners killed in a police shooting at Marikana on August 16.

It said some of them had said they would prefer to have the travel money paid directly to them, as they were struggling as a result of the loss of their breadwinners.

Mhaga said on Monday that the interests of the families were being safeguarded by “seasoned legal representatives” at the commission.

“Government has the interests of the families of victims at heart, hence we are working tirelessly to salvage the situation.”

On Monday, the commission, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, began dealing with the funding of the families, Legal Aid assistance for the 78 miners wounded in the shooting and the 275 arrested, and the arrests of Lonmin mineworkers who attended the hearing last week.

Dumisa Ntsebeza, who represents the families at the commission, said they were entitled to attend. He called for the hearings to be halted until the families could be there.

“We are not able at this stage, to ascertain the veracity of the undertakings made… (to fund the families’ attendance),” he told the commission. – Sapa

Rustenburg –

Four men arrested in connection with several murders in Marikana will be released soon, the Farlam commission of inquiry heard on Monday.

An arrangement had been reached for them to be released on certain conditions, lawyer Dali Mpofu, for the wounded mineworkers and the 275 workers arrested after the Marikana shooting, told the commission after a lengthy consultation with police representatives.

The four were arrested on October 23, in connection with killings around the Marikana hostel. They were on their way back from the inquiry, being held in Rustenburg, at the time.

The four would be arraigned before the Farlam commission as witnesses to the police shooting, on August 16, of 34 miners at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana.

Ishmael Semenya, for the police, said the arrested miners could not be released only on a warning, as they faced serious charges, including murder. – Sapa

Rustenburg – The Farlam commission watched a police video on Monday taken on the day of the shooting of 34 mineworkers in Marikana, North West.

The footage, recorded by crime scene technician Lt-Col Cornelius Johannes Botha, ran for about 40 minutes.

Last week, Botha told the inquiry into the shooting he was told to get into a helicopter and film a police operation, not knowing what the operation was. Botha was taken to task for saying he had not captured protesting mineworkers being shot at by police.

Thirty-four miners were killed and 78 wounded in a confrontation with police on August 16.

On Monday, Botha asked for permission to make a statement to the commission.

“The last remark on Tuesday afternoon by Mr 1/8Dali 3/8 Mpofu was that he will bring a witness who was shot from the chopper,” said Botha.

“Two stun grenades were shot from the chopper I was in.”

Botha told commission chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam, that he had forgotten this detail, but remembered it after the proceedings adjourned last week.

He said a comment from Mpofu, the lawyer representing the 78 miners injured during the shooting, had triggered his memory.

Farlam asked him how many helicopters were in the air at the time. Botha said there were four.

Mpofu, who asked the commission to watch the video, asked to cross-examine Botha first, after the video was screened.

Farlam said all parties would be given the opportunity to cross-examine Botha again if they wanted to. – Sapa

Lehurushe, North West – A woman was murdered and her body mutilated after being hijacked in the Lehurutshe area in the North West, police said on Monday.

Captain Aafje Botma said she was driving with a man on Saturday evening when they were attacked.

“Someone allegedly threw a stone at the vehicle, the driver stopped to investigate when he saw the attacker running towards them with a firearm.

“The attacker ordered the man to climb into the boot of the car. He got into the car and drove around with them.”

The man managed to jump out of the boot of the moving vehicle while the attacker fled with the woman. He reported the incident to authorities.

On Sunday, police recovered the abandoned vehicle. The woman’s body was found in bushes in the area.

“(She had) two bullet wounds in her body, her right eye and private parts removed.”

A case of hijacking, kidnapping, and murder was opened. No arrests had been made. – Sapa

Cape Town – A Western Cape bus driver was found guilty on 23 counts of culpable homicide by the Cape Town Regional Court on Monday, SABC news reported.

Sisa Nonoma’s R10 000 bail was extended and he would be sentenced on December 3, after his conviction under a plea agreement.

He was the driver of the bus that crashed on the N1 near De Doorns in the Western Cape on May 5, 2010, leaving 23 people dead.

Charges were provisionally withdrawn against his brother, Malinga Nonoma, who was the owner of the bus. Both were initially charged with 23 counts of murder.

The bus was on its way to Cape Town with 78 passengers, instead of the 64 it was certified to carry. Sisa lost control of the vehicle on the Hex River Pass, between De Doorns and Touws River, causing it to overturn.

Three children were among the dead. Fifteen people were seriously injured. – Sapa

BY Obakeng Maje

Banyana Banyana went down 1-0 to hosts Equatorial Guinea in a Group A fixture at the 8th CAF African Women Football Championship 2012, played in wet conditions in front of 15 000-red clad home fans at the Malabo Stadium on Sunday, 28 October 2012.

The hosts took the lead in the 38th minute when striker Gloria Chinasa rose high in the Banyana Banyana penalty area, to collect a cross from the right and head home, wide of a diving SA goalkeeper Thoko Mndaweni.

Rain throughout the day, turned the Malabo stadium pitch into a mud-bath with the hosts having the better of the chances in the first half.

Midfielder Refiloe Jane played her heart out in tackling and winning possession in the Banyana Banyana midfield, in a bid to supply quality opportunities to strikers Portia Modise and Andisiwe Mgcoyi.

The match was marred by University of Johannesburg (Sasol League Gauteng) star Noko Matlou being fouled early in the second half and taken to hospital with a suspected neck injury.

Matlou was replaced by Cape Town Roses (Sasol League Western Cape) attacker Jermaine Seoposenwe, who had few opportunities on the ball in the wet conditions.

Seoposenwe was in the thick of the action with eight minutes to go, in taking on two defenders and powered her way into the Equatorila Guinea penalty area, but slipped in the muddy conditions.

Left-back defender Nothando Vilakazi was again a pillar of strength in the Banyana Banyana rearguard while striker Portia Modise always looked for work on attacked. In the latter stages, the experienced Modise switched play cleverly for Durban Ladies (Sasol League KwaZulu Natal) striker Silindile Ngubane (on for Zamandosi Cele) to raid down the right flank.

Banyana Banyana will face Senegal in Malabo on October 31, and will leave the island and travel to Bata for their final group encounter with DR Congo on November 3.

The semi-finals will take place in either Malabo or Bata on November 7, with the 3rd/4th place playoff and the title decider both scheduled for Malabo on November 11.

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BY Obakeng Maje

The training centre has been renewed to serve as a world class, accredited centre that should provide training and capacity building for subsistence and smallholder farmers.

This will include training on household food security, primary production and agro-processing/value adding, to reduce poverty, create decent employment and to improve rural livelihood as a breakthrough from poverty.

The agriculture sector in the North West Province should work towards increasing its food productivity to ensure that the province becomes the food basket of South Africa that should also feed the African continent, Premier Thandi Modise challenged stakeholders on Thursday.

In her keynote speech delivered at the historic launch of Kgora Farmers Training Centre held at Ramatlabama outside Mahikeng, Premier Modise said that food security cannot be treated in isolation from other developmental questions such as social protection, sources of income, rural and urban development, changing household structures, health, and access to land, water and inputs, retail markets, or education and nutritional knowledge“The pendulum has to swing in favour of our people, we have to rise up to the occasion and be counted as a Province that is combating poverty ruthlessly. We have reached a point whereby agricultural skills transfer is a priority that must not be compromised. Work has been done in prior years, but this time the farmers’ training model is modified to suit the needs of a developmental state,” emphasised the Premier

Modise highlighted that the provincial growth and development strategy has identified amongst many other programmes, agriculture as one of the key pillars for economic growth that should provide opportunities for the total empowerment of the people of the province.

Within the pillars of agriculture, the strategy speaks to emerging and established farmers, women in agriculture and youth in agriculture.

“The priority to divert skills to our people is inevitable because the problem of access to food affects about 32, 9% of the population of the Province. This means we are among the worst in this regard. Only 23, 6% of the households in the province are involved in agricultural activities,” the Premier stressed.MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Desbo Mohono said that her department as per the Premier’s pronouncement in the State of the Province in February spend R6 million to revamp the training centre situated on 802 hectares farm.The centre has  74 bed dormitories, 100 seats capacity lecture halls, 100 seater hall as well as other training support facilities will serve as a world class, accredited, income-generating farmer training centre that emulates “learning by doing” adopted from Netherlands.In her message of support, MEC for Social Development, Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Mosetsanagape Mokemele-Mothibi said that the centre will contribute towards intensifying War on Poverty programme and the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme for the benefit of vulnerable group in society.

Optimism and commitment to support the Provincial Food Security Project was also expressed by various stakeholders including the representatives of South African National Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme Team, The National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (NERPO),  Agri SETA, Agri North West, African Farmers Association of South Africa (AFASA), NW African Farmers Union ,SA Essential Oil Business Incubator (SEOBI),Milk South Africa, and International Water Management Institute (IWMI).Project Management Coordinator at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Elder Mtshiza said that the province is ahead of the pool and provides comfort in terms of the direction it is taking to meet the country’s needs.

The province’s huge potential for aguaculture given the fishery in its dams was highlighted by Director for Rural Fisheries Programme at Rhodes University, Qurban Rouhani who committed the university’s support for the centre.

Mma-Kgosi Ramokone Gopane representing Bahumagadi Forum, a organisation constituted by wives and mothers  of traditional leaders said that the province’s vision of training of emerging farmers to acquire knowledge about the theory of farming and skills in subsistence food production practices, poverty reduction through enough food production, and creation of employment is shared by rural women,women organisations and supported by traditional leaders in the province.Representative of Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, Wilson Mngwambe commented the relevance of the project. Mngwambe said that land reform is as reality therefore new landowners need training to prepare them for productive farming.

Thabo Maseka from the Black African Young Farmers (BAYOFA) expressed appreciation for the initiative and pledged the support of the youth for the Premier’s visionary leadership.

Training and capacity building programmes to be offered at the centre include household food security, primary production and agro-processing/value adding. As part of the broad government agenda the programme will be aimed at reducing poverty, creating decent employment and improve rural livelihood.