Durban – Two men have died after they were turned away from a hospital where there was no doctor on duty.
The families of Marius Hayward, 31, and Nico Nel, 27, are furious and demanding answers, reported the Sunday Tribune.
The men were seriously injured in a crash in the Durban city centre early on Sunday morning and rushed to Addington Hospital where paramedics were told there was no doctor on duty and the men needed to be taken to another hospital 30min away.
Both men, who had been flung from a bakkie during the accident, died shortly afterwards.
One of the medics who didn’t want to be identified said Hayward had needed urgent hospital treatment and said he would have survived had he not been turned away by the hospital.  
“I am sure that had a doctor attended to him at Addington, his chances of survival would have improved dramatically.”
Another medic, Rescuecare paramedic Garrith Jamieson said: “This incident is just one of many. In the past month they have turned away dozens of patients. We need to draw the line somewhere.”
Nel’s sister, Anel Meyer, was shocked to hear that her dying brother had been turned away.
“It makes me so angry that I feel physically ill. He might have lived had the hospital not sent them away,” she said.
She said her brother’s handyman business was just taking off.
“He was so ambitious and things were starting to go his way with his business, and he was so happy. I will always remember his smile and how, just by being in a room, he would lift everyone around him. He was very caring,” said Meyer.
Hayward left two children, aged 8 years and 8-months-old.
A spokesperson for the department of healthy said they were looking into the matter.

Kimberley – A judge has denied wanting to protect corruption-accused Northern Cape ANC leader John Block, the City Press reported.

“I have never been a friend of John Block and I am not his friend now,” Kimberley Regional Court president Khandilizwe Nqadala  told the newspaper.

He refuted an allegation that he had been friendly with Block, before he presided over a corruption case involving Block in 2006.

The claim that Nqadala wanted to protect Block is contained in a  preliminary investigation report by two magistrates into a complaint of judicial misconduct against Nqadala.

The complaint against Nqadala was later dropped due to insufficient evidence.

In the report, Vincent Mayisela, an attorney, alleges that Nqadala once mentioned the John Block case – which had not yet been  heard – to him in an informal conversation.

“(He) remarked that he cannot allow the chairperson of the ANC to go to jail,” Mayisela is quoted as saying in the prelimary report.

The 2006 court case related to a visit Block paid to a jazz festival allegedly at the expense of taxpayers. Block was acquitted.

A new graft trial of Block and seven others will begin in the Northern Cape High Court on October 28.

They are accused of fraud, corruption and money-laundering, allegedly involving R49 million, between May 2005 and December 2009. – Sapa

Cape Town – As he lay bleeding from a stab wound to the chest, a promising young rugby player’s mother tried desperately to save him.

But her efforts were in vain and on Saturday 18-year-old Abdul-Hadi Manuel’s family laid him to rest.

The Grade 11 pupil at Alexander Sinton High School was stabbed outside a corner shop near his home in Belgravia in Athlone on Wednesday.

For more details go to www.iol.co.za

By Obakeng Maje

Johannesburg-Pedestrians continue to lose their lives on our roads, and the latest incident that ER24 has responded to was on the N14 last night.

The woman in her 20′s was attempting to cross the road where a light motor vehicle, believed to have been some type of bakkie, collided into her. 

“The incident took place between the Zwarkops and the Malibongwe drive exits” Paramedics said.

“Paramedics arrived on scene to find the young woman lying in the road and she was extensively injured” ER24 spokesperson said. The woman had already died on scene prior to the arrival of the paramedics, she had sustained a severe head injury and broken bones in her legs and they declared her head.

“The occupants of the vehicle that collided into the woman were not physically injured” ER24 said. 

Local police are still investigating.

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews

North West Premier Thandi Modise has expressed shock that the incident in which a well known dog breeder Eric Labuschane was murdered and his 78-year-elderly mother locked in the bathroom and only discovered after a week. 

Modise said on Saturday the dog breeder’s death outside Rustenburg highlights the need for farmers to keep in regular contact with each other.

“An effective communication network with farmers should be maintained by rural safety co-ordinating structures in order to prevent farm attacks and improve response time in the event attacks occur,” she said.

Modise was reacting to the death of Eric Labuschane.

The farmer lay dead in his farm house for a week while his mother, who has Alzheimer’s, was locked in the bathroom, Beeld reported on Saturday.

Eric Labuschane, aged 51, who bred Great Danes, was found on Thursday, while police only found his 78-year-old mother on Friday, according to the report.

Recluse

Labuschane had been stabbed and assaulted with a rock.

The mother was found sitting in the bath, severely dehydrated and suffering from shock. She was taken to hospital.

Labuschane had been living in the four-bedroom house on Olifants Hoek farm, about 23km outside Rustenburg, since August last year.

He was renting the house from Peter Roberts, son of herbalist Margaret Roberts, according to the report.

Labuschane and his mother were last seen last Wednesday night.

Roberts said Labuschane was a recluse and he was not worried that he had not seen him or his mother.

He said he became suspicious when he saw how thin Labuschane’s dogs were looking.

“I went to the house, there was a bad smell and flies.”

No forced entry

Roberts called the police and they broke down the front door.

They found Labuschane’s body in the main bedroom.

“There was blood all over the walls and Eric was stabbed and beaten with a rock,” said Roberts.

North West police spokesperson Colonel Emelda Setlhako said Labuschane had also been strangled.

It did not look like there was forced entry into the house.

Labuschane had a worker who was also last seen last Wednesday.

A Volkswagen bakkie and two cellphones were missing.

“We wish Labuschane’s elderly mother a speedy recovery and pray for her strength to deal with her loss as she mourns the tragic death of her son,” Modise said.

She called on police not to leave any stone unturned until those responsible were behind bars.

– SAPA

Police in Kimberley in the Northern Cape have started with Operation Paseka, meaning Easter, ahead of the upcoming holidays. 

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Sergio Kock says they visited more than 32 liquor outlets and issued fines where they were found to be in contravention of the law. 

He says about 282 people were searched and several dangerous weapons such as knives and pangas were confiscated. 

Lieutenant Kock added that they are going to continue with the operation during the coming Easter holidays.

“The operation also concentrated on contact crimes against women and children and through the extensive visibility of police vehicles in the Galeshewe area. We also managed to curb the occurrence of rapes and murders,” says Kock.

He says that Operation Paseka is held throughout the Northern Cape Province and will be conducted on an on-going basis during the Easter holidays and beyond.  

“The operation is effected with the main focus of ensuring safety and security of visitors and residents to our province,” added Kock.

The provincial education department yesterday announced its R8.4m plan to turn 26 under performing schools around.

The department has previously implemented a plan to up performance and reports that the number of under performing schools has consistently dropped from 85 in 2009 to 26 in 2012.

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

 the survival of the party itself but also for the stability and cohesion of society in general, according to President Jacob Zuma.

Speaking at the KwaZulu-Natal provincial general council last week, Zuma said the ANC, which would be marking 20 years of freedom next year, would look back at what it had achieved and urged members to recommit themselves to strengthening and building the party and the country.

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