Rustenburg – National police chief Riah Phiyega was accused on Tuesday of having rushed to issue a news statement to absolve police from the shootings at Marikana, North West, last year.

Evidence leader Mbuyiseli Madlanga also suggested the statement was not well-considered.

Phiyega replied: “I stand by my statement.”

She was testifying in Rustenburg at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the shooting that claimed the lives of 34 miners.

“The impression I get is that you rushed to issue a press statement that absolved the police service from any wrongdoing, without knowing other versions,” Madlanga said.

“On a matter of such gravity – unprecedented as you call it – you should have taken time to consider what others that had knowledge of what had taken place had to say on the subject.

“Did you not consider that?”

Phiyega responded: “Our statement and the facts it had was well considered, and it was important to us as the SA Police Service to give an account as of the 17th of what we have observed had happened, and that is the statement we gave.”

But Madlanga said only two of the officers who helped compile the statement were “on the ground” when the shooting took place.

Phiyega said the statement was compiled by commanders from the joint operations centre.

“To the best of my knowledge and information what we presented on the 17th were the facts,” Phiyega said.

She said if new facts were available, it should first have been presented to her before she considered it.

Madlanga continued to read a statement from officer Hendrich Wouter Myburgh, who said he heard a gunshot on the day and when he turned around he saw a constable put back his firearm and say “they deserved to die”.

The commission heard the constable could not be identified or named.

Phiyega said she and the commanders wanted to understand what had happened, but Myburgh could not give them more details to find or identify the person.

On 17 August, Phiyega said police officers had to “employ force to protect themselves” from the group of miners.

She said: “The militant group stormed towards the police firing shots and wielding dangerous weapons, and the police retreated and were forced to utilise maximum force to defend themselves.”

Thursday last week was the first time Phiyega gave evidence on the role played by the police in the events leading up to and on August 16 last year.

On that day, 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead and 78 were injured when the police opened fire near Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana.

Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed near the mine in the preceding week.

White River, Mpumalanga – Two men were being sought after a teacher was shot and killed in Kabokweni, near White River in Mpumalanga, police said on Tuesday.

Lucas Mabunda, 49, was asleep with his wife around 2.30am on Friday when two men broke into their home and demanded money and their cellphones, said Sergeant Gerald Sedibe.

“In the process, Mabunda was shot and wounded. He then died later at the hospital.” – Sapa

Parliament, Cape Town – The Creative Workers Union of SA (CWUSA) welcomed on Tuesday the  resignation of several SABC board members.

“We believe that the former board members have done an honourable thing to step down with dignity and allow a new search for an interim board that will serve in a manner that is in line with corporate governance,” it said in a statement.

“We wish all of them the best in their relative roles as they go  back into their different areas of expertise and spheres of national development and growth.”

The SABC board was officially dissolved on Tuesday after a heated meeting of Parliament’s communications portfolio committee.

Before the disbanding, one of the last two remaining board members, Suzanne Vos, gave the committee her views on the events leading up to the resignation of nine board members in the past week or so.

She accused Communications Minister Dina Pule of interfering in the board’s operations.

Addressing the committee earlier, Pule denied she was guilty of political interference, an allegation made by Vos and another board  member Cedric Gina.

“If I had interfered, some of the things at the board would not have happened… I wish I had interfered,” Pule said.

The committee formally disbanded the board, and was expected to nominate members for an interim board in the afternoon. The National Assembly was expected to discuss the matter later in the day. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje
Mmakau- North West police arrested a 45 year-old ANC councillor in Bedwang near Mmakau today.
The ANC councillor was arrested after he allegedly rape a 13 year-old girl.
“The incident took place on saturday when a 13 year-old girl and her friend came from the sportsground in ther area” Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.
“He allegedly offered a lif to the minors and promised to take them home,however along the way he changed his tune telling the girls that he need to withdraw the money at the ATM in Makapanstad” police said.
Police said the councillor drove-pass Makapanstad and drove towards Hamaskraal.
The councillor allegedly bought food for the girls after withdrawing the  money.
He allegedly took them home and had braai there.
“Later on,he took the kids home and while on the way he stopped his car. He allegedly asked a 13 year-old girl to accompany him to the nearest bushes where the ordeal took place” police said.
After the alleged rape,he drove to Bollantloko village near Mmakau.
“When they arrived in the area,he took the girl to a dam at Sutelong village and allegedly rape the minor again”
“The girl managed to escape and reported the ordeal to her mother” Ngubane said.
A case of rape was opened and he was arrested today.
“A councillor will appear on friday for rape at Themba Magistrate Court” Ngubane said.

By Staff Reporter

The arrest of the second suspect in connection with the murder of the 67- year-old Ventersdorp farmer whose wife was allegedly assaulted and raped on their farm outside Ventersdorp on Sunday should send a strong message to criminals who are terrorising rural communities that the long arm of the law will finally catch them wherever they are hiding, North West Premier Thandi Modise said in commending police on the swift arrest on Tuesday.

“Without the tip off from members of the community, police would not have been able to make the breakthrough in the case. This proves that when communities work with police, crime does not stand a chance. Intensified united action and collaborative effort from all stakeholders in the farming communities should assist in preventing farm attacks as part of implementing the rural safety strategy,” Premier Modise

Modise reiterated her call for no bail to be granted to the two suspects. 

According to police, the 21-\year-old was arrested on Tuesday morning around 9:15 am in Extension five in Khuma township near Klerksdorp, while hiding at his aunt’s house. Ventersdorp police managed to track the second suspect and asked Khuma Police for assistance.

The first suspect, a 22-year-old was arrested on Sunday night at about 23:00 after police received a tip-off from a member of the community. Allegedly the suspect was seen with the stolen items and Police were alerted. The suspect was found in possession of three firearms, a digital camera and knives that the Police confiscated.

Two men had confronted the farmer outside his house on the farm shortly before 10:00 am.They reportedly hit him over the head and dragged him into the house and attacked his 64-year-old wife they found in the house. It was believed that they also raped her.

The men tied her up and fled with two cellphones. She managed to free herself and found help on a neighbouring farm. SAPS-North West Spokesperson Brigadier Thulane Ngubane says that the farmer died on the scene while his wife was recovering in hospital in Klerksdorp.Police suspect the motive for the attack was robbery.

The arrested suspect is expected to appear in the Ventersdorp Magistrates court on Wednesday morning.

A shocked court heard on Monday how a school principal allegedly forced an employee to bury a dog alive.

School cleaner Elliott Mfengu told the Khayelitsha Magistrates’ Court that school head Manono Makhaphela ordered him and a colleague to bury the dog in the schoolyard for defecating.

The dog survived the horror ordeal after being buried up to its neck in a deep pit.

The Luhlazo Secondary High School principal is facing two charges of neglect, torture or cruelty for burying the dog and another one for causing an animal unnecessary harm under the Animal Protection Act.

“It was in the morning of October 20, 2011, and we were called by the principal, telling us to remove a dog that had messed up a classroom,” Mfengu told the court.

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

By Staff Reporter

Office of Premier distances itself from attack on North West Provincial Legislature and Chairperson of Scopa.

The Office of the North West Premier distances itself from the attack on the North West Provincial Legislature and the Chairperson of Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Patrick Chauke attributed to member of the Provincial Council on Aids, Neo Moepi as published under the caption“Leave me alone – Scopa’s Patrick Chauke” in The New Age of Monday 18 March 2013.

Though Moepi is a member of the Provincial Council on Aids and an employee in the Office of the Premier, the views expressed by him in his capacity as Provincial Chairperson of People Living with HIV and Aids (PPLWHA) do not represent those of the Office of the Premier and or Provincial Council on Aids.

Moepi was not mandated by the Provincial Council on Aids to speak on its behalf on the findings of the Auditor General on the non-submission of the 2011/2012 financial statements for audit.

We wish to reiterate that Premier as a former Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature and Chairperson of the Defence committee in the National Assembly understands oversight by portfolio committees in the Provincial Legislature and distances herself from those who see SCOPA, its chairperson and members as adversaries.

Premier Modise remains committed to clean governance and welcomes efforts that support her stance against maladministration, fraud and corruption irrespective of who is involved.