By Obakeng Maje
Mahikeng-Police in Mahikeng arrested two police members of the Tactical Response Team (TRT) aged 29 and 33 respectively.
“It is alleged that on Monday at about 20:00, members entered the tuck-shops owned by Bangladesh Nationals” Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.
They allegedly told them that they are from Potchefstroom and doing a random check for illicit cigarettes” police said.
In the first incident,they searched and found five boxes of illicit cigarettes which contain twenty (packets of) cigarettes each.
They then demanded R1000, 00 from the owner of the tuck shop. “He allegedly told them that he does not have money and they searched the place and found R400. The owner called his friend to assist him with R600, 00” Ngubane said.
According to information received, upon arrival his friend took the registration numbers of the police vehicle before entering the friend’s house.
“He also informed them that he does not have the money they demanded” he adds.
They then took R400 and left.
The victim’s friend phoned the police in Mooifontein who immediately searched the area but couldn’t find the suspects. They phoned Mahikeng police who did roadblocks on all roads entering Mahikeng.
“It is alleged that after the suspects left the first tuckshop, they went to another one belonging to another Bangladesh National and demanded money” said police.
They allegedly told him that they are from Potchefstroom and searching for illicit cigarettes. They found two boxes of cigarettes that contained twenty (packets of) cigarettes each. They took R200 and boxes of cigarettes they found at the shop.
It is alleged that after all these robberies they drove to Mahikeng where they were arrested said police.
They will appear on Wednesday at Itsoseng Magistrate’s Court on charges of corruption and common robbery.
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Rustenburg – Protesting Marikana mineworkers threatened the police and told them to move their barbed wire and Nyala vehicles hours before police shot at them, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

The protesters asked: “What is this wire doing here? It must be removed and we are not going to ask again,” Major General Charl Annandale told the commission.

He headed the police special tactical operations team during the unrest in Marikana in August.

Annandale said the police deployed the barbed wire as a defence method.

Barrier

“The intention was to create a physical and… psychological barrier to show that this is a no-go area. It is a method that’s been used to successfully protect assets. Traditionally, people move away from it when they see it.”

Annandale said negotiators used loud hailers to try and tell the protesters why the barbed wire was there. The police then heeded the protesters’ call and moved their vehicles and barbed wire further back.

He said the police could not be allowed to mingle with the protesters, as this would cause confusion if the need to use stun grenades on the crowd arose.

Annandale was delivering his evidence-in-chief at the hearings, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, at the Rustenburg Civic Centre.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people – 34 of whom the police shot dead, during wage-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana in August.

Annandale said union leaders told the police protesters would lay down their weapons at 09:00 on the morning of 16 August.

He said police realised this might not happen when the protesters took their weapons with them to a hill near the mine that morning.

“They could have left their weapons at home,” he said.

The commission continues.

Johannesburg – A woman accused of killing another woman appeared in the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court after being arrested almost eight years after the crime, Eastern Cape police said on Tuesday.

Noluvuyo Sogayise, 32, who appeared in court on Monday, allegedly stabbed Busisa Ntwanambi to death at the Yako informal settlement on Christmas Day in 2005, said Captain Jackson Manatha.

Her arrest came after the “eagle-eyed investigating officer” recognised her in a photograph published in the Daily Sun earlier this month.

She appeared in the newspaper because she gave birth at the Philippi East police station, outside Cape Town, where policewomen helped her.

“The detective warrant officer quickly remembered the identity of his suspect and he contacted his counterparts in Cape Town, who arrested the suspect and kept her in custody for the murder,” Manatha said.

Sogayise would remain behind bars until her next court appearance on May 5. – Sapa

Pretoria – The State on Tuesday questioned the report of a clinical psychologist which states that the actions of the so-called “Modimolle monster” were irrational.

Prosecutor Retha Meintjes cross-examined clinical psychologist Tertia Spangenberg in the Pretoria High Court regarding her report on Johan Kotze.

Meintjes put it to Spangenberg that Kotze’s alleged actions – giving orders to his co-accused, walking to a closet to collect tools to mutilate Ina Bonnette’s genitals, pulling the trigger, and reloading the gun – appeared to be rational.

“These are complex actions,” Meintjes said.

Spangenberg agreed, based on the State’s version of events.

“Given the State’s evidence it may be rational.”

She added, however, that to actually give these orders was not rational.

Kotze is accused of orchestrating the gang-rape of Bonnette and of murdering his stepson Conrad, 19, in his rented home in Modimolle on January 3, 2012. At the time Bonnette was still married to Kotze, but lived in her own flat.

Kotze’s co-accused – Andries Sithole, Pieta Mohlane and Frans Mphaka – are accused of kidnapping, assaulting, repeatedly raping, and attempting to murder Bonnette that day.

In her report, Spangenberg found Kotze was not accountable for his actions.

“I am of the opinion that Mr Kotze was not accountable for the alleged actions of which he stands accused,” she said last week.

“It is my opinion that the combination of Mr Kotze’s narcissistic personality disorder, superimposed on traumatic psychological injuries, combined with an unmanaged, long-standing, major depression and untreated and unresolved acute stress disorder, resulted in a state of psychological dissociation during his alleged criminal acts.” – Sapa

Durban – Kwaito star Mkhonzeni “Professor” Langa was ordered to pay a fine of R3 000 or serve one month in prison – half of whichever option he chose, to be suspended for three years – when he appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The musician contravened the SAPS Act by wearing a police uniform without the permission of the national or provisional commissioners, when he attended the Metro FM Music Awards at Durban’s ICC in February. Langa pleaded guilty to the charges.

For more www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – As the sun rose over the Elias Motsoaledi informal settlement on Monday, one resident lay dead, and a KFC outlet lay in ruins.

The settlement in Soweto has seen violence and vandalism for the past week as community members protest against the lack of service delivery.

The demonstrations began last week when the KFC was stoned and traffic lights smashed. Since then, there has been nightly vandalism, and protesters have burnt several minibuses, blockaded roads with litter, and dug holes around Motsoaledi to prevent police vehicles from entering.

For more www.iol.co.za

Animal rights groups have lashed out at the elephant-back safari industry after a handler was trampled to death last week.

Last Monday, an experienced handler at the Elephant Sanctuary in the North West Province was killed by two elephants. According to reports, the handler fell off one of the animals while conducting a morning exercise session and was trampled.

For more www.iol.co.za

Rustenburg – Police numbers in Marikana had been declining in the week that 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead, the Farlam Commission heard  on Monday.

There were around 550 officers in Marikana on August 13 last year. The number increased to around 750 by the 15th, but decreased  to around 600 on August 16 Ä the day of the shooting, SA Police Service Maj-Gen Charl Annandale said.

Officers brought in from other provinces during the course of the week had returned to their posts prior to the main shooting.

Annandale was under cross-examination by Ishmael Semenya, for the SAPS.

He said though he had attended to big operations before, he never attended to one that needed such extensive crowd control where most of the crowd was armed.

Annandale was heading the police special tactical operations team during the Marikana unrest.

The Farlam Commission of Inquiry is holding public hearings in Rustenburg, North West, as part of an investigation into the deaths  of 34 miners shot dead in a wage-related strike at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine on August 16.

Another 10 people were killed in the preceding week. 

The hearings continue. – Sapa

Rustenburg – A police informant was killed in Marikana, North West, amid the wage-related unrest in August last year, the Farlam Commission heard on Monday.

Maj-Gen Charl Annandale said the victim was a security guard at Lonmin’s platinum mine.

The guard was one of 10 people killed in the week before August 16, when police shot dead 34 striking miners.

Annandale, who headed the police special tactical operations team during the Marikana unrest, told the commission police had brought in negotiators prior to the shooting.

Five representatives for the protesters spoke to the negotiators  and informed them they only wanted to speak to mine management.

Lonmin said it would hold talks with workers only once they returned to their jobs.

Annandale said police held talks with the heads of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction (Amcu) and asked that they go and address their striking members.

After the meeting with police, the union leaders refused to travel together with the police to the koppie where the workers had  camped for several days.

It appeared there was no trust between the two sides and they did not want to be seen together, said Annandale.

The NUM delegation returned and said the crowd had jeered them and they had been unable to speak to them.

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa was able to speak to workers and  told police the armed workers would lay down their weapons the next  morning.

“He mentioned that he had good feeling about this and that we will all be smiling the next day,” Annandale said.

The commission heard about a body found close to the koppie on August 14.

In his evidence-in-chief Annandale said police spokesman Captain  Dennis Adriao informed him that journalists had told him about the body.

“His report indicated that the deceased was lying on his back and that he had a huge open wound on his face and head and that he had stab wounds on his body and leg,” said Annandale.

“A skeleton of an animal head was left on his chest,” he said.

Annandale told the commission the plan police attempted to execute on August 16 was a collective one. It had been put together  several days before the shooting.

Testifying before the Farlam Commission in Rustenburg several weeks ago, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega said the plan was disrupted and that there had been an unprecedented outcome.

Earlier Annandale said police numbers in Marikana declined between August 15 and 16.

There were about 550 officers deployed to Marikana on August 13.  The number increased to around 750 by the 15th, but decreased to around 600 on August 16 Ä the day of the shooting.

This was because officers brought in from other provinces during  the course of the week had returned to their posts prior to the main shooting and were attending to other matters.

Annandale said he had attended to big operations before, but never one that needed such extensive crowd control where most of the crowd was armed.

The hearings continue. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

Taung-Yesterday community of Taung were up in arms when more than 200 marchers handed over their memorandum of grievances to the Justice System at Taung Magistrate Court.

This came about after the residents of Taung showed their unhappiness regarding justice system in the area.

They say police and court does not take them serious as it is norm to see criminals roaming the streets after being released without being charged.

“We arrived here today to hand over a memorandum to the Justice system as there are many loopholes in the system” community spokesperson Peggy Molatlhegi told sabc.

According to residents, the criminals are being released without appearing before magistrate and the are other cases that has been struck off the roll without any explanations.

The case that made headlines is of Benjamin Monnahela(sangoma) who was subsequently arrested in connection of Mosetsanagape Seopi’s murder.

Seopi’s mutilated body was found floating in the river at Mokgareng village,near Taung.

However, NPA spokesperson said the case of Monnahela will be reinstated.

“The case of Monnahela wa provisional removed,but I can attest that the case has been reinstated. Monnahela will appear before Vryburg Magistrate Court soon” he told sabc.

Those who took part in the march were K-Pako Anti-Crime Organisation, North West Anti-Crime Organisation(NWACO) and residents at large.

The Justice System accepted the memorandum and were give seven working days to respond.

“We gave them seven working days to respond to our grievances, then if we do not get answers we will engage in another mass march! But I do not think it will be peacefully like today” Molatlhegi said.

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