Rustenburg – Residens of Ikaneng, near Rustenburg, were protesting over service delivery on Friday, North West police said.

Captain Aasje Botma said people were marching to a local councillor’s home to hand over a memorandum.

“Police are present at the march. No violence was reported, but we continue to monitor the situation.”

The organisers of the protest could not immediately be reached for comment. – Sapa

Pretoria -So-called “Modimolle monster” Johan Kotze believed his marriage was holy, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Friday afternoon.

Clinical psychologist Tertia Spangenberg told the court Kotze believed his sexual relationship and marriage to Ina Bonnette was sacred.

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Cape Town – Knysna businessman Adrian Wilson-Forbes was acquitted on all 79 charges against him in the Western Cape High Court sitting in Thembalethu, outside George, on Friday.

The charges had included statutory rape, abduction, indecent assault, trafficking persons for sexual purposes, and making child pornography.

“It’s been a very punishing and very gruelling time and I now have to try and rebuild my life,” Wilson-Forbes, 60, said when leaving court.

In her judgment, Judge Patricia Goliath slammed the primary witness’s evidence describing Wilson-Forbes as a pimp, saying the primary witness and the accused had clearly defined roles in their relationship.

“The accused made use of the sexual services offered by the primary witness and the primary witness offered the sexual services. Both of them were untruthful,” Goliath said.

Now 23, the primary witness said that when he was 11-years-old he was abducted and sexually assaulted by Wilson-Forbes, who then allegedly asked him to procure young girls for sexual purposes. He claimed he did this on three occasions.

Photographic evidence submitted by the State showed Wilson-Forbes in a compromising position with an eight-year-old girl during an incident on March 29 last year.

Wilson-Forbes claimed he was set up by the primary witness, who held him at knife-point and took photographs of him and the girl under duress.

He denied all allegations of sexually assaulting the primary witness and two other witnesses during incidents that allegedly took place in 2001/2002.

Goliath said “the court remained in the dark” as to what had really happened during the incident in March last year and neither version was corroborated by the eight-year-old girl.

She said the State had to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

“The version of the accused is improbable, but can the court find it is so improbable that it cannot be reasonably and possibly true? It would be improper for this court to reject the accused’s version and convict him.”

With regard to the earlier incidents, Goliath said there was no conclusive evidence as to the ages of the alleged victims at the times the alleged incidents took place.

Adjourning the case, Goliath said the request for indemnity for the primary witness was refused. – Sapa

Butterworth – A newspaper report on a police-assisted birth in the Eastern Cape led to the mother being arrested on Friday for an eight-year-old murder, police said.

Captain Jackson Manatha said the woman 32, allegedly killed Busisa Ntwanambi, 22, on Christmas day in 2005 at the Yako informal settlement outside Butterworth, apparently in a fight over a man.

The victim died on the scene and the attacker disappeared before the police arrived, said Manatha.

On Thursday, the investigating officer of the case read a newspaper report about a woman being assisted by police to give birth at the Philippi East police station in Cape Town.

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

The woman was arrested on Friday morning and will appear in the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court on Monday. – Sapa

The ethics and integrity committee of the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football says its former president and secretary general enriched themselves through fraud during their terms with the organization.

The committee presented an extensive report Friday on the activities of former President Jack Warner and former Secretary General Chuck Blazer at the CONCACAF congress in Panama City, also attended by FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

Committee member David Anthony Cathcart Simmons said “our information shows that they committed fraud.”

      
-Sapa-AP

The High Court in Pretoria has granted a second urgent order halting the North West’s Madibeng municipality from cutting electricity without notice, AfriForum said on Friday.

The lobby group’s North West organiser, Ian Cameron, said the order prohibited the municipality from cutting electricity supply to any premises without a 14-day notice.

This was after the municipality disconnected electricity to residents in the Hartbeespoort area.

“To add insult to injury, the accounts of residents who had their electricity disconnected were actually current, and proof to this effect had been submitted,” Cameron said.

On March 15 the same court granted AfriForum an order to stop the municipality from disconnecting Hartbeespoort’s power supply without notice.

Cameron said AfriForum was also preparing for a possible contempt of court case against Madibeng’s municipal manager Monde Juta. He said if the municipality continued to cut electricity without notice, AfriForum would charge it with contempt of court and Juta could be arrested.

Madibeng spokeswoman Lebogang Tsogang said she was unaware of the second court order.

-Sapa

The bail application of a Zion Christian Church (ZCC) member accused of raping a woman was postponed by the Mankweng Magistrate’s Court on Friday, Limpopo police said.

Constable Moses Molepo said the accused fell sick during proceedings.

“He said he was not feeling well, and the court had no choice but to adjourn. He has now been admitted to Mankweng Hospital.”

The matter was postponed to April 25. It had been put off before because the investigating officer was ill.

The alleged rapist was arrested on March 3 after a 27-year-old woman claimed he held a knife to her throat and raped her during an all-night prayer session at the church’s headquarters in Moria, near Polokwane, on March 2.

It was initially reported the man was a prophet, but the church denied this, saying he was an ordinary member.

-Sapa

Nwest hosts SACCA Congress and Cooperatives Financial Institution IndabaThe North West Provincial government is to host the Savings and Credit Cooperatives Associations of Africa (SACCA) Congress and Cooperatives Financial Institutions Indaba to be held at Sun City outside Rustenburg later in the year in October.The Annual SACCA conference to be held over five days as from 21-25 October will brings together400 international from Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leona, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Canada and Cameroon to deliberate on issues affecting the SACCOs.

The purpose of the Indaba to involve the participation of 200 national delegates is to raise awareness around the International Year of the Cooperatives, contextualise financial cooperatives within the financial sector, provide network forum for financial cooperatives, provide financial cooperatives with technical skills and showcase financial cooperatives best practices.

Board members of Savings and credit Cooperatives, Cooperatives Financial Institutions (CFIs), CFI representative bodies, development agencies, banking associations including government department working with financial cooperatives are expected to participate in the Indaba hosted in partnership with the Cooperative Banks Development Agency, a parastatal of the National Treasury.

North West police is concerned about cases reported around Mahikeng and Mmabatho about an alleged syndicate operating in these areas. 

This came forth after victims were allegedly hijacked at the local malls, in town, Automatic Teller Machines (ATM’s) and filling stations, and at all other busy areas. 

They will be allegedly be taken to isolated areas to be robbed or raped.  

“When they arrive at  those isolated areas this syndicate will force victims to give their bank cards and disclose their  Personal Identification Numbers(PIN).They will then drive to the bank and withdraw the victim’s money” colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said. 

“It is alleged that these syndicates use different modus operandi. In some instances, they will wait for unsuspecting victims to approach and unlock their cars, then they will force themselves into the car, point the victim with firearm and force him or her to drive to designated area” Mokgwabone said.  

Most of these cases happen during the day said police.  

“An example of cases reported was when a family of three were at Mmabatho Graveyard and three suspects attacked them, pointed them with firearms” police said. 

“They drove with them to an isolated place where they robbed them of their bank cards. The suspects demanded their bank pin codes before driving to the bank to withdraw money” Mokgwabone said. 

Police were alerted and one suspect was arrested, he will appear before Mmabatho Magistrate’s court on charges of armed robbery on 22 April 2013.

In another incident, a 55 year- old man was also robbed at Mega City mall by four suspects after he deposited money at the ATM. The suspects allegedly grabbed him, tied his hands and blindfolded him before driving in his vehicle to an isolated area. “When they arrived at that place they asked for his bank cards and pin codes” Mokgwabone said. Two suspects went to the bank and withdrew his money. 

“After the transaction was completed, they went back to where the victim and other two suspects were waiting” he adds. They handed over his car and escaped with theirs. 

The victim could not identify them as he was blindfolded.

The community of Mmabatho and Mahikeng is advised to be alert at all times and apply the following tips.  

∙Look around when parking or getting into your car at malls or shops to ensure there are no suspicious people around.

∙Lock your car and close windows when in your car.

∙When your car is bumped from behind, if not sure about your safety, drive to the nearest police station.

∙Report any suspicious car following you. 

Police are appealing to anybody who has been a victim of these syndicates to immediately report at the nearest police station.

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President Jacob Zuma arrived unannounced at the Sunnyside police station in Pretoria on Friday morning to inspect the quality of service to the public.

He said afterwards the station was struggling to cope with the number of residents in the area.

“I think it is the busiest police station in Pretoria. I [also] think it is overwhelmed by the population, there is a bloat [sic] of population here,” he told reporters.

“As they [police station officials] reported, it is populated in the main by foreigners as well as students. It is active [for] almost 24 hours [a day] and the crime tends to continue all the time.”

Zuma found officers at the station “very committed and enthusiastic about their task.

“As I was coming out I met the detectives, who are very clear about what they want to do. Even people who had come to report [crime] said this station is very busy.”

Zuma said he met voluntary police officers, roped in by the station to help stem crime in the neighbourhood.

“I think they [the volunteers] need something, some incentive. It is quite fair if they are doing a good job. I will be talking to the [police] commissioner and the minister about some of the issues.”

Earlier, Zuma spoke to station commander Lt-Col Maisha Bopape about crime in the area.

Bopape said: “This place is full of foreigners, and it is also over-populated. Some people rent flats in order to rent them out. You find that there are four or five people staying in one room.”

The large number of students were also contributing to overcrowding in the area. The University of Pretoria and University of SA were in the police station’s vicinity.

“The students do not have enough money for nice places, so they share. During the holidays, a lot of places being rented by the students were broken into,” said Bopape.

He said the station dealt with residents’ firearms applications.

“People who qualify are those without criminal records. We check whether the people are not violent, and they must also pass practical checks on how to operate a gun.”

Zuma joked: “I must apply because I don’t have a crime (record) and I am not violent. I know how to operate a gun.”

A large media contingent followed Zuma into the police station. Some excited members of the public shouted “Msholozi” (Zuma’s clan name) in the station.

Astonished police officers stared at the president and his entourage in the station’s corridors.

-Sapa