Johannesburg – Gauteng’s education department head had the final say on school admissions, but the decision should be well-considered, a lawyer for Johannesburg’s Rivonia Primary School said on Thursday.
“The final decision will be that of the head of department,” Gerrit Pretorius, SC, for the school, told the Constitutional Court.
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The government has big plans to massively expand the scope of the Department of Public Enterprises, enabling it to take charge of more commercially driven state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Sources familiar with the process say the intention to draw state oil company PetroSA and national broadcaster SABC into the public enterprises fold has been agreed to in principle.
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Rustenburg – Some of the police officers at the Marikana shootings retained an “apartheid mentality”, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Thursday.
“Maybe some of the people involved in the making of the decisions [at Marikana] had not unlearnt the methods of the apartheid police,” submitted Dali Mpofu, for the arrested and injured miners.
“They perhaps used the skiet-en-donner [shoot and beat] approach,” he said.
Mpofu was cross-examining Major General Charl Annandale, who headed the police’s tactical operations team in Marikana during last year’s wage-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mine.
Annandale, who joined the police in 1982, during the apartheid era, rejected Mpofu’s statement.
Values
“My colleagues and I, who joined the force prior to 1994, have already served 19 years in democracy. I’ve served longer in democracy than in the apartheid era.
“Even in the former regime, I worked according to my own values, taught to me by my parents, particularly based on respect,” said Annandale.
“There was no skop-skiet-en-donner [kick, shoot and beat] approach,” he said.
Mpofu referred Annandale to a statement made by Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathunjwa shortly before the police opened fire on striking miners.
Mathunjwa advised strikers to disperse from a hill where they had gathered, and said they would be killed as the life of a black person was cheap.
“I don’t know what Mathunjwa based his opinions or views on. This wasn’t my mentality, neither did I detect it from any of my colleagues,” said Annandale.
The commission, chaired by retired Judge Ian Farlam, is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people – 34 of them at the hands of the police – in wage-related unrest near Lonmin’s platinum mine, in Marikana, in August.
The public hearings are being held at the Rustenburg Civic Centre.
SAPA
Pretoria – Three men – who killed a prostitute and left another for dead, after having robbed the pair of only R2.50 – have turned to the Pretoria High Court to appeal against their convictions and 25-year jail terms as they believe they cannot be held accountable for their actions because they were drunk on that day.
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Durban – A Durban school which sent a 15-year-old pupil home early for a petty reason has been blamed after she was raped on the way home.
The teen’s mother has accused the school of negligence because it could have prevented the rape, and said the Department of Education had ignored her emails.
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Johannesburg – Expelled ANCYL president Julius Malema’s half-built mansion in Sandown, Johannesburg, was sold for R5.9 million on auction on Thursday.
The buyer was Norman Tloubatla, CEO of the company Magnified Designs. He left in a hurry, in a white Porsche, after clinching the purchase. He refused to speak to reporters.
Auctioneer Pieter Geldenhuys said the auction for the three-storey property went exceptionally well.
“It actually exceeded my expectations.”
He said he expected the property to sell for between R4m and R4.5m.
Much more needed to be spent to complete the house, which would be the best in the neighbourhood, he said.
The fact that the house previously belonged to Malema played a role in the interest shown.
“Without a doubt. I must say this specific property drew a lot of interest, even internationally.”
The house was sold in less than a hour. Geldenhuys started the bidding at R5m, but no one was interested.
He joked about the bidders all looking down, saying: “It doesn’t matter where we start, it’s where we end.”
The price was then dropped to R2m before the first bidder raised a hand. The home was attached by a court to help cover Malema’s tax bill. He owes the SA Revenue Service (Sars) R16m. Malema bought the property in 2009 for R3.6m.
He had the existing structure torn down and began building his own mansion. The plans provide for a private cinema room, a cigar lounge, a pool and a spa bath, a wine cellar, a coffee bar, and a lift. There is also a “song room”. However, it has no fittings, flooring, plumbing or windows yet.
On March 19, the former African National Congress Youth League leader had his Limpopo farm, worth approximately R4m, seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Medupe Simasiku said at the time that the property was allegedly acquired with the proceeds from fraud, corruption, theft, and money laundering. The alleged crimes were perpetrated against the Limpopo department of roads and transport, Simasiku said. Alternatively, the property had been used to launder money.
In January, sheriffs seized Malema’s Sandown and Polokwane homes. Sars rejected a R4m settlement offer on the homes in February.
Malema also faces charges of fraud and racketeering related to the irregular awarding of a R52m tender to On-Point Engineering in Limpopo. – Sapa
Johannesburg – Julius Malema’s former neighbours in Sandton have described him as friendly and gracious.
His incomplete house in Sandown Estate will go under the auctioneer’s hammer on Thursday, reported The Star.
The house was attached by the court after he missed the Sars deadline to pay the R16m tax bill that he owes.
It is hoped that the three-storey house will fetch between R2.5m and R3m.
Malema bought the property in 2009 for R3.6m. He then tore down the existing house and began building a new structure which included a private cinema room, cigar lounge, pool, spa bath, wine cellar, coffee bar and provision for a lift. The fittings, flooring, plumbing and windows have not been installed, Sapa reported.
Normal life
One of Malema’s former neighbours, Chantel MacKenzie said he had been a good neighbour and had tried to live a normal life.
She said he had been unfairly judged by some because of his political views.
She said she remembered being invited to his housewarming party.
“That was a really great party. He apologised to everyone in advance for the noise,” she said.
Another neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said Malema led a quiet life.
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Cape Town – Two new universities earmarked for Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape will open their doors next year, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Wednesday.
“Much preparatory work has been done and I now expect to establish the two institutions as legal entities in the next month. R2.1 billion has been earmarked for the development of the universities over the next three years,” Nzimande said in his budget vote speech in the National Assembly.
The two new universities, combined with an expansion of Further Education and Training Colleges (FET), are set to deal with growing enrolments at higher learning institutions.
University enrolments went up by 12 percent from 837 779 in 2009 to 938 200 in 2011.
“We are chasing the one million mark and aim to increase the total enrolments to 1.62 million by 2030,” said Nzimande.
The number of students who graduated rose by 11 percent during the same period.
“The numbers of post-graduates increased at a higher rate than the overall graduation rate, which is important because it is on post-graduates that we depend for our future academics, researchers, and other leaders in knowledge-intensive professions.”
Nzimande said about 25 percent more students graduated with masters degrees, while those with doctorates grew by 15 percent, from 1373 in 2009 to 1576 in 2011.
“In my view though, this is quite insufficient to meet our needs and it is not really comparable to other leading developing countries, let alone developed ones.”
In a bid to significantly increase the number of academics with doctorates, Nzimande was exploring sending students abroad to further their studies.
An inter-ministerial committee report on reviewing the funding of universities was complete.
Nzimande said a revised funding framework was being worked on.
The minister later attacked critics who claimed his decision to place various universities under administration was undermining academic independence.
“Although our public university system as a whole is relatively stable, I have been compelled to take action in some institutions to ensure their integrity and proper functioning in the face of corruption or maladministration,” he said.
In the past few years, the Vaal, Tshwane, and Central Universities of Technology, Walter Sisulu University, and the University of Zululand were placed under administration.
Nzimande said: “I refuse to be intimidated by those who say this violates university autonomy but ignore the need for universities to be publicly accountable.”
On FET colleges, he said moves were afoot to rename the institutions Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges soon.
“For the 2012 academic year, we set a target of 550 000 student headcount enrolments. However, a total of 657 690 was achieved, representing an increase of 54 percent over the preceding year,” he said.
To expand enrolments at the colleges, an allocation of R6.3bn would be made available over the next three years.
“This will enable us to ensure greater access to education and training opportunities for 702 430 poor and academically capable young people over the MTEF (Medium Term Expenditure Framework) period,” Nzimande said. – Sapa
North West – Sun City management has denied Cosatu’s allegations that the Gupta family and their wedding guests were racist towards the resort’s staff, and a masseuse’s claims of sexual harassment.
But Cosatu is sticking to its guns and on Wednesday night alleged the masseuse had been bribed to keep quiet
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Johannesburg – Prisoners watch soccer matches on contraband DStv devices, cellphones are smuggled in, and violence continues while officials struggle to deal with endemic gang problems.
On Wednesday, parliamentarians bluntly told Department of Correctional Services (DCS) officials to get to grips with the problems.
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The Guardian 