Johannesburg – Senior public works official Sam Vukela has been found guilty of charges relating to a police lease deal with businessperson Roux Shabangu, an official said on Monday.

“He was charged for being neglectful and for not applying his mind to the matter of the lease agreement,” said Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi’s adviser Philip Masilo.

Parties to the disciplinary matter now had until June 11 to file papers on the sentencing of Vukela, who was the department’s former deputy director general, he said.

In her report on the lease debacle, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela recommended that disciplinary action be taken against Vukela.

She found he had acted in breach of his duties by directing the department to follow a negotiated process as a procurement strategy for the lease agreement.

Vukela reportedly awarded the R500m lease to Shabangu in May 2010.

Former national police commissioner Bheki Cele was also implicated in the deal.

President Jacob Zuma fired Cele after a board of inquiry, headed by Judge Jake Moloi, found he was not fit to hold office.

Moloi’s inquiry was mandated by Zuma to establish whether Cele had acted corruptly, dishonestly, or with an undeclared conflict of interest in relation to two police lease deals he signed with Shabangu.

In May last year, the department and Vukela were at odds about an application to set aside the lease agreement with Shabangu.

Vukela had previously deposed an affidavit in support of the department’s application.

However, he allegedly slipped an additional affidavit into the court file in which he defended the decision not to call for tenders prior to the conclusion of the agreement.

In his additional affidavit, Vukela described himself as “the proverbial sacrificial lamb”.

He claimed former public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde had treated him “unfairly and unlawfully” by putting him on special leave.

He also claimed she had “directed” him to sign the founding affidavit, which did not place a full picture of the facts before the court.

According to Vukela, the process of compiling the founding affidavit was not been characterised by openness, and was the equivalent of being forced to sign at “gunpoint”.

He said that of the 2 950 lease agreements concluded by the department between 2008 and September 2011, 2 415 were negotiated and only 226 were put out to tender.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will investigate allegations of racism at a Free State school, it said on Monday.

“There were complaints that some of those kids [in the school] have been called kaffirs,” said spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

The old South African flag and a picture of expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema alongside that of a monkey were also reportedly put up on a classroom wall.

The SAHRC said it conducted an on-site inspection of the Wilgehof Primary School, in Bloemfontein, after a white pupil’s parent laid a complaint.

“We have opened a file to investigate charges of racism and inequality,” said Mangena.

He said the SAHRC would work with the basic education department on the matter.

“After opening the file, we will be speaking to the respondents; the school, the principal and the teachers.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Murder-accused Oscar Pistorius will be back in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for his pre-trial hearing.

The Paralympian, who has kept out of the public eye, faces a life sentence if found guilty of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot dead in his house on Valentine’s Day.

The world will probably only be given a brief glimpse of Pistorius as he appears for the first time since being whisked away from court and into a near four-month period of reclusion after being freed on bail.

Prosecutors say the hearing will probably last only minutes and be postponed until another date in August as police investigators continue to gather the evidence that will be presented at his trial.

“The proceedings will be an unopposed postponement”, the justice and constitutional development department said in a statement.

Pistorius is facing a charge of premeditated murder.

During a bail hearing, Pistorius’s defence read out a statement in which he said he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.

He was released on a R1m on 22 February, but under conditions which he later challenged in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

Several of the conditions were relaxed, including bans on international travel and alcohol consumption.

On Sunday night, Pistorius’s uncle Arnold Pistorius said a leaked photograph, purportedly showing the scene where Steenkamp was shot dead, had “shaken” the family.

“We were shaken by the graphic images, leaked into the public domain this week, of the accident scene at Oscar’s house,” he said in a statement.

The picture was posted on the SkyNews website on Friday.

The photograph shows blood on a toilet seat, and a pool of blood on the floor.

Bullet holes in the bathroom door are marked with tape, and a panel near the door handle is taped-up.

Uphill battle

Pistorius’s defence team will have a difficult task on their hands, experts said.

Lawyers familiar to the case, but not representing Pistorius, said he was claiming “putative self-defence”.

“The fact that he has admitted that he has killed her by pulling the trigger means the state has a prima facie case and it is expected of the accused to come and convince the court otherwise,” Marius du Toit, a former prosecutor, magistrate and now defence attorney with over 20 years’ experience in South Africa’s justice system told CBC News.

He said that Pistorius’s account would be scrutinised in the finest detail.

Even with the principle of innocent until proven guilty, for any defendant in Pistorius’s circumstances, “it’s on you to come and show to the court that what [you] did was not so unreasonable”, Du Toit said.

Martin Hood, a firearm lawyer, told CBC News: “I do not see how Oscar Pistorius could have concluded that a closed door constitutes danger to such an extent that his life is in danger.”

He has predicted an “uphill battle”, as putative self-defence is “extremely difficult” to prove.

“I do not see how Oscar Pistorius could have concluded that a closed door constitutes danger to such an extent that his life is in danger, bearing in mind that he had gone into that situation,” Hood said.

“So, it begs the question why did he go looking for trouble?”

Why didn’t he check where Steenkamp was, or just leave the room and the perceived danger? Simply, “what he should have done is… got out the bedroom,” Hood said.

Family support

Pistorius’s family continued to support him ahead of his appearance on Tuesday.

“We believe in him, love him and will support him every step of the way in what lies ahead,” said Arnold Pistorius.

The family asked that the legal process be allowed its run its course with integrity.

“The leaking of evidential material into the public domain, before the court case, does not advance this process. We continue to have great faith in the South African legal justice system and believe that Oscar’s account of what happened on that terrible night in February will be borne out by the evidence that the defence team will lead in court,” he said.

When asked about the photograph, Pistorius’s legal team said it would discuss the issue.

“We will take this up among ourselves. Beyond that I cannot comment at this time,” his lawyer Kenny Oldwage said on Friday.

National police spokesperson Phuti Setati said on Friday the police could not comment on the photograph because it did not know how it came to be in SkyNews’s possession.

“We don’t want to be distracted by these deliberate tactics. All that we want to do is secure a conviction, so we are working throughout and investigating professionally,” he said.

– SAPA

The conduct of the police should at all times be above reproach and deviant behaviour that suggest that some members of the service stood idly while a man was being stoned to death by a mob should be investigated by the Independent Police Directorate, North West Premier Thandi Modise said on Tuesday.

“The police officials captured on the video that has surfaced should account for allowing lawlessness to take place and for the man to be brutally murdered while they were spectators to the horrific and barbaric incident,” said Premier Modise in agreeing with Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo that those involved should be brought to book.

General Mbombo said that the video presented contradicting information from the initial information that was received from the report that was sent by the station that alleged that police arrived at the scene after the incident had already happened and found the man already dead.

Thirty-four -year-old Boytjie Molefe was stoned to death by community members after allegedly stabbing his 24 –year old girlfriend Motlalepula Matlala, in the chest and running away on May 25. She died at the scene.

The couple who were allegedly breaking up was buried by their respective families over the past weekend.

Mbombo said people should allow the law to take its course, and not take it into their own hands.

The Provincial Commissioner moved to assure the public that lawlessness would not be tolerated, and that those responsible would be arrested.

“The SA Police Service has systems in place to deal with police officers who do not take their jobs seriously such that a life is lost,” she emphasised.
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