Former President Nelson Mandela’s hospitalisation was prominent on the minds of pupils attending the opening of the African Education Week in Sandton, Johannesburg on Thursday.

The pupils thanked Madiba for opening the doors to learning in the country. The former president has spent almost two weeks in hospital. He is receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection.

It will be an early start to their quest for education as the young minds gathered at the Education Exhibition. The event will cover various educational areas – including career choices and finding a job after matric.

However, it was Madiba’s condition that took centre stage with touching messages for the elder statesman. One pupil says, even though he has not touched his hand, one day he will because he knows and believes he is going to be fine.

Other says they all love him because if it was not for him they would not be free today. “You have inspired us as the youth and we wish you a speedy recovery, we pray for him to get well,” were some of the messages sent to Madiba. The messages for Madiba will be sent to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Addressing the gathering, AGANG’s leader Dr. Mamphele Ramphele says young people have a bleak future ahead of them under the current education system. Ramphele says authorities are violating the rights of poor children everyday and they have to put a stop to that. “We need to raise the bar. It is time for us to stop having low expectations of our children where we think 30% is good enough for them. This is an insult because South African children are as bright any child in the world,” says Ramphele.

For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The money-laundering and racketeering case against expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has been adjourned to Friday.

The State brought an application for the postponement after it failed to announce a High Court trial date as expected. The defence is however opposing the application. The charges against Malema and his five co-accused relate to a R52 million tender awarded by the Roads and Transport Department to On-Point Engineering Company.

Malema has shares in the company through the Ratanang Family Trust. Meanwhile, Malema, who was appearing with five co-accused, says there’s a political conspiracy against him. Malema told prosecutor Billy Moalusi that he is incompetent, a disgrace to the State and furthering political conspiracy against him.

He said the charges against him are politically motivated and are driven by President Jacob Zuma and his administration. He also told the court that the charges are hampering his plan to launch a political party. Malema is out on R10 000 bail while his co-accused were granted R40 000 bail each.

For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The two convicted killers of ANC Chief Whip Johan Ndlovu at Ehlanzeni District Council in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, have been sentenced to life imprisonment and an additional 19 years.

Bongani Mkansi and Moody Khoza killed Johan Ndlovu in January 2011. Ndlovu was among the top contenders for the position of Mayor in the Ehlanzeni District Municipality when he was killed in what was suspected as a political assassination.

The incident happened near Ndlovu’s home in Hluvukani near Thulamahashe in Bushbuckridge. Handing down sentence – Judge Peter Mabuse said the two did not show any remorse and their previous convictions were considered. The murder of Ndlovu followed that of two ANC members in 2009 and 2010. Initially five people were arrested. Two were later released. Khoza confessed in October, and was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment. The convicted duo denied any involvement.

Senior State Prosecutor, Charles Mnisi says the death of Ndlovu was a well-planned and a premeditated execution. Mnisi says it was by no mistake that he was killed. He added at the time when they were having a trial within a trial and statements were accepted to form part of the evidence and they were read into the records, it was mentioned that they were hired by certain individuals. The Ndlovu family welcomed the sentence but say there are a lot of unanswered questions. The ANC in Mpumalanga has also welcomed the sentence.

For more wwww.sabc.co.za

Cape Town – A Western Cape constable tried to extort liquor money from a taxi driver allegedly caught with perlemoen, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court heard on Thursday.

Constable Mjatya Bukani, 35, and reservist Nontando Mhlabeni, 40, pleaded not guilty to a main count of extortion, and an alternative count of corruption.

According to the charge sheet, they were on patrol on 8 December 2010, when they searched a taxi driven by Wanana Gwadino, and allegedly found a bag of perlemoen.

Prosecutor Xolile Jonas said while taking Gwadino and his two passengers to the Khayelitsha police station, Bukani demanded money for liquor from the driver if he wanted his taxi back.

Gwadino first offered Bukani R300, which was “too little”, and then R500, which Bukani accepted.

Bukani then allegedly assured Gwadino that if he paid the R500, he would not be arrested and the confiscated perlemoen and the taxi would be returned to him.

However, at the police station, Bukani allegedly said the R500 was not enough, and he was offered an additional R500.

Gwadino was then allegedly taken to an ATM to withdraw the second R500.

According to the charge sheet, Gwadino and his two passengers were locked in a holding cell, and later released without being charged.

Road Traffic Act violation

Andre Pienaar, for the defence, told the court Bukani was on patrol on the day, when a Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) taxi driver complained Gwadino was encroaching on his route, in violation of the Road Traffic Act.

“My client advised the driver to complain at the police station, and not to himself, and my client then continued with his patrol,” Pienaar said.

Later that day, Bukani saw Gwadino’s taxi on the road, and confronted him. Bukani told him to report to the police station.

When Bukani arrived at the police station, Gwandino and his passengers were locked in a cell, but no one at the charge office knew what the charges were.

Pienaar said Bukani went to the Codeta taxi rank to ask what Gwadino had done wrong.

He was asked to merely warn the errant driver not to encroach on the Codeta route and not charge him. Gwadino was released accordingly.

Pienaar said Bukani was later informed, as he booked off duty, that a bag of perlemoen had been found in his patrol vehicle.

Bukani denied any knowledge of the perlemoen, saying the entire incident had to do with the unlawful encroachment on the Codeta taxi route.

The trial continues.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The government has disputed Agang leader Mamphela Ramphele’s assertion that it has failed the youth by mismanaging the education system.

“The statement made by… Ramphele regarding education as reported in the media is not only baseless, but devoid of truth,” the department of basic education said on Thursday.

“Her unfounded rants demonstrate further the sheer lack of understanding and appreciation of the education sector on the part of one who claims academic standing.”

Ramphele said earlier in the day that solving South Africa’s education problems required political will, which the current government lacked.

Speaking to reporters after addressing the opening of African Education Week in Johannesburg, Ramphele said the government had spent R230bn on education and the country was not getting value for money.

She said the government’s claim that the legacy of apartheid had inhibited change within the education system was an excuse.

“Twenty years is too long for anyone to say the legacy of another system is holding them back,” Ramphele said.

“[It’s] simply an excuse which has now reached past its sell-by-date. It is not apartheid that said 30% is good enough to pass. It is not apartheid that said 40% is good enough to pass.”

She questioned the tender system for textbooks, suggesting that textbooks be bought directly, and that more technology, such as tablet computers, be brought into the classroom.

Cheap politicking

The department said Ramphele “deliberately elected to be petty and misleading” in her criticism of post-apartheid South Africa.

“The facts indicate that, under the leadership of Minister Angie Motshekga, there have been huge improvements in education,” it said.

“We have uplifted our people from disadvantaged communities more than she can ever imagine.”

It said allegations that the textbook system was a means for money-laundering were “serious”.

“We therefore challenge Dr Ramphele to provide evidence and motivate her claims or the… [department] would be left with no option but to request the Human Rights Commission to investigate this allegation,” it said.

“Only reckless and desperate cheap politicking can blind anyone to such clear, simple, overt and logical facts. We refuse to be used as a stepping-stone in the promotion of any new forum.”

Agang SA is expected to be launched as a political party in Pretoria on Saturday.

– SAPA

vJohannesburg – Public interest law centre Section 27 backed Equal Education’s (EE) campaign for minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure on Thursday.

“We believe that failure to adopt these norms and standards over more than five years is a violation of the right to basic education,” Section 27 said in a statement.

It also condemned Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s response to EE’s protest on Tuesday.

“This reminds us of the dark days when the discredited former minister of health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, resorted to similar tactics in order to cloud the real issues surrounding HIV/Aids in South Africa,” it said.

On Tuesday Motshekga said a re-draft of the norms and standards for school infrastructure would take at least six months to complete.

It would not be done at EE’s whim, she said.

After an EE-organised march in protest over the delay she commented: “… To suddenly see a group of white adults organising black African children with half-truths can only be opportunistic, patronising and simply dishonest to say the least.”

Section 27 said the department had to embrace non-racialism and focus on the state of the country’s schools.

Deadlines

EE denied it was imposing impossible deadlines, saying the deadlines were proposed by Motshekga’s legal team, agreed to by her and noted in the high court.

The timeline required the minister to consult the public and promulgate final and binding norms and standards by 15 May.

EE said Motshekga asked for an extension for publication of the norms and standards on 9 May.

“EE granted a one month extension. Now the minister requests ‘at least’ another six months. EE cannot agree to this.”

The norms and standards campaign is to get the minister to define what makes a school a school and to set the basic level of infrastructure – such as toilets, running water, electricity, libraries, classrooms – required for it to function.

– SAPA

North West – Two police officers who allegedly turned a blind eye to a mob killing in North West could lose their jobs, The New Age newspaper reported on Thursday.

The policemen, whose names had been withheld, were filmed on a cellphone driving past a mob justice scene in Majemantsho village near Mafikeng where Boikie Molefe, 34, was being attacked.

Molefe had allegedly stabbed his ex-lover Motlalepula Matlala to death, before being caught and stoned to death.

The New Age reported that a preliminary internal investigation found that the officers should be charged with contravening regulation 20 of the Police Disciplinary Act, which was a dismissable offence.

A report on the matter was given to provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Zukiswa Mbombo on Wednesday.

It found the two officers had failed to protect the victim and prevent the attack.

North West police spokesman Lesego Metsi confirmed the findings and said Mbombo would study the report. – Sapa

Rustenburg – The families who participated in a cleansing ceremony in Marikana this week were thanked for their role in the ritual, the North West legislature said on Thursday.

Police and security guards who participated in Monday’s ceremony should be thanked, speaker Supra Mahumapelo’s spokesman Mongezi Tsenca said in a statement.

“The speaker is happy that our communities and institutions are adding their effort to find closure to the tragedy… .”

On August 16, police shot dead 34 striking Lonmin miners at Marikana. Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed during the violent strike in the preceding week.

President Jacob Zuma established the Farlam Commission of Inquiry to investigate the deaths.

The Bojanala Platinum district municipality said on Monday that the ceremony was successful and that 40 families attended. Spokesman Archie Babeile said the ceremony involved the slaughter of sheep at the site where the miners were killed. – Sapa

Pietermaritzburg – KwaZulu-Natal spent R15m in renovating Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s palaces in 2012/13 financial year, Premier Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday.

He revealed the figure when tabling a budget of R63m for the department of the royal household, in the provincial legislature.

He said R20m of the new budget was allocated for “the overall maintenance of the royal household infrastructure, including the refurbishment of palaces.

“The real challenge is that most of the palaces may require major reconstruction due to the age of these structures.”

Mkhize said the allocation would also be responsible for providing domestic services to the palaces.

Construction at Ingwavuma Palace had been delayed due to poor performance by the contractor. This led to the appointment of a new contractor and the project would resume in the 2013/14 financial year.

Renovations at the royal residences included the construction of two double-storey rondavels, a single floor rondavel, a garage with living quarters and a cool room at Dlamahlahla Palace.

There were also renovations to the king’s main house, of the king’s first house and water reticulation at KwaKhetha Palace and the upgrading of the security fence at Linduzulu Palace.

New air conditioners, the installation of geysers, the replacement of broken doors and windows, the upgrading of security lights and plumbing work at the Nyokeni Palace would be done in 2013/14 financial year.

– SAPA

Rustenburg – A miner wounded at Marikana on 16 August denied being on the koppie where protesters gathered the previous day, the Farlam commission of inquiry heard on Tuesday.

Mzoxolo Magidiwana repeatedly said he could not recall being on the koppie in the days leading up to the 16 August shooting of 34 striking Lonmin workers.

Advocate Vuyani Ngalwana, for the police, showed him a photograph he claimed was taken on the koppie on 16 August, and asked if he denied being in the picture.

Magidiwana said: “This person is that one you showed me [on Monday]… not me.”

Magidiwana was unable to tell the commission where police were stationed when the group of miners he was with moved in the direction of the Nkaneng informal settlement.

After repeating the question many times, and requesting a tea adjournment for Magidiwana to consider it, Ngalwana gave up, saying it seemed insurmountable.

Ngalwana showed the commission photographs of two groups of protesters on the koppie on 16 August. He said one group was dressed in layers of clothing, and the other group was less warmly dressed.

The heavily dressed group, of which Ngalwana claimed Magidiwana was a part, also appeared to be carrying more weapons than the other group.

Ngalwana said around the time the photo was taken, the temperature at Marikana was more than 20°C.

Asked why the second group was wearing fewer clothes, Magidiwana replied: “If there at home he doesn’t have anything to wear, that’s not my baby.”

The commission previously heard suggestions that some of the protesters dressed in layers of heavy clothing to protect themselves from rubber bullets.

We only wanted money

Earlier, Magidiwana was repeatedly asked why his group did not disperse from the police line, as many other protesters did. He acknowledged that police aerial photographs, taken of the scene on 16 August, showed no police blocking the main road to Nkaneng.

He also acknowledged that the picture showed others walking unimpeded on that road.

Asked why his group did not disperse along the same path, Magidiwana said: “The question you are asking is self-explanatory. We wanted to walk that way but found it blocked.”

Ngalwana said: “I thought we agreed, no one was blocking that path.”

After repeated the question a number of times, including in Xhosa, Ngalwana said: “I take it you are refusing to answer my question?”

Magidiwana said: “What do you want me to say?”

Looking again at the aerial photograph, Ngalwana asked why his group did not disperse like others visible in the picture.

“We were singing… we did nothing to anyone so we walked, not ran.

“We only wanted money… after that, the road was blocked, the only way we could run was blocked,” Magidiwana said.

He raised his voice in frustration, and commission chairperson, retired judge Ian Farlam, asked him to behave himself.

Magidiwana previously told the commission the police repeatedly shot and beat him on 16 August.

He was arrested for possession of a firearm, but could not be detained because of the severity of his injuries.

He has denied police claims that he carried a firearm and that he shot at a police Nyala vehicle.

The commission is holding hearings in Rustenburg, North West, as part of its inquiry into the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana last year.

On 16 August, 34 striking mineworkers were shot dead and 78 injured when the police opened fire while allegedly trying to disperse a group which had gathered on a hill near the mine.

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

– SAPA