Johannesburg – An elderly man and a woman were killed when their car collided with a minibus taxi in Vosloorus, on the East Rand, on Saturday morning, paramedics said.

Two people in the taxi were severely injured and were airlifted to nearby hospitals, ER24 spokesperson Vanessa Jackson said.

Thirteen other people in the taxi, including two children, suffered minor injuries and were taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals.

However, Ekurhuleni metro police department spokesperson Kobeli Mokheseng said that a third vehicle, a Volkswagen Golf was also involved in the crash.

The driver of the Golf was arrested after tests indicated that he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Two dogs were with the couple in their car.  One of the dogs died on the scene and the other was rushed to a nearby vet.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Lawyer Dup de Bruyn says a case of extortion has been opened against a woman who allegedly tried to blackmail Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi over a rape allegation.

De Bruyn said that the charge was laid at Sandton police station on Thursday evening.

Police spokesperson Kym Cloete verified this.

Vavi released a statement earlier on Saturday in which he denied having raped a Congress of SA Trade Unions colleague.

He claimed that he had been in a consensual extramarital affair with the woman.

A document presented as the woman’s grievance complaint of sexual harassment, Vavi’s response to this, and SMSes allegedly exchanged between the two was attached to the statement.

Vavi also claimed the woman demanded R2m from him in exchange for her silence on the matter.

De Bruyn said that the woman had not opened a case of rape with the police yet.

“We cannot comment further because there are two processes… the grievance procedure and the extortion charge…, which police are investigating.”

Police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini was not immediately able to confirm whether a charge of rape had been opened.

The woman, whose name was included in Vavi’s reply on the sexual harassment grievance, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Disappointed

The grievance letter attributed to the woman was to the effect that she had no intention of having sex with Vavi.

The email, allegedly sent by the woman, reads that she had refused Vavi’s advances but he had forced himself upon her.

The woman apparently stayed away from her job at Cosatu because she feared it would happen again.

Vavi said on his Twitter account on Saturday morning: “I know many are extremely disappointed at news that I have admitted to hav[ing] cheated on my wife.

“I have apologised to her profusely,” he tweeted.

He apologised to the South African public for the indiscretion and said: “I am only human and fallible. I am no saint”.

In his statement earlier on Saturday, Vavi said the matter was “extremely intimate, private, personal and delicate”.

He appealed, on behalf of his own family and that of the woman, to the media for privacy.

“There are two families and children on both sides involved in this extremely delicate matter.

“Their interests are foremost in my mind as we go through this period.”

In his statement earlier, Vavi denied having raped the woman.

“I categorically and emphatically deny that on 25 January 2013 I went to complainant’s office, ‘grabbed’ and kissed her, forcefully fondled her private parts and raped her.”

Legitimate

Vavi said he believed the allegations were part of a plot to discredit him or extort money from him.

“All our encounters were encounters between two consenting adults who clearly had feelings for one another,” he claimed.

“…For years now I have been dealing with consistent threats to my life, political assaults and efforts to destroy my contribution to the struggle of the working class and the poor in this country.

“Lately as we all know, these efforts to destroy me have intensified. I am unable not to view this matter in the same light.”

Vavi told eNCA on Thursday that he had received numerous death threats, which hinted that he could be killed in a car “accident” or through poisoning.

On Saturday Vavi said he was “ready and willing to appear before any legitimate body to clear my name”.

In response to the grievance against him, Vavi said: “On 3 July 2013 I received a letter …[containing] the complainant’s demand for payment of two million rand”.

“This letter convinced my wife and myself that I was being blackmailed to pay this amount.”

The Vavis’ lawyers also viewed this letter as blackmail, he said.

Six days later, the lawyers sent the woman and her husband a letter “informing them that what they were trying to do is blackmail and extortion”.

Vavi said there was no response to this letter.

The letter, allegedly from the woman and her husband, was attached to Vavi’s statement.

SAPA

Cape Town – Mitchells Plain in Cape Town needs a focused anti-drug campaign, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday.

“We now require at national level a focus, a direct focus in Mitchells Plain,” he told community leaders at the Shekinah Tabernacle in the area.

“We should immediately begin to take action and, even if at provincial level we may not have such success, which we should have, that there should be a campaign….”

Ramaphosa said the focus of such a campaign would be to rid the area of widespread drug addiction and drug lords who preyed on young children.

Members of the community told the African National Congress leader about the struggles they encountered with the interlinked problems of drugs and gangsterism.

Ramaphosa said President Jacob Zuma had previously answered the call of parents with similar problems.

Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, resident Doreleene James, mother of a teenager undergoing drug rehabilitation, appealed to Zuma earlier in the year to rid the area of drug dealers.

Plan

Ramaphosa said Zuma had swiftly responded with a clean-up of the area.

One woman leading the fight against drug abuse in Mitchells Plain, who called herself “Mama Madiba”, told Ramaphosa that the government had ignored similar problems in her area.

“What Doreleene James is getting in Joburg, we want it 10 times better because Mitchells Plain’s problem is bigger. She [James] is getting too much publicity,” she said.

“Please don’t get a woman [James] from Johannesburg to come open a woman’s desk here in Cape Town… It will be a slap in the face for us.”

Ramaphosa said the National Development Plan (NDP) was putting measures in place to reduce such criminality.

The plan also addressed “opening the minds” of young children through early childhood development centres and improving social welfare.

“The one thing we are not is a stagnant country. We are a country on the move,” Ramaphosa said.

“As our people face challenges, as we have problems, we have a responsive governing party that will realise a storm is coming… and take proactive actions to do something.”

He said the NDP was not lying dormant.

The ANC had decided to appoint an “economic recovery” task team, to look closely at practical implementation of the NDP going forward.

He said the party was looking at compiling a summarised version of the NDP for easier access. Translation to other languages was also under consideration.

This followed complaints that the plan was too long to read and not easy to understand. Ramaphosa was in the area to get feedback from the community on issues affecting them.

SAPA