Johannesburg – The Congress of SA Students (Cosas) threatened on Tuesday to castrate rapists.

“We are going to take the law into our hands… starting from cutting off private parts of those who rape our brothers and sisters, not to forget removing drug dealers in our communities because we know where they live,” said Cosas president Thlologelo Malaji.

“Our community members must stop living in fear and assist us to remove all the ills of society,” he said.

Malaji said Cosas had decided not to sit back and watch the future of the youth taken away by the ills of society.

“We call upon all stakeholders in the education sector… to take part and contribute in the struggle to improve the education of our country, ensuring that our students receive the best education…,” he said.

Cosas would call mass meetings of parents, pupils, and others to discuss the state of education in the country.

“Core to these discussions… is the continuous disruptions of the culture of teaching and learning due to protests.”

Malaji said Cosas was also concerned about the number of schools, especially high schools, that did not have feeding schemes.

“If a child in a primary school has been depending on the feeding scheme, in high school their background is still the same. Where will that child get assistance if the feeding scheme is no longer there?” he asked.

He said the quality of the food being served in feeding scheme was also concerning.

Malaji said Cosas would also continue to oppose the publication of matric results in newspapers.

“As a students’ organisation, we still maintain that matric results should be a private matter between the matriculant and the department of education.” – Sapa

Pretoria – Judgment in an application to nullify a council meeting that unseated Tlokwe mayor Maphetle Maphetle was postponed in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.

“I need to take time to consider this matter,” Judge Neil Tuchten said.

No date was given for when judgment would be handed down.

The court heard on Tuesday that the speaker of the Tlokwe municipality served the needs of the ANC over the needs of the people by calling for a council meeting to be postponed.

“She cannot call herself the gatekeeper of council matters and at the same time say she is partisan,” said Marius Ackermann, for the opposition in the council.

He said speaker Barei Segotso had postponed the meeting on July 2 because she and African National Congress councillors were attending a provincial party disciplinary hearing.

On July 2, Democratic Alliance councillor Annette Combrink was voted in as the new mayor for the second time since November, unseating Maphetle.

The next day, the ANC’s North West provincial disciplinary committee expelled 14 of its councillors. They were also removed as Tlokwe councillors.

The ANC was trying to have the meeting at which Combrink was voted in as mayor nullified.

The ANC said it did not recognise Combrink as mayor, and that Maphetle still held the post.

On July 10, the ANC served court papers on 48 Tlokwe municipal councillors – 26 of them ANC councillors, 19 DA, two Freedom Front Plus, and one from the Congress of the People.

Ackermann said the meeting was legitimate and the majority of councillors had voted Combrink in.

Even if the other ANC councillors were present at the meeting, they would still not have comprised a majority.

He said the motion of no confidence in Maphetle was on the agenda for that meeting for some time.

“I find it odd for a provincial disciplinary meeting to be held at one day’s notice,” Ackermann said.

He said the opposition brought a counter application to have Maphetle vacate his office.

“The majority has spoken… (and) democracy has spoken.”

Tuchten said earlier that since the ANC had stated it was the majority party in the Tlokwe municipality, the question was whether the effects of the council meeting could not be put right by “democratic means”.

Wim Scholtz, for the speaker and mayor of the Tlokwe council, said there was a three-month moratorium on rescinding council decisions.

Tuchten asked why the ANC could not merely wait for the three months to end.

“Why can’t this await the democratic process of three months? Why should I be asked to put back what has now become a minority party (the ANC) based on a technicality?” he asked.

“What terrible things are going to happen in three months? Why can’t the ANC reap its allegedly just reward for its democratic majority in… in fact now two months’ time?”

Scholtz said anything could happen in the three months.

“The executive mayor has extensive power. That (the time) would be an invitation for the party to abuse the system,” he said.

Tuchten said time was an issue because the ANC was unsure about its majority in Tlokwe.

Scholtz said the opposition in the council had acted against the rules by allowing the council meeting at which Combrink was voted in as mayor.

He said the council speaker had previously cancelled the meeting, and had the right to do so without consulting the councillors or informing the public.

However, after the court was adjourned for lunch, Scholtz said the speaker clearly mentioned in an sms to councillors that the meeting had been postponed.

Tuchten asked why the speaker had previously implied that the meeting was cancelled.

“This was to avoid the connotation of an adjournment,” Scholtz said.

Tuchten said the opposition was allowed to be opportunistic “within broad limits”.

“That is their job. They must embarrass the government. They must hold it up to stringent criticism. Where possible, they must exploit divisions in government and show the voters that government is not this monolith.”

Such situations kept the ruling party “on its toes” and improved democracy, the judge said. – Sapa

Durban – A DURBAN baby has made medical history by having a double shunt inserted into his chest to drain dangerous fluid – before he was born and while suffering from severe heart failure.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

National Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s office has condemned the killings of police officers while on duty around the country. This follows the murder of a 38-year-old police constable in Nyanga on the Cape Flats on Monday.

A group of unknown men attacked the officer and his colleague while they were on a routine patrol on Monday night. The second officer is in a critical but stable condition in hospital. Two members of the public were also wounded in the shooting. The suspects are still at large.

Reports indicate that the men stole a service pistol from one of the policemen before fleeing. “This attack on police officers will not be tolerated and every endeavour will be made to bring those responsible to book,” police Captain Frederick Van Wyk said.

Mthethwa’s spokesperson Zweli Mnisi says they will continue to ask for support from the community to ensure that perpetrators of such acts are apprehended and severely punished. Mnisi says, “Whenever one police officer is killed, it must become a national crisis. In other counties if you kill a police officer, the community comes forward and deals with the issue.”

Last week, Gauteng police launched a manhunt after a Warrant Officer was shot and killed in Alberton on Gauteng’s East Rand. The officer was shot while waiting for his colleague in a car. The colleague was reportedly in a nearby building.

The police’s Lungelo Dlamini said one of the suspects suddenly pulled out a pistol and fired one shot which hit the policeman in the upper body. He said at the time, that they were not sure what triggered the shooting, but they believe the suspects were in the area to commit crime.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape says it will continue to engage government on certain aspects of the National Development Plan (NDP) that it does not agree with.

The union’s shop stewards met with Minister Trevor Manuel on Tuesday who briefed them on the NDP.

“What we found is that we agree on many areas but there are areas that we disagree on and those areas need continued discussion. We would like to see some changes to labour laws and the economy,” says provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich.

He says that Cosatu and Government have got to find a plan that South Africa can rally behind.

“We want the plan to take us forward to address the many social difficulties that our people have,” he added.

Ehrenreich also says that they need to tackle all the challenges of unemployment, poverty, gangsterism and many of the social-ills that exist and that this can be done in part by the NDP.

Last year, addressing the Cosatu Congress in Midrand, Manuel made a passionate appeal to Cosatu to support the NDP.
For http://www.sabc.co.za

Johannesburg – The ANC has denied defending President Jacob Zuma’s international adviser Lindiwe Zulu, after an apparent reprimand from the presidency.

“The ANC has noted the coverage that suggests that the ANC through its secretary general has defended the international relations adviser to president Zuma, comrade Zulu, against a statement released by the presidency,” spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said on Tuesday.

“This is not true.”

Zulu reportedly said on Friday that there were difficulties ahead of the 31 July elections in Zimbabwe, following problems with early voting.

Thousands of Zimbabwean security forces could reportedly not make their mark in early voting with polling stations opening late, and lacking indelible ink, stamps, voter rolls, ballot papers, and boxes.

“If things didn’t go right in the special vote, those things need to be looked into by the time of elections on 31 July,” Zulu was quoted as saying.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe reacted by calling Zulu “a stupid, idiotic street woman”, local jargon for a prostitute, Agence France Presse reported.

On Sunday the presidency said the statements made by members of Zuma’s team dealing with Zimbabwe were “unfortunate”.

In Zulu’s defence

Some newspaper reports suggested that ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe defended Zulu on Monday.

He told reporters in Johannesburg she had been given the responsibility to deal with media and diplomats on Zimbabwe.

Mthembu said on Tuesday that Mantashe’s response to a question on the statement from the presidency was that Zulu was tasked with communication and diplomacy by the facilitation team on Zimbabwe.

He said Mantashe’s response on the matter was: “While the ANC would not venture into this matter, my own understanding, from reading the presidency statement, was that misgivings arose from communication that was not cleared with the president.”

Mthembu said Mantashe further stated that the Zimbabwean situation was a sensitive matter and any communication on that country should be treated accordingly.

“The ANC wants to put it on record that we respect and support the intervention of the presidency regarding the South African facilitation team… to facilitate the Zimbabwe process towards free and fair elections,” Mthembu said.

– SAPA