Johannesburg – Traditional leaders on Friday were examining a way to extend the June school holidays to accommodate the practice of initiation.

“Part of the challenges we are having is because we are working with limited time,” Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA general secretary Kgoshi Setlamorago Thobejane told reporters in Pretoria.

He said the process required time and urged the government to assist in creating that space by extending the winter holidays.

“We wanted to appeal to the law-makers to change that to ensure we have ample time and so that we do things properly.”

He said South Africa was a multi-faceted society and a middle ground could be found.

“We are not necessarily belonging to the Christian community but we are enjoying the December long holidays and nobody is complaining,” he said.

“For the purpose of building a better society, we need to consider all other avenues at our disposal.”

He said the current school holidays were designed by the apartheid government and did not accommodate African customs and traditions.

“Some individuals might not see the importance of what we are talking about but we are inviting people and saying, let’s play a role in the challenge confronting the nation.”

Thobejane accused government of dictating how things should be run. Traditional leaders wanted to guide government on the issues as they knew more about culture and tradition.

Thobejane apologised to the country for the recent spate of deaths among young men at initiation schools.

He said traditional leaders had been disturbed by the level of deaths during initiations. Since 2004, initiation schools were responsible for the death of 250 young men throughout the country.

“We want to pass our condolences to the families who have lost children. We were supposed to have done things differently.”

There had been at least 30 deaths of initiates in the Eastern Cape since May, 30 in Mpumalanga, and seven in Limpopo.

Thobejane said the time had come for traditional leaders to go back to the drawing board and come up with ways to curb the death toll. One death was one too many.

“We have fallen and need everybody to help us in this journey,” Thobejane said.

Sapa

Cape Town – Two men were arrested on Friday after being found in possession of perlemoen, Western Cape police said.

Police were patrolling the R43 road around 1.15pm when they spotted a white Isuzu bakkie going towards Stanford from Gansbaai, said Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana.

“The vehicle was pulled off the road. According to the reports, one of the occupants in the vehicle jumped off and ran away.”

Police searched the bakkie and confiscated 10 bags containing around 1963 perlemoen.

Police arrested the two remaining men, aged between 27 and 29.

They are expected to appear in the Hermanus Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Sapa

Cape Town – A Khayelitsha speedster killed two men after losing control of her vehicle and crashing into a shack, paramedics said on Friday.

The accident happened on Thursday night at the corner of Oscar Mpetha Drive and Mew Way in Harare, Khayelitsha.

“According to eyewitness accounts, the female was speeding and lost control of the vehicle. She attempted to bring the vehicle to a standstill by braking,” said spokesman for the Cape Town disaster risk management centre, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

The car hit one of the shacks where two men were inside.

Upon the arrival of paramedics it was found that the female driver and the two men had sustained multiple injuries. The two men died at the scene.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini will roll out a number of social relief interventions in Tlokwe, in the North West, her department said on Friday.

“During her meeting with the provincial leadership of the government of North West, she heard that over 19 000 children suffer from malnutrition in Tlokwe,” the department said in a statement.

“She also heard that there are over 17 000 child-headed households in Tlokwe, most of whom do not receive social assistance because they have not been reported to the department of social development.”

Dlamini would send a team of experts to the area to help start food gardens and soup kitchens, the department said.

The minister was in Tlokwe on Friday speaking during a community imbizo (public participation programme) hosted by her department.

She also met the provincial government leadership.

The social development department said it had identified 90 “extremely” poor families in the area who needed social relief for the next six months.

Dlamini admitted that although there were 30 516 social grants recipients in Tlokwe not everyone who was eligible for social security assistance had been reached in the area.

“To this end, she announced the establishment of new SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) mobile service points to service outlying areas at least twice a week to reach all those who find the currently available Sassa offices inaccessible,” the department said.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Comments made about the SA Revenue Service (Sars) by Julius Malema pose a serious threat to the tax-collecting agency’s integrity, it said on Friday.

“On 27 June 2013 counsel for (Sars) addressed a letter to Mr Julius Malema and his legal representative, cautioning Mr Malema to refrain from making false public statements about the state of his tax affairs and his engagements with Sars,” Sars said in a statement.

“In subsequent weeks, Mr Malema has not only refused to correct his lies, he has in fact repeated such allegations in various news interviews.”

During the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) national assembly last week its leader Malema said Sars must not allow itself to be used to settle political fights.

He said his colleague Kenny Kunene and other EFF members had received notices from Sars stating they were under investigation.

Sars had an obligation to rise above political divisions to ensure the public could trust it with their finances, he said.

Malema said if Sars continued to allow itself to be used, the EFF would fight back.

Sars on Friday said it was because of Malema’s comments that it had decided to invoke section 67(5) of the Tax Administration Act which allowed it to disclose taxpayer information what would otherwise be confidential.

The agency gave a history of Malema’s interaction with it.

In 2010, Sars contacted Malema when he failed to submit his tax returns for a number of years.

It took Malema 18 months, after many attempts by Sars, to file his outstanding returns.

“Ultimately he failed to regularise his tax affairs,” said Sars.

Malema had still not registered the Ratanang Trust for tax purposes. Sars had to register it on his behalf.

“Neither of these situations – his personal income tax affairs and that of the trust – was helpful in demonstrating his willingness to comply with his tax obligations,” the agency said.

“Such situations do not only speak to the failure of Mr Malema to comply with his statutory obligations, but also the fact that it is not fair for Sars to treat one taxpayer different from another.”

After eventually receiving the outstanding tax returns it became clear, through an analysis of the information, that Malema submitted inaccurate information to Sars for the tax years 2005 to 2011.

The same applied to the information submitted about the trust.

“All indications were that Mr Malema was attempting to restructure his asset holdings without informing Sars.”

Because of this Sars launched a financial investigation into his tax affairs.

The financial investigation found that Malema had failed to register for tax in 2005, he under-declared and mis-declared income in the years 2005 to 2011 and was assessed for about R16 million.

Malema also failed to submit the tax returns for the Ratanang Trust.

The investigation found that Malema, while engaging with Sars, was transferring assets he owned to third parties in a clear attempt to shift assets outside the reach of Sars, it said.

Malema had made no attempt to pay any amount towards his tax debt.

“Ultimately when Sars reached a conclusion of how much tax Mr Malema owed … and despite him having had, by his own account at least R4 million available at the time, he opted not to pay one cent towards his tax debt,” said Sars.

Malema accepted that he owed Sars R16 million in tax, but he did not offer to convert any of his assets towards his tax debt and he never asked for any form of payment arrangement.

“Mr Malema failed the procedural requirements to qualify for a settlement for tax debt through his own design, and not because ‘somebody decided’ so.

“Mr Malema must, as we all do, face the consequences of his actions. He had ample opportunity to utilise the various mechanisms provided for in law to state his case,” said Sars.

Sars attached some of Malema’s properties to recoup the R16m tax debt owed by the controversial leader.

In May, his incomplete mansion in Sandton, Johannesburg, was sold on auction for R5.9m. His farm in Limpopo fetched R2.5m at an auction in June. Several of his household goods were also auctioned off earlier this year.

Sapa

Johannesburg – A nine-year-old boy died when he was hit by a car on Pamela Street, in Horizon View, Roodepoort, paramedics said on Saturday.

“Tragically, the boy died at the scene due to the extensive injuries he had sustained during the accident [on Friday night],” Netcare911 spokesperson Santi Steinmann said.

Police would investigate the cause of the accident.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A baby was one of four people who died after a fire in a building in the Johannesburg CBD on Saturday, the city’s emergency services said.

“Two people and a baby were found dead inside the building,” spokesperson Nana Radebe said.

A fourth person rescued from the blaze died on the way to hospital and three others remained in serious but stable condition.

Earlier, Radebe said three people died in the fire, which broke out on the seventh floor of a block of flats on the corner of Jeppe and Nugget Streets around 04:30.

“There are five fire engines with close to 20 fire fighters, they have put the fire [out] and are searching for more people inside the building.”

Johannesburg metro police spokesman Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said at 09:00 that forensic teams were investigating the cause of the fire.

Traffic around the building would be diverted until around 11:00 and motorists were advised to use Pritchard Street as an alternative route.

– SAPA