Johannesburg – Four people were shot dead and a fifth wounded in a car in Midrand, Gauteng police said on Tuesday.

All the victims were passengers in a Toyota Tazz the shooter was driving, at the intersection of Jupiter and Whisken roads in Crowthorne in the early hours of Monday, police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said.

“The suspect apparently had an argument with one of the passengers and fatally shot him. He also fired shots at three other passengers, a man and two women.”

The victims were aged between 16 and 30.

Another passenger, a 30-year-old woman, was wounded.

Police believed they were returning from a party in Olievenhoutbosch.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Tension and political intolerance between Agang SA and ANC members have been blamed for the brutal attack on a Limpopo ANC councillor at the weekend.

Unknown men assaulted Polokwane councillor Lesetja Legodi with iron rods before stabbing him in the head at his Solomondale village outside Polokwane.

Legodi, who confirmed the incident, was ambushed while walking home from a night vigil on Saturday.
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Johannesburg – A soldier killed during an operation in the Kruger National Park was not shot at, the SA National Defence Force said on Tuesday.

“It is not clear whether he shot himself accidentally or he committed suicide. He was not shot at,” said Brig-Gen Xolani Mabanga.

Private Thabiso Zulu, of Regiment East Rand, was deployed on Sunday with 2 SA Infantry Battalion when he was killed while on duty during Operation Corona in the Kruger.

It is a border patrol operation.

A board of inquiry has been convened to investigate the shooting.

Sapa

Durban – Police raided two used spare car parts dealers in Isipingo where a stolen Isuzu bakkie was in the process of being chopped up for its parts.

Two men, aged 33 and 32, have been arrested and charged with possession of stolen property.

It came after officers from the vehicle task team traced the signal of a tracking device on the vehicle to a used-car dealer in Gopal Singh Road on Sunday, where they discovered the bin of the bakkie.
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Cape Town – Police have arrested two members of the “crowbar gang” who were filmed fleeing the scene of a burglary in Brackenfell last week.

Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said two suspects were arrested at their homes in Gugulethu on Friday and on Monday.

The CCTV footage was apparently crucial in the arrests, and police say they know the identities of three other gang members.
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Durban – A missing Durban man is feared dead by his wife after he was accosted and abducted by armed hijackers on Monday night in Mount Moriah, near Phoenix.

Dumisani Mdlalose returned to his home at about 8pm and was approached by three armed men who put a gun to his head and forced him back into his BMW 318i before speeding off with him.

His wife, who was in the passenger front seat, ran away from the men unharmed and called for help in the community.
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Durban – Eight pupils accused of murdering a KwaZulu-Natal teenager sobbed in court on Monday when told they would have to remain in custody.

Dressed in their uniforms as they stood in the dock at the Umbumbulu Magistrate’s Court, they had hoped that because they were school pupils, the court would release them.
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Bloemfontein – Three police constables have been arrested in Ficksburg for allegedly assaulting residents, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said on Tuesday.

Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini said the officers, known locally as the “Rambo Squad”, were arrested on Tuesday morning.

They allegedly assaulted people in Meqheleng and Ficksburg over the weekend of 10 August.

One of the victims was allegedly run over by a police vehicle.

The Ipid would investigate an attempted murder charge, after police previously opened a docket of reckless and negligent driving.

Dlamini said the directorate was notified of the incidents on 14 August and started to investigate the next day.

“The investigation uncovered sufficient evidence to warrant the arrest of the suspects,” said Dlamini.
More arrests were expected.

– SAPA

Pretoria – Convicted child molester Cezanne Visser or “Advocate Barbie” – has several job offers on her release on parole, it was reported on Tuesday.

The head of correctional services’ incarceration and corrections unit, deputy commissioner James Smalberger, refused to give details of the job offers – and pleaded with the public to give Visser a second chance.

“We need to give her space to apply her mind and decide which job she is going to take,” said Smalberger.

Visser left the correctional services national headquarters in Pretoria on Monday morning, holding hands with her mother, Susan Lemmer, The Times reported.

She will be placed under house arrest after serving three years of a seven-year sentence.

Visser was found guilty of 11 charges, which included two of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl, and soliciting a 13-year-old girl to commit indecent acts.

She was also sentenced on a charge of defrauding a children’s home to get them to allow children to spend weekends with her and her then lover Dirk Prinsloo.

Visser was convicted in 2009 and began serving prison time – after a failed application to appeal her sentence – in 2010.

She was previously turned down twice for release on correctional supervision by the parole board.

– News24

Johannesburg – Oscar Pistorius lawyer said on Tuesday he was unaware of talks with Reeva Steenkamp’s family over an out-of-court settlement.

The Times reported that the Paralympic star is seeking an out-of-court deal with the family of the woman he killed.

Steenkamp, who was a model and law graduate, and her half-brother were financially supporting their parents. This including paying the rent for the parents’ Port Elizabeth home.

When contacted about the deal, Pistorius’s lawyer Kenny Oldwage told AFP: “I am not aware of these discussions and I can’t comment.”

The Steenkamp family lawyer Petrus de Bruyn confirmed discussions were underway, but refused to give details.

“We have both said that we are in talks with each other and that’s all we are prepared to say,” he told AFP.

The parents are reportedly planning to lodge a civil suit claiming R3m in damages.

The 26-year-old Pistorius wept and prayed in court on Monday before being served with his indictment for murder and given his trial date.

Steenkamp, a blonde cover girl and law graduate who would have turned 30 on Monday, died in the bathroom of Pistorius’s upmarket Pretoria home in the early hours of 14 February.

The double amputee athlete known as “Blade Runner”, who is currently out on bail, has admitted to killing Steenkamp but denied murder, saying he shot her through a locked bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.

Prosecutors will argue he is guilty of premeditated murder.

– AFP