Cape Town – A Grade 11 pupil at a Maitland school was found by fellow pupils in the toilets, her hands tied and mouth gagged.

She had apparently been sexually assaulted.

Bronagh Casey, spokeswoman for Education MEC Donald Grant, said it was unclear if the perpetrator came from within the school or from outside the premises.

Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said

: “The girl is still traumatised and shocked and cannot speak to the investigating officer.”
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Bloemfontein – The State withdrew all charges against one of four alleged rightwing plotters in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Hein Boonzaaier, 50, of Centurion, was asked by the magistrate to excuse himself from further court proceedings.

He was one of four men arrested in December last year for allegedly planning to assassinate senior ANC leaders in Mangaung.

Boonzaaier was out on bail of R80 000.

The case against two other accused, Johan Prinsloo and Mark Trollip, was postponed for trail in the Bloemfontein High Court on November 4.

Sapa

Cape Town – Leaders of Manenberg’s main gangs, the Hard Livings and the Americans, have apologised for the trauma their battles have caused residents and have vowed to stop settling their differences through the barrel of a gun.

Manenberg has been in the grip of gang violence for some months, with the loss of several lives and the Western Cape Department of Education closing schools for two days after teachers demanded that it take action. Schools reopened on August 19 after the City of Cape Town deployed 71 metro police officers to patrol the schools.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma has applied for leave to appeal against a high court decision forcing the NPA to hand over the so-called spy tapes.

In court papers seen by Sapa on Friday, and dated on Wednesday, Zuma’s lawyers listed several grounds for appeal against the ruling by the High Court in Pretoria.

One was that the court erred in not finding that the transcripts of the tapes were part of Zuma’s representation and therefore did not have to be produced.

“The court [also] erred… in holding that the third respondent [Zuma] was obliged to factually demonstrate that he had an interest in the confidentiality of the ‘transcripts’.”

The application says the appeal could be heard by either a full bench of the high court or the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

The tape transcripts and other documents relate to a National Prosecuting Authority decision to drop corruption charges against Zuma.

Last Friday, the court ordered acting national director of public prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba to lodge a copy of the tapes with the registrar of the court within five days.

The ruling by Judge Rami Mathopo followed an application by the Democratic Alliance.

In April 2009, then acting NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe withdrew the fraud and corruption charges against Zuma.

In March last year the SCA ordered the NPA to lodge the record with the registrar of the high court. The NPA refused to do so on the basis that it contained confidential representations by Zuma.

Mathopo ordered Jiba to comply with the SCA order and ruled that the record to be lodged include a copy and transcripts of the electronic recordings Mpshe referred to in his announcement that charges were being withdrawn.

The appeal papers stated that the court erred in accepting that the transcripts were not confidential and that the production of any item which was part of the representations was compelled by the order of the SCA.

“The court erred in holding that… [Zuma] was obliged to make out a case that the representations made on his behalf were confidential — it was common cause before the SCA and this court that… the representations were not subject to compelled disclosure.”

It also erred by holding that minutes, which would reveal the content of the representation, were not excluded from the record, but required a legal claim of confidentiality to be established by Zuma.

The DA said on Friday the arguments by Zuma’s legal team were “unlikely to hold water”.

“The application for leave to appeal argues that the court ‘erred’ on basically every point in the judgment,” DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said in a statement.

“It is time to stop delaying and just comply with the courts. President Zuma’s legal team is delaying the inevitable and at each stage at the cost of the taxpayer.”

He said the DA had submitted parliamentary questions to determine the exact cost to the public “of President Zuma trying to hide the truth from South Africa”.

“The DA will oppose this application vigorously, because South Africa deserves to know, once and for all, whether the decision by the NPA to drop the charges against President Jacob Zuma was politically motivated,” he said.

“All we can say to President Zuma’s legal team is bring it on.” – Sapa

Cape Town – A proposal to extend university courses by a year would see an additional 28 percent of students graduate.

A Council for Higher Education report released this week revealed shockingly low university graduation numbers.

Just 50 percent of students graduated and less than 5 percent of young African and coloured people succeeded in tertiary education, it said.

A task team appointed by the council had proposed a flexible curriculum structure in which courses would be extended by a year to give students the academic and social foundation needed to succeed.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Pietermaritzburg – Muggers better watch out; women are not weak and easy targets to be messed with.

A mugger learnt this lesson the hard way when he attempted to steal a cellphone from a woman in Church Street in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday afternoon.

The act was caught on the CCTV cameras monitored by Safe City. They did not need to intervene much as a group of surrounding woman took justice into their own hands.

Lucas Holtzhausen of Safe City and his staff were amused at the justice that was dished out by the women.

Kicked in private parts

“An unfortunate male suspect tried to steal a woman’s cellphone. He ran up to her and tried to grab it. She screamed and at least 10 women came to help her. The guy didn’t know where to turn. One lady came from behind and kicked him right in his private parts. He got it from all sides. Luckily there were some traffic wardens nearby who ‘rescued’ him, but the women did not stop, they kept following him,” said Holtzhausen.

While the traffic wardens kept the suspect from the wrath of the sizeable group of women, Safe City dispatched police to the scene.

Police spokesperson Joey Jeevan said they had received a report of a fight along Church Street in the Pietermaritzburg CBD on Wednesday. “A traffic officer arrested a 21-year-old male suspect at the scene. It is believed that the man robbed a female victim of her cellular phone and she immediately began shouting for assistance. Instantly, community members apprehended the man and began assaulting him.”

The woman whose phone was stolen did not want to open a case and the man was later released.

Holtzhausen feels that this is poetic justice since it is Women’s Month: “The moral of this story? All men please beware, it is Women’s Month!”

On Wednesday, The Witness reported that robbers who targeted two women in the Pietermaritzburg CBD where caught by two body builders and were made to hand back their loot.

– The Witness

Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma arrived in Luanda, Angola, on Thursday for consultations with Angola President Jos Eduardo dos Santos and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila Kabanga, the presidency said.

“The consultation is a follow-up to a meeting held by the three presidents on March 12 2013 in Luanda,” spokesperson Mac Maharaj said.

“The three heads of state are expected to discuss a range of issues relating to peace and stability in the region, particularly the current peace efforts in the DRC.”

Zuma was accompanied by International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Energy Minister Ben Martins and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Lechesa Tsenoli.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Drugs worth millions of rands were found in a suitcase at the OR Tambo International Airport, the Hawks said on Friday.

“Yesterday [Thursday] at around 16:00… the police at the airport and customs searched an unclaimed luggage bag containing 20kg of crystal meth worth R56m,” said Captain Paul Ramaloko.

“When we tried to check who the person was, by that time, the person disappeared.”

No arrests had been made yet.

The bag had come off a flight from Abu Dhabi.

– SAPA

Durban – Pictures of a murder-accused posing with what appears to be a gun have gone viral on social media networks, The Mercury reported on Friday.

Hector Britts, 33, is accused of shooting Craigh Botha, 38, at a Durban nightclub earlier in August.

Some of the pictures show Britts with what appears to be gun while he poses with young women.

Other pictures show Britts in a suit and tie brandishing a “gun” while surrounded by similarly dressed men.

Themes

Britt’s wife, Lauren, said the “guns” in the photographs were toys or cigarette lighters either used for theme parties at the nightclub where he worked or taken on their wedding day. “They belonged to our son,” she told The Mercury.

“That was taken off my Facebook page and I don’t appreciate that.”

Family and friends of the victim were outraged.

“I am worried for those girls,” Botha’s brother Andrew said. He told The Mercury he was disappointed and shocked.

The photographs had been handed over to the authorities.

Shooting

Britts worked as a ‘security manager’ at the Rocca Bar in Durban on the night of shooting and handed himself over to the police shortly afterwards.

He was initially charged with attempted murder while Botha was fighting for his life in hospital. The charge was changed to murder when Botha died of organ failure a few days later.

Britts now denies killing Botha, saying he doesn’t own a gun and doesn’t know who shot Botha.

In his affidavit he says he was attacked by Botha and was still in shock when “somebody shot the deceased.”

Britts appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court earlier this week and was released on R10 000 bail.

His next court appearance is scheduled for September.
For more http://www.news24.com

Johannesburg – About 50 shacks caught fire in Alexandra, Johannesburg, on Friday morning, emergency services said.

“No injuries have been reported yet,” Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said.

He said the extent of the damage would be assessed once the fire had been put out.

“The cause of the fire will be investigated. Disaster management will be on site to assist the displaced families.”
Sapa