Pretoria – Without the participation of miners, the commission probing last year’s Marikana shooting would become the “Money-kana” commission, lawyer Dali Mpofu said on Thursday.

“It would be a commission for those who have money,” he said in Pretoria.

Mpofu, who acts for the miners, was pleading with commission chairperson, retired Judge Ian Farlam, to postpone the commission as he and his legal team were without funding.

He had provisionally withdrawn from the commission.

According to Mpofu, one of his clients said: “If they continue [the commission] without us, they shouldn’t call it the Marikana commission… It is not the Marikana commission if we, the people of Marikana are not there. The people who will be left there are not from Marikana.”

Mpofu wants the commission to be put on hold pending the outcome of their efforts to get funding from the State.

He took the matter to the high court and the Constitutional Court in a bid to compel the State to fund his team several weeks ago. Both courts ruled in favour of the State.

An appeal will be heard at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on 25 and 26 September.

The commission, sitting in Centurion, is investigating the death of 44 people during strike-related unrest in Marikana in August last year.

Thirty four people – almost all striking mineworkers – were shot dead in a clash with police on 16 August.

Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

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Pretoria – Police have cautioned the public against a “miracle doctor” operating in Pretoria North who allegedly conned a woman out of her R1 million pension payout, claiming he could double it.

Pretoria North communications officer Constable Maanda Singo says the suspect goes by the pseudonym of Dr H Muhamad and has people handing out pamphlets about his business.

Services listed on the pamphlet include increasing a person’s salary, bringing back lost lovers and solving financial problems.

Singo said one of the complainants went to the suspect to have her money doubled.

“She gave the miracle doctor R10 000 and got back R20 000. As a result she resigned from her job to get her pension,” said Singo.

The bank initially refused to pay over the money, saying an appointment needed to be made for such a large withdrawal.

“She made the appointment and went there with the miracle doctor to withdraw the money. It was withdrawn from Nedbank in Pretoria North at the end of July,” said Singo.

After the money was withdrawn the woman left with the suspect, who instructed her to put the cash in a suitcase and not to check the suitcase until he called. He dropped her off at her home with the case.

“She got impatient and checked the suitcase before he instructed her to do so and found that there was no money, only paper.”

After realising what had happened the woman tried to call the suspect several times, to no avail.

She went to the Pretoria North police and a case of fraud and theft was opened.

Singo said police went to the address from which the suspect had been operating, only to find that he was no longer there.

They also tried to contact the suspect several times, without success.

Singo, the investigating officer, has called on residents to assist police with information so the suspect may be traced. A further two cases believed to be linked to the suspect have been opened this month.

The SAPS obtained a photograph of the suspect, which the complainant identified as the man who allegedly defrauded her.

Singo said the man was in his late 20s and believed to be from Uganda. Anyone with information should call 012 353 5666 or the investigating officer at 012 353 5622.

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Johannesburg – Regulations that curtailed the rights of governing bodies of Gauteng public schools were set aside by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, Beeld reported on Thursday.

The Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools (Fedsas) submitted the application against the Gauteng education MEC and the court ruled on the matter on Wednesday.

Prior to the judgment, the regulations had led to dissatisfaction because the department had attempted to extend school admission application time, placing schools under pressure.

Fedsas’s chief executive Paul Colditz said the ruling was a warning to other provincial education departments.

“The judgment is an indication that provincial departments should plan better or bear the consequences.”

Colditz said he saw the ruling as a victory where the rights of parents and governing bodies to manage the best interests of pupils and to act in the interest of quality education, had been ratified by the courts.

According to the department, the regulations were necessary in order to place students well in advance before the next school year. 

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Johannesburg – The march by SA Police Service administrative staff will not affect services at the police emergency centre, a police spokesperson said on Thursday.

“The emergency centre is operating normally,” police spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said.

During the morning shift change, a head count was conducted and only 34 people had not reported for duty. 

This was despite the police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) saying on Wednesday it was expecting 15 000 workers to be part of the march.

Makgale said they also had other support members on standby to assist.

Popcru said on Wednesday that workers wanted salary levels upgraded for all administrative staff.

“Popcru is demanding, on behalf of these workers, that management should implement a department of public service and administration directive which would upgrade the levels of all admin staff in line with other public service departments,” spokesperson Theto Mahlakoana said.

Makgale said it was disappointing that Popcru had chosen the strike action route as opposed to continuing with negotiations and correctly informing its members about progress made.

“Contrary to the statement made by Popcru, management has implemented the relevant agreement. Steps are planned to address the remaining factors,” he said. 

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Cape Town – BP Southern Africa CEO Gerard Derbesy has died. He collapsed while playing tennis on Wednesday, according to Eyewitness News.

Debersey became BP Southern Africa’s CEO on September 1 2011. He graduated with a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Marseille and a doctorate in Chemistry from McGill University, Montreal. 

He subsequently accumulated over 15 years of refining and marketing experience in a variety of roles in continental Europe, the UK and the US, with responsibility for areas including refining, commercial optimisation, supply and marketing, according to BP’s website.

For more http://www.news24.com

East London – An Eastern Cape serial killer has said he is sorry for murdering 20 people, many of whom were raped.

On Tuesday Bulelani Mabhayi, 39, plead guilty to all 36 charges levelled against him, which include rape and murder, the Daily Dispatch reported.

If convicted, Mabhayi will be the worst serial killer South Africa has seen in over 15 years.

Mabhayi’s home village Tholeni, in Butterworth, became known as South Africa’s “village of death” under his reign of terror.

“Even to the people of Tholeni and to the citizens of South Africa, I would like to say I apologise and I am very sorry for what I did,” he told the Eastern Cape High Court sitting in Butterworth.

But Mabhayi admitted that if he hadn’t been arrested in August 2012, he would still be raping and killing.

Mabhayi said he killed his victims because they knew him and would be able to identify him, he added.

When asked if one of his victims, who was little more than a year old, could identify him, Mabhayi told the court he killed the child because he was “driven by an evil spirit”.

Mabhayi said he was still of value to society “because I have learnt from this experience and that what I was doing was not right and unacceptable”.

 But he also agreed that he did not have any respect for human life. 

News24

Durban – President Jacob Zuma is an improbable figure to imagine in the role of a Margaret Thatcher cracking down on South Africa’s trade union movement. Yet that is the reality behind the campaign being waged to oust or seriously weaken Zwelinzima Vavi, long-serving general secretary of Cosatu.

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Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma’s lawyer has dismissed claims by DA leader Helen Zille that the postponement of Zuma’s application for leave to appeal in the so-called spy tapes saga was “stonewalling”, The Star reported on Thursday.

“That’s nonsense. The fact is that our counsel has engaged the Supreme Court of Appeal [SCA] and as a matter of practice and ethics, they had to give us [the postponement],” lawyer Michael Hulley was quoted as saying.

“It’s a practical issue. People are looking for nonsense.”

Zille said on Wednesday that the postponement revealed “Zuma’s continued cynical use of taxpayers’ money to avoid handing over the ‘spy tapes’.

“After ten years of legal obfuscation, prevarication, evasion and stonewalling, they have still not exhausted all their options.”

Presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj also reportedly dismissed Zille’s claims.

The appeal would be heard on 6 September at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. It was initially meant to have been heard on Thursday.

The tapes, transcripts and other documents, relate to a 2009 National Prosecuting Authority decision to drop corruption charges against Zuma.

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