Durban – Two KwaZulu-Natal men have been arrested for conning people out of cash by promising to double their money, police said on Tuesday.

The men, who posed as traditional doctors, were arrested at Madadeni, near Newcastle, early on Tuesday by police acting on a tip-off, said Captain Thulani Zwane.

“They were found in possession of a briefcase full of counterfeit cash that is suspected to be used for defrauding people,” he said.

Police later established that the men were also wanted for robbery, fraud and dealing in drugs in Madadeni, Ladysmith, Pietermaritzburg, Point and Durban.

“Police appeal to anyone who might have been conned to contact Newcastle police station or any local police station,” Zwane said.

He said the men, aged 30 and 40, would appear in the Madadeni Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Sapa

Polokwane – Two men were sentenced to life in jail by the Polokwane Regional Court for raping a teenage girl in Limpopo in 2009, police said on Tuesday.

“The 18-year-old girl was on her way home when she was attacked and dragged to a nearby mountain where she was raped and assaulted by the two men,” said Colonel Ronel Otto.

The men left the girl unconscious and with injuries all over her body, she said.

“When she regained consciousness, she managed to go to a local clinic where she received treatment for her injuries.”

Otto said she was taken to the Mankweng hospital where it was confirmed that she had been raped.

Police arrested Elvis Modula, 26, a day after the rape and his accomplice Jackie Sekhwela in 2010.

“Modula was sentenced to life in prison in May this year, while Sekhwela was sentenced on Monday,” Otto said.

Sapa

Thohoyandou – Red tape is responsible for the dire state at Limpopo’s Tshilidzini Hospital, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was told by hospital staff on Tuesday.

Communicating their needs annually to provincial health authorities had not borne fruit, doctors and nurses told Madonsela, during a surprise visit to the facility in Thohoyandou.

Madonsela was in Limpopo as part of her office’s national stakeholder dialogue.

“We regularly borrow equipment from other hospitals. Sometimes they take back their equipment and we have to beg,” she was told by a nurse, according to a statement released by the Protector’s office.

The hospital was in dire need of surgical items such as gloves and masks.

“Unlike other hospitals that the Public Protector has been to, Tshilidzini does not have sanitisers to disinfect visitors to its high care wards, something that ought to be a standard procedure,” said another staff member.

Madonsela was told the 55-year-old hospital was in short supply of anaesthetic machines, suction machines, patient monitors, diathermy machines, autoclaving machines and tourniquets.

Officials blamed bureaucracy for the non-renewal of procurement contracts which more than six months ago.

She was told that the hospital’s human resources were also overstretched, with only 24 doctors, few specialists and no resident paediatricians.

Staff said two paediatricians from Mankweng Hospital, in Polokwane, visited twice a month as part of their outreach.

They said a major impediment to the recruitment and retention of professionals was incentives; the hospital’s rural location was a major disincentive for doctors and other professionals as the rural allowance offered was the same as that provided to doctors who chose to work at semi-urban hospitals.

“There is a need for the different degrees of ‘rural areas’ to be reflected in these allowances,” the staff said.

Sapa

Durban – Seven people have died in accidents in KwaZulu-Natal in the past two days, the provincial community safety department said on Tuesday.

The driver of a pick-up truck lost control of the vehicle and knocked down five school children in Umsinga on Tuesday, said community safety spokesman Kwanele Ncalane.

“Two children died on the scene, while the third one died in hospital. The other two children were taken to Tugela Ferry hospital,” he said.

On Monday, two pupils died when one of their overloaded minibus’s tyres burst and it overturned between Jolivet and KwaDumisa. It was carrying 24 passengers at the time.

Two people died the same day in a three vehicle pile-up between Umhlanga and Umdloti.

Community safety MEC Willies Mchunu said it was regrettable that lives were being lost in avoidable accidents.

“I am extremely disturbed to observe such untold impertinence and lack of respect for people’s lives by those who disobey traffic laws,” he said.

Sapa

Johannesburg – A Nigerian man was arrested in Germiston on Tuesday for manufacturing drugs, Ekurhuleni metro police said.

“Police escorted him to his flat where a funnel, miniature scale and two kilograms of phosphor and iodine were found,” said spokesman Wilfred Kgasago.

He said the 29-year-old man was also found in possession of cathinone, a chemical similar to amphetamines.

The man would appear in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Sapa

Johannesburg – The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) expressed concern on Tuesday over IEC chairperson Pansy Tlakula’s refusal to resign.

This was after Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found on Monday that Tlakula had played a “grossly irregular” role in procuring the Riverside Office Park building in Centurion for the IEC’s head office.

“If we want to establish a proper democracy, the credibility of the IEC needs to be beyond reproach,” CDP leader Theunis Botha said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Democracy requires transparency and accountability, which appears to be lacking in Tlakula’s approach.”

Madonsela recommended on Monday that Parliament consider taking action against Tlakula.

Madonsela found improper conduct and maladministration on Tlakula’s part, and a conflict of interest involving a company co-director, with whom she was accused of being romantically involved.

“The speaker of Parliament… [should] consider whether action should be taken against advocate Tlakula for her role in the procurement… in light of the undisclosed and unmanaged conflict of interest and her contravention of the procurement laws and prescripts,” Madonsela said in her report.

Botha said he was disappointed by the IEC’s response to irregularities the CDP had reported to the electoral commission.

“Especially for the IEC’s lack of response in investigating irregularities such as the ANC combining food parcels paid for by the taxpayers with electioneering.

“Concerns will now only increase with the bad example set by Tlakula, and we urge her to do the right thing,” he said.

Botha said Tlakula’s position did not only require capable management, but also the “highest level of integrity, transparency and independence”.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Students have been told to vacate the Walter Sisulu University, in the Eastern Cape, because of labour trouble, administrator Lourens van Staden said on Tuesday.

“The volatile situation that is unfolding has made it impossible for management to risk or to guarantee the safety and well-being of our students and the communities in which they live,” he said in a statement.

“We, therefore, regret to announce that all students are to vacate university premises, university residences and university rented accommodation with immediate effect.”

He said the labour deadlock had dragged on for five weeks.

“The response to the offer made by management to staff last week has not been sufficiently conclusive to enable classes to resume,” Van Staden said.

“The university does not want to keep students waiting on campus indefinitely.”

Van Staden said management would continue seeking ways to resolve the dispute.

“The decision to send students home does not mean that the academic year is lost,” he said.

“All efforts will be made to put alternative arrangements in place in order to complete this second semester.”

– SAPA

Cape Town – Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and national police commissioner Riah Phiyega faced off on Tuesday over the policing of gangs on the Cape Flats.

Zille, who sat in on a provincial legislature briefing by Phiyega, confronted her about her repeated request for the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to intervene in gang violence.

Zille said using the army to keep the peace would allow an already strained police force to gather evidence and do its job.

“Doesn’t it make sense to support a peacekeeping force of the army to come in?” she asked Phiyega.

Phiyega replied that the solution was not that simple.

“The issues you are raising, premier, we must talk about sustainable solutions,” she said.

“Until we get to the point where we start talking about sustainable intervention to look at the root causes of the problems… we will continue in the process we are continuing.

“The issue of drugs and gangs is not just a policing matter, it is a socio-economic matter. It requires that we all intervene.”

Phiyega said the police were up to the task of protecting drug and gang affected areas.

She said it was because of the police that children had been able to return to 12 Manenberg schools, which were recently closed for two days because of gang violence.

“Our jails are full because police are doing their work. Large sentences are being passed because police are doing their work.”

Addressing the problem

Mark Wiley, chairperson of the standing committee on community safety, corrected Phiyega about her jail comment, and said prisons were overflowing, especially Pollsmoor Prison, because of a backlog in awaiting trial detainees.

Zille said she agreed with Phiyega that various bodies were responsible for addressing the root causes.

The Western Cape government had spent R84m on addressing substance addiction and abuse, she said.

However, she disagreed about the Manenberg schools issue, and said children had been able to return only after the provincial government took R6m from the education budget and diverted 71 metro police officers.

“That wouldn’t have been necessary had SANDF helped with peacekeeping patrols,” Zille said.

She questioned whether the commissioner’s reason for not deploying the army was based on research.

Phiyega said parties should be careful to not politicise or personalise the issue at hand.

“As the police, our duty is to serve the nation and we use all information and data around us to design our service. We are not politicians, we are pure service providers for the nation,” she said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – South Africa has much to learn from Malaysia’s investment in education, President Jacob Zuma said during an official visit to Malaysia on Tuesday.

“Malaysia has done very well through investment in the development of its people through education,” Zuma said.

“[The country] is well on the path of becoming a developed country within the time frame it has set for itself, and you have recognised quality and inclusive education as a crucial contributor to achieve this remarkable goal.”

Zuma received an honorary doctorate of leadership from the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology on his two-day visit to the Southeast Asian country.

The president said South Africa had made substantial progress in reforming education post-apartheid.

“Government’s commitment to education is witnessed by the fact that education is allocated 20% of total state expenditure, receiving the largest share of government spending,” Zuma said.

The international relations department said 2013 marked the 20th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

It said South Africa was the largest African investor in Malaysia, with investments in the petro-chemicals, insurance, food, and beverages industries.

Total trade between South Africa and Malaysia grew from about R13.8bn in 2008 to R19.7bn in 2012.

Zuma thanked the people of Malaysia and its leaders for the role it played during the anti-apartheid struggle.

– SAPA

Pretoria – The SAPS has provided inadequate information to the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into last year’s shootings at Marikana, the commission was told on Tuesday.

“The SA Police Service [SAPS] has provided the commission with inadequate statements, which we have to rely on,” Michelle Le Roux, for the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), said.

“They and the miners know exactly what happened… it is unfortunate that the other party [miners] is not here.”

Le Roux had asked North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe where he was and at what time he heard about the shootings on 16 August.

Mpembe could have known about the shootings much earlier, judging by the police radio communication traffic, Le Roux said.

Mpembe said he was not at the scene during the shooting.

“I heard about the shootings over the radio in my hand, as I was heading to board a helicopter.”

Commission chairperson, retired Judge Ian Farlam, told Le Roux she would get co-operation from police if she needed more material.

The final report by the commission would not be one-sided.

“Regarding persons who are absent, their versions will be brought before the commission by evidence leaders, who can also call on witnesses,” Farlam said.

“To suggest that the report and findings would be one-sided and based on police information is unfounded.”

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people killed during strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg in North West, in August last year.

Police shot dead 34 people, almost all striking mineworkers, on 16 August 2012, while trying to disperse and disarm them.

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

– SAPA