Pretoria – Four members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) were charged before a military court on Friday, on charges relating to the landing of a private aircraft at the Waterkloof Air Force Base.

SA National Defence Union (Sandu) national secretary Pikkie Greeff, counsel for two of the soldiers, said the exact content of the charges was not yet clear.

“It seems that the military’s view of the matter is that these officers are guilty of some military offence for their role in the Gupta landing, but it’s not clear what that role is alleged to have been.

“They are being charged with charges ranging from disobeying written instructions to conduct prejudicial to military discipline. It will only be clear from the final charge sheet what exactly the charges are,” said Greeff.

The four – Colonel Nomsa Khumalo, Lieutenant Colonel Christo Van Zyl, Lieutenant Colonel Christine Anderson, and Warrant Officer Thabo Ntshisi – appeared in the court, which is located inside the vast Thaba Tshwane military base in Pretoria.

A fifth officer, identified as Colonel Nkosi, was scheduled to appear later on Friday.

The matter was postponed until 2 October for preliminary investigations.

In court, the soldiers were informed that they were charged with contravening different sections of the military defence code (MDC).

“In terms of the MDC and the Defence Act there are certain offences that a soldier can commit which are formulated in the MDC,” Greeff said.

“Charges that were mentioned in this court includes sections [of the MDC] on disobeying written orders or instructions, conduct prejudicial to military discipline, and the abuse or misuse of state vehicles, aircraft or facilities.”

Gupta wedding

Sandu was representing Van Zyl and Anderson, while the others had private attorneys and SANDF counsel, he said.

A chartered commercial aircraft, Jet Airways flight JAI 9900 from India, ferrying more than 200 guests for the wedding of Vega Gupta and Indian-born Aakash Jahajgarhia, landed at the base in April.

The passengers were then transported, either by light aircraft, helicopter or in police-escorted vehicles, to attend the lavish ceremony at Sun City’s Palace of the Lost City in North West.

The landing sparked widespread criticism and several investigations were launched.

A government investigation exonerated President Jacob Zuma and his ministers, and found that the landing was the result of “collusion by officials”.

In June, eight of the 11 Tshwane metro police officers accused of providing unofficial security for the Gupta wedding guests pleaded guilty at an internal disciplinary hearing by the city.

The municipality’s probe into the scandal examined the extent of the damage caused by the officers’ involvement in the fiasco, Tshwane metro police executive director Console Tleane said at the time.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Convicted murderer Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye’s application for bail was denied by the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Maarohanye was asking the court to grant him bail, pending the appeal against his murder conviction and sentence.

The petition to appeal was filed in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg in March.

Maarohanye and his co-accused Themba Tshabalala were each sentenced in December last year to 20 years imprisonment for murder and four years imprisonment for attempted murder.

For use of drugs, driving under the influence of drugs, and racing on a public road, they got a year for each count.

Maarohanye and Tshabalala were drag-racing in Protea North on 8 March 2010, when they crashed into a group of schoolboys.

Prince Mohube, Mlungisi Cwayi, Andile Mthombeni, and Phomello Masemola were killed.

Frank Mlambo and Fumani Mushwana were left permanently brain damaged.

– SAPA

Durban – The State sought a six week postponement in the case against Durban businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane on Friday, saying it hoped to pursue fraud, forgery and uttering charges in a KwaZulu-Natal High Court.

Seeking the postponement in an application in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court, Prosecutor Wendy O’Brien said KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Sophy Moipone Dinah Noko had authorised that the case against Mpisane should proceed in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban.

Mpisane faces 53 charges of fraud, forgery and uttering of a forged document.

O’Brien said the State was “99.5% certain” it would proceed with those charges in the high court.

Mpisane, who is out on R100 000 bail is accused of submitting forged documents to obtain Construction Industry Development Board gradings, which were then used to win five public works department tenders worth R140m.

However, Mpisane’s lawyer, Jimmy Howse, argued that the figure of R140m was incorrect as the value of three of the tenders amounted to R57.3m.

These had been completed, he said, and the Department of Public Works had not complained in relation to the work carried out by Mpisane and her company, Zikhulise Cleaning Maintenance and Transport.

He said that in relation to the fourth project – a clinic that was being built in Inanda – the department had refused to terminate the contract and work was continuing.

State accused of buying time

The tender, or the fifth contract upon which some of the charges were based, had been withdrawn by the department and no work had been done and no payment had been made.

Howse accused the State of attempting to buy time to strengthen its case.

An order restraining R70m of his clients assets was based upon a National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) application that the matter would be heard in the regional court.

He said that a trial date should be set in the regional court, or the case should be struck from the roll.

The State should not be entitled to a six week postponement, he submitted.

O’Brien said the time was needed to obtain a forensic report and the DPP needed to examine the case, which consisted of nine lever arch files of documentation.

Magistrate Nalini Govender was expected to make a decision later on Friday.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Government denied on Friday reports that Tlokwe in the North West is receiving food parcels because of upcoming by-elections.

“There is nothing untoward with Tlokwe being one of the recipients of government services,” acting government spokesperson Phumla Williams said in a statement.

“The imbizo at Tlokwe forms part of Project Mikondzo, which is a service delivery improvement initiative aimed at improving access to the department and its entities.”

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini visited Tlokwe on Friday.

Earlier this week her office said the visit was part a service delivery improvement initiative and a follow-up to her visit to the area last month.

Williams said: “Minister Dlamini is currently doing a follow-up in the Tlokwe area, as she promised during her last visit to the area.

“Handing out food parcels is in-line with attending to the concerns raised during the general household survey of 2010, and is a small initiative to assist in the alleviation of poverty in the area.”

After Dlamini’s last visit the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) and the DA accused the minister of trying to buy votes in Tlokwe with food parcels.

Her visit came a few days before a by-election in Tlokwe’s Ward 9.

At the time, Dlamini denied that this was the motivation behind the relief efforts and said there were more than 17 000 child-headed households in Tlokwe.

The DA on Friday said it had written to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela asking her to investigate the distribution of food parcels in Tlokwe by Dlamini.

“The minister’s conduct is at the very least, unethical, and a violation of the executive ethics code of conduct,” DA MP Mike Waters said in a statement.

“The distribution of food parcels just before nine by-elections can only be construed as the dishonest use of public office to further a party-political agenda,” he said.

By-elections will be held on 18 September in Tlokwe, in Wards 1, 4, 6 11, 12, 13, 18, 20 and 26.

Power struggle

Tlokwe’s ANC mayor Maphetle Maphetle was unseated twice when ANC councillors voted to replace him with DA councillor Annette Combrink.

The ANC’s North West provincial disciplinary committee expelled the 14 councillors concerned, resulting in them losing their seats. Their expulsion was however overturned by the ANC’s national disciplinary committee.

Despite this, eight of the councillors reportedly registered as independent candidates for the by-elections.

Members of the ANC’s national working committee were deployed to wards in Tlokwe on Monday to campaign ahead of the by-elections.

DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, party leader in the North West Chris Hattingh, and constituency head Juanita Terblanche will be campaigning in Wards 4, 6, 12 and 13 ahead of next week’s by-elections.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Orlando Pirates coach Roger de Sa is confident that his charges will put up a brave fight against AC Leopards tomorrow afternoon in Congo Brazzaville when the two teams meet in a crucial CAF Champions League Group A match in Dolisie.

According to Orlando Pirates’ official website, De Sa had one final motivational session with the squad in their final training session before departing for the Republic of Congo.

“You have two teams desperately fighting for maximum points.

“I had a chat with the guys and we all know what is expected from us in this match,” said De Sa.

“I am pretty sure that this match will be very tough, but if we approach it with the right attitude we stand a good chance of getting a win.”

Meanwhile, midfielder Tlou Segolela said that the team wil have to play for their lives and take the game to the opposition.

“We have nothing to lose – we have to go all out and win the match.

“It is an away match and we can’t wait for them to come to us.

“We prepared well and let us hope God will be on our side on match day,” said Segolela.

Kick-off is at 15.30.
For more http://www.news24.com

Cape Town – When it comes to helping the disabled, the mandate of the department of women, children, and people with disabilities is to monitor and report, but not necessarily to deliver jobs, says its political head.

“The department… is mandated to advocate for, and monitor and report on, the rights of persons with disabilities. [It] is not as such a service delivery department,” Minister of Women, Children, and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana said in a written reply to a parliamentary question on Friday.

She was responding to a question by Democratic Alliance MP Michael de Villiers on what action her department was taking this year to help people with disabilities find work and set up small businesses.

Xingwana’s reply comes a day after the release of government’s latest Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT), which scored her department 42nd out of 42 national departments for its management practices.

Reports on gender equality not submitted

Among the performance areas of the department red-flagged in the MPAT report is service delivery. The red flag indicates the department does not have “a service charter and service standards”.

Incongruously, the department was also red-flagged for its “management of diversity”, meaning it did not submit mandatory reports on both gender equality and job access for disabled people.

In her written reply, Xingwana said that while the departments of labour and trade and industry were the ones mandated to help the disabled with jobs and business ventures, her own department had “extended its mandate on an ad hoc basis”.

This was being done through a “disability rights mailing list”, which provided a platform for employers to advertise vacancies earmarked for people with disabilities.

Job seekers could register on the same site, she said.

Among the “strategic outcome-orientated goals” listed on the department’s website is a commitment to “facilitate the empowerment of women, children, and people with disabilities for equitable access to public and private sector programmes and services”.

– SAPA

Cape Town – National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) staff were paid performance bonuses totalling over R7.5m for 2012/13, Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation Minister Collins Chabane revealed this week.

“Staff members who were eligible for performance bonuses in accordance with the applicable human resource policies of the NYDA, specifically the performance management, as well as the remuneration and benefits policies, received performance bonuses,” Chabane said in written reply to a Parliamentary question.

Top management and senior management were paid out close to R5m, while general staff were paid R2.6m.

A further R7.7m was set aside for the current financial year but would likely not be spent.

“Members of the newly appointment board of the NYDA will not qualify for the performance bonuses in the 2013/14 budget,” Chabane said.

Democratic Alliance youth leader Mbali Ntuli described the bonuses as a disgrace, adding “no bonuses can be justified”.

“How can the NYDA see it fit to pay its senior managers massive performance bonuses while the organisation still can’t get it together? It has not achieved anything.”

The money should have been used on bursaries and job creation.

“Instead, the money was used to enrich a few ANCYL cronies,” Ntuli said.
Sapa

Johannesburg – A 26-year-old man died when his car collided head-on with a truck near Grabouw in the Western Cape, paramedics said on Friday.

The accident happened on the N2 near Sir Lowry’s Pass, ER24 spokesperson Vanessa Jackson said in a statement.

The impact was so severe that the car was ripped apart.

“When paramedics arrived on the scene they found the engine of the car on the side of the road and the rest of the car on another side of the road,” said Jackson.

The driver was ejected from the car and his body found a few metres from where the accident happened.

“The driver of the light vehicle was declared dead on scene and no one in the truck was injured.”

The accident happened on Thursday night around 23:00.

The cause of the accident would be investigated by police.

– Were you there? Send us your eyewitness accounts

– SAPA

Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma’s decision to refer the protection of state information bill back to Parliament was a wise move, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on Friday.

“We had always indicated that there were still problems with the bill and that the best way forward would’ve been to send it to the Constitutional Court for advice,” Madonsela told an Association of Independent Publishers conference in Johannesburg.

The decision was “progressive”, and hopefully the remaining problems with the bill would be sorted out, she said.

On Thursday, Zuma announced he would not sign the bill into law because it was incoherently drafted and therefore unconstitutional.

“It is my opinion that the bill would not pass constitutional muster,” Zuma said.

The announcement was widely welcomed by critics who have campaigned against the legislation for years.

The president singled out two sections of the bill as problematic, but his office indicated that a letter sent to Speaker Max Sisulu mandates lawmakers to revise the contentious official secrets bill as a whole.

Zuma mentioned Section 45, which in its current form criminalises the improper classification of state information and provides for prison sentences of five to 15 years, depending on the level of wrongful classification.

It notably makes it a crime to classify information to conceal corruption or influence a tender process.

Section 42 purports to deal with failure to report possession of a classified document but refers back to an earlier section that sets out the maximum classification period, as stipulated in the National Archives Act.

Zuma was pressed by the media to explain in full why he found these parts of the bill problematic, but he declined.

– SAPA

Cape Town – A Cape Town man accused of killing and dismembering a teenage girl will go on trial in the Western Cape High Court in November.

Johannes Christiaan de Jager, 48, dressed in a tracksuit, appeared for his pre-trial conference on Friday morning.

He leaned in closer to his lawyer Sakkie Maartens to avoid a group of photographers.

Prosecutor Romay van Rooyen said the State was ready to proceed with its case.

The trial was to have started on 7 October but had changed to 11 November, because the first date was not available.

Maartens replied that he was only informed of the new trial date on Friday morning but was available for either date.

“We have received virtually 95% of the documentation and we will be ready in November,” he said.
De Jager would remain in custody until the trial.

He stands accused of murdering 16-year-old Charmaine Mare in January, while staying at her home in Kraaifontein, in Cape Town’s northern suburbs. At the time, Mare’s mother and other family members were away on a sea cruise.

He also allegedly raped and murdered a prostitute, Hiltina Alexander, in May 2008.

De Jager faces charges of murder, aggravated robbery, defeating the ends of justice, dismembering a corpse, and fraud.

He allegedly buried Mare’s partially-burned torso in open ground in Kraaifontein, and hid her arms and legs in a carton in the garage of her home. He then allegedly falsely reported her missing to police.

De Jager has already appeared in the Atlantis District Court for Alexander’s murder. The two cases have been combined.

The court heard on Monday that De Jager had a list of defence witnesses he intended calling. This list would be forwarded to his advocate for subpoena purposes.

– SAPA