Johannesburg – Suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi expressed concern at a meeting with intelligence authorities on Monday, about state agencies allegedly being abused to smear individuals.

“Mr Vavi, whose name was featured in a fictitious telephone transcript purporting to be part of an intelligence report, is concerned that state agencies might be abused to smear individuals and further factionalist politics within the progressive forces including the working class,” Vavi family spokesperson John Dludlu said in a statement.

He said Vavi and Inspector General of Intelligence Faith Radebe met on Monday morning to discuss a complaint he had lodged.

Last month, after his suspension from Cosatu Vavi claimed at a media briefing that that the union’s president Sidumo Dlamini had circulated an “intelligence report”, which aimed to “destroy” him.

Dludlu said the meeting was called by Radebe, who was accompanied by oversight officer Mpho Nchabeleng, officials Carl Lebitso and Mandla Nene and legal adviser Jay Govender.

Vavi said he had not filed the complaint only because of himself or what had been done to Cosatu’s unity, but also for the other people whose names appeared in the document.

“I did so because our Constitution explicitly frowns upon such apparent abuse of authority,” he said in the statement.

Last month, Cosatu announced that Vavi had been put on special leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing relating to an affair he had with a junior employee.

In July, the employee accused him of rape.

He admitted to having a consensual affair with her.

The woman subsequently withdrew a sexual harassment complaint against him.

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), an ally of Vavi, said last week that it had served Cosatu with legal papers challenging his suspension.

The Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) and SA Football Players’ Union (SAPFU) were co-applicants.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said they wanted Cosatu to rescind and uplift the “unconstitutional and unprecedented” suspension of Vavi.

– SAPA

Durban – The truck driver who crashed into four taxis and a car, killing 22 people, appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Sanele Goodness May, 23, from Swaziland, cried when he was brought into Court F at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.

The courtroom was packed with press photographers trying to take his picture.

May was arrested on Thursday on 22 counts of murder and one of reckless or negligent driving.

He was initially charged with culpable homicide, but National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson confirmed that the charges had been upgraded to murder.

The case was postponed until 16 September. May remains in custody at the Pinetown police station holding cells.

Magistrate Wendolynn Robinson said this appearance would be brief, and that a formal bail application would take place on 18 September.

The accident occurred when the articulated truck May was driving hit four fully-laden minibus taxis and a Volkswagen Golf on the corners of Field’s Hill (M13) and Richmond roads in Pinetown shortly before 19:00 on Thursday.

Defence attorney Theasen Pillay confirmed that he had been appointed by Sagekal Logistics, the company which owned the truck, to represent May.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – More than seven million school pupils will participate in the basic education department’s annual national assessments (ANA), it said on Monday.

“This is an important activity for the department… as these assessments are used to gauge the literacy and numeracy skills of learners at the foundation, intermediate, and senior phases of the education system,” the department said in a statement.

Pupils from Grade 1 to Grade 6, as well as those from Grade 9 would participate in the ANA.

The assessments would be conducted in public schools and independent schools qualifying for government subsidies.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the ANA were administered since 2011 and were “extremely useful”.

“…There has been a steady improvement in learner performance, since the introduction of these tests.”

She said special attention was devoted to the development of the mathematics test for Grade 9.

“In 2012, the Grade 9 mathematics performance had been particularly low and this has raised some pertinent questions of mathematics teaching at this level,” Motshekga said.

“We are confident that relevant interventions have taken place and that we will see an improvement in this year’s results.”

The department said an “independent agent” was appointed to conduct the tests at more than 2 000 selected schools. The agent would also collect and mark the tests.

The ANA’s results would be used to monitor progress and guide planning and the distribution of resources to help improve pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills.

“This is a mammoth logistical undertaking by the department… and South Africa is the only country that administers such a test on an annual basis,” the department said.

The assessments would not be used to determine whether a pupil could be promoted to the next grade.

“It is purely to measure the pupils’ progress with the curriculum and to establish the level at which they are performing, and the areas of the curriculum that teachers should concentrate on.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The Right2Know Campaign held a protest on the street corner opposite the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg on Monday, over a lack of protection for whistle-blowers and the secrecy bill.

About 20 people gathered, with more than half wearing white skull Halloween masks and carrying posters as they formed a semicircle on the street corner.

The group had planned to protest outside the ANC’s headquarters, but Gauteng spokesperson Dale McKinley said police informed them the building was declared a national key point.

This was because President Jacob Zuma was meeting there on Monday and they were not allowed to protest outside the building.

“It’s ridiculous. It means they can declare anything a national key point when they want to. It just shows the latest abuse,” he said.

“We want to tell President Zuma to not sign the secrecy bill and to send it back to Parliament. If not we are going to take it to the Constitutional Court,” he said.

McKinley said they wanted whistle-blowers to be protected, were opposed to the protection of state information bill, dubbed the secrecy bill, and against the misuse of national key point legislation.

The group was also against the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Act, known as the spy bill.

“The spy bill gives state security intelligence the right to snoop on us and be unaccountable,” he said.

The group was chanting “down with the secrecy bill, down” and “away with the secrecy bill, away” and “down with Zuma, down”, before protesters started singing resistance songs.

Some of the posters read: “We demand good governance”, “Secrecy bill undermines democracy”, “President Zuma listen to the people! Stop the secrecy bill” and “Democracy grows best in the light”.

A few people took pictures from their cars while driving past.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Sibanye Gold has dismissed claims that five non-striking members at its Beatrix mine were attacked by striking National Union of Mineworkers members, the company said on Friday.

“Sibanye Gold Protection Services have subsequently investigated the allegations and have confirmed that there is no record of the incident at the operations, or of the alleged victims at any of the hospitals and clinics in the region,” company CEO Neal Froneman said in a statement.

He said claims were investigated with the police, where necessary.

“The company’s protection wing maintained a visible presence throughout the strike, and had set up a 24-hour hotline for employees to report cases of intimidation or other illegal activity,” Froneman said.

On Thursday night, the Association of Mining and Construction Workers (Amcu) said five of its members were beaten up by striking NUM members.

“Our members were attacked by members of the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM] in the morning, they have been taken to hospital,” said Amcu secretary Jeff Mphahlele.

“Our members are not on a strike. We are still negotiating. We expect our members to report for duty without being intimidated.”

On Friday afternoon, the NUM denied the incident. 

“The NUM has investigated the matter and found that no such incident did take place during the very peaceful industrial action conducted by the peaceful union, NUM in the gold sector,” said spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.

“The police have no record of such injured people and he [Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa] has failed dismally to point such people to the media. He has failed to tell where such injured people have been hospitalised.”

Lesiba accused Mathunjwa of trying to provoke violence.

Froneman said while there were sporadic incidents in the past week, the strike was relatively calm and peaceful.

Johannesburg – The Wonderboom Airport, north of Pretoria, has run out of jet fuel and aircraft operators have been told to bring their own.

“As a short-term solution, the tenants and aircraft operators based at Wonderboom Airport were granted the opportunity… to provide fuel for [their] own demand..” Tshwane municipality spokesperon Blessing Manale said.

“Please note that no permission is provided by the CoT [City of Tshwane] to any operator to sell fuel on the Wonderboom Airport premise.”

The city was informed in July that fuel shortages were experienced due to “unplanned product shipment delays” and that they could not obtain stock to supply the airport in time.

“We suspect that such [sic] might not be true as the supplier might have already started terminating his supply sub-contracts in anticipation of non-renewal.”

The city started with a procurement process to consider the appointment of a new service provider in April.

The tender was advertised and closed on 1 July.

“The consideration of the tenders and the tender evaluation results is still underway,” said Manale.

He said measures to address fuel provision were investigated.

“To ensure that similar problems do not occur, we are considering a standing fuel supply database of service providers which can be used on needs basis,” he said

“This will ensure that suppliers improve their quality of service, and in general do not hold the city to ransom when such service providers underperform.”

The city apologised for the inconvenience.

SAPA

Johannesburg – The electricity at former president Nelson Mandela’s home in Houghton, north of Johannesburg, has been restored, City Power said on Saturday.

“The lights are back on at Madiba’s house,” City Power spokesperson Sol Masolo said.

Houghton’s electricity was restored on Friday night.

Mandela’s home was among those hit by widespread power outages in Johannesburg this week following an unprotected strike City Power employees, who were unhappy about a new shift system being implemented.

Earlier, Masolo said power had been restored to all areas in Johannesburg.

Mandela was discharged from the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria on Sunday to recuperate at home following a lengthy stay for a recurring lung infection.

His home has been reconfigured to ensure he receives the correct care, and some staff who had been at the hospital are also caring for him at home.

His condition was last described by the presidency as critical and stable, but at times unstable.

Members of the media continued to keep watch outside Mandela’s home on Saturday.

Cameramen and reporters took shelter from the heat under gazebos directly across Mandela’s home, while others sat in their cars.

Neighbours and visitors were seen taking pictures outside the home where messages of support had been laid.

Two police cars were parked at the corner of the house, and another eight cars parked near the gate, one with a military number plate.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Eight members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) held a brief picket outside the Gauteng police headquarters in Johannesburg on Friday.

Members of the EFF provincial command team sang struggle songs, including “Siyaya” (“We are going forward”) and danced in a circle, watched by a handful of police.

The protesters, wearing red accessories associated with the newly registered political party, shouted slogans including “Down with [national police commissioner] Riah Phiyega, down”, and “Viva EFF, viva”.

Spokesperson Patrick Sindane said they were protesting over Phiyega’s recent appointment of Major General Bethuel Mondli Zuma as Gauteng police commissioner.

The appointment was later withdrawn when it was found that Zuma faced a charge of drunk driving.

Zuma, who is not related to President Jacob Zuma, was to have replaced Lieutenant General Mzwandile Petros, whose last day as provincial commissioner was on Saturday.

EFF leader Julius Malema did not attend the picket.

Addressing a small group of reporters and a few police officers standing at a distance, Sindane said: “I will just speak so that everyone can hear.”

“We are here as the Gauteng central command team to picket against the appointment and withdrawal of Zuma.

“We don’t care whether it [the appointment] was withdrawn when it was discovered what kind of a drunkard he is.”

Phiyega ‘failing dismally’

The fact that the appointment process, including police background checks, did not prevent Zuma’s appointment indicated that Phiyega was “failing dismally”, he claimed.

Such failures threatened to turn Gauteng into a “Mickey Mouse province”.

“We, as the EFF, cannot allow that to happen… As a protest movement, we can never be passive spectators.”

Sindane said the event was merely a small picket as a preparatory step towards a massive march to be held in Gauteng.

The EFF called for Phiyega to be recalled from her post.

Sindane said the picket was brief because the provincial EFF members needed to be in Pretoria for another picket, which would take place at the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) offices.

Before the picket, EFF members distributed party membership application forms at a petrol station next to the provincial police headquarters.

The membership forms call on prospective members to abide by the party’s “aims, objectives and radical policies” and include a section for donations to the party.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The IFP has called on Transport Minister Dipuo Peters to seek solutions to road accident problems in KwaZulu-Natal.

“We hope the minister in co-operation with KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Willies Mchunu will come up with a plan to curb these avoidable tragedies in the province,” said IFP spokesperson Petros Sithole on Friday.

“We are shocked and distraught by yesterday’s [Thursday] accident in KwaZulu-Natal. We were still in shock and mourning the death of the… maidens from Umzumbe… Now barely a week later another tragic accident has happened.”

On Thursday, 22 people were killed when a truck crashed into four minibus taxis and a car on the M13 in Field’s Hill, Pinetown.

The presidency and police initially put the death toll at 27, but acting president Jeff Radebe on Friday said it was 22.

Traffic officials said it appeared the brakes on the truck had failed. The truck driver was arrested on culpable homicide charges.

Two bouquets of flowers were placed at the intersection of the accident on Friday.

Ten people returning from the annual reed dance festival at the Nyokeni Palace were killed in an accident in the province on Sunday.

The Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal believed human error was behind Thursday’s crash.

“Surely the interchange between M13 and Richmond could have been avoided. Hence we believe that it’s no accident but human error or negligence,” provincial secretary Zet Luzipo said in a statement.

“To us as workers, road carnages like this one always have a direct bearing on the economy, social security system, health care and poverty.”

Economic council

Luzipo said Cosatu intended convening a provincial economic council to discuss several matters including the improvement of roads.

He extended condolences to the bereaved families, and his sympathies to the province’s transport department.

“We also extend our sympathies to the KZN department of transport because this turned to undermine all their efforts to end road carnages and reduce them into a department of mass funerals,” said Luzipho.

Provincial legislature transport portfolio committee chairperson Mxolisi Kaunda said road accidents had “engulfed” the province.

“The portfolio committee is condemning all the vehicles that are not roadworthy on our roads,” he said in a statement.

“It further appeals to the KZN department of transport to conduct a thorough investigation on the cause of the accident.”

Kaunda said the committee wanted to see justice take place, and harsh sentences imposed on motorists found guilty of road offences.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau will meet City Power management on Friday to receive an update about the restoration of electricity in some parts of Gauteng, the city said in a statement.

This follows power disruptions in parts of the West Rand and northern Johannesburg after a few hundred City Power staff downed tools on Wednesday afternoon.

City Power said the strike was not union-led.

The workers were unhappy about a new shift system the power distributor was implementing.

It was believed that striking workers had sabotaged the infrastructure causing the widespread blackouts, which impacted on traffic flow and affected some businesses’ operations.

Earlier on Friday power was fully restored to areas including Houghton and Melville by noon, while other parts of Johannesburg could be left in the dark over the weekend, City Power said.

The electricity supply was also reconnected in Auckland Park, Kew, and Bramley, the power distributor said in a statement.

– SAPA