Bloemfontein – A fraud trial involving three prominent Northern Cape ANC members and the Trifecta Group was postponed by the Northern Cape High Court on Monday.

Northern Cape African National Congress leader John Block and two other provincial ANC heavyweights Yolanda Botha and Alvin Botes, and Trifecta director Christo Scholtz, face charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering.

Northern Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokeswoman Mashudu Malabi said it was ready to continue with the trial on Monday. She said all accused except Scholtz were present at court.

Malabi said the defence counsel asked the court for a postponement. She said the State agreed to the postponement, and that the trial would start on February 3.

A warrant of arrest for Scholtz was authorised and would be held over until February next year.

The NPA has alleged that the Trifecta Group entered into a number of lease agreements with the Northern Cape social development department in which rentals, or rental space, were grossly inflated.

As a result, the Trifecta Group received, or would receive, rentals of R57 million at the end of the lease agreements.

The NPA said earlier the case was part of the on-going work of the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) set up by Cabinet in July 2010 to deal more effectively with large corruption cases.

On Monday, the Democratic Alliance protested outside the high court.

Northern Cape DA leader Andrew Louw said the further postponement of the matter was unfortunate.

Sapa

Cape Town – A former Western Cape relationship manager at Barclays Wealth, a division of Absa, was found guilty on Monday of 39 counts of theft involving R15 million.

John Julyan was also convicted of money laundering by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court.

Magistrate Amrith Chabilall set down sentencing proceedings for December 2.

Julyan had been out on warning.

Asghar Mia, for Julyan, asked the court to either extend the warning, or to release him on bail of no more than R2000, which was all that Julyan would be able to raise.

Prosecutor Juan Agulhas said Julyan should be kept in custody until the case resumed.

Chabilall said the circumstances, as of Monday, had changed drastically from the stage when Julyan was presumed innocent.

He told Julyan: “You have been found guilty of theft involving R15m and that, in anyone’s language, is a huge amount.

“You will be kept in custody until the case resumes.”

As a relationship manager, Julyan was responsible for multi-million rand investments belonging to Absa client the late Professor Bryan Cremin, who prior to his death was the head of radiology at the Red Cross Children’s Memorial Hospital in Cape Town.

The professor suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease and became unable to manage his affairs while Julyan was in control of his investments.

Julyan stole Cremin’s funds to purchase fixed property in Knysna, on the Cape south coast, and in the upmarket Cape Town suburb of Constantia.

Julyan also pumped Cremin’s funds into a financially troubled business owned by Julyan’s wife, bought a boat that he moored at Knysna, and went on expensive holidays to Austria with his wife.

Julyan also paid his own mother exorbitant amounts for the drafting of a will, from Cremin’s funds.

Chabilall told Julyan: “If it can be said at all that your defence presented a cogent defence to the charges, it disintegrated with your own testimony.”

Chabilall said Julyan was “at best” a pathetic witness when he testified in his own defence.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Extreme thunderstorms are expected later on Monday in parts of North West, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng, WeatherSA said on Monday.

Western parts of Gauteng, including Carletonville and Westonaria, would be affected, said WeatherSA forecaster Dipuo Tawana.

“People in Gauteng must be aware… We are expecting [thunderstorms and severe thunderstorms] to pop up in other places overnight.”

The City of Johannesburg’s emergency management services said it was already on high alert and was monitoring critical areas such as Diepsloot, Alexandra, Ivory Park and parts of Soweto, including Kliptown, Orlando, Tladi, and Dlamini.

“Those are most of the [places] where we respond to flooding and drowning incidents,” said Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi.

“We have automated rainfall [monitoring] systems in those areas to inform us if we need to inform residents of whether they need to evacuate… We hope the community will adhere to our call when we [make it].”

Hail, lightning, strong winds and heavy downpours were also expected in western parts of Standerton, moving towards Secunda, Tawana said.

“We are expecting a downpour which will lead to localised flooding and gusty winds.”

Parts of the Free State would also be affected by a thunderstorm, which started in Potchefstroom around two in the afternoon, Tawana said.

“North-eastern parts of the Eastern Cape and western parts of KwaZulu-Natal, including Newcastle and Ladysmith, would be affected,” Tawana said.

The Northern Cape, Western Cape and most parts of Limpopo would not be affected.

The rainy weather could continue until Thursday.

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– SAPA

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s provisional report on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead will be issued to concerned parties this week, her office said on Monday.

“After sharing the report, the public protector gives the parties a return date on which she expects comments,” spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said.

“Upon receipt of comments she considers them and, to an extent possible, factors them into the report. It is at that stage that the report will be ready for public release.”

Segalwe said it was unclear when the final report would be ready. This would also depend on how soon Madonsela received comments from affected parties.

He said parties sometimes asked for an extension of the deadline.

‘Unusual challenges’

On 23 October, Madonsela questioned the delay by government in changing the law dealing with whom she should hand reports to when a matter concerned the presidency.

At a Black Management Forum conference at the time, she said she advised government about the problem three years ago and asked it to change the law.

She said when it came to investigating members of the executive, the report was normally given to the president, but now it was tricky as the report was about him.

Madonsela previously said she had encountered “unusual challenges” while compiling the report into the upgrade of Zuma’s Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal.

On Friday, Segalwe said Madonsela was awaiting feedback from the presidency after she enquired about the law reform process to “clarify the competent authority to receive the report”.

Last year, the Democratic Alliance asked Madonsela to investigate whether Zuma’s family improperly benefited from the upgrade to his home.

Shortly before this, Zuma told Parliament government was paying to upgrade the security at his home, but that he had taken out a bond to pay for the rest of the upgrade.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Five people were shot and wounded on Monday in a shooting in Ntuzuma, Durban north, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

Two men from the Pisang and Ntuzuma taxi associations were involved in the shooting at Ntuzuma New Road around 08:00, police spokesperson Thulani Zwane said.

Both were wounded.

It was not immediately clear whether they were shooting at each other.

Zwane said three other people were wounded – two who were sitting in a taxi and a 45-year-old woman bystander.

They were taken to nearby hospitals.

“After paramedics placed the female on a ventilator and… immobilised her on a trauma board they transported her to a provincial hospital,” Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said.

Police found about 20 R5 rifle cartridges on the scene.

Zwane said five cases of attempted murder were being investigated, and no arrests had been made.

“The motive for the shooting is unknown at this stage,” Zwane said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Harsh action should be taken against police officers involved in the shooting of award winning musician Khuli Chana, the Economic Freedom Fighters said on Monday.

“EFF calls on the SA Police Service to give a public apology and immediately take harsh action [against] the police involved,” spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said in a statement.

Chana, whose real name is Khulane Morule, was mistakenly shot and wounded by police on Monday at the Caltex garage along the N1 highway in Midrand.

“This incident is one of many where police, because of their aggressive posture to policing characterised by the ‘shoot to kill’ principle, have made mistakes putting the lives of innocent civilians in danger.”

The Democratic Alliance said the “shoot to kill mentality” by the police was unacceptable.

“While it is understood that police have to endure challenging and dangerous situations daily, it is vital that they are equipped with proper training and must be taught alternative methods to apprehend suspects,” said spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard.

Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said police from Bedfordview had mistaken Chana’s luxury sedan to be that of a kidnapper who was being tracked.

Police tried to stop the vehicle, but it drove away at high speed and several shots were fired, he said.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate [IPID] said it had launched an investigation into matter.
Chana has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A pupil was stabbed to death on Monday and two others injured in a fight at a school in Dannhauser, northern KwaZulu-Natal, SABC news reported.

A fight apparently broke out at assembly at Isizimele High School.

“One victim was rushed to hospital where he died,” police spokesperson Thulani Zwane was quoted as saying.

“The other two who were also wounded during the fight were taken to a local clinic for treatment.”

A murder docket has been opened.

– SAPA

Pretoria – South Africa would have seen massive bloodshed and chaos if the Boeremag’s treasonous coup plot had been successful, Pretoria Judge Eben Jordaan said on Monday.

Exactly 10 years after the first witness took the stand in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in the country’s first post-apartheid treason trial, he began handing down sentence.

He is expected to sentence the 20 men, who were all found guilty of high treason, on Tuesday.
The Boeremag’s “bomb squad” – Herman van Rooyen, Rudi Gouws and brothers Johan, Kobus and Wilhelm Pretorius – were in addition found guilty of culpable homicide and conspiring to murder former president Nelson Mandela.

A Soweto mother, Claudia Mokone, was killed when a piece of steel dislodged by a homemade bomb detonated on a railway line landed in her shack.

Murdering Mandela

Plans to murder Mandela with a bomb while he was en route to open a school in Bolobedu were thwarted when he arrived by helicopter instead.

Jordaan said the political dispensation in South Africa had changed completely since 1994 and every citizen now had the right to vote, despite the colour of their skin.

The Constitution was the core document of the new order and the cornerstone of democracy, he said.

The Bill of Rights protected political rights, the right to vote and minority rights, but not where it was to the detriment of the rights of others.

He said every citizen had the right to form a political party and promote a political agenda and could change the political dispensation in the country by voting out its leaders.

This however had to happen within the framework of the Constitution, which presupposed a process of change through negotiation.

Jordaan said the accused had planned to overthrow the ANC government through methods that were unconstitutional and included violence and planned violence. Their plans seriously endangered peaceful co-existence and if they ever came to fruition would undoubtedly have led to a bloodbath.

‘Extreme views not worth it’

Not everyone was satisfied with what was happening in South Africa, but if everyone turned to violence there would be chaos, which could not be tolerated by any society, he said.

People who shared the extreme views of the accused should realise it was not worth it, he added.
The judge summed up the personal circumstances of each of the accused. They ranged from highly qualified academics and medical doctors, to farmers and career soldiers.

Many of the Boeremag members had been in prison awaiting trial for over a decade. Two of the accused had died since the trial started and one was in a nursing home after suffering a series of strokes.

Most sketched a grim picture of losing everything they had, children growing up without their fathers and many marriages ending because of the stress of the trial.

Several of the accused gave political reasons for their actions, but Jordaan said this was not a mitigating factor and was in fact aggravating.

Sentencing proceedings continue.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The Hawks arrested a suspected kidnapper on Monday, after police shot hip hop artist Khuli Chana in a case of mistaken identity, eNCA reports.

Chana, whose real name is Khulane Morule, was shot at a garage along the N1 highway in Midrand.

ENCA reported that the suspect, 41, was arrested and faces charges of kidnapping and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini told the TV news station that police were still searching for four other suspects.

Dlamini said police from Bedfordview had mistaken Chana’s luxury sedan to be that of a kidnapper, who was being tracked.

Police tried to stop the vehicle, but it drove away at high speed and several shots were fired, he said.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate said it had launched an investigation into the matter.

Chana has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home.
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Following a run-away first leg victory (5-2) over Botswana, the South African U20 (Basetsana’s) head coach Sheryl Botes is now plotting a possible downfall of Tanzania, the likely opponents of the next round.

Tanzania recorded a resounding 10-0 victory over Mozambique in their first leg encounter, making the second leg a possible formality.

It is the two respective victories that have compelled Botes to start thinking of the second leg and the possible opponents.

Commenting on the Botswana game, Botes said despite it being a physical game and picking up a number of injuries, the players stuck to the game plan and executed it perfectly.

“We didn’t know what to expect from Botswana in the first half but we came with guns blazing in the second half in which we literally finished them off,” she said.

The 2014 Edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup is scheduled for Canada from 5-24 August 2014 and will feature 16 countries of which two teams will come from Africa.

Botes said she had received immediately the result of the match between Tanzania and Mozambique with great surprise.

“While we are likely to face Tanzania in the second round, we have to take care of the second leg against Botswana first,” she said.

The return-leg match against Botswana will be played on Saturday, 9 November 2013 at a venue still to be confirmed.-TDN
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