Johannesburg – A man has been arrested for fraud in Meadowlands, Soweto, Gauteng police said on Monday.

“It is alleged that the suspect entered the Cell C store (on Saturday) at Ndofaya mall and asked if he could qualify to have a contract phone,” Constable Sibusiso Chauke said.

The ID document the 24-year-old man submitted for the contract application was not his and had been previously reported stolen.

Police were contacted and the man was arrested at the mall around 1.15pm, he said.

The man was expected to appear in the Meadowlands Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Sapa

Taung – A police officer has opened a case of assault against three other officers at the Taung police station, North West police said on Monday.

“The matter is still under investigation,” Lieutenant Edward Sedupe said.

Constable Shepherd Malekanyo was allegedly assaulted by the three officers on Saturday morning.

Malekanyo, who is stationed at Ikageng, had reportedly accompanied a quarrelling couple to the station so they could lay charges against each other.

While at the station, Malekanyo – who was off-duty at the time – was allegedly assaulted by the three officers.

North West premier Thandi Modise called for the matter to be investigated.

“The conduct of the police officers, if indeed it is true, is despicable and warrants for drastic steps to be taken against those involved, as it tarnishes the image of the police,” Modise said in a statement.

“Police brutality is abhorred by the public and should be stamped out of the police service and those involved should be stripped of the dignified blue uniform.”

Sapa

Johannesburg – A woman has been arrested in Soul City, Kagiso, near Krugersdorp, after allegedly killing her boyfriend with an umbrella, Gauteng police said on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrived at the woman’s house on Saturday and found the boyfriend had died on the scene, Warrant Officer Solomon Sibiya said.

“He sustained open wounds to his eyes, nose, forehead and arms.”

The woman arrived at the house and told police she was the man’s girlfriend.

“She then told police she picked a fight with her boyfriend and eventually stabbed him with an umbrella,” said Sibiya.

She also allegedly assaulted him with a pot. The woman was arrested and expected to appear in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Sapa

Butterworth – Twenty-six people were arrested on Monday after violent protests broke out in Ngqamakhwe, Butterworth, Eastern Cape police said.

Colonel Sibongile Soci said 18 women and eight men were taken into custody.

“We are reiterating our warning that members of the community should consider the consequences of their actions,” Soci said in a statement.

The group would appear in the Ngqamakhwe Magistrate’s Court on public violence charges on Tuesday.

The province’s education department said matric exams in the area started without a glitch despite the violence. Residents blocked the main road into the town. Despite this exam papers were delivered to schools, spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said in a statement.

Sapa

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