Johannesburg – One of the men implicated in the death of Kirsty Theologo after an alleged Satanic ritual found God through the incident, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg sitting in Palm Ridge heard on Thursday.

Clinical psychologist Suzette Heath said Robin Harwood seemed to believe his role in Theologo’s killing was all part of God’s plan.

Theologo, 18, was doused with petrol and set alight on a hill in Linmeyer in October 2011 as part of a “soul-selling” ritual.

She died in hospital a week later, while her friend, who was 14-years-old at the time, survived the attack.

“The whole thing went wrong so he [Harwood] believes this is how God led him to meet with Him [God],” said Heath.

“He is sad that Kirsty was killed, but remorse is a complex emotion.”

Reading from her notes, Heath said Harwood told her: “I do regret that it happened… I can’t look at it in a negative way because then I will break.”

Harwood did not think of helping the girls after they were set alight. He and his co-accused left the injured girls on the hill.

“He said he ran away… He didn’t think of helping her.”

Heath told the court she could not ascertain whether Harwood and his co-accused were concerned about the girls’ well-being following the attack, as they went clubbing the next day.

Memory loss

Earlier, she explained why Harwood failed to remember all the events that happened on the night of the ritual.

“It could be that he wants to lessen his contribution to the incident,” said Heath.

While Harwood might have been aware of his actions, he might not have fully understood the consequences.

Peer-pressure, alcohol, drugs, and the fact that the crime involved dealing with the devil could have contributed to Harwood not backing out.

Harwood, Linden Wagner, Courtney Daniels, and Harvey Isha are on trial for Theologo’s murder and the attempted murder of her friend.

Two others, Jeremy King and Lester Moody, earlier confessed to the crime and were each sentenced to 17 years in prison, five of them suspended.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled on Thursday that the Airports Company SA (Acsa) and Primedia acted unconstitutionally by censoring an advertising campaign at OR Tambo International Airport, said activist group Avaaz.

Avaaz took the companies to court after its posters depicting President Jacob Zuma watching over a lioness about to be shot with a handgun were removed from the airport in Kempton Park.

The caption on the posters read: “President Zuma can save her [the lioness’s] life”.

The posters were part of a campaign to prevent trade in lion bones.

“This decision is a victory for citizens everywhere who now can begin, again, calling on President Zuma to end the brutal lion bone trade before lions are wiped out for good,” said Avaaz campaign director Emma Ruby-Sachs.

Avaaz said Acsa asked Primedia to remove the posters because it was concerned that the inclusion of Zuma’s image and name in the poster would cause a “public relations nightmare”.

Acsa spokesperson Unathi Batyashe-Fillis said the company would comment after studying the written judgment.

– SAPA

Rustenburg-North West MEC for Social Development Collen Maine says his department will tomorrow conduct a provincial social work seminar to re-enforce the commitment of social workers and presents awards to long serving social workers.

“Tomorrow’s seminar at Royal Bafokeng Conference will allow us an opportunity resolve the challenges facing social workers on their endeavour to delivery social services to our communities,” Maine said.

A one day seminar, Maine said will deliberate on the state of social work practice, professional development and management of social workers.

Maine will also presents awards to long serving social workers (10 – 40 years service) at a gala dinner to be held at Royal Bafokeng sports ground on Friday evening.

The Registra of the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACCSP), Provincial social work veterans forum, and more than 600 social workers will attend the event.

Details are as follows:-

Provincial Seminar

Date: 25 October 2013

Venue:

  Roya Bafokeng Conference Centre

Time : 10h00

Gala dinner to be held at Royal Bafokeng Sports Ground at 18h00.-TDN

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(Edited By Obakeng Maje)

By Obakeng Maje

Fochville-One person left fatally injured in an accident that took place this morning.

A Truck collided with a private vehicle between Fochville and Glenhawie on N12 road.

Er24 paramedics we called and injured person was rushed to hospital.

The cause of the accident is sketchy at the moment.-TDN

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Former Mamelodi Sundowns striker, Emmanuel Baffour, has joined Ashanti Gold in Ghana’s Premier League.

Soccer-Laduma revealed that Baffour returned to Ghana, after struggling to land a deal in South Africa.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

Johannesburg – Five people were arrested at the Clayville Testing Station in Isando, Kempton Park, on Wednesday for fraud and corruption, said the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). 

“The five… believed to be part of a syndicate operating in the area, were arrested for buying and selling 21-day temporary licence vehicle permits,” the RTMC said in a statement.

One of them worked for FAW trucks, one was from Veridot/Datadot at Clayville, two of them were runners, and the fifth worked at the testing station, on the East Rand, it said.

“The syndicate is alleged to have been selling these permits fraudulently for quite some time.”

They had been charged, were being held by the police at Olifantsfontein and would appear in the regional court there on Thursday morning.

“Corruption in any form will not be accepted and tolerated. The RTMC will continue to respond without fear to [the] public reporting this kind of cancerous behaviour and will react with intent and purpose,” said RTMC acting CEO Gilberto Martins.

“We are confident that our sustained efforts will reap rewards and perpetrators of organised crime will be [held] to account,” he said. 

SAPA

North West Premier Thandi Modise says that the arrest of three suspects in connection with the murder of the Chairperson of the National Union Mineworkers (NUM) of Marikana is encouraging and gives hope that peace and stability will be restored in Marikana and mining communities around Rustenburg.

“We welcome this breakthrough and commend police for the speedy arrest and call on the community to support police in their on-going investigations to ensure that those responsible for the recent spate of violence and killings are unmasked and brought to book soonest,” said  Premier Modise.

The Premier called on unions in the mining sector to respect the Framework for Peace and Stability in the Mining Industry they had signed earlier this year on the 25th of February and to desist from provocation, violence, intimidation and murder and to actively discourage their members from taking the law into their own hands.

According to police, the trio are expected to appear in the Rustenburg Magistrates Court later today. Their arrest follows an intensive investigation after the NUM leader was shot eight times and killed at the Marikana hill, near Lonmin’s platinum mine, last Thursday. 

He was reportedly shot once while driving. When he got out of his car another seven bullets were fired at him. He died on the scene.-TDN

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Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says communities should also take responsibility for raising children, to ensure that they become law-abiding citizens. He has been referring to recent violent crimes against youngsters, including the rape and murder of Bredasdorp teenager, Anene Booysen.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Pretoria – The sentencing of 20 Boeremag members convicted of treason will take place in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria next week.

Judge Eben Jordaan said on Wednesday he would start delivering sentence on Monday and would end on Tuesday.

Senior prosecutor Paul Fick argued last month that the accused had planned a coup for “selfish political reasons” and wanted to enforce their views on South Africa’s population through violence.

He said they had planned a violent takeover, which would have involved annihilating or driving millions of people out of the country.

The State asked the court to sentence the Boeremag bomb squad and three of its leaders to life imprisonment for their crimes.

Herman van Rooyen, Rudi Gouws and brothers Johan, Kobus and Wilhelm Pretorius had acted as the bomb squad, blowing up numerous targets and attempting to kill former president Nelson Mandela with a homemade bomb to create chaos in the country.

Sentence

A Soweto woman, Claudia Mokone, was killed by a piece of steel dislodged by a Boeremag bomb.

The State wanted the bomb squad, Pretorius family patriarch Dr Lets Pretorius and Boeremag leaders Tom Vorster and Dirk Hanekom to spend at least the next 25 years of their lives behind bars.

Fick argued that the rest of the accused, except the ailing Fritz Naude, should be sent to prison for periods ranging from five to 15 years.

Many of the Boeremag accused have already spent over a decade in prison, but Jordaan found that they were solely responsible for dragging out the trial.

Hercules Booysen, for Johan and Wilhelm Pretorius, argued that the accused had subjectively believed they were the victims of discriminatory legislation by a racist government and that they were involved in an armed struggle.

He said it was a state’s duty to treat minorities with respect and to regard their grievances with sympathy.

Creating a feeling of oppression

The present political dispensation in the country was doing the opposite, which created a feeling of oppression and resulted in deeds the court deemed as high treason, he said.

Booysen argued that none of the accused were ordinary criminals.

They ranged from farmers to highly qualified engineers, theologians, medical doctors, academics and military officers with no history of violence.

The government could have avoided the attempted rebellion if it had not degraded the Afrikaner male to “fifth class citizens”, he submitted.

No normal person would leave a thriving medical practice or stop his studies to start committing violent crimes for no personal benefit without good, subjective reasons.

“High treason is a political crime par excellence. Remove the circumstances and the crime disappears,” he said.

He argued that the state could have stopped the conspiracy much earlier and should be held equally responsible for the damage to state property, because police informers were instrumental in supplying the recipe for explosives to the accused.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) chairperson must resign because he has a conflict of interest in municipal mergers in the Vaal, the DA said on Wednesday.

“We believe that this conflict could have had a serious impact on the outcome of the MDB’s decision to merge Midvaal municipality and Emfuleni municipality into a metro,” DA spokesperson Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.

The DA claimed Landiwe Mahlangu was a non-executive member of the company Sea Kay Holdings, which was contracted by the department of housing in 2008 to build 1 500 houses in Emfuleni.

It also claimed that he was a non-executive member of a waste management company called Interwaste.

MDB spokesperson Jabu Mthembu could not be reached for comment.

“According to Emfuleni’s 2012/13 annual report, Interwaste operates the Waldrift landfill site in Emfuleni municipality,” Maimane said.

“The DA believes that this is a serious conflict of interest on behalf of the MDB chair and that his decision-making process is questionable by virtue of these two positions.”

Unethical decisions

He charged that it was unethical for Mahlangu to make decisions about the merging of municipalities in which he had business interests.

“Mr Mahlangu should at the very least have recused himself from the decision to merge these municipalities due to the lucrative business interests he holds,” Maimane said.

“We believe that a fundamental lack of integrity has been demonstrated by Mr Mahlangu that undermines the credibility of the MDB in general, and that he should resign to preserve the standing of this important constitutional body.”

The announcement of the merger of Emfuleni, Midvaal and Sedibeng into a metro was made last Tuesday.

The Emfuleni municipality incorporates Vanderbijlpark and Sebokeng. Midvaal includes Meyerton and Randvaal. Sedibeng covers Heidelberg and Ratanda.

Maimane said the DA was seeking a legal opinion on reviewing the decision to merge the municipalities.

The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) said the merger should be scrapped following the allegations about Mahlangu.

– SAPA