By Obakeng Maje
Mmabatho- A 30-year old accused from Zimbabwe, Thulani Gumbo appeared in Mmabatho Magistrates Court last week on charges of Murder, Business Robbery and Possession of Firearm and Ammunition.
The suspect is still in custody and will appear again on 22 November 2013 for Legal representation.
“It is alleged that on 07 April 2010, at about 22:18 a business robbery was committed at a local hotel in Mahikeng where an undisclosed amount of cash was taken by about 15 alleged suspects. During the robbery a journalist Thabo Kgongwana was shot dead” brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.
Police said during investigations, and a video footage at the hotel, some suspects were identified and five of them were facing charges of casino robbery in Durban. DNA tests and fingerprints were taken from the suspects in Durban and the five accused were later released after trial was conducted in Durban.
“The DNA tests conducted, links the accused to the murder and robbery in Mahikeng hotel and was later arrested” Ngubane said.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Klerksdorp- The South African Police Service in partnership with the Department of Human Settlement and Public Safety ensure that the North West province and its inhabitants enjoy a safe and secure 2013/2014 Festive season.
“It is for this reason that a multi-agency, multi-pronged, Integrated Operational Plan called Operation Duty Calls and Arrive Alive Campaign will be launched on Friday, 01 November 2013 at Matlosana Stadium in Klerksdorp” premier spokesperson Lessiba Kgwel said.
Kgwele said while law abiding citizens are looking forward to the Festive season with great expectation and joy, the criminal elements are also busy with their evil plans and this often leads to a marked increase in certain crimes which therefore require the police to be steps ahead in terms of coming up with a plan to derail the criminals’ plans.
Crimes and hotspots that have been identified are:
Aggravated Robberies that includes house robberies, business robberies, car hijacking, cash in transit robberies and actions to address crimes at shopping malls, garages and attacks on ATM’s.
Border Security that includes Borderline and Ports of entry operations as well as operations in the rail environment targeting crimes such as theft of motor vehicles, stock theft, counterfeit goods, to detect drugs and goods smuggling.
Social Crime Operations dealing with contact crimes, especially against women and children
Bylaws Enforcement that includes pedestrian safety and roadblocks which will be aligned with the Arrive Alive campaign will be conducted to promote road safety and prevent vehicle hijacking.
Non-wearing of safety belts and the National Road Traffic laws will also be conducted to reduce road fatalities, crashes and injuries.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Klerksdorp-North West MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison Nono Maloyi will launch the annual Provincial Festive Arrive Alive Campaign and the Operation When Duty Calls in the Matlosana Local Municipality.
This follows the increasing number of road accidents and crime levels during the festive period due to the high volumes of traffic and people going for vacations.

“It is during this period the department joint with the SAPS and other relevant stakeholders within the criminal justice cluster and strive to make a meaning full contribution towards the achievement of the goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2020 and further to ensures that the citizens of the province enjoy crime free festive period” MEC Maloyi said.

The MEC is expected to outline the programme of action and schedule of activities to unfold during the festive season.

The event will unfold as follows:
Date : 01 November 2013
Venue : Matlosana Stadium in Jouberton
Time : 9H00
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

By Obakeng Maje
Klerksdorp-In closing the October Transport Month, the North West Premier, Mme Thandi Modise and MEC for Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport in North West, honourable Boikanyo Raymond Elisha will be hosting a Scholar Transport Summit.

“The aim of this summit is to engage with various stakeholders in the transport sector, following the Premier’s State of the Province address this year, when she pronounced on the importance of holding a Scholar Transport Summit, where more innovative ideas to eschew longstanding practices and challenges that might have been cumbersome, will be emphasized” departmental spokesperson Wandy Tong said.

Tong said the department is the custodian of scholar transport which provides transport to destitute learners walking more than 5km to school.

Currently there are 126 transport operators, ferrying 46111 learners throughout the province.

The event is scheduled to take place as follows:
Date: Thursday, 31 October 2013
Venue: City of Matlosane
Oppenheimer Indoor Centre (Orkney)
Time: 08:30 – 16:00
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

The effective, accountable and democratic policing that our communities are yearning for also demand for stronger partnerships with police and involvement of communities in crime prevention structures because police alone cannot win the war against crime, Premier Thandi Modise said on Wednesday.

“No police force or service can deal effectively with crime if it does not enjoy the support of the masses in the communities they police. In the end, it is not the size of the police service that will guarantee success in the fight against crime but the ability of the police to forge a viable relationship with the people to prevent and combat crime,” emphasised Premier Modise.

The Premier said that efforts need to be intensified to resuscitate the 36 Community Policing Forums which police management in the province reported as dysfunctional during its recent briefing on the 2012/2013 Crime Statistics to the Executive Council.

“Crime levels have to be reduced for citizens to feel safer in their homes and neighbourhoods. With the active support of communities and vigilance, opportunistic crime could be prevented particularly during the festive season. ” added Modise.

She called for community mobilisation efforts to be intensified to ensure that crime prevention structures are representative of various interest groups and are not only dominated by influential individuals within communities.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Mbombela – Fifteen people in Mpumalanga’s Hazyview area have contracted malaria, the health department said on Wednesday.

The cases were reported since last week, a Sapa correspondent reported.

“Twenty-four malaria cases were received at Matikwane Hospital [in Mkhuhlu outside Hazyview]. Fifteen were positive while nine were negative,” the department’s spokesperson Ronnie Masilela said.

The patients were from Goromane Trust, Mkhuhlu, Cork, Lillydale outside Hazyview, and Buyisonto outside Thulamahashe.

“Three patients are still in hospital and are receiving the best medical care we can provide.”

He said the department was awaiting a report to determine whether Vuyani Nkuna, 43, from Goromane, died because of malaria.

“We cannot yet confirm that the death was related to malaria until we have a report about the cause of death,” he said.

Nkuna’s widow, Nopinki Bikisha, 44, said her husband died of malaria last week.

“My husband started sweating on Monday and told me he was weak and had a headache,” said Bikisha.

She said she took him to a clinic outside her village on Tuesday as he was getting weaker.

“They called an ambulance and it took him to Matikwane Hospital. He was transferred to Themba Hospital in Kabokweni that night. He died the next day,” she said.

Forgive Mokoena, 21, and her mother Assa Mokoena, 61, were admitted to Matikwane Hospital on Tuesday.

– SAPA

Pretoria – Why did police continue shooting at Marikana last year despite repeated “cease-fire calls” from officers, a lawyer asked on Wednesday.

Michelle le Roux, for the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), raised the question in Pretoria at public hearings of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into last year’s events at Marikana, near Rustenburg in North West.

She was cross-examining Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Scott about the shooting near Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana.

Le Roux based some of her questions on the affidavits of experts, including Gary White, an international public order policing expert, who was asked by the SAHRC to submit an analysis on the shootings.

“In light of the analysis that there were still rifles being used 55 seconds after the first call for cease-fire, certainly after the volley [of bullets] which lasted for only eight seconds, are you aware of any possible threats that were still being perceived by your members at that time?”

Advocate Ishmael Semenya, for the police, objected.

He said Scott would not be able to give an accurate response as he was not with those police officers at the Marikana hill.

“Are we asking the witness to give us hearsay on the matter? How accurate can that be? How can this witness ever be able to answer that question?”

Semenya protested and commission chairperson, retired Judge Ian Farlam, asked Le Roux to rephrase her question.

Le Roux then asked: “Are you aware of any information or the threat existing after the eight seconds volley that would justify the use of rifles [by the police]?”

Scott said he did not know about the threat that justified the use of rifles.

Intervention by police

Previously, Scott has told the commission the state had an obligation to subdue the violent Lonmin mineworkers’ strike at Marikana.

He said the strike had created an exceptional situation and the police had to intervene.

“I think we can agree that Marikana was an exceptional situation, looking at the preceding days’ history. The SA Police Service, as the authority of the state, had to act,” said Scott.

“This [strike] was not something that was simply going to die down. At some stage the police needed to act in order to restore law and order to the area.”

Scott largely drafted the plan which was to be used to disperse and disarm the striking mineworkers. It was referred to as the “Scott plan”.

Last week, Scott said shooting miners was not part of the plan, but came down to the actions of individual police officers.

The Farlam commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest at Lonmin platinum’s operations at Marikana last year.

The police shot dead 34 people, mostly striking mineworkers, wounded 70, and arrested 250 on 16 August 2012. In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Computers in one of the City of Cape Town’s divisions have been seized following allegations of tender irregularities and mismanagement, it was reported on Wednesday.

The Cape Argus reported sources in the city council as saying that the laptops of various staff in the tourism and events directorate, including that of Grant Pascoe, mayoral committee member for tourism, had been removed as part of the probe.

The newspaper reported last week that there were “tensions” in the directorate following a cancelation of a branding and marketing tender.

Last year, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela investigated the Western Cape government for a contract it had with advertising agency TBWA Hunt Lascaris.

Although she had made four findings of maladministration, Madonsela said she found no evidence of unlawfulness.

– News24

Johannesburg – Duduza on the East Rand was quiet on Wednesday morning after a foreign-owned shop was ransacked the evening before, Gauteng police said.

Police spokesperson Madeleine von Wielligh said residents held a peaceful meeting on Tuesday about allowing Somali shop owners to return to the township.

“A group of people then left the meeting and went to a Somali-owned shop. They kicked the door and took a few things from the shop.”

No one was arrested and no injuries or fatalities were reported.

When the police responded, nobody knew who had been responsible and everything had quietened down, said Von Wielligh.

Residents chased Somalians from the area about three months ago.

Chairperson of People Seeking Justice Action Group, Ayob Mungalee, dismissed police reports that only one shop was looted and no one was injured on Tuesday.

“Twenty shops were looted and four Somali shop owners were injured.”

On 16 August, 200 shops belonging to the Somalians were closed down and 800 people were displaced.

Mungalee said on 16 October the group got a court order that declared Duduza a national disaster area.

“The order said foreigners displaced should return to their properties and the metro police should address the plight of the affected people.”

He said foreigners living and doing business in Duduza were afraid as police were demanding bribes in exchange for protection.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The sentencing of Johannes Kana for the rape and murder of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen was postponed in the Swellendam Circuit Court on Wednesday.

SABC news reported that proceedings began on Wednesday for argument in mitigation of sentence, but court was postponed to Friday.

On Tuesday, Judge Patricia Goliath found Kana guilty of raping and murdering Booysen.

Booysen was raped and disembowelled, and died in Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, on the afternoon of Saturday, 2 February.

Kana was seen with Booysen outside a Bredasdorp pub in the early hours of that day.

Pieter du Toit, for Kana, said his client was under the influence of alcohol and the crime was not planned.

He also reportedly said Kana had admitted guilt and apologised, and was also helpful with the investigation.

Du Toit asked that sentencing should run concurrently. The State has asked for a life sentence for both counts.

– SAPA