By Obakeng Maje

Bothithong- Police have launched a man hunt following the gruesome death of an 81-year-old woman found murdered in her house at Bothithong village, near Kuruman.

“The family member of 81-year-old Gadifele Mokae alerted about the atrocity, when found that deceased’s house was ransacked, and found her lying prostrate on the ground. Apparently the incident happened yesterday evening or in the early hours of today” lieutenant Olebogeng Tawana said.

Upon police investigation, the police discovered that Gadifele’s body was left half-naked and murdered. There are possibilities that the deceased could have been raped and murdered.

The police will conduct an autopsy to ascertain as to whether the deceased was raped.

“No arrested has been effected at this stage, we appeal to any person who might have any information, that will lead to the arrest of the suspect to contact Bothithong police on 053773 1148 or investigating Officer Warrant officer Moleko Reuben on 082 3737 095” Tawana concludes.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Madibeng-The North West Department of Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison will host a two-day Annual Provincial Road Safety Driver skills Enhancement programme, aiming to improve the standards of driving and reducing road carnages in the Province and the country at large.
Organised in a competition form, the programme has been divided in four phases where competitors will have to go through theory, pre-retreat, road test and manoeuvring through the obstacles.
About 66 drivers will showcase their skills and compete for the first place in the following categories:
 Bus Category (Women and Men)
 Rigid truck
 Rigid truck with a trailer
 Articulated truck
 Novice within the Rigid category and
 Panel/delivery van
“The driver skills enhancement programme is an annual strategic education intervention measure targeting heavy vehicle’s drivers in government, transport companies and public transport between the ages of 18 and 55 years” departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said.
“The main purpose of the programme is to promote safe road usage at all times and constantly improve the standard of driving in the province”.
“This is one of the ways to promote road safety education and we will intensify the programme on an annual basis,” says Nono Maloyi, MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison.
On Friday evening, the departmental MEC will award the winners from position one to three per category, who will represent the province at the National competition which will be held next year February in East London.
The competition will take place as follows:
Date : Thursday 07 – 08 November 2013
Venue : Madibeng Local Municipality’s traffic testing ground (Brits)
Time : 08H00
-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

The boys involved in a racist confrontation at Potchefstroom Gimnasium in North West have appeared before a disciplinary panel, Beeld reported on Wednesday.

One of the boys is the grandson of Lucas Mangope, former president of Bophuthatswana, according to the report.

He and a white boy, both in Grade 8, accompanied by their parents, appeared before the panel on Monday evening.

Gerrit Coetzee, chairperson of the school’s governing body and who was on the panel, told the paper the parents had indicated before the start of the hearing that they wished to settle the matter.

Both boys admitted that they had been involved in a fight about two weeks ago and had sworn at each other and used racist terms.

The fight happened in the school hostel dining room while they were clearing the tables.

A teacher stopped the fight before it came to blows.

At the hearing the boys unconditionally apologised to each other, Coetzee told Beeld.

The panel decided that the boys had to attend counselling sessions with a qualified counsellor and do research on how to respect each other’s humanity.

Coetzee said Potchefstroom Gimnasium would not tolerate racist actions of any kind.

– SAPA

Durban – A Margate landlord battling to get hold of a family renting his property was greeted by the horrific sight on Monday of a murdered mother and son, with her partner, 43, also found dead of gunshot wounds.

Margate police are now investigating two counts of murder and an inquest docket after the three people were found dead in their home in Bauhinia Road in Margate at about 18:00 on Monday.

The mother and son’s bodies were found in the bedroom, with that of the man in the kitchen. A gun was allegedly found next to his body.

Police spokesperson Captain Vincent Pandarum said their bodies were already in an advanced state of decomposition.

“Their identities are being withheld until their next of kin have been informed of their deaths,” said Pandarum.

It is alleged that the landlord of the premises tried to contact the family last Thursday and found the gate locked.

Telephone calls went unanswered and on subsequent visits to the house on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, he found the gate still locked.

“On Monday, he became concerned and entered the premises and made the terrible discovery. He immediately alerted the police,” Pandarum said.

Police recovered a .22 revolver at the scene.

The bodies were taken to the Port Shepstone state mortuary.

– The Witness

Johannesburg – A Hyde Park High School teacher accused of sending a naked picture of himself to a pupil appeared briefly in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

His case was postponed to 22 January and he was released on R2 000 bail. He has been charged with exposure or display of pornography.

He was arrested in August following allegations that he sent a nude picture of himself to one of his 16-year-old pupils.

According to reports, the teacher engaged in a late-night WhatsApp chat with the boy’s mother on 30 July, thinking it was him.

The teacher allegedly sent numerous sexual images and made sexual suggestions.

It was alleged that in one of the pictures the man was sitting naked in a bathtub.

The boy’s mother laid a criminal charge against him.

When the allegations surfaced, the Gauteng education department reportedly said it had launched an independent investigation into the incident.

“The teacher is suspended,” education department spokesperson Gershwin Chuenyane said.

– SAPA

Cape Town – South African Jewish organisations have dismissed an “alarmist” call by a former Israeli foreign minister for South African Jews to emigrate to Israel.
For more http://www.news24.com

Port Elizabeth – A farmer was attacked and robbed on a farm near Uitenhage, Eastern Cape police said on Wednesday.

Three men armed with a shotgun and knives confronted the 28-year-old woman on the farm Welcome Home at about 19:00 on Tuesday, Warrant Officer Basil Seekoei said.

They forced her into the house and demanded cash and firearms. They then bound her hands with cable ties and demanded access to the safe.

The robbers stole five rifles, a revolver with ammunition, cash and a white Ford Ranger.

The woman managed to untie herself and went to seek help at
a neighbouring farm.
The bakkie was later recovered in the Motherwell area.

No arrests had been made.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Judgment against Thandi Maqubela was adjourned on Wednesday morning when she collapsed in the dock of the Western Cape High Court.

Judge John Murphy had just resumed handing down his lengthy judgment and was two minutes into it, around 10:30, when Maqubela seemed to faint and collapsed on the bench next to her co-accused Vela Mabena. Murphy adjourned the matter.

She first collapsed five minutes before the judge entered and her lawyer Marius Broeksma helped her.

Police officials swarmed around Maqubela, dressed in a gold headdress, black and gold twinsuit, and high heels.

Her sister entered the dock, sat next to her, comforted her and spoke to someone on a cellphone.

People in the packed public gallery craned their necks to see what was going on. Broeksma entered the courtroom a few minutes later.

“We’re standing down until 14:00 for my client to attend the doctor,” he said.

The pair have pleaded not guilty to suffocating her husband, acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, with cling-wrap in his Sea Point, Cape Town, apartment on Friday 5 June 2009.

His body was discovered that Sunday afternoon.

She has also denied guilt on fraud and forgery charges related to a document she claims is her husband’s will.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Police have seized drugs with an estimated street value of R2.5m in Fourways, north of Johannesburg, Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said on Wednesday.

He said the police’s national intervention unit and crime intelligence raided premises at Cedar Lakes, Fourways, on Monday.

“In a joint operation… members discovered an apparent drug laboratory in Fourways and seized narcotics with an estimated street value of R2.5m,” he said.

Police also seized firearms and ammunition.

He said two men were arrested for possession of drugs and the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Three more people have been arrested and could be linked to the murder of Dustan Blom, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday.

“Another matter related to this – three people have been arrested and another could be arrested soon,” prosecutor Yusuf Baba told the court.

“We are busy eliminating whether they will be part of this matter or not.”

The three were expected to appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. It was unclear on what charges or when they were arrested.

Earlier, Jean-Pierre Malan and Maruschka Robinson appeared briefly in the court.

State wants matter postponed

Malan and Robinson were called and stood in the dock away from each other. Robinson, dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans, looked at the public gallery briefly during proceedings. Malan stood looking straight ahead.

Baba asked for the matter to be postponed to January for further investigation.

The court heard that the State received the post mortem report but that the toxicology report and some forensic evidence were still outstanding.

Shaun Hamilton, for Malan, requested that the postponement be the final postponement because he wanted to get his client out of jail.

However, Baba argued that it would be premature to mark the postponement as final.

“The State has been going through a wealth of evidence that links these two directly,” he told the court.
“And there is still a lot to go through.”

He said the evidence included cellphones and various downloads and information.

Body found in boot

The State needed to go back as far as 18 September to gather evidence, he said.

Malan is the boyfriend of Robinson, believed to be a former stripper. She was arrested on 24 September, after Blom’s decomposing body was found in the boot of his own car at Montecasino, Fourways.

Security guards noticed a bad smell coming from it. Malan was arrested on 26 September.

Robinson had allegedly rented a room from Blom, the widowed father of infant twins.

The case was postponed to 16 January for further investigation. Both Malan and Robinson remain in police custody.

– SAPA