Cape Town – The ANC has named Dan Montsitsi as chairperson of its parliamentary caucus in one of five appointments in the legislature announced on Thursday.

Montsitsi replaces Jerry Thibedi, who was recently moved to the post of chairperson of the portfolio committee on land reform and rural development.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said Arthur Moloto would become chairperson of the standing committee on the auditor general, and Aubrey Mokoena the whip of that committee.

Moloto has been the whip for the committee as well as the portfolio committee on energy.

Shepherd Mayatula becomes the whip for the portfolio committee on international relations, and Nthabiseng Khunou the whip for the portfolio committee on social development.

Mantashe announced the appointments during the ANC’s caucus meeting on Thursday.

Johannesburg – Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele has offered to pay for the funerals of two boys who died on the East Rand at the weekend, the municipality said on Thursday.

The city would help with the funerals of 10-year-old Siphamandla Madikane, who was murdered in Ramaphosa, and 12-year-old Siyabonga Linda, who drowned in a reservoir in Vosloorus.

The decision was taken to help their grieving families, spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said in a statement.

“The least the municipality can do is to contribute towards and ensuring that both youngsters are given decent burials and ease the burden on their families,” Gungubele said in the statement.

Kimberley – The Griekwastad farm murder trial will remain open to the media despite a request that “upsetting” details not be made public, the presiding judge ruled on Thursday.

“There is no sound reason to recall my previous order or to amend it. That order stands,” said Judge Frans Kgomo in the Northern Cape High Court in Kimberley.

At the start of trial, Kgomo ruled that the media could be present at the trial, but that the 17-year-old youth accused of the three murders could not be identified.

Prosecutor Hannes Cloete earlier requested that the media be excluded from part of the day’s proceedings.

He said he had an obligation as an officer of the court to request that the details of the attack on Northern Cape farmer Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christelle, 43, and daughter Marthella, 14, not be made public.

“The effect of the evidence will be far-reaching for their family and friends,” said Cloete.

The details of the evidence would “seriously upset” them.

Defence lawyer Willem Coetzee agreed, describing it as a “moral request” to the court.

But Kgomo ruled that the media be allowed to be present, saying he would give reasons for his decision at a later stage.

He warned journalists covering the trial not to breach the court’s agreement to name the boy, even in their private capacities.

“You, as the fourth estate. Nowadays it is very easy to send to the world information and images, sometimes to friends, knowing that this would not be part of the report that you do.

“If the media even in private break the order and send images or messages to friends and family that would breach the court’s agreement, we would ask the officer of the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] to investigate a contempt of court [charge].”

The Steenkamp family was shot on their farm Naauwhoek on 6 April 2012.

The teenager also faces a charge of rape and defeating the ends of justice.

Johannesburg – The City of Johannesburg announced plans on Thursday for a prayer day in Diepsloot following a spate of violent crimes in the township.

“As part of easing tensions and [to] heal the community… people from all religious background will engage in prayer and meditation,” spokesperson Nkosinathi Nkabinde said in a statement.

The prayer session would form part of the international 16 Days of Activism Campaign, from 15 November to 10 December.

Three children have been killed in the township since September.

The bodies of 2-year-old Yonelisa Mali and her cousin Zandile Mali, 3, were recently found in a public toilet cubicle.

Five people were arrested, but four of them were released due to lack of evidence.

The prayer day would include a march led by Gauteng PremierNomvula Mokonyane and Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau.

Church leaders would also be present.

“The community will be addressed on various issues about crime, substance abuse, domestic violence and gender-based violence,” said Nkabinde.

The prayer day would take place on Monday at the Diepsloot Methodist Church, in extension 10.

Johannesburg – An unfair labour practice case against the police was postponed by the Johannesburg Labour Court on Thursday, trade union Solidarity said.

The court heard an application by the police to have the matter postponed until next year for trial, the head of Solidarity’s centre for fair labour practice, Dirk Groenewald, said in a statement.

The Labour Court granted the postponement and set aside 11 days for the trial, starting on 10 February.

The court ordered the police to pay Solidarity’s legal costs brought about by the postponement.

The court also ordered the police to amend their court papers within 14 days.

Solidarity was representing Colonel Kobus Roos, who claimed to have tried for years to expose corruption in the police.

Roos was moved from the crime intelligence division by suspended crime intelligence head Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli, after making a protected disclosure containing allegations and proof of corruption in the unit.

Groenewald said the police, arguing for a postponement, claimed the documents contained in the court papers were confidential and that certain witnesses summoned to testify, among them Mdluli, were not available.

“It is clear that Lieutenant General Mdluli will be the [SA Police Service’s] chief witness in the case,” said Groenewald.

The case stood down on Monday when the judge asked the parties to return to court on Thursday to give feedback on whether a settlement could be reached.

Groenewald said that when the trial began next year, Roos would testify about, among other things, investigations he was involved in and the corruption these investigations exposed.

A former member of the Scorpions, two members of the Hawks, and several SAPS members have been summoned to testify in the case.

Roos is currently with the crime intelligence unit’s inspection and evaluation division. This division was never functional and is currently closed.

He previously acted as head of crime intelligence’s internal audit division and was responsible for auditing the so-called secret services account.

Mdluli appointed him to investigate this account, but later shut down the investigation and moved him to his current post.

Solidarity wanted Roos reinstated to his previous position at the internal audit division, arguing that he had virtually no work to do in his current post and was subject to unbearable working conditions.

Johannesburg – Four men accused of killing the NUM’s Marikana chairperson appeared in the Tlhabane Magistrate’s Court in Rustenburg on Thursday, North West police said.

“It was a brief appearance as the matter was not finalised,” police spokesperson Thulani Ngubane said.

Eric Ngwenya, Sonwabo Bhani, Mseleki Dalaza and Thabisile Gasa would remain in custody until their next appearance on Friday.

The National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM) office-bearer was shot several times in the Nkaneng informal settlement on 22 October.

Ngubane said William Setelele, 46, was driving when four men emerged from bushes and shot at his car.

He was hit once while he was driving and seven times once he had stopped and got out of the car. He died on the scene.

Cape Town – The Western Cape High Court Judge John Murphy said Thandi Maqubela was vengeful and destructive, after he found her guilty of murdering her husband acting Judge Patrick Maqubela.

Her co-accused Vela Mabena was acquitted on the basis that the State had not proved his involvement beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Accused number one [Maqubela] is found guilty and accused number two is found not guilty,” said Judge John Murphy.

He said the acquittal was based on a finding of “not proven”, rather than of “factual innocence”.

Mabena left the dock and Maqubela stood alone as a swarm of photographers jostled for a position around her.

She handed a large, black leather bag and a pink file to her daughter and then hugged her.

A policewoman gestured to her to put her hands behind her back. She smiled and complied before being led down to the cells.

The court found that Patrick’s serial adultery brought the couple’s relationship to an explosive point in 2009.

He was in a distressed state, and confided to others the day before he was killed, on 4 June 2009, that he wished to divorce his wife.

“Accused one was in a vengeful and destructive mode,” said Murphy.

“She had appointed private investigators to investigate his private life, had threateningly confronted his lovers, and had disgraced him in the eyes of his friends, relatives and colleagues.”

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe saw her hours before the death and described her as angry and excitable.

Patrick Maqubela’s death

Murphy said Maqubela’s propensity to become excitable when challenged was demonstrated more than once during her testimony.

The court could not make a finding on how the acting judge died.

“At best, there exists a mere possibility that the deceased was suffocated after being subdued or restrained by undetectable means, chemical or physical, but even here we are in danger of drifting into the realm of speculation,” Murphy said.

However, proof of the exact means of death was not a prerequisite for conviction.

Murphy said death from natural causes or suicide was excluded primarily by Maqubela’s conduct, a plethora of lies and her persistence in “irrational subterfuge” which was wholly incompatible with an innocent person.

He also found her guilty of forging her husband’s will, and of committing fraud by causing potential prejudice to his estate.

It was unlikely Patrick would have left almost his entire estate to his wife, and disinherited some of his children, when considering the state of his marriage.

“The inescapable conclusion is that Exhibit D [the alleged will] was not drafted by a lawyer,” Murphy said.

“It is even more unlikely that a professional attorney of many years standing, with extensive experience in commercial law, employed at a reputable firm of attorneys in Johannesburg, and serving as an acting judge at the time, would have drafted such a will or put his signature to it.”

Andres Iniesta who scored the World Cup winning goal against Netherlands will make an emotional return to the venue that catapulted him to fame when he was named in the travelling team on Thursday.

Iniesta is among a galaxy of Spanish big names that will take on Bafana Bafana on 19 November 2013 at FNB Stadium, the venue that hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

It is a squad teeming with world class luminaries that ply their trade in top European leagues.

Diego Costa is in line to make his Spain debut against Bafana Bafana after being named in their squad.

The red-hot Atletico Madrid striker has turned down the opportunity to play for Brazil, and Bafana could bear the brunt of that if he gets the nod at Soccer City.

Barcelona superstar Xavi Hernandez will be missing, but there is still plenty of talent about, including the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Javi Martinez and Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso.

English Premiership stars Santo Carzola, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Juan Mata will also make the trip.

SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Pepe Reina (Napoli)

Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Alberto Moreno (Sevilla), Juanfran (Levante), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Inigo Martinez (Real Sociedad), Nacho Monreal (Arsenal) 

Midfielders: Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Jesus Navas (Manchester City) 

Forwards: Alvaro Negredo (Manchester City), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), Pedro (Barcelona), David Villa (Atletico Madrid), Juan Mata (Chelsea)-TDN

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Pretoria – Police anticipated that mineworkers would attack them during strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s mine in Marikana last year, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Thursday.

This emerged while commission chair retired Judge Ian Farlam was questioning senior police officer Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Scott at public hearings in Centurion.

Scott formulated a six-point police intervention plan to curb the protest.

“Is it correct to say some of the members of the militant group were dangerous criminals, murderers in fact?” Farlam asked.

“They were people who had shown what they were capable of doing and that had to be factored into your plan: The kind of customers you were dealing with? All the factors were taken into account [in drafting the plan]?”

Scott agreed.

Farlam put it to Scott that, given the charged environment, and the killing of two police officers and two security guards in the days prior to 16 August  2012, it was reasonable for the police to foresee the possibility of deaths during the intervention.

Scott said he had foreseen that the stalemate would not end through dialogue.

“I was hoping, though, that it [the clash] would not happen with members of POP [public order policing]. I hoped that they [POP members] would have managed to climb back into their vehicles and not all of them would have been targeted,” he said.

“When it came down to the actual, attempted, high-risk arrests, that is where I anticipated the violent conflict. We have not divulged our tactics for dealing with such situations, because people will just find defence mechanisms for them.”

Footage of a belligerent crowd was shown on large screens at the commission. The crowd was shown charging towards retreating police officers.

Scott concluded his testimony on Thursday.

Next witness

North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe will take the witness stand again when the commission resumes on Friday.

Dali Mpofu, for the Marikana miners, is expected to examine Mpembe.

Mpembe broke down in tears during a previous appearance.

On Thursday, Farlam said the commission would take “a working recess” from 5 December until 6 January.

“There is a lot of work to be done in the interim. I hope the counsel involved will start to prepare preliminary heads of arguments on the issues covered by the numerous witnesses that we have heard since November last year,” he said.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people at Marikana, near Rustenburg in North West, in August last year.

Police shot dead 34 people, almost all of them striking mineworkers, on 16 August  2012, while trying to disperse and disarm them.

Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

President Jacob Zuma appointed the commission in August last year.

SAPA

RUSTENBURG- The North West Provincial Government is taking firms steps to close all loop holes that allow fraud and corruption to take place in the province.Speaking on behalf of the Premier Thandi Modise at the 3

rd North West Anti- Corruption Round Table Conference on Thursday at the Orion Safari Hotel in Rustenburg, Acting Director General, Johannes Rantete said that criminals no longer have a place to hide especially in the public service.

He warned that the Office of the Premier is hard at work to ensure that those that have being getting away with corruption are punished.

“We have taken a decision to centralize legal services in the Office of the Premier to stem the tide of us always losing court cases especially involving fraud and corruption.

We are also taking a firm approach in preventing unnecessary suspension of officials in government, which results in crippling vacancies mostly at senior management level and wasteful expenditure of paying officials who are idling at home,” said Rantete.

He emphasized that while the provincial government places multi sectoral approach at the centre of fighting corruption, it believes that government should give leadership in taking practical steps to stop the scourge of corruption. 

“We are very confident that through our efforts and the work of the Provincial anti-Corruption Forum the battle against corruption will be won,” he said.

Mr Chris Nzenge of the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) in the Assets forfeiture Unit warned that those who engage in fraud and corruption will be dealt with accordingly by law enforcement agencies.

“We do understand that organized crime and corruption operates increasingly like business seeking investment opportunities. It is important to be careful if you acquire your millions through the acts of corruption because you will lose everything when we come in including your assets,” he warned.

Director General of the Department of Public Service and Administration, Mr Alex Mahapa all said officials who are involved in corrupt activities must be punished heavily to send a message that corruption will no longer be tolerated in the public service

He warned that public servants must be careful not to be used by business people for the sake of their own personal enrichment.

“Corruption starts with business people giving public servants gifts which then lead to favours towards tenders. We need to be clever as public servants never to be tempted to be engaged in corrupt activities,” he said.

He further cited that a corrupt free public service can build a society that will serve the interest and well-being of future generations.-TDN

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