Johannesburg – The state intends seeking a court order to prevent Public Protector Thuli Mandonsela from releasing her report on Nkandla, her office said on Friday.

“The Public Protector, shortly before 09:00 received court papers indicating the state’s intention to interdict and restrain her from releasing her provisional report on the security upgrades at the president’s private home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal to affected, implicated and interested parties for comments,” her spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said.

He said the state’s application for a court order would be heard in the North Gauteng High Court at 14:00.

“The Public Protector has briefed the lawyers representing her office to request a postponement to allow her to prepare a proper response.”

He said the protector was due to receive comments on the report from organs of state within the security cluster on Friday.

The cluster includes state security, police and defence officials.

This followed a special request made by the organs of state in question to have access to the report ahead of all other parties, to establish if the report would compromise President Jacob Zuma’s security.

“The report was shared with the said parties on November 1, with a return date of Wednesday. The deadline was subsequently extended to Friday, following a request from the organs of state concerned.” 

The protector said it would hold a media briefing on the matter.

SAPA

Johannesburg – A murder accused who skipped bail was almost caught after a Beeld reporter and photographer spotted him at an airport in Mozambique this week, the publication reported on Friday.

Jurgen Vandekeere had been expected to appear in a Delmas court in September in connection with the murder of Chantelle Barnard in 2011, but he left a letter for his parents and disappeared.

Waiting at the airport in Maputo for their flight, Beeld photographer Felix Dlangamandla recognised a man in the waiting area for the flight to Kenya as someone he had photographed before.

After a few calls to colleagues in Johannesburg he and reporter Erika Gibson realised it was Vandekeere. 

Dlangamandla took a photograph secretly and they had to board their plane to Johannesburg.

In Johannesburg Gibson sent a picture she took with her cellphone to prosecutor Phylis Vorster who forwarded it to detectives in Pretoria, who in turn contacted Interpol and Kenyan authorities.

Authorities planned to take him into custody when passengers disembarked. But he was not on the flight.

They think he gave them the slip and caught a connecting flight to Europe.

Vitalis Okumu, Interpol regional head in Nairobi, told Nationmedia in Kenya that their task was complicated by the fact that they did not know which name he was travelling under. 

SAPA

Bloemfontein-The collision happened at around 08:00 am on the corners of Alexander Ave and Harvey Rd near the Bloemfontein CBD, when the vehicle knocked the bike rider and his passenger from the bike and immediately left the scene.

“Fortunately the rider sustained only mild injuries while his passenger, a young woman, were unharmed” Er24 spokesperson Vanessa Jackson said.

He was transported by ER24 ambulance to the Pelonomi Provincial Hospital for further treatment.

Anyone with information that might have witnessed the collision and could possibly describe details of the fleeing vehicle should contact the authorities soonest.-TDN

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The MEC for Finance, Paul Sebegoe, will in accordance with Section 31 (1) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Act no 1 of 1999 as amended table an adjustment budget in the provincial legislature. 

An adjustment budget of a province provides amongst others for the appropriation of funds which have become available to the province; and shifting of funds between and within votes. 

Section 31(2) further stipulates that an adjustment budget may contain the following:-

    The appropriation of funds that may have become available to the province;

    Unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure recommended by the Provincial  

Executive Council of the Province within a framework determined by the Minister;

    Any expenditure in terms of Section 25;

    Money to be appropriated for expenditure already announced by the MEC for Finance  

   during the tabling of the annual budget;

    The shifting of funds between and within votes or to follow the transfer of functions in 

   terms of Section 42;

    The utilization of savings under a main division within a vote for the defrayment of 

   excess expenditure under another division within the same vote in terms of Section 

   43;

    The roll-over of unspent funds from the preceding financial year; and virements 

   approved by the Accounting Officers and Treasury.

The adjustment budget will be tabled on:

By Obakeng Maje

Mahikeng-The North West MEC for Health Dr Magome Masike has come out to say he is very disappointed by two students who decided to quit the Cuban Medical Programme.

One of the students is from the 2012 group while the other is from the group that just departed to Cuba this year in October.

The two students wrote letters to the Department and the University in Cuba indicating their wish to discontinue with the programme.

Both of them cited lack of passion for medicine as a reason for quitting the programme.

“I am obviously disappointed because as a Department we made efforts to put all students through an intensive orientation programme, giving them insight of what it takes and means to become a doctor and what to expect in Cuba. We even asked them to pull out before departing to Cuba if they thought being a doctor is not what they want”, said MEC Masike.

The Department has been in contact with both the learners and parents and notified them of the implications of their actions.

Both learners are still in Cuba as plans to secure return air tickets are being undertaken.

The return ticket amounts to between R17000 and R20000 per student. 

In 2012 alone, the Department took 100 students to Cuba and the numbers increased substantially to 180 in 2013 as the efforts to decrease shortage of doctors in the Province intensify.-TDN

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Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma on Thursday informed Parliament that he has employed members of the SANDF and SAPS to maintain law and order during the national voter registration process, the Presidency said.

“A total of 75 SA National Defence Force members will be employed in co-operation with the SA Police Service,” spokesperson Mac Maharaj said in a statement.

The employment would be for the period of 9-10 November 2013 and 8-9 February 2014.

The expenditure expected to be incurred for the process was estimated at R1 242 000.

“The employment is in accordance with the provisions of section 201 (2) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,” Maharaj said.

SAPA

Johannesburg – A father who allegedly shot dead his daughter’s boyfriend and the young man’s father is expected to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Retief Liebenberg of Benoni was arrested last Thursday in connection with the shooting of 19-year-old Dewalt “Poena” Visser – his daughter Chevonne’s boyfriend – and the boy’s father Dewalt Visser, 46, in his home.

Beeld reported that Liebenberg did not approve of the relationship between Poena and Chevonne as he had heard rumours that Poena was taking drugs.

He arrived at his home in the Ebotse Golf Estate in Rynfield, Benoni, that day to find Poena in the house, after he had apparently banned his daughter from seeing him.

He appeared in the same court on 5 November but the case was postponed. 

SAPA

Johannesburg – Two men were convicted of the satanic murder of Kirsty Theologo on Thursday while a young woman escaped jail, evoking mixed feelings outside court.

A fourth accused, Harvey Isha, was acquitted of all charges.

Linden Wagner and Robin Harwood were found guilty in the high court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court of the assault, murder and attempted murder of Theologo, 18, and her friend who was 14-years-old old at the time.

Wagner and Harwood embraced their families for a long time after court proceedings were adjourned.

The court heard Theologo was struck on the head several times with a rock in October 2011 on a hill in Linmeyer, south of Johannesburg.

She was then doused with petrol and set alight as part of a soul-selling ritual by a group of people, who were known as her friends.

Judge Geraldine Borchers said she believed Isha’s testimony that he played no part in the killing.

He claimed to have been afraid and had watched from behind a tree as Theologo and her friend were attacked by his friends.

Isha said he could not freely flee the group so he managed to leave the next day after telling them that he was heading home to collect his passport and flee to him home country, the Congo.

Isha however, is a refugee national who does not have a passport.

Borchers said his statement coincided with the two State witnesses, Lester Moody and Jeremy King.

King and Moody had earlier confessed to the killings and were sentenced to 17 years in prison, five of which were suspended.

“Him lying about the passport [to the other accused] shows that he could not freely go,” said Borchers.

“His evidence is believable.”

A pregnant woman believed to be a close friend of Isha wept after Borchers said that Isha was a free man.

She was comforted by Isha’s mother.

After signing his court documents, Isha left the court without being seen by any of the media.

Family’s reaction

Theologo’s cousin, however, wept and said she could not believe that Isha, and another accused were set free.

The other accused, Courtney Daniels also left the court a free woman.

She was acquitted of the murder and attempted murder charges.

“[It is] because you did not know that there was a murder planned,” said Borchers.

She said none of the evidence presented to the court also suggested that Daniels was interested in Satanism.

“She was excited to see spirits and happy to be invited by older boys to go drinking and smoking ,” said Borchers.

“I am unable to infer that she knew of everything.”

She convicted Daniels of common assault after it was found that she had laced the victims’ drinks with brake fluid prior to the attack.

Daniels lawyer, Enrico Guarneri, asked the court to give his client a suspended sentence or a R1 000 fine.

Members of Theologo’s family gasped in disbelief, while one woman burst into tears.

Guarneri told the court that Daniels was 16-years-old at the time of the crime, and was now suffering from depression because of it.

In delivering Daniel’s sentence, Borchers said she took into consideration that Daniels was a first time offender, who was still a minor when the attack occurred and she had been enticed by the idea of older boys wanting to include her in their plans.

“I hope you will not err again,” said Borchers.

“You have a chance of turning your life around… I am not going to imprison you,” she said.

She handed Daniels a six month imprisonment sentence, which was suspended for five years.

Daniels mother, Melanie, told reporters outside court that she was happy that the ordeal had ended.

“I want to thank God from the bottom of my heart,” said Melanie Daniels.

“I hope my daughter has learnt her lesson and I pray that no one will go through what we went through for the last two years,” she said.

Courtney Daniels was also very emotional after hearing that she had been found guilty of at least one charge.

She left the court with an entourage of her family.

Sentencing

Meanwhile, Wagner and Harwood were to be sentenced on Friday.

The two men appeared to be in disbelief of their fate as they hugged their family members and chatted to them briefly during a short adjournment after the verdict was delivered.

Delivering her verdict, Borchers said she did not believe some parts of Wagner ‘s testimony.

She described him as “a thoroughly unimpressive witness who was sly and dishonest and attempted to evade giving evidence”, said Borchers.

Wagner had told the court that something had come over him when he attacked his friend Theologo.

He admitted that he had intended to sell his soul that night in return for power but nothing had happened.

He gave a detailed account of how a five-pointed star was drawn at the place where the girls were to be sacrificed. A fire was made and a bible was thrown into it. He and some of his co-accused then cut their hands and dripped their blood into the blaze.

Some of them had planned to eat Theologo’s flesh, drink her blood and burn her body.

Wagner said his and the other ritual partakers souls were meant to be received by the beast referred to in a Bible passage in the book of Revelations.

While Wagner had told the court that he had loved Theologo, Borchers said it was clear that he had acted with direct intent to harm Theologo and her friend.

The same was said for Harwood, who was also reported to have been in a brief relationship with Theologo a while before the ritual.

Borchers said he was one of the core members of the group.

She said he was vague and evasive when giving evidence.

Borchers dismissed his claims that he was also possessed by an evil spirit and said dagga and liquor had affected him.

Harwood’s mother told the media that she preferred to reserve her comment until Friday, when her son was expected to receive his sentence.

An emotional mother

Theologo’s mother, Sylivia, was emotional after the trial.

“I wish they didn’t kill my child,” she said.

She commended Borchers, saying she looked like “a fair woman who has a lot of experience”.

Dressed in a purple and white polka-dot top, jeans and boots, she held the picture of Kirsty as she spoke to the media while seated on a bench outside court.

She cried and said she was finished.

“All my kids have changed,” she said.

“My kids were always together… If I’m in so much pain, I can’t imagine what they are going through.” she added.

She said she was happy to hear during the proceedings that her daughter had fought her attackers.

“I am so proud of her. She fought hard,” she said.

She said she had no problem with Daniels and Harwood being set free.

As Isha’s lawyer walked passed a short while later, she commended him on a “good job”, saying she had no bad blood towards Isha.

“I have known him for years,” she said.

She had received support from several of her family members, some of whom were wearing T-shirts bearing Theologo’s picture on them. Theologo’s grandmother also carried a teddy bear in court.

“Kirsty is with us,” she told some of the other family members seated next to her.

The sentencing of Wagner and Harwood would be held on Friday.

SAPA

Communities which are unhappy with the government should opt for dialogue instead of violence, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on Thursday.

“Communities must choose dialogue with competent organs of state over violent protests that often result in the destruction of much needed infrastructure,” she said in a speech prepared for delivery in Mafikeng, North West.

“When communities come to us or any other competent body with their complaints, government must listen and help institutions such as my office to resolve the issues.”

Madonsela said there was a need for effective communication between the state and its people.

The country’s constitutional democracy was designed to be an ongoing dialogue between the voters and the state.

Democracy should not be seen to be limited only to elections. Dialogue between the state and people that should take place in between elections was just as important, she said.

– Sapa