Orphans and children from poor families in the rural villages of King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape, made vulnerable by HIV/Aids, are set to get a better chance in life. The provincial Department of Social Development has launched a child care programme, Isibindi, that will respond to their needs.

They will be visited by trained Child and Care Youth Workers in their homes and provided with psycho-social support such as counselling, food parcels, school uniforms and assistance with homework.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The mother of a seven-month-old baby, who was found dead inside a shack in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, on Sunday, has been arrested in Randburg.

The baby was found with injuries to its body. Police say the results of the post-mortem are still outstanding.

This was the fourth child to die in Diepsloot in the past three months. Police spokesperson Tsekiso Mokofeng says they received a call from a community member informing them about the whereabouts of the mother of the toddler.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on police, Annelize Van Wyk has accused opposition parties of campaigning and running ahead of the process.

This comes after the parties criticised a decision to recommend former Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride as head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced that cabinet has recommended the appointment of McBride on Tuesday. Mthethwa says Mc Bride was the successful candidate during the interviews which were conducted to fill the post.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has filed an opposing affidavit at the North Gauteng High Court in response to the application for a court interdict by security cluster to stop her office from releasing the provisional report on the upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home.

The cluster filed an urgent application last Friday. Both parties had agreed that Madonsela will file her opposing affidavits by the close of business on Tuesday.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za

A taxi has overturned on Wednesday morning in Roodepoort, West of Johannesburg, leaving 17 people injured.

The accident happened after an industrial grass cutting tractor rolled of the back of a trailer and into the way of the taxi, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

ER 24’s Vanessa Jackson says some commuters sustained severe injuries.

“When paramedics had arrived they had found that two had sustained quite severe injuries although they were in a stable condition, but they were treated for broken bones and possible head injuries and the remaining patients were fortunate to come away from the incident with only minor and moderate injuries.”

Meanwhile, the N1 near Touws River in the Boland is still closed after a petrol tanker overturned.

Western Cape Traffic Chief, Kenny Africa, says hundreds of motorists are stranded. He says attempts are being made to pump the fuel over to another vehicle.

“The truck is lying across the road and the N1 is totally blocked, because of this accident. There is only one alternative route at this point of time and that is the route between Laingsburg / Ladysmith, Ashton, Robertson back to Worcester where you get back on the N1. We would like to urge motorists to please be patient. It is a petrol tanker and we are doing everything in our power to make sure we open the road asap.”

South Africans are said to be critically under insured for death and disability. This is according to the latest Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (Asisa) Life and Disability Gap study.

The gap between existing cover and the actual need for it widened to R24 trillion this year. The average South African is 60% under insured for both death and disability cover. That translates to a shortfall of R700 000 for life cover and R1.1 million for disability, this gap widens as income increases.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

There are kids out there who might achieve greatness if they were given the best nutrition, equipment and coaching, says Christopher Nicholson.

Durban – How much of our sporting talent, more especially soccer skill, is wasted because of a lack of opportunity in South Africa? In soccer, our Fifa ranking at present is 61, although we have slumped to 87 in 2012 and had risen to 19 in 1996.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Mbombela – The driver whose truck collided with a goods train, killing 24 farm workers in Mpumalanga last July, will be sentenced in February.

George Mandlazi, 33, who has been found guilty on 24 counts of culpable homicide and one of negligent driving, appeared in the Nelspruit Circuit of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday for argument in sentencing, a Sapa correspondent reported.

His lawyer Melanie Erasmus asked the court to postpone the case to February to enable her to prepare for sentencing arguments and to collect supporting statements from victims.

On Tuesday, Mandlazi admitted to driving negligently and unintentionally causing the deaths of 24 farmworkers on 13 July 2012, when his truck collided with a goods train going from Emalahleni to Maputo, Mozambique, at a level crossing.

At the time, the truck was ferrying 47 seasonal farm workers between Malelane and Hectorspruit.

Nineteen of them died on the scene. Five died on their way to hospital, and 23 were injured.

The State accepted his plea and withdrew charges of murder and attempted murder.

Judge Nomsa Khumalo postponed the case to 10 February. Mandlazi’s bail of R3 000 was extended.

After the postponement, one of the survivors of the accident, Julius Ndukuya, said he held no grudge against Mandlazi, but wanted justice to be served.

“As I’m sitting in this court, I was waiting for the sentencing and hear what the accused wants to say.

“I don’t hate him, but the truth is people died there and I now can’t work or walk well… I get sick all the time, especially when it’s cloudy.

“That is why I want justice to be served for all of us, the ones who died and myself and the other people who survived,” he said.

– SAPA

Cape Town – A woman accused of defrauding the Raya Hotel Group, owners of the Capetonian Hotel in Cape Town and the Balmoral Hotel in Durban, appeared in court on Wednesday charged with multiple counts of alleged fraud and one of money laundering.

Myona Creighton, 31, was the group’s assistant accountant.

An attempt at plea negotiations with the State collapsed in September, and in Wednesday’s proceedings defence counsel Saliem Banderker requested details of the charges.

Creighton appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who warned her to appear in court again on 19 November.

Creighton was responsible for the payment of the group’s creditors, and was based at the group’s Cape Town head office.

She had to present cheques for payment to the group’s management for signature.

Prosecutor Simon Leope alleges that she either deleted or changed the details of the payees of cheques, after payment had been authorised by management.

It is alleged that the cheques would then be made payable to fictitious persons, and the proceeds channelled into Creighton’s personal bank accounts.

To “cover her tracks”, Creighton would allegedly record the correct cheque details on a management payment schedule, but intercept and destroy bank-processed cheques as they arrived back from the bank.

Leope alleges that in this manner, Creighton eliminated evidence of her manipulation, and misappropriated the money.

He further alleges that she concealed the payments and used fictitious names to hide the true nature of the fraudulent payments.

Creighton faces 250 counts of fraud involving R10 263 813, and one charge of money laundering.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Slain prostitute Hiltina Alexander was last seen getting into a white bakkie, the same car as that of her murder accused, her friend Colin Jacobs told the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday.

Jacobs, 26, was the first witness to testify in the trial of 48-year-old Johannes Christiaan de Jager.

De Jager has pleaded not guilty to raping and killing Alexander on 18 May 2008 and to killing Charmaine Mare in January 2013. He admitted that he dismembered Mare’s corpse in a state of panic after an accidental fatal fall.

Jacobs said he and his brother were walking to a bar in Parow, Cape Town, when he bumped into Alexander. She got into a silver BMW and joined them a short while later in the bar, where she bought them a beer.

They later made their way home along Voortrekker Road. She mentioned she had one condom left and whistled when she saw a white bakkie driving past.

A man got out of the bakkie and went into a shop. He came out soon after.

“Tina walked with him across the street to the bakkie. He got in and she walked around. Tina gave me a hand sign that she’ll be coming back again,” Jacobs testified.

He said she never returned and they eventually went home. He later went to her ex-boyfriend’s house and he mentioned that she could be in Pollsmoor Prison because he also had not seen her.

Her body was found on 19 May 2008, but a detective only informed him a week later.

At that stage he was a suspect and decided to look out for the bakkie.

He saw it outside a workshop on his way to gym one day. He phoned the detective to make his way to the scene.

Jacobs testified that he asked who the owner of the bakkie was and De Jager was called.

He said De Jager recognised him and wanted to lock the workshop up, so he grabbed the bakkie’s keys to make sure he would not drive away.

Police called

De Jager apparently took out a gun and Jacobs gave the keys back to him. Police arrived on the scene and took control of the situation.

He said officers found an earring under a mat in the bakkie, which he recognised as belonging to Alexander.

During cross-examination, Jacobs said he could not remember whether it was a Saturday or Sunday night he last saw his friend.

He also changed his testimony from making one statement to making two statements to police.

Lawyer Sakkie Maartens asked whether he had been Alexander’s pimp, to which he replied no.

He said they had been having a sexual relationship.

The cross-examination continues on Thursday.

– SAPA