Cape Town – A recruitment company is fraudulently using the Western Cape government’s name to recruit aspiring traffic officers, an official said on Thursday.

Provincial community safety department head Gilbert Lawrence said the company invited candidates to submit their CVs and pay R150.

“The public is warned to be alert as the department will use its own website or place the recruitment advert in the relevant media, to invite prospective applicants to apply,” said Lawrence.

“This process will take place at no charge.”

The matter had been reported to the police.

Sapa

Johannesburg – A Diepsloot couple accused of murdering and neglecting the woman’s seven-month-old baby appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

The case against Nokuthula Gumede, 23, and her boyfriend Fernando Sidanvo, 35, was postponed until November 20. They would remain in custody, said Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng.

The baby was found dead and mutilated in a shack in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, on Sunday morning. Police spokesman Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng said on Monday that rats bit off the baby’s foot while it was left alone in a shack.

Gumede was arrested in a Randburg tavern on Tuesday night. Sidanvo was arrested in Diepsloot on Wednesday.

Sapa

Kimberley – The State closed its case on Thursday against a 17-year-old youth accused of a triple murder on a farm near Griquatown in the Northern Cape last year.

Prosecutor Hannes Cloete told the Northern Cape High Court, in Kimberley, that all those on the witness list whom he had not called to the stand, would still be available to the defence team.

Northern Cape Judge President Frans Kgomo is hearing evidence in Kimberley in the trial of the teenager accused of murdering Griquatown farmer Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christel, 43, and their daughter Marthella, 14.

They were shot dead on their farm Naauwhoek on April 6, 2012.

Cloete said on Thursday: “All witnesses on the list that were not called are at the defence’s disposal.”

Many of the witnesses became irrelevant during the trial due to admissions made by the defence.

The witnesses included the police’s helicopter pilot, who was asked to help on the night of the murders and the next day; Griquatown farmers; and people who were in contact with the youth during the weekend of the murders.

Willem Coetzee, for the youth, asked the court for a postponement to Monday to decide which witnesses the defence wanted to use.

These witnesses need to be identified, contacted, consulted and be asked to be present in Kimberley by Monday for the defence’s case.

The State agreed and Kgomo postponed the matter to Monday.

On Thursday, Kgomo read into the record his report of the in loco inspection in March of the murder scene.

The cross-examination of police crime scene and blood spatter expert Captain Marius Joubert was also concluded.

Joubert’s conclusions about the blood spatter patterns on a blue T-shirt, allegedly worn by the youth, were questioned, specifically those marks identified as impact spatters.

He was also questioned about his interpretations of the blood flows described on the girl.

The trial continues on Monday.

Sapa

Port Elizabeth – Several shops were looted on Thursday during violent protests in Langa near Uitenhage, said Eastern Cape police.

Brigadier Marinda Mills said a community hall was set alight and vehicles were pelted with stones.

“Four people have been arrested. The suspects will appear in the Uitenhage Magistrate’s Court soon on charges of public violence,” said Mills.

There was still a strong police presence in the area on Thursday evening.

“We have deployed sufficient members to intensify visible policing and to react immediately on any situation which might occur,” said Mills.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Beeld newspaper intends laying criminal charges after its team was allegedly harassed for taking pictures of a restaurant frequented by Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir, the SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said on Thursday.

Sanef condemned an incident at the Harbour Fish & Meat Market on Wednesday and said it would complain to police commissioner Riah Phiyega.

It said restaurant employees seized a Beeld photographer’s camera after he took pictures of the restaurant from the parking lot of the Bedford Centre.

“After spotting the photographer, two men left the restaurant and aggressively approached the Beeld team in their vehicle,” it said.

“They removed camera equipment from the journalists’ vehicle and grabbed the camera from photographer Cornel van Heerden’s hands.”

They returned to the restaurant with the equipment.

The journalists called the Bedford Centre’s security, who allegedly refused to intervene and return the equipment.

Beeld then called the Bedfordview police station, which dispatched three officers to the scene.

The restaurant offered to release the equipment on condition that pictures of their restaurant be deleted in front of them.

“Shockingly, the SA Police Service members present agreed that the pictures should be deleted,” Beeld editor Adriaan Basson said in the statement.

He advised his team to delete the photos, get their camera equipment and leave.

“It was clear to me that we were in harm’s way and I didn’t want to put my colleagues at risk by continuing the argument with people, who clearly have no clue about freedom of expression,” said Basson.

After the photos were deleted, the camera equipment was returned.

Public space

Basson said he was enraged by the restaurant’s actions, as the pictures were taken from a public space.

“We have seen numerous photos and footage of the restaurant before. This was a complete over-reaction by the restaurant and a failure by the Bedford Centre’s management to intervene.”

Sanef said it would take the matter further.

“Sanef is to complain to police commissioner General Riah Phiyega and request that disciplinary action be taken against the police officers who removed the pictures on the grounds of theft,” it said.

Management at the restaurant declined to comment on Thursday, saying that only the owner, who was not there, could do so. The owner would only be at the restaurant and available for comment after midday.

Bedfordview explosion

Krejcir made headlines this week when a bomb exploded at his business premises in Bedfordview on the East Rand.

The device went off late on Tuesday at Krejcir’s Money Point gold and diamond exchange office, next to the Eastgate shopping centre.

Two people were killed and five others injured.

On Wednesday, police combed the scene for clues and evidence.

In July, Krejcir was the target of an apparent assassination attempt outside his Bedfordview office.

As he was leaving the parking lot, an explosive device was detonated from the back of a vehicle which was parked opposite his vehicle. Krejcir escaped unharmed.

About three weeks earlier, Krejcir’s Bedfordview business was broken into and jewellery worth R3m was stolen.

On Monday, a case against a man accused of involvement in a plot to kill Krejcir was postponed to November by the Germiston Regional Court.

Brendan Harrison was denied bail after investigators claimed his life would be at risk if he was not kept in custody.

Krejcir is due back in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on 9 December for his extradition case.

Magistrate William Schutte will assess progress made in Krejcir’s bid for asylum, currently with the Refugee Appeal Board.

Krejcir was sentenced in the Czech Republic last year after being convicted in absentia of money-laundering. He would face an 11-year sentence if extradited.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The State did not obstruct Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s investigation into upgrades to President Jacob Zuma’s residence at Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal, according to a court affidavit.

“The applicants [the security cluster of ministries] have no desire to dictate to the respondent [Madonsela] when and how to release the provisional report,” the ministers of police, defence, state security, and public works said in an affidavit.

“The allegations that the respondent and her investigation team were obstructed and frustrated in performing her functions are not correct.”

The affidavit was filed at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria and was released by Madonsela’s office on Thursday.

Madonsela’s draft report contains details about a R206m upgrade to Zuma’s private homestead.

The report was given to the security cluster on 1 November following a special request for access ahead of all other parties to establish whether its contents would compromise Zuma’s security.

In the court papers, the ministers said it was Madonsela who had made the suggestion and not them.

“It was the respondent who suggested that the security cluster be given an opportunity to view the provisional report in order to determine whether there are any security breaches that need to be omitted.”

The cluster filed an urgent application on Friday to prevent Madonsela from releasing the report.

The State’s application was set down to be heard by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday.

Opposing the interdict

On Wednesday, Madonsela made public her court documents opposing the interdict. In them, she said the State had made several attempts to stop her investigation.

The ministers denied this and said Madonsela was not an expert on state security.

“It will be argued at an appropriate time… that the respondent [Madonsela], not being an expert on matters of security, cannot be an arbiter on whether or not there exists a security breach from the contents of the provisional report,” they said.

“I deny that the respondent or any of her investigators are security experts with the necessary experience to deal with the security concerns.”

The ministers said they had no intention of interfering with the functioning of Madonsela’s office or her independence.

“The only interest the applicants have in this matter is where security issues arise. We have a constitutional obligation to preserve national security, which ordinarily includes the security of the head of state.

“This cannot be interpreted to be interference with the office of the respondent.”

The cluster said the national security issue was what their application was about.

“We are constitutionally mandated to protect national security and it is for this reason only that we requested additional time to provide the respondent with a comprehensive list of security breaches, together with the relevant justifications for their omission from her… report.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Acting head of crime intelligence Bongiwe Zulu does have top security clearance to perform her duties, national police spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said on Thursday,

Makgale was responding to a report in The Star that claimed Zulu did not have top secret security clearance and was not authorised to see documents marked top secret.

“Despite confirmation provided that… Dr Bongiwe Zulu had the necessary top security clearance to perform her duties, the newspaper decided to publish the article,” Makgale said.

“The article is inaccurate in its entirety.”

Sources

However, Kevin Ritchie, deputy editor of The Star said the newspaper’s sources had a different story to tell.

“We would not publish something that we had doubts with. The story was done by one of our senior reporters, with impeccable resources…. Our sources are saying something different.”

Zulu was appointed to the post last month after her predecessor Major General Chris Ngcobo was placed on special leave when a vetting process revealed discrepancies in his qualifications.

Makgale said Thursday’s article aimed to discredit national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, who was accused of blundering by appointing Zulu to the post.

“The Star got it horribly wrong and failed to obtain comment from the SA Police Service on the information provided by its sources,” said Makgale.

He said the newspaper and those who provided comments for the story had fallen for “trickery by those with their own agendas, who are now clutching at straws to discredit… Phiyega.”

– SAPA

Cape Town – A tip-off has led to the rescue of several stolen dogs from a suspected dog fighting syndicate member in the Western Cape, according to reports.

Eyewitness News reported on Thursday that a team made up of the National Animal Welfare Task Team (NWATT) and police, stopped a truck on the N1 near the Stellenbosch off-ramp.
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Durban – Convicted drug smuggler, Tessa Beetge, who reportedly might get parole, said she would rather remain behind bars in the Brazilian prison.

According to the Daily News Beetge is expected to serve the remaining three years of her eight-year sentence on parole.
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Johannesburg – Two men were arrested when suitcases containing 200 cellphones were found in a taxi during a roadblock on the N3 in Harrismith, Free State police said on Thursday.

Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said the cellphones were worth about R100 000.

Three taxis coming from Pietermaritzburg were stopped at a roadblock on Wednesday. Police found two suitcases abandoned in one of the taxis and realised that two male passengers were missing.

“One suspect was arrested in the evening trying to get a lift to Gauteng, and the other one was arrested on Thursday morning.”

The cellphones could have been stolen during business burglaries at clothing chain stores or cellphone shops in KwaZulu-Natal, Mophiring said.

– SAPA