Johannesburg – Thirteen men arrested in connection with a dog fighting syndicate were granted bail by the Tsakane Magistrate’s Court on Monday, said the NSPCA.

A condition of bail was that all their domestic animals be handed over to a local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) by Friday, said National Council of SPCAs deputy CEO Este Kotze.

The case was postponed until December 3.

The NSPCA and the police confiscated 14 dogs during a raid on the East Rand last month.

Thirteen of the dogs had to be destroyed because of the extent of their injuries, Kotze said.

NSPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith said she was disappointed by Monday’s ruling.

Sapa

Mangaung – A man has been arrested for shooting dead a policeman and wounding a woman in Mangaung, Free State police said on Monday.

Captain Harry Nagel said the 28-year-old policeman and his 36-year-old woman friend were sitting in a car on Sunday when a man approached them and opened fire without uttering a word.

“The policeman was shot once behind the ear and died on the scene, and the woman was hit twice in the upper body.”

She was taken to Pelonomi hospital.

Nagel said the 39-year-old man fled in a car and later shot himself twice in the upper body and the chin.

“He was found by police patrolling the highway and was transported to Clocolan hospital where he is under guard.”

An unlicensed firearm was confiscated.

The man had been charged with murder and attempted murder. He was expected to appear in court as soon as he recovered, said Nagel.

Sapa

Just imagine Jacob Zuma had held an open house at Nkandla two years ago, when questions were first asked, says Jovial Rantao.

Durban – Just close your eyes for a second and imagine the following. The sky above Nkandla is a dazzle of blue, with a few smatterings of cloud. It’s a perfect summer day and villagers in this neighbourhood go about their daily chores.

As the rooster’s call echoes through the valley, a woman walks past with a stack of neatly packed firewood on her head. Boys laugh as they enjoy a kick-about after breakfast. It’s a good day in Nkandla.

Just after 9am, several cars, travelling on the newly built tarred road, make their way to the household of President Jacob Zuma. It’s the media contingent about to visit the presidential private homestead. As the vans from television networks with satellite dishes atop whizz past, villagers of Nkandla don’t even bat an eye. They are used to their little nondescript place of abode being in the news.

It all started on that fateful day when one of their own became president of South Africa.
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Polokwane – President Jacob Zuma, together with ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, came under attack from Julius Malema after his brief court appearance in Polokwane earlier on Monday, City Press reports.

In urging Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) members to intensify their recruitment drive and vote for his party, Malema said: “Ask [Zuma] to get the cows he built a R1m kraal for at Nkandla to vote for him. Teach him a lesson. Tell them in the spirit of the people of Marikana, you won’t vote for them,” he said.
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Kimberley – The cross examination of the 17-year-old youth accused of the Griekwastad farm murders will continue in the Northern Cape High Court on Tuesday.

He spent most of Monday in the witness stand.

Judge President Frans Kgomo is hearing evidence in the trial of the teenager, who is accused of shooting dead farmer Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christel, 43, and their daughter Marthella, 14, on their farm Naauwhoek, near Griekwastad, on 6 April 2012.

Prosecutor Hannes Cloete told the youth that a big, strong man such as Deon Steenkamp would not have allowed a stranger to walk through his house.

“The fact is now we know the firearms used were in the safe. We know what needs to be done to get to that safe: through the kitchen, living room, down the passage, into the room, and open the safe and take the guns out.”

Cloete put it to the youth that there were no signs of a struggle in the house.

“There is no way on earth that Deon would allow somebody to pass him,” he submitted, asking the youth how he thought the attacker or attackers did this.

“I do not know,” he said.

Cloete put it to him that, for his version of the story to be true, somebody must have been in the house. The State has argued that this would have been impossible.

Cloete also asked the youth why his counsel had not queried any evidence the State had led, which seemed different from his version.

“I do not know why I missed the fact,” he replied.

Allegations

Earlier, the prosecution informed the youth that the State alleged he killed three people, tried to rape one of them, and lied to the police.

“Yes, Honourable,” he answered in Afrikaans.

“We are just going to test what you have said, if that could be the truth,” Cloete told him before he began his questioning.

He asked the youth why he had picked up the firearms he said he found next to the farm road. The teenager said it was a way to show the attackers, who might be still in the vicinity, he had a weapon.

“That could not be. Then you would not have placed them on the back seat,” Cloete said.

The prosecutor asked him how it was possible to see the firearms beside the road.

“There is testimony before the court that what you say about the firearms was not possible,” said Cloete.

When proceedings began on Monday morning the youth’s lawyer Willem Coetzee called him to the stand as the first witness after the State closed its case last week.

Coetzee led him through the events of the day before the murders. He then started to tell the court about his whereabouts on the day of the attack on the Steenkamps.

The trial continues.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A 30-year-old security guard was arrested after the rape of a 25-year-old woman in Heidelberg, police said on Monday.

The woman allegedly left Vocos Pub in the early hours of Sunday morning, police spokesperson Mathews William Tshabangu said.

She was then picked up by a security guard in Voortrekker Street, driving a marked security company vehicle.

The guard then drove to the railway line, stopped the vehicle and forced the woman to have sex with him, Tshabangu said.

The woman immediately reported the incident to the police.

A security guard was arrested when the description of the vehicle linked him to the crime.

He was expected to appear in the Heidelberg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

– SAPA

The roof of the Mutale health centre, in Vhembe, has been blown away by a storm, the Limpopo health department said on Monday.

Spokesperson Adele van der Linde said the corrugated iron sheets of the toilet, mobile office, and maternity ward were ripped off on Sunday.

“No one was hurt, but our major problem is the maternity ward, as we cannot help pregnant women,” she said.

The women had been sent to neighbouring clinics, and those needing serious attention had been referred to the Donald Fraser hospital.

Out-patient services were not affected.

The department and the district were assessing the damage and intended fixing the building as soon as possible, Van der Linde said.
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Johannesburg – An Eyewitness News multimedia journalist opened a charge against President Jacob Zuma’s VIP protection unit on Monday, said Primedia.

“At this stage, Reinart Toerien has opened a charge, which we suspect will be common assault, but it is up to SAPS to decide on that,” said spokesperson Pippa Rowles.

Police spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mulamu confirmed that a case of common assault had been opened at the Norwood police station.

“He [Toerien] did not have any visible injuries, but the suspect has not been arrested yet,” said Mulamu.

“Police are investigating the matter.”

Toerien was allegedly assaulted by Zuma’s security detail outside former president Nelson Mandela’s home in Houghton, Johannesburg.

Police spokesperson Neville Malila the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) was contacted to do further investigation in the matter.

“We condemn the incident. The VIP protection commander has immediately instituted an internal disciplinary investigation.”

In a statement, EWN said Toerien was filming from the pavement as the motorcade exited the driveway.

One of the security guards allegedly reached out of a black 4X4 window and told him to “voetsek” before slapping Toerien and shoving the video camera, pushing Toerien back.

The video on the website shows the camera move with the motorcade, then hooting can be heard and someone shouting “voetsek” followed by a shot of the ground.

As the camera continues filming the motorcade driving away, someone in the background asks: “Is the camera okay?”

Conduct condemned

EWN editor-in-chief Katy Katopodis condemned the VIP protection unit’s apparent conduct.

She said it was shocking that Zuma’s security appeared to believe they could act with such “impunity”.

“The president’s security detail needs to respect the rights of all its citizens,” said Katopodis.

National police commissioner Riah Phiyega’s spokesperson Solomon Makgale said he would issue a statement later.

The presidency confirmed that Zuma visited Mandela on Monday.

“The health of the former president remains much the same as it was when President Zuma last visited him, which is stable but critical, while Madiba continues to respond to treatment,” spokesperson Mac Maharaj said in a statement.

Maharaj referred all questions about the alleged assault to the police.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Going places as a Cabinet member can sometimes cost you your underwear, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has revealed.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question, tabled on Monday, she said the five-year-old ministerial car she inherited from her predecessor Buyelwa Sonjica was not the most reliable of vehicles.

“I had several breakdowns, to an extent that I had to give up my garment [stockings] to fix the car fan belt.”

Molewa was responding to a question posed by DA MP Ian Ollis.

In her reply, she indicated that she bought a new vehicle last year.

The old one, which required her stockings to keep it running, had by then “reached the allowed five years” and she could get another, in terms of Ministerial Handbook rules.

“This information is shared for purposes of [showing] the difficult times we undergo as ministers at times,” Molewa told Ollis.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The only survivor of a 2011 accident in which five joggers were mown down by an SUV driver did not see the accident, the North Guateng High Court in Pretoria heard on Monday.

Abegail Stengile was testifying in the trial of civil engineer Sibusiso Langa, 46, who has pleaded not guilty to five charges of murder, one of attempted murder and one of driving under the influence of alcohol.
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