Johannesburg – The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) has re-elected Pieter Mulder as its leader, the party said on Monday.

Mulder was unanimously re-elected at the party’s elective congress in Kempton Park on Saturday, spokesperson Wouter Wessels said in a statement.

The rest of the leadership consists of chair Pieter Groenewald, and executive members Anton Alberts, André Fourie, Corné Mulder, Jaco Mulder, and Wessels.

The re-election of the party’s leadership and the unity of the delegates showed the FF Plus was ready for next year’s general elections, said Wessels.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Two mayoral bodyguards accused of attempted murder appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

Thulasizwe Mbanjwa and Sthembiso Mokoena would be back in court on 12 December to decide if the NPA would proceed with prosecution, said KwaZulu-Natal NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson.

The two bodyguards allegedly shot at a motorist on the N3 last month while escorting Umgungundlovu district Mayor Yusuf Bhamjee.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Two men appeared in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court on Monday for possession of perlemoen worth an estimated R1m, Western Cape police said.

Thembazami Boyisi, 36, and Vusumzi Mongameli, 32, both from Strand, Cape Town, were arrested on 14 November while travelling on the N1 through Beaufort West to Johannesburg, said police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie.

About 6 648 perlemoen in 67 bags were found when police stopped and searched their car.

The two would appear in court again on 25 November for a bail application.

– SAPA

Mbombela – Bureaucracy has stalled a rail project aimed at making the notorious R573 Moloto Road in Mpumalanga safer, the DA said on Monday.

“The Moloto railway project was approved [years ago] but because of bureaucratic red tape they still have not implemented it while our people are dying,” DA Mpumalanga MPL James Masango said, a Sapa correspondent reported.

“They prioritise infrastructure that is not life threatening because it makes money for a few politicians.”

The project was initiated six years ago. More than 50 000 people commute to work along the narrow and potholed road using 600 buses daily.

Nearly 100 people had been killed and over 200 injured on the stretch of road between Siyabuswa and Pretoria since 2007.

This includes the 30 people killed in last Monday’s accident in which a truck drove into the back of a tipper truck, before colliding with a Putco bus and a bakkie near Kwaggafontein.

The Moloto Rail Development Corridor programme, a 140km rail link, was one of the “Big Five” flagship programmes approved by the provincial executive in 2006 to grow the regional economy.

Approved

In December 2007, the Mpumalanga roads and transport department announced that the Moloto programme would begin in January 2008.

At the time, spokesperson David Nkambule said the provincial executive council had approved the findings of an R11m feasibility study to develop both a road and rail link stretching from Mamelodi in Pretoria to Siyabuswa.

In March 2008, former head of national government communications Themba Maseko told Parliament the roads department was ready to start the project.

Jackson Mthembu, who was Mpumalanga roads and transport MEC at the time, said while presenting his 2008/09 budget to the legislature, that the first phase of the Moloto Rail Development Corridor was ready to be implemented.

“The primary section of the Moloto Rail Development Corridor is feasible in all respects and will be implemented as soon as possible. National Cabinet has approved the implementation of the project.

“The process of resettlement of the affected communities and the environmental impact assessment is expected to commence in the current financial year,” Mthembu said at the time.

Ongoing issue

In June this year, the national transport department said in a report: “The feasibility study on the Moloto Corridor was still noted as an ongoing issue and the rail policy would be developed with an interim rail economic regulator established.”

Parliament’s transport portfolio committee chair Ruth Bhengu said rail should be the backbone of transport in South Africa as it was a safer, more affordable, and faster option for transporting the public and goods.

On Sunday, hundreds of mourners, including Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, and ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte, attended a mass funeral service for those killed in last Monday’s accident.

Siblings Thuli, 17, and Mduduzi Masango, 13, broke down as their mother’s coffin was lowered into the grave in Matshiding village.

Thuli described the death of their mother Meisie Masango as “the worst pain I ever felt in my life”.

“You wouldn’t wish what happened to our family to happen to your worst enemy,” said Thuli.

She said their mother had been the family’s breadwinner. Four families decided not to participate in the mass funeral and buried their loved ones on Saturday.

Mabuza said the establishment of the Moloto railway line was long overdue but the national government would make an announcement soon.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Murder-accused Johannes Christiaan de Jager did not co-operate after his arrest, an investigating officer told the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

Captain Michael Volkwyn said he was a warrant officer at the time he arrested De Jager, at his workshop in Parow, Cape Town, on 3 June 2008.

De Jager is charged with the rape and murder of 18-year-old prostitute Hiltina Alexander, whose body was found in May that year.

He pleaded not guilty to both charges last week.

His version was that he met a man named Johan that weekend, picked up Alexander and brought her to Johan’s sister’s flat.

He said he did not have sex with her but drank with Johan. He claimed he never saw the two again.

Volkwyn testified he contacted De Jager a week after his release on bail.

“I made contact with the accused so he can show me the address where he says Johan stays. Unfortunately, I did not get any co-operation from the accused,” he testified.

“The two times I was at his mother’s house, he was not present. If I called him on his cellphone, he would tell me he has things to do and he cannot wait for me.”

Sakkie Maartens asked if his client knew the officer was planning to visit his mother. Volkwyn replied that he made arrangements with De Jager and told him he was on his way.

His two attempts took place over two days. Maartens asked if he tried to meet De Jager at his workshop after that. Volkwyn said he did not.

“After two attempts, you did nothing to get information about the flat out of him?” the lawyer asked.

Volkwyn conceded he did not make any further attempts. He also conceded that De Jager was prepared to show him the flat, but did not follow through.

Commander promoted

The court heard Volkwyn was acting branch commander at the time and used his initiative to take on the case, instead of assigning it to another officer.

He was promoted and had nothing to do with the case after September 2008.

Maartens commented that nothing was followed up from September that year until June 2011.

It was then that the Atlantis Regional Court instructed police officers to follow up on the flat, which resulted in De Jager pointing the dwelling out.

De Jager has also pleaded not guilty to killing Charmaine Mare, 18, who spent her holiday with him and his girlfriend in Kraaifontein, Cape Town, in January this year.

He said she lost her balance, hit the rim of a bath and never regained consciousness. He panicked and hid her body in a drain.

He pleaded guilty to cutting off her limbs to fit the torso in the drain, and to dumping the limbs in separate areas.

– SAPA

Pretoria – An Eersterust man who raped and murdered a neighbour and hid her half-naked body under his bed was not a violent man, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard on Monday.

“From the information available to me it appears that Jermaine [Marbles] was not a violent person, he was well liked and… the crimes were out of character,” clinical psychologist Suzette Heath testified.

“He did not show prominent anti-social behaviour. It is possible that while under the influence of drugs Jermaine lost control and could not tolerate any resistance and also could not remember what happened.”

Acting Judge Johan Kruger earlier this year found Marbles guilty of raping and murdering Novinia Groom, 18, at his grandmother’s house in August 2011. He was also convicted of raping and attempting to murder another young Eersterust woman in July 2010.

Police found Groom’s body, dressed only in a T-shirt with a sock stuffed in her mouth, under Marbles’s bed after Groom’s mother Valery insisted on searching his room.

Marbles was out on bail after being arrested for the first rape when he attacked Groom. The victim said Marbles attacked her in the early hours of the morning while she was walking home, choked her until she passed out, and violently raped her.

Marbles was linked to both crime scenes through DNA evidence but claimed he had consensual sex with both women.

Cruel and violent

Kruger described the attack on the two small, frail young victims as inhumanely cruel and violent and said the first victim was lucky to survive.

Heath testified that Marbles, 32, had been raised by his grandparents because his father never had a job and his mother abandoned him.

He was “slow” at school, but was good with his hands and managed to find a job as a welder, building a home for his wife and their newborn son. He, however, started to use drugs when his wife spent most of her time with their sick baby in hospital.

He briefly rehabilitated, but then his then 3-year-old son nearly drowned in a swimming pool. He started using again after the child came home from hospital with severe brain damage. He could not accept it when the boy died in 2009.

His divorce in 2010 and holding his dying brother in his arms after a stabbing during a street altercation in 2011 also affected him severely.

Depressive personality

Heath said Marbles had a depressive personality, felt inadequate and there was a strong possibility that he had seriously contemplated suicide.

Marbles admitted he had a drug problem for which he needed treatment, but there was no guarantee he would be able to resist falling back on drugs as a coping mechanism, Heath added.

Groom’s mother Valery said in a victim impact report she almost committed suicide after the death of her daughter.

She described the Marbles family as cold and heartless, as they never showed remorse for what their son had done.

Marbles’s surviving victim was a single mother, who was so traumatised by the attack that she lost her job and battled to cope or to trust anyone.

She said she would welcome some form of therapy, but could not afford it.

The State has asked for three life sentences. The defence argued there were mitigating factors which justified a lesser sentence.

Marbles will be sentenced on Wednesday.

– SAPA

Durban – The KwaZulu-Natal health department faces legal claims relating to medical negligence of at least R990m, the DA said on Monday.

This emerged in a written response to questions by the DA to Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo.

According to the response, signed by Dhlomo on 11 November and made public on Monday, the department listed legal claims totalling R992.2m for the 2012/13 financial year.

DA health spokesperson Makhosazana Mdlalose said almost R800m of the claims related to maternal health care.

“The sheer volume of claims raises serious concerns over the quality of medical care on offer to patients who are completely reliant on state health care,” said Mdlalose.

Claims totalling R100m were made against Durban’s Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital, a further R60m in claims were made against Durban’s King Edward VIII Hospital, and R40m were made against Durban’s Addington Hospital.

Mdlalose said claims against provincial hospitals in the previous financial period of 2011/12 amounted to R600m.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Cosatu’s national office bearers (NOBs) are under threat because they are seen as standing in the way of the achievement of some undefined objectives, president Sidumo Dlamini said on Monday.

“There is commitment to a war to remove some individuals who have been defined as enemies because they sit in the ANC NEC [African National Congress national executive committee] and in the SACP [SA Communist Party] central committee,” Dlamini said.
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Johannesburg – Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba has learnt nothing from the controversy around ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa’s “boers” comment, the FF Plus said on Monday.

The party was reacting to a report that Gigaba had warned people to vote next year to prevent “oppressors” from gaining control of the government.

“Apart from the fact that such a statement is not based on any substance of facts, it is also polarising,” Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) leader Pieter Mulder said in a statement.

“When a party’s excuses, such as those of the ANC, for the high levels of corruption and poor service delivery run out, the party falls back onto primitive scare tactics and statements such as those made by Mr Gigaba.”

The Star reported that Gigaba, who speaking in Ga-Mokgoba, near Tzaneen on Saturday, claimed that opposition parties would work together against the ruling party and try to halt economic transformation.

“If they [the public] do not register to vote, those who have oppressed us before and now claim that they love us will come back to rule this country,” he was quoted as saying.

Later, speaking at an ANC Youth League 69th anniversary lecture in Kgapane township, Modjadjiskloof, also in Limpopo, he repeated these sentiments.

Last week Ramaphosa reportedly warned Limpopo residents to vote or the “boers” would take back power.

Mulder said it was clear from these statements that the ANC was in deep trouble with its voters.

“This election should be about how we are going to improve the economic growth rate so that more job opportunities could be created in South Africa… as well as how the different groups in the country could live together in peace without feeling threatened.

– SAPA