Johannesburg – The Mpumalanga health department is in disarray and needs to be investigated, DA provincial leader James Masango said on Monday.

“We read in a local newspaper this morning [Monday] that patients were fed rotten meat at Embhuleni Hospital near Badplaas,” he said in a statement.

The health department had promised to investigate the claims but the DA remained doubtful.

“There has been a lot of cases of negligence and poor management reported and the department has always promised to investigate but at the end we don’t see the reports.”

Masango said claims included patients having to sleep in corridors and a lack of food in some hospitals, with patients having to bring their own food.

He said Premier David Mabuza had visited a few health facilities last year but conditions had not improved.

“Nothing has come of any of his promises, and the entire exercise was aimed purely to get rid of his political opponent and former health MEC Dr Clifford Mkasi,” Masango said.

The DA wrote to the SA Human Rights Commission last year asking for an investigation and was still waiting for the report.

Allegations

Mpumalanga health department spokesperson Ronnie Masilela confirmed there had been rotten meat at Embhuleni Hospital.

“The department came to know about these serious allegations late yesterday [Sunday] from the SABC. Upon verifying with the CEO, it was confirmed that the coolroom had problems.”

He said the hospital had extra fresh meat in its freezers.

“We are, therefore, not in a position to confirm whether our patients were served rotten meat. We are awaiting a comprehensive report which will assist in this regard.”

Masilela said the department had experienced food shortages in the past, but the problem lay with the service provider and had long been solved.

“We are passionately working on improving on staff attitude in some facilities. It, therefore, remains grossly incorrect to suggest that the state of health in Mpumalanga is in disarray,” he said.

– SAPA

Durban – A case in which Durban businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane is accused of interfering with witnesses was postponed to next year in the Pinetown Regional Court on Monday.

Mpisane, who is out on R50 000 bail, will now have to wait until 31 January to see if the State will proceed with the case against her.

It is one of three cases against her.

Mpisane, who is charged with defeating the ends of justice, is accused of contacting one of the witnesses expected to testify in her fraud trial in the Durban Regional Court.

Fraud case

The postponement was granted to await the outcome of representations made to the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in the matter of her fraud case.

Last month the Durban Regional Court granted the State a postponement to 31 January in that matter to allow newly appointed NDPP Mxolisi Nxasana time to consider representations made by Mpisane.

Mpisane is accused of inflating the invoices of her close corporation, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance, and Transport, by R4.7m in an attempt to cut her tax bill.

She is also accused of violating the Close Corporations Act by remaining Zikhulise’s sole member when she had a previous fraud conviction.

In July, Rafik Bhana SC, for Mpisane, accused the State of suppressing evidence and questioned prosecutor Meera Naidu’s conduct.

Bhana was granted permission and a postponement to make representations to then acting NDPP Nomgcobo Jiba.

Shortly afterwards Naidu was dropped from the case as well as the case in the Pinetown Regional Court.

Naidu had tried unsuccessfully to have the two cases joined.

Separate case

In a separate case before the Durban Commercial Crime Court, Mpisane faces 53 charges of fraud, forgery, and uttering of a forged document.

She is accused of submitting forged documents to obtain Construction Industry Development Board gradings which were then used to win five public works department tenders worth R140m.

That trial is set to start on 21 January.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Violence and abuse against women and children knows no class, race, or geographic divide, President Jacob Zuma said on Monday.

“No woman or child should be sexually harassed, beaten, raped, stabbed, shot, or attacked in any manner, anywhere in our country,” Zuma said in a statement to mark the launch of government’s campaign: 16 Days of No Violence against Women and Children.

“Those who commit such horrendous crimes have no place in our communities. They belong in jail.”

Zuma launched the campaign in Johannesburg and said this year violence against those with disabilities had been added.

Violence included sexual harassment, assault, rape and so-called corrective rape, domestic violence, and cultural practices harmful to women.

“Violence of this nature is barbaric, ferocious, and inhumane. It must be uprooted from our society. Let us use our laws to put an end to this scourge,” he said.

“Let us also use our human values of ubuntu as our weapon, and also our common resolve to build a caring society based on a strong human rights culture.”

Zuma said government was also sending a strong message to men in the country to isolate those who gave them a bad name and to join campaigns.

Violent attacks

Recent days, weeks, and months have been rife with examples of violence against women and children.

On Monday, a 17-year-old boy was arrested for the rape of a 4-year-old boy in Itsoseng near Lichtenburg, North West.

In other reports, a teacher accused of raping a 10-year-old pupil at a primary school in Mapetla, Soweto, appeared in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

On 12 November, the mother of a 7-month-old baby who was found dead and mutilated in a shack in Diepsloot, and her boyfriend, were arrested.

In October, the bodies of 2-year-old Yonelisa Mali and her cousin Zandile Mali, 3, were found in a toilet cubicle. Five men were arrested and charged with rape and murder.

Sex courts

Meanwhile, convicted rapist and murderer Johannes Kana was handed two life sentences by the Swellendam Circuit Court on 1 November for the rape and murder of Anene Booysen in Bredasdorp.

Booysen was raped and disembowelled and died in Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, on the afternoon of Saturday, 2 February.

Launching the campaign, Zuma said the first phase of upgrading 57 regional courts into Sexual Offences Courts had begun.

He said progress had also been made in implementing the National Register for Sex Offenders.

The number of convicted sexual offenders increased from 2 792 in March 2013 to 11 418 names on 31 October.

The abuse of women and children was in some instances entrenched by the dire economic situation of most women, and it was important for women to obtain appropriate skills and opportunities to obtain jobs, Zuma said.

– SAPA

Pretoria – Former Nigerian olympic athlete Ambrose Monye and businessman Andre Gouws were found guilty by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday of the contract murder of Chanelle Henning.

Henning had just dropped her son off at his crèche in Faerie Glen, Pretoria, when she was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle on 8 November 2011.

She was at the time involved in a custody battle with her former husband, Nico, who was a close friend of Gouws.

Former police member Gerhardus du Plessis and his friend Willem Pieterse are serving 18-year prison sentences after confessing to the murder.

Judge Johan Kruger accepted their evidence that Monye and Gouws had arranged the murder.

He said Monye and Gouws’s claim that Du Plessis and Pieterse had acted on their own was not reasonably possibly true.

Kruger said their versions that the two killers had been employed either as bouncers or to do surveillance on Henning in an attempt to catch her with drugs were “concocted afterthoughts” designed to hide their own complicity in the murder.

He said Henning’s murder was a “classic contract killing” with Du Plessis and Pieterse as instruments who carried out the hit on the instructions of Monye and Gouws.

He found that Gouws wanted Henning killed and had asked Monye to obtain the services of two men willing to do the job.

Gouws had agreed to pay Monye, who in turn obtained the services of Pieterse and later Du Plessis.

Gouws was the instigator of the murder and Monye supplied the people to do the job.

Monye had informed Du Plessis and Pieterse of the job and Gouws had provided the information about the victim that was necessary to complete it.

Do the job

Monye’s conduct up to the murder was that of a person who was not only aware of the plan, but of someone who had actively participated in the plot to kill.

Kruger said without Gouws’s involvement, Monye would have had no reason, motive or even the necessary information to arrange the murder.

All the participants were aware of the purpose of Du Plessis and Pieterse’s introduction to Gouws, who showed the two killers where the murder had to be committed.

After a failed attempt on 3 November because the killers lacked the necessary information, Monye had arranged a meeting between them and Gouws so that Gouws could give them more information.

Monye had urged the two killers to “go and do the job”, which confirmed that he had fully associated himself with their objective.

At this meeting Gouws spoke to Nico Henning and found out that Chanelle’s child would be with her for the weekend, which was why the murder was arranged for the Monday as Gouws did not want her killed in front of her child.

Pieterse left to do the job alone on the morning of 7 November after Du Plessis withdrew, but Du Plessis changed his mind after Monye threatened to kill his family and even his dog.

Immediately after the murder on 8 November, Pieterse had informed Monye, who in turn informed Gouws.

Kruger found that Monye referred to Du Plessis after the murder as “killer boy” and roped in the services of one of his security guards to pay part of the payment he received from Gouws into his bank account.

He said despite Monye and Gouws’s knowledge of the murder, both failed to inform the police due to their own complicity in planning and executing the murder.

Charges merged

“If ever there had been a case where direct intent existed, this is such a case,” said Kruger.

He said it would be wrong to find the two guilty of conspiracy to murder as well, as the charges of conspiracy and murder merged.

He also found Gouws and Monye not guilty of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition as the State could not prove that either had ever been in possession of the murder weapon.

Kruger made it clear that he did not want to comment on Nico Henning’s possible involvement in the murder.

“Nico Henning was not an accused, nor did he testify… He had no opportunity to respond to or to explain any of the allegations against him.

“Fairness dictates that I shall not try a man in his absence,” he said.

Chanelle’s mother Sharon Saincic said the matter was not over as “the man behind the whole thing” was not in front of court.

“Andre Gouws did not act on his own. We know that,” she said.

Saincic said she was satisfied that two huge criminals had been removed from the street and that a lot of other people’s lives would at least be spared, even if it would not bring back her daughter.

Sentencing proceedings will start on Wednesday.

– SAPA

Radovan Krejcir (Picture: AP)

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Johannesburg – Czech businessman Radovan Krejcir’s lawyer says his client is in need of serious medical attention.

This comes after the South Gauteng High Court on Monday ruled that Krejcir be moved from prison to a medical facility.

“We will see to it that the order is implemented immediately,” said Krejcir’s attorney Ulrich Roux.

Krejcir’s lawyers wanted him moved from prison to hospital amid claims that he was assaulted and tasered following his arrest on Friday.

The respondents [Minister of Police] and others were ordered to pay the costs of the application.

Renal failure

“I find the said expert [Krejcir’s doctor] is credible. He has provided more than enough evidence,” said Judge Ramarumo Monama.

“I therefore find him a reliable witness.”

Monama heard testimony from Krejcir’s doctor, a state doctor, and a police official on Sunday night.

Krejcir’s doctor, who cannot be named for security reasons, recommended that Krejcir be hospitalised.

He said Krejcir could face renal failure if he did not get medical attention. The doctor said the injuries suffered by Krejcir were consistent with those of someone who been assaulted.

The State also called its own doctor who claimed he had observed injuries on Krejcir wrists, which could have been caused by the handcuffs.

Monama said the approach of the State in this case was “unfortunate”.

“They concentrated mostly on the peripheral issues,” said the judge.

“The issue in this application is not to determine whether the applicant was assaulted or not.”

He said that would be up to the investigators. The issue was whether he required urgent medical attention.

Krejcir had the right, according to the Constitution, to human dignity and medical treatment.

“I find the applicant has a proper case,” said Monama.

Earlier, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate said it was investigating Krejcir’s assault claims.

– SAPA

Marikana-Human Settlements Public Safety and Liaison MEC Nono Maloyi has sent his heartfelt condolences to the family of a woman who passed on following an accident which happened this morning on the Mooinooi off ramp on the N4 near Marikana. MEC Maloyi expressed concern over the number accidents which continue to happen on our provincial roads and further called on motorists to rest every two hours or every 200 kilometres.

“According to preliminary reports by traffic officials, it is alleged that fatigue had been identified as the main course of the accident this morning. About 32 people were seriously injured when a truck collided with a bus faring members of the Zion Christian Church from Botswana to Limpopo; it is alleged that the truck driver immediately fled the scene with truck keys and police are still investigating the matter. Most of the casualties have been hospitalized at Dr George Mokhari hospital in Garankuwa. A case of culpable homicide has been open” departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said.

Meanwhile, about 14 motorists were arrested by traffic officials in Bapong outside Brits over the weekend for driving under the influence of alcohol. MEC Maloyi commended the traffic officials for the arrests and further encouraged them to work around the clock in making sure that provincial roads are accident free and lives are saved.-TDN

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Durban – Two people were killed and 18 others injured when a train hit a minibus taxi on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, paramedics said on Monday.

“A minibus had left the roadway and plunged down an embankment and landed on a railway track. The minibus was then struck by a train,” Netcare 911 spokesperson Santi Steinmann said.

The accident happened on Sunday night on the N2 north bound at the Shakas Rock off-ramp.

“Two people tragically lost their lives, two people were found in a critical condition and 16 people sustained serious injuries.”

“The injured people were treated on scene before they were transported to hospital for further medical care,” said Steinmann.

– SAPA

Port Elizabeth – Uniondale residents protested outside court on Monday ahead of the appearance of a man accused of raping and killing an 8-year-old girl, SABC radio news reported.

The 31-year-old man was expected to appear in the Uniondale Magistrate’s Court in the southern Cape.

Community members protested outside court, saying they were sick and tired of crimes against children.

The protesters called for the death penalty to be reinstated and claimed that the man was a repeat offender, SABC reported.

Shafeeka Baartman was found with a scarf around her neck, and her legs tied with clothing at a house on Friday night, Captain Bernadine Steyn said at the weekend.

Earlier in the day, the girl was sent by her mother to a friend’s house to fetch money.

“On her way to the house [a] suspect approached her on foot and took her to his house… where he allegedly raped and murdered her,” said Steyn.

The suspect was arrested on a farm outside Uniondale on Saturday.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Four mineworkers are trapped in a mine near Robertville on the West Rand, paramedics said on Monday.

“Paramedics and rescue workers are currently on the scene where a mine shaft apparently collapsed, trapping the workers,” ER24 spokesperson Christo Venter said.

“It is believed that the workers had been trapped for three days already but this stands to be confirmed.”

He said paramedics could hear the trapped workers and were talking to them but could not reach them.

No further details were available.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Monday dismissed allegations that the security cluster of ministers was suppressing the media over Nkandla.

“There wouldn’t be any suppression of the media. I think some people in the media are playing dumb,” he said at a breakfast briefing in Midrand hosted by The New Age.

The Minister said pictures of President Jacob Zuma’s private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal had been in the media for some time.

“You can’t come now and say people shouldn’t take pictures.”

Overstepping the mark

He said they were against the media overstepping the mark and disclosing security features of the president’s home.

“You will never find that anywhere in the world. We are saying it cannot be done in South Africa, even in your oldest democracy such things are not done.”

Mthethwa said even visitors to the US White House in Washington saw only what security allowed them to see.

Several newspapers printed photographs of the Nkandla residence on Friday after a warning by State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele that it was illegal to do so.

Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) acting CEO Phumla William said publishing security features of Nkandla could obviously pose a threat and risk to the personal safety of the head of state.

She urged the media to take a responsible stance by not publishing “any security features of National Key Points” that could compromise national safety.

– SAPA