Durban – Charges of intimidation and pointing a firearm were laid at the Melmoth police station after a mayor’s bodyguard allegedly attacked community members at a public meeting.

A fracas ensued, during which the bodyguard was attacked by members of the community. Mayor Maureen Ndlangamandla and her two bodyguards fled the hall and the meeting was disbanded.
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Cape Town – The City of Cape Town obtained a court interdict on Thursday preventing the city’s informal settlements’ organisation from holding a march, said mayor Patricia de Lille.

The march was scheduled to take place on Friday.

“I appeal to the organisers of the illegal protest to respect the court interdict,” said De Lille.

She said the order was obtained as a last resort, as she did not want to see a repetition of the disorder last month, when protesters claiming to be part of a service delivery demonstration looted shops and vendors’ stalls, and damaged property in central Cape Town.
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Zeerust – Three justice department employees appeared on a theft charge in the Zeerust Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, police said.

They and two alleged accomplices, who appeared on the same charge, were released on bail of R1000 each, said Brigadier Thulani Ngubane.

The case was postponed until February 14.

Ngubane said Precious Lerato Moitlobo, Isaac Mabaso, Denis Ntshole, Lerato Ikutlweng and a fifth person, whose name he could not provide, were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday. He could not say who the officials were.

The five allegedly worked together to steal R500 000 in child support grants from the department during 2010 and 2011.

He said the three officials were assigned to pay child support. One of their alleged accomplices worked for the health department as an emergency vehicle driver.

Sapa

Advocate Dali Mpofu couldn’t sleep with his “mother”, Winnie Mandela, Julius Malema told his supporters outside the Polokwane High Court today.

Malema was busy attacking the ANC and its leaders, saying they had “sold out” South Africans, when he turned to Winnie Mandela who, he said, “remains the only loyal cadre to the revolution”.

The alleged affair of Winnie Mandela and Mpofu in the early 1990s – which also reportedly contributed to her divorce from former president Nelson Mandela – has not been top of mind for some time, but Malema seemingly felt he had to set the record straight.
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Julius Malema said his party can be trusted by women and children as there was no “history of rape” in the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

In an indirect reference to President Jacob Zuma’s rape trial – in which the president was accused of raping a friend’s daughter but was later acquitted – Malema said those who have been accused of rape have no right to say they can protect women and children.

“Some people have history of rape and do not have the right to protect people from rape. We don’t have a history of being accused of rape and therefore women and children can trust us,” he said.
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The ANC Youth League has thrown its weight behind Stan Mathabatha as its preferred candidate to lead the ruling party in Limpopo, ahead of the provincial conference next month.

This is a boost to Mathabatha’s quest to lead the province after the elections, ahead of his contender, Dickson Masemola.

Things are not looking too bright for Masemola. Those aligned to him have lost the leadership race in three regions of the ANC in the province, with a fourth region said to have switched support to Mathabatha as well.

Masemola was education MEC when Limpopo found itself in the news with the textbook saga. Mathabatha moved him to another department and spared him the axe when he took over as premier and fired other MECs.
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Cape Town – While slain teenager Charmaine Mare had no internal genital injuries, sexual interference could not be excluded, the Western Cape High Court heard on Thursday.

Pathologist Dr Celeste de Vaal said Mare’s genitals were charred on the outside but the internal vaginal wall was not lacerated and there were no internal haemorrhages.

During the post-mortem at the Tygerberg mortuary on 15 January this year, she collected evidence for an adult sexual assault kit but the samples did not test positive for male DNA.

She was testifying in the trial of 48-year-old Johannes Christiaan de Jager, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering 16-year-old Mare in January.

He previously explained that he dismembered Mare’s corpse in a state of panic after an accidental fatal fall.

He stored her body in an upright foetal position in an outside drain at his home the same day.

He tried to retrieve her body two days later but struggled, so he cut her lower arms and legs off.

Mare’s torso was dumped and set alight at an open field in Kraaifontein.

Her lower legs and arms were found in separate locations and were in a state of decomposition but not burnt.

In May this year, the director of public prosecutions sent De Vaal a list of questions to establish the level and type of criminality involved.

Reading out one of her answers in court, De Vaal said proving sexual interference as per the new definition of sexual assault was extremely difficult.

“To prove sexual interference in a deceased, charred, and decomposing body is an even greater challenge,” she said.

“In the absence of any evidence at the autopsy, including the completion of the sexual assault evidence collection kit, sexual interference cannot be excluded in this case.”

Rape charge

Sakkie Maartens, for De Jager, said his client did not face a sexual assault or rape charge.

He put it on record that his client would deny that he, at any stage, had sex with Mare.

De Vaal testified that Mare’s torso was naked when it arrived at her lab.

“I did not receive a bra and top,” she said.

Romay van Rooyen, for the State, asked whether Mare had been wearing panties.

The pathologist said she had not.

Mare’s dismembered lower legs were clothed in dark blue tracksuit leggings.

The bones of her limbs appeared to be smooth and clean cut.

De Vaal was asked whether the bolt cutter, bush saw and tree trimmer seized from De Jager could have been used to cut the limbs.

“Any instrument that causes a clean cut, incised surface could have been used, as is the case with some of the mentioned instruments like the bolt cutter and tree trimmer,” she replied.

– SAPA

A Northern Cape man accused of raping a 6-week-old baby in Galeshewe appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, a court official said.

The matter was postponed to 12 December for a formal bail application.

The 24-year-old man allegedly raped the baby around 23:30 on Tuesday.

The Star reported that the man was the baby’s uncle.

The newspaper quoted Northern Cape health department spokesperson Lulu Mxekezo as saying the baby was in a critical but stable condition in Kimberley Hospital’s intensive care unit.

– SAPA

Cape Town – The ANC and DA on Thursday both claimed their performance in by-elections augured well for their showing in next year’s general election.

Polls were held in 22 municipal wards on Wednesday, prompted by either the death or resignation of councillors.

According to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the ANC won 17 of them, the DA five.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said on Thursday its victory in four of the five by-elections in that province was “a foretaste of what will happen in the upcoming general elections”.

Among the wards it won was ward two in Okhahlamba (Bergville) municipality, which was previously held by the National Freedom Party (NFP).

The ruling party took it with 42% of the votes cast in a 58% poll.

The only other ward out of the 22 contested to actually change hands was in the same province.

Ward 70 in eThekwini (Durban Metro) municipality was taken by the DA, going to the same councillor who had previously represented the Minority Front, but resigned.

Eastern Cape DA leader Athol Trollip praised his party’s performance in that region.

By-elections were held in wards 5 and 9 in Kouga (Humansdorp) municipality, Ward 2 in Mnquma (Butterworth) municipality, and Ward 13 in Nkonkobe (Alice) municipality.

The DA retained Ward 5 in Kouga, while the ANC kept control of the rest.

Trollip said the DA had shown “stunning growth” in Kouga’s Ward 9.

“We grew from 33% of the vote [in the 2011 local government election] to 44% of the vote, in the face of desperate intimidation by the ANC.”

The DA candidate in ward nine had obtained 44% of the vote.

“In Ward 2 in Mnquma the result was particularly exciting, where we grew from 8.7% of the vote to 21%,” he said.

Such growth showed the DA was on track to do well in the 2014 elections in the Eastern Cape, Trollip said.

The ANC in Gauteng said it was “very ecstatic” about its victories in the two wards contested in that province.

Ward 96 in Ekurhuleni (East Rand) municipality and Ward 12 in Emfuleni (Vereeniging) municipality were both retained by the ANC.

“The ANC win with big margins in the two wards shows that people have confidence in its ability to deliver beyond 2014. The opposition combined was heavily defeated with all getting shameful meagre votes,” it said in a statement.

“The people came out in large numbers to exercise their rights and to show the opposition that they do not represent the aspirations of the communities.”

Low turnout

According to results posted on the IEC’s website, voter turnout in both wards was relatively low, totalling 23% and 16% respectively.

DA Limpopo leader Jacques Smalle said the DA was making inroads into the ANC’s support base.

His party on Wednesday won the single by-election in the province, retaining Ward 8 in Modimolle (Nylstroom) municipality with 65% of the votes cast.

“The DA continues to grow in all communities across South Africa. The by-election results from across the country yesterday [Wednesday] show a similar trend: The DA retained all of its wards with increased majorities, and made inroads into the ANC support in every ANC ward we contested.”

In a statement on Thursday, the IEC said voter turnout for the by-elections had “varied between 69.11% and 15.12%, with an average of 32.59%”.

A total of 117 984 voters were registered in the 22 wards and 92 voting districts around the country where the by-elections took place.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Zimbabwean twins and a third man were arrested in connection with a robbery and a murder in central Johannesburg on Thursday, police said.

The twins were arrested on the corner of Leyds and Twist streets after their uncle told police they had committed a murder, said Warrant Officer Xoli Mbele.

They led police to an accomplice who was also taken into custody.

“The twins told their uncle that they wanted money to go to Zimbabwe because they have killed someone.”

Four men robbed and stabbed a 30-year-old man on the corner of Claim and De Villiers streets on Monday.

“He was stabbed once in the upper body and paramedics certified him dead on the scene.”

The robbers escaped with his cellphone and R40.

The arrested men, aged between 19 and 24, would appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court soon, said Mbele.

– SAPA