Pretoria – Mechanical engineer Sibusiso Langa, who is accused of killing a group of joggers in Midrand, tried to leave the scene of the accident, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Monday.

Doctor Zulu was testifying in the trial of 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.

“He climbed back into his Mercedes and then tried to start it. He could not get it started,” Zulu told the court.

“A tow vehicle arrived at the scene and stopped next to him. The doors of the truck were standing open and the driver of the Mercedes then tried to get into the tow truck.

“I alerted the driver of the truck who rushed to his truck and removed the keys,” he said.

Zulu said Langa walked away from the scene when the metro police arrived, and they had to chase after him in their car to bring him back.

Reneilwe Lesenyeho, 31, Gaolojwe Isaac Tlale, 37, Moroesi Margeret Mokoatsi, 35, Given Mills, 30, and Nomvula Regina Dumako, 35, died and Abegail Stengile nearly died when Langa allegedly hit them while they were jogging on the gravel next to Lever Road, in Midrand, on October 22, 2011.

Trevor du Toit told the court he saw a man in a Mercedes-Benz driving erratically near Lever Road that morning.

While fiddling with something in his car, the driver crossed the yellow line and, at one stage, stopped in the middle of an intersection at a red light.

Zulu testified that six joggers passed him while he was walking to work early that morning.

They were jogging on the gravel next to the road when he heard a car approaching at speed.

“When the vehicle approached the corner, the driver couldn’t control it. It drove straight at the people and it drove into those people and knocked them down,” he told the court.

“As the vehicle ploughed into them I saw them being thrown into the air and dropping down.

“Five of those people died as a result. He knocked down the five almost at the same time.

“I immediately tried to call the police or an ambulance. The driver of the vehicle alighted and went to check the vehicle in the front.

“I asked him why didn’t he assist the lady who was crying… Why kill people in this manner in front of me?

“His response was that these people’s behaviour surprised him.”

Zulu said Langa’s trousers were wet in front, but that he had no injuries and appeared to be either drunk or sleepy.

He testified that he had seen the accident clearly, that the joggers were not in the road when they were hit and that no other car was involved.

Accident investigator Johannes van Loggerenberg testified that he saw a sock still stuck to the vehicle, which had human remains and blood on its right side and roof.

It was clear from the damage to the vehicle that there had been a severe impact.

Langa did not have any visible injuries, but his eyes were bloodshot, he looked sleepy and there was a strong smell of alcohol on his breath.

Johannesburg metro police officer Sibongile Makhubela, who chased after Langa as he was leaving the scene, testified that she asked him why he had driven over those people.

“He told me they were in the way.

“He was unsteady on his feet… He was slurring his words. His eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelled of alcohol,” she said.

Langa’s advocate Richard Mkhabela put it to her that Langa was “not that drunk”, because he was able to hand over his identity document.

The trial continues.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Four men are still at large after escaping from a truck transporting them to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court in October, said police on Monday.

“Police were transporting suspects from Johannesburg prison to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court,” said Warrant officer Xoli Mbele.

He said the men broke a window and jumped out of the truck near Westgate railway station.

Two are Mozambican nationals, one a Zimbabwean and the other a South African. Their charges range from murder, robbery to housebreaking.

Police are searching for the men.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Thirteen people accused of being involved in illegal dog fighting on the East Rand were denied bail by the Tsakane Magistrate’s Court on Monday, the NSPCA said.

“The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) applauds the decision,” said senior inspector Jaco Pieterse.

Fourteen pitbulls were rescued in the raid in Tsakane and 18 were people arrested. Police released five of them.

“We are saddened that eight of the remaining dogs removed during the NSPCA dog fighting bust last week Sunday had to be euthanised by a veterinarian due to the seriousness and extent of their injuries and suffering,” said Pieterse.

Sapa

Johannesburg – The family of Diepsloot toddlers Yonelisa and Zandile Mali killed last month have expressed shocked over the death of a baby in the same area.

“We are surprised about (the child’s death) because we thought all this was over when they arrested that man but it’s still continuing,” the toddlers’ grandmother Vinah Mali said in Xhosa on Monday.
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CApe Town – Farmworkers set a truck alight in Wellington on Monday, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said about 120 workers at Sandrivier estate prevented other workers from entering the premises and burned the vehicle and a piece of field on the farm.

No orchards were damaged.

He said police were deployed to prevent more damage and the workers were escorted to an open field.

Twelve people were arrested on charges of public violence and malicious damage to property.

No injuries were reported and no shots were fired.

Agri Wes-Cape spokeswoman Porchia Adams said the workers were seasonal and had been taking part in an unprotected strike on the farms of the JC Le Roux group, in Paarl, Wellington and Piketberg.

Sapa

Harrismith – The adopted son of a Free State dominee pleaded guilty to his murder when he appeared in the Harrismith Circuit Court on Monday, Free State police said.

Martin Brits, 28, and Elliot Mhlambi, 41, both pleaded guilty to killing Dutch Reformed Church Rev Willem Brits, 60, in Harrismith, on the evening of Thursday, November 8 last year.

Brits’s future son-in-law Gerhard Vermeulen, 25, was also killed in the attack. His wife Dorothea, 59, was seriously wounded.

“The men pleaded guilty through… statements that were read in court,” said Sergeant Mmako Mophiring.

He said they could be sentenced sooner than expected because of the guilty plea.

“The trial is due to continue until next week Friday, but because of the plea a sentence could be handed down as early as Friday,” he said.

The men were expected to take the stand on Tuesday.

Brits faced two charges of murder, one of attempted murder and one of robbery. Mhlambi faced additional charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

Sapa

Mossel Bay – A man was arrested in Uniondale on Monday for possession of dagga with an estimated street value of R2.6 million, Western Cape police said.

The dagga, weighing about 2.6 tons, was found concealed in 73 bags inside a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, which was stopped and searched by the highway patrol on the road between Oudtshoorn and Uniondale, said Captain Malcolm Pojie.

He said the dagga was believed to have been destined for distribution in the Cape Peninsula.

The 49-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man would appear in the Uniondale Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Sapa

Two teenage boys drowned in a quarry in Wolmaransstad, North West police said on Monday.

Four boys went swimming in the quarry near a dumping site on Sunday when two of them got into difficulties, said Sergeant Kealeboga Molale.

The two other boys managed to get out of the water and alerted police.

Andries Masilo and Adam Mpisa were certified dead on the scene.

An inquest docket had been opened. – Sapa

Durban – Police were called to a Durban high school on Monday when six SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) representatives demanded to speak to their four members at the school.

“It was a small group. They wanted to speak to their members,” Captain Thulane Zwane said.

He could not say what prompted Westville Boys High School to call police, or why the Sadtu representatives wanted to see their members.

Chairman of the school’s governing body, Chris Bruorton, said: “Six representatives of the local branch of Sadtu arrived at the school this morning without appointment and asked to see four of our teachers.

“The group of visiting Sadtu representatives were told that they could not meet any teachers during teaching time, which is entirely reasonable,” he said in a statement on Monday.

He said the representatives arrived at the school while the Grade 12 class was writing matric exams.

Bruorton said: “The visiting group was told that they should contact the district office of the education department, and that they could schedule a meeting with their four members at a mutually agreeable time, and they then left.”

The school recently made headlines when three T-shirts designed by the matric art class, bearing slogans poking fun at the African National Congress, went on display at the local Westville Village Market mall in Durban.

The shirts bore the faces of President Jacob Zuma, former president Nelson Mandela and ANC national executive committee member and former police commissioner Bheki Cele. On one shirt the ANC leaders were referred to as “fakers since 1994”.

The T-shirts were removed as soon as a complaint was received. They had been produced as part of the visual arts curriculum, an aspect of which focused on social commentary.

Attempts to obtain comment from Sadtu’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi were unsuccessful.

Provincial education spokesman Bhekisisa Mncube said the department had not been able to contact Sadtu.

“We are therefore unable to comment at this stage until the affected school furnishes us with a report if they so desire.”

Sapa

Durban – A KwaZulu-Natal postman who was mauled by three boerboels while on duty earlier this year has received an unwelcome surprise in the mail – a medical bill for R51 000.

Mandla Kunene, 42, said he was shocked because he had thought his employer, the SA Post Office, had settled the bill as it had allegedly undertaken to do.
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