Pretoria – The Mail&Guardian centre for investigative journalism has taken Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi to court over Nkandla-related documents.

It claims not all the documents pertaining to the R210 million upgrade of President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead have been revealed.

The centre is seeking an order to force Nxesi and the public works director general to give it access to all records in the department’s possession relating to the work done at Nkandla and its financial implications.
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While EFF’s emotive rhetoric may strike a chord among young voters, non-registration is certain to nullify its effects, says Collette Schulz-Herzenberg.

Cape Town – One of the most interesting aspects of any election is the arrival of a newcomer to the political scene.
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Johannesburg – The partly burnt body of an 8-year-old boy was found in a field in the Ramaphosa informal settlement on the East Rand, police said on Tuesday.

“The boy was found dead with socks stuffed in his mouth and a used condom was found next to his body,” said police spokesperson Tsekiso Mofokeng.

The 8-year-old was reported missing on Monday at the Reiger Park police station.

He was last seen on Sunday evening playing with friends in the area.

His body was found on Monday afternoon by a man walking past the field in Ramaphosa.

He alerted the police.

“The body matched the description of the boy who was reported missing earlier on Monday,” Mofokeng said.

A case of rape and murder had been opened.

No arrests had been made.

The police appealed for any information that could help them find the perpetrator.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Legal Aid SA will challenge a court ruling compelling it to fund the legal representation of injured and arrested Marikana miners, CEO Vidhu Vedalankar said on Tuesday.

“We stand by our view that the judgment will have an effect on the sustainability of the organisation in providing access to justice in criminal and civil legal aid matters for the poor and vulnerable.”

Vedalankar said the organisation had been advised that the legal team representing the miners at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry would make an application for an order compelling it to comply with the high court’s order.

Legal Aid SA would not oppose the order to fund the miners pending the finalisation of the appeal process, she said.

In October, Vedalankar told Parliament Legal Aid SA would need R17m to honour the court’s judgment.

“The new total of our exposure in Marikana is R17m if we take into account the judgment,” Vedalankar told Parliament’s portfolio committee on justice.

On 14 October, Judge Tati Makgoka of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria set aside Legal Aid SA’s refusal to pay for representation for miners.

He ordered it to take immediate steps to provide legal funding for their participation before the commission, and also to pay their costs.

R17m required

Vedalankar said that so far Legal Aid SA had spent R2m representing the families of the miners, who died last year when police opened fire on striking workers at the platinum mine.

The required amount of R17m would cover the extended representation until the end of the current financial year, she said.

The organisation would have to scale back on its support to others who needed legal representation, because it did not have the additional funding for Marikana in its R1.4bn budget.

“We don’t have that money, so we will have to cut back on some of the other items.”

It was briefing the committee on its annual report.

The inquiry is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest at Lonmin Platinum’s operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg in North West last year.

The police shot dead 34 people, mostly striking workers, wounded 70, and arrested 250 on 16 August 2012.

In the preceding week, 10 people died, including two policemen and two security guards.

– SAPA

Cape Town – The testimonies of a security guard and handyman, who claimed to have had the last contact with acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, were questioned by the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.

Judge John Murphy said the handyman changed the times that he apparently saw Maqubela in the basement of his complex the morning of his death in 2009.
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Johannesburg – Cosatu and the Young Communist League of SA (YCLSA) expressed support on Tuesday for the government’s policy on Israel.

The Cosatu said it had always encouraged and supported a stronger position regarding South Africa’s relations with Israel.
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Cape Town – A two-pronged probe into allegations of torture at Mangaung prison will be completed in the next two weeks, MPs heard on Tuesday.

Two investigations were running concurrently, acting correctional services director general Nontsikelelo Jolingana told Parliament’s correctional services portfolio committee.

Under investigation were allegations that inmates at the privately-run maximum security centre were forcibly injected with anti-psychotic medication and electro-shocked to subdue and control them.

“We are having an investigation that is looking at healthcare issues, and we are also having an investigation that is looking at security issues,” Jolingana said.

The probe into healthcare issues would cover the alleged torture of inmates.

“We are expecting the healthcare investigation report to be submitted to us on the eighth of this month, and the one that is covering broader security issues to be submitted to us on 15 November,” she said.

Private security company G4S, which operated the prison, and has denied the torture claims.

G4S has a 20% stake in the Bloemfontein Corrections Consortium, which was awarded a 25-year contract to run the prison from 2000 to 2025.

On 9 October, prior to the torture allegations surfacing, the correctional services department took over the running of the facility, Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, who was also present at the briefing, told MPs.

In terms of the Correctional Services Act, the department could appoint one of its senior officials to run a public-private partnership (PPP) centre if the contractor had lost, or was likely to lose, control of such a facility.

This was, at present, only a temporary arrangement. The facility had been plagued by controversy following prison riots, stabbings, and a hostage situation.

“This PPP experiment seems to be showing that the desired results are not being realised, and [the department] will continue to engage all affected parties,” Ndebele said.

DA MP James Selfe questioned department officials on why they did not have a handle on the situation before taking over the running of the centre.

“The [Correctional Services] Act makes provision for a controller, a person from [the department], who is… supposed to maintain oversight over the way the prison is run on behalf of the department.

“I want to know what this controller was doing, because these things were happening in the prison [and] nobody in [the department] apparently knew about it,” Selfe said.

Jolingana confirmed that the department’s controller was under investigation.

“Indeed, the controller was supposed to inform the department, and as these incidents are coming to the fore we realised there are things the controller was supposed to do that were not done,” she said.

Treatment of inmates

African National Congress MP Miriam Phaliso expressed disgust at the treatment of inmates at both Mangaung and the country’s other privately-run facility, Kutama Sinthumula prison in Limpopo.

Phaliso said there was a disturbing incident MPs encountered while visiting prisons in Limpopo, and to which the department had not responded.

“What was the outcome of that investigation of an inmate that was pulled with his private parts like a dog you pull with a rope on the neck? How will you rehabilitate this person if you are pulling him with his private parts?”

The department had no response to the incident.

Phaliso said the visit to Mangaung prior to the department taking control of the facility was equally disturbing, because of the attitude of a G4S manager who was apparently against MPs conducting an oversight visit.

“He made even made us understand this is our space, it’s not in Parliament. He said that to us,” Phaliso said.

She said MPs would not back down from oversight visits, because the privately-run prisons were funded with taxpayers’ money.

Phaliso said the PPPs posed a huge risk.

Money was being spent on the private prisons, which could have been spent on improving appalling conditions at other jails in the country.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A clinic has been set on fire by people pretending to be protesters in the Zenzele informal settlement, Randfontein on the West Rand, the Gauteng health department said on Tuesday.

The clinic with four consulting rooms services was torched on Monday, said spokesperson Simon Zwane.

The facility which is in Ward 12 reached more than 1 300 patients per month.

“The clinic was housed in four containers of which three of these have been burnt down completely by criminals masquerading as service delivery protesters.”

Medication, patients’ files and equipment including a computer were damaged.

Zwane said the staff would be temporarily allocated to different facilities within Randfontein.

Community members were urged to use other nearby clinics.

Gauteng health MEC Hope Papo condemned the burning of the clinic.

“We cannot allow a situation where the lives of the sick are endangered and essential services such as medical care are disrupted as the result of such a criminal acts.”

Papo called on the community to expose those responsible so they would face the consequences for their actions.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A complaint about a Jonathan “Zapiro” Shapiro cartoon in the Sunday Times depicting the Hindu god of success, Lord Ganesha, was dismissed on Tuesday.

Press Ombudsman Johan Retief gave the newspaper the benefit of the doubt for exercising its right to freedom of expression.
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Johannesburg – A Meyerton police reservist was arrested on Tuesday in connection with business robberies, said Gauteng police.

“He is one of the seven suspects who were arrested for six business robberies,” said police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini.

Robbers had targeted U-Save businesses in Evaton West and Evaton Central, near Vereeniging, from June this year, he said.

The seven were arrested during a raid in Drieziek, Orange Farm, on Tuesday, in which police also seized an R5, a pistol, a toy gun, and a police uniform.

They would appear in the Sebokeng Magistrate’s Court within 48-hours.

– SAPA