Pietermaritzburg – A woman accused of murdering her 60-year-old alcoholic husband told the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday he was killed by hijackers who assaulted her.

Thenjiwa Ignatia Griffiths, 31, said one of the attackers tried to rape her near Colenso in January 2006.

She was testifying after Judge Rishi Seegobin refused an application for her discharge when the prosecution closed its case.

Seegobin said the State had established a prima facie case against her.

The State alleges that she arranged with two accomplices to kill her husband Alan.

It submitted that the attackers pretended to be hitchhikers near Colenso and that she got her husband to pick them up while on a trip from Johannesburg to her mother in Pietermaritzburg.

After he picked them up, they strangled him and he died of asphyxia.

The State alleges that he wanted to end their relationship and had obtained a protection order against her because she interfered with him and would not let him contact his family.

Griffiths claimed they were hijacked and became emotional when she said one of three hijackers made her strip.

However, she escaped. A motorist took her to the Estcourt police station, where she reported the hijacking.

She said she was taken to a room where she was left naked apart from a bra.

She said policemen came to look at her, not to interview or assist her, but to look at her naked. Eventually, a policewoman said she should be given clothes.

She was then taken to the Colenso police station.

The trial continues.

Sapa

Cape Town – Perceived levels of corruption in South Africa remain high, according to the 2013 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released on Tuesday.

Published by the global organisation Transparency International (TI), it ranks South Africa 72nd out of 177 countries, with a score of 42.

The CPI measures perceived levels of public sector corruption, ranking countries on a scale from 0 to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

Last year, South Africa scored 43.

Disturbing trend

According to TI’s website, all but five countries in the sub-Saharan region scored in the lower half of the 2013 global survey – measurements not fundamentally different to the year before.

“While [this] may give the impression of little progress, it is important to highlight that over the years, some governments have registered tangible results in relation to curbing corruption.

“In countries [such as] Cape Verde, Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana, and Seychelles, citizens have increasingly enjoyed daily lives with limited corruption, particularly in the administration and delivery of basic services.”

In a statement on Tuesday, local civil society organisation Corruption Watch (CW) said the CPI reflected a stable, but disturbing trend for South Africa.

Outrage

The country’s little-changed score could be attributed to the level of outrage expressed by the public in the form of service delivery protests and eagerness to report corruption to independent civil society-based organisations.

The perceptions were also indicative of a public that had become intolerant of the abuse of public resources, and was losing trust in political, public, and business leadership.

The statement quoted CW executive director David Lewis saying there were some signs of determined action by the government to combat corruption in the public sector.

“For example, the anti-corruption measures that the department of public service and administration is attempting to put in place are commendable.”

However, these actions were countered by the continuing impunity on the part of those who were politically and financially powerful.

Guptagate, Nkandla

“The Gupta wedding saga and on-going fiasco surrounding… President [Jacob Zuma’s] private Nkandla residence are indicators in the past year of impunity in operation.”

Lewis said the survey had established that perceptions of corruption in South Africa remained strong.

On the latest CPI, Denmark and New Zealand tied for first place with scores of 91. Afghanistan, North Korea, and Somalia made up the worst performers, scoring just eight points each.

TI said its index was based on the informed views of analysts, business people, and experts in countries around the world. It started compiling the CPI in 1993.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The ANC wants Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to release her report on the Nkandla security upgrade, party secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday.

“We are concerned with the regularity with which provisional reports from the office of the public protector are leaked… We get a debate going on before the report is released,” he told reporters in Johannesburg.
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Cape Town – A group of about 40 Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters are taking part in a protest outside Sanlam’s head office in Bellville, Cape Town.

It was unclear what the protest was about but Sanlam’s spokesperson Ainsley Moos told News24 that the company was asked to receive a memorandum from the group later on Tuesday.

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Johannesburg – It is most likely that the security cluster of ministers leaked the Nkandla report to the media, the EFF claimed on Tuesday.

“… It [leaking the report] benefits them in order to discredit the work of the public protector since it [the report] does not favour the president they so much fought to protect,” said Economic Freedom Fighters spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

The EFF condemned the ANC Youth League and the SA Communist Party for the quick insinuation that the provisional report was leaked by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.

“Inasmuch as the leaking of reports should be avoided, it is simplistic and irresponsible to immediately insinuate that the public protector is the first suspect.

“If the office of the public protector gives courtesy and prerogative to affected parties to peruse her findings and recommendations on contents she will be publishing anyway, it is unlikely that it benefits her to leak the report.”

SACP wants probe into leak

The ANCYL said on Monday it seemed Madonsela had leaked the provisional report on her investigation into the upgrade at President Jacob Zuma’s private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal to the media.

The SACP said on Sunday an investigation had to be launched into the leaking of the report under Madonsela’s watch.

The Mail & Guardian reported on Friday that the leaked provisional report revealed that Zuma had received substantial personal benefits from the over R206m upgrade at his homestead.

While government had stated that the upgrades were essential for Zuma’s security, the newspaper reported that Madonsela found it to include a swimming pool, visitors’ centre, amphitheatre, cattle kraal, marquee area, extensive paving, and new houses for relatives.

Madonsela’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi said on Friday it was unethical and unlawful to publish the public protector’s provisional reports.

“It violates section 7(2) of the Public Protector Act 23, 1994,” she said in a statement.

Discrediting Madonsela

Ndlozi said the security cluster would leak the report only because it could not stop it from being published, thus providing grounds to discredit the public protector and politicise a simple case of corruption and nepotism; crimes Zuma was allegedly committing against the people.

“The apologists’ calls for investigations are also trying to position Zuma as the innocent, poor victim, which is consistent with how the man has managed to avoid accounting for his actions and answering to serious allegations of corruption in the past,” he said.

Ndlozi said society should avoid buying into the propaganda that Zuma was being targeted, or that he was an innocent victim.

“These are mere attempts seeking to divert attention from the critical questions on the table; the idea that a man in the highest office has been embezzling public funds for personal gain.”

He said the public protector had to be given space and time to release her findings and recommendations on the Nkandla investigation.

“Society must be defended from any attempts to delay and discredit the legitimate right to hear how the president of the Republic used public funds to upgrade his home and then falsely and knowingly claimed that it is for security enhancement.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Eighteen men arrested in connection with a dog fighting syndicate appeared in the Tsakane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, the NSPCA said.

The matter was moved to the Nigel Regional Court, where they would appear again on 20 January, National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) deputy CEO Este Kotze said in a statement.

The NSPCA was pleased with the decision to transfer the case.

“This means that upon conviction, an individual may be sentenced to a fine not exceeding R300 000 or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 15 years.”

She said lawyers representing the accused had argued against the move.

– SAPA

A man has been arrested for shooting dead a 6-year-old girl in Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town, police said on Tuesday.

Police spokesperson Andre Traut said the man fired three shots, one of which killed the girl and wounded a 4-year-old boy in the leg in Lentegeur on Monday afternoon.

An 18-year-old was also wounded and was taken to hospital.

“The motive is unknown,” said Traut.

The 23-year-old man would appear soon in court.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A patient is thought to have committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of the Helen Joseph Tertiary Hospital in Westdene, Johannesburg, on Tuesday, the Gauteng health department said.

Hospital CEO Dr Raymond Billa said nurses last saw the patient around 05:30 on Tuesday as he was going to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later they noticed he had not returned to his bed. They opened the bathroom door and found the window open, Billa said.

“As hospital staff searched for the patient a cleaner saw a body lying on the ground floor and immediately alerted the nurses and security.”

Police were called to the scene.

The man was brought to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit on Saturday after he was believed to have drunk herbal medicine and excessive alcohol at home, spokesperson Simon Zwane said.

He was resuscitated and also treated for organophosphate poisoning.

On Monday he was moved to a medical ward from the hospital’s intensive care unit.

The health department instituted an investigation into the apparent suicide, Gauteng Health MEC Hope Papo said.

“This is a tragic incident that must be investigated in detail to provide us with full information about how it happened and whether it could have been prevented,” Papo said.

The patient’s family and staff would be offered counselling to help them deal with the trauma, Zwane said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A photographic portrait of former president Nelson Mandela has been sold for a about R2m, the charity 21 Icons SA Africa said on Tuesday.

The money raised would be donated to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital and the World Wildlife Fund.

The Mandela portrait was sold to a New York private art collector, who did not want to be named. The price was the highest ever fetched for a South African photograph.

“The portrait, by Adrian Steirn, depicts Nelson Mandela’s face reflected in a mirror and was the first of 21 signed portraits of iconic South Africans to be unveiled during the debut season of this three-year project.”

Photographer Steirn said Mandela’s pose in the portrait was intended to convey the 95-year-old former statesman reflecting on his life journey.

“As he reflects on his life, we reflect on his legacy and our future,” he said in a statement.

Portraits of retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former president FW De Klerk would be auctioned at an event in March 2014. The proceeds from these sales would be donated to charities chosen by those depicted in the portraits.

The art collector who bought the Mandela picture said: “In a single frame the photographer has captured the essence of dignity, principle, conviction and courage in this great man…”

The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital is being built in Johannesburg and is expected to open late next year.

Mandela’s granddaughter Swati Dlamini said: “To see this beautiful and moving portrait of our father and grandfather, [raise] such a significant sum for causes dear to him is heart-warming for our family.”

Earlier this year, Mandela spent almost three months in hospital for a recurring lung infection before being discharged on 1 September to continue receiving treatment at his home in Houghton.

– SAPA