Johannesburg – Former President Nelson Mandela’s spirit is still strong even though he is sick, his daughter Makaziwe Mandela said on Tuesday.

“That spirit is still very, very strong, even if he is sick on his bed,” she said at the launch of the Nelson Mandela Opus in Johannesburg.

“The story of Tata’s life has to be repeated and told over and over again, so we don’t forget who we are.”

The opus is a publication chronicling the life and times of the anti-apartheid icon.

Iconic story

Opus Media CEO Karl Fowler said 50% of the book, which measured half-a-metre and weighed 37kg, was material that had not been seen before.

“An opus is about telling iconic and great stories, and hopefully telling the stories that have never been told before by using great photography.”

He said the Nelson Mandela Opus was the biggest opus the company had made and each book was hand-stitched.

“This story has to be told, it must be told,” Fowler said.

Also present at the launch, which was held at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, were Mandela’s wife Graça Machel, his grandson Ndaba Mandela, other members of the family, and Public Service Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Sisulu, who gave the keynote speech, pledged to make history compulsory in all schools.

“People are defined by where they come from… I pledge to all of you that in my position in government I will fight to make sure that history be made a compulsory subject so that children always understand who we are and what we have been through,” she said.

“This book [the opus] will be the first book to be taught in schools when I succeed.”

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Blue light driver Joseph Motsamai Semitjie ignored the safety of other road users when he hit teenage motorcyclist Thomas Ferreira, the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court ruled on Tuesday.

Semitjie, the driver of former Gauteng housing MEC Humphrey Mmemezi, was found guilty of negligent and reckless driving.

“The accused did not enter the intersection when it was safe to do so, and therefore failed to take due regard for the safety of others and himself,” said Magistrate Abdul Khan.

Ferreira collided with the BMW X5 Semitjie was driving when it skipped a red traffic light while on the left-hand side of the yellow line in Paardekraal Drive, Krugersdorp, on the West Rand, on Saturday, 5 November 2011.

Ferreira, who was 18-years-old at the time, suffered head injuries and was comatose for weeks.

Witnesses testified they did not hear a siren on the X5.

Khan said the court was satisfied with the witnesses’ testimony, and there was no reason why they would lie.

“The accused neglected to switch on the siren as per regulations governing the relevant Traffic Act. He did not make himself visible to other road users. He entered the intersection while other vehicles were moving.”

No assistance

Semitjie also did not offer any assistance to Ferreira, even though he had not suffered any visible injuries himself.

Instead, Semitjie was busy on his cellphone all the time, Khan said.

“He was able to assess himself and damages to the vehicle he was driving. No evidence presented showed that the accused was unable to assist the motorcyclist at the scene.”

Ferreira’s mother Priscilla said she was satisfied that justice had been served.

“Thomas could not testify and the court relied on witnesses who were on the scene to find out what happened. We have been hoping for justice through the law,” she said outside the courtroom.

It had been a difficult journey for the family and for her son, who would turn 21 in January, she said.

“Brain injuries have a lot of negativity and difficulty. It is still not an easy one for us.”

The matter was postponed to 13 March for sentencing procedures.

– SAPA

Pietermaritzburg – Senior police officer Lieutenant General Bethuel Zuma has succeeded in having two charges against him thrown out of court.

Magistrate Reard Abrahams ruled in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday that Zuma will not face charges of driving under the influence or defeating the ends of justice.

He will still face charges of failing to stop when ordered to, and of attempting to escape from custody.

Zuma’s counsel applied for the dropping of all charges against him last week, after the State wrapped up its case.

The court previously heard that, in 2008, Zuma drove through a roadblock, and when he was found, officers believed he was over the alcohol limit.

A portable breathalyser showed he was far over the legal limit, but when officers wanted to take him to their head office for a blood alcohol test, Zuma escaped.

He evaded an officer who tried to handcuff him, and could not be found until two hours after he went through the roadblock.

By then it was too late to subject him to a blood alcohol test that would stand up in court.

In his decision on Tuesday, Abrahams said there was no evidence that Zuma had consumed alcohol or that his faculties were impaired, despite testimony that Zuma’s breath smelt of alcohol.

On 31 August, Zuma was appointed as Gauteng’s new police commissioner, replacing Mzwandile Petros.

Hours later, he was removed from the post after it emerged that the criminal case against him was pending.

The case continues.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Cope’s former parliamentary national treasurer appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, Cape Town, on Tuesday.

Hilda Ndude, 58, was not asked to plead to 23 counts of fraud, six of money laundering, and one of theft.

With her in the dock was her personal assistant in Parliament, Irene Motha, facing three fraud charges. She was also not asked to plead.

Cited in the charge sheet as accused number three is the company Sithaba Holdings, of which Ndude was one of the two directors.

It is charged with three counts of money laundering.

According to the charge sheet, the Cope has two main sources of funding: Parliament, pro rata to the number of seats that Cope occupies in Parliament; and the Independent Electoral Commission. Both sources consist of taxpayers’ money and each have to have their own bank accounts.

Ndude was the principal signatory for both accounts, together with Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota.

According to the charge sheet, Ndude was Cope’s financial political head and, as the national treasurer, had to ensure the transparent management of the party’s affairs.

Prosecutor Zama Matayi alleges that she and Motha manipulated Cope’s electronic system to divert payments meant for suppliers into their own personal bank accounts, between April 2010 and May 2011.

At the request of defence attorneys Ed Booth, representing Ndude and Sithaba Holdings, and Legal Aid lawyer Hayley Lawrence, acting for Motha, the case was postponed to 3 February.

Both are out on warning.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A court case against six Mpumalanga teachers accused of stealing from their school’s feeding scheme did not go ahead on Tuesday, police said.

The case was expected to take place in the Standerton Magistrate’s Court.

Police spokesperson Leonard Hlathi said the senior prosecutor decided to have the case further investigated before a decision was made on whether to prosecute.

The teachers, from Gugulabasha Primary School in Sakhile, near Standerton, were arrested at the school on 27 November.

Police found groceries meant for the school’s feeding scheme in their cars.

Hlathi said the school was a non-fee school because the parents of most of the children were unemployed.

– SAPA

Pretoria – He was not the monster people claimed he was and never assaulted his wife or her 3-week old baby, a Pretoria man testified in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.

Christiaan (Chris) Oldewage said he could not explain how his stepson, 3-week-old baby Stiaan, sustained a fractured skull, 16 rib fractures, and multiple internal injuries which led to his death on 13 December 2011.

Oldewage’s wife Juanita was arrested with him, but committed suicide in August this year.

He said he thought the bruises on the baby’s head were from being scratched by a cat about a week before.

He later said in cross-examination the injuries were so severe his wife took the baby to hospital.

“The baby’s lips and eyes were swollen. I don’t know what caused it. Maybe he was allergic to the cat,” he said.

Oldewage said on the day before baby Stiaan’s death he had heard a “strange noise” in the baby’s cot.

He woke up his wife to get the baby to hospital, where CPR was started because the baby could not breathe.

He went home early that morning because his 12-year-old brother who was with him was tired. When he returned to the hospital he asked staff why the baby, who looked like he was sleeping, was so cold when he held him.

They told him the boy had already been dead for about half an hour.

“The baby was okay. He was a very good baby. He never cried a lot. I didn’t assault the baby under any circumstances. It is ridiculous to say that I did,” he said.

Oldewage admitted drinking too much after losing his job shortly after the baby’s death, but denied assaulting his wife or stepson.

Motive

In cross-examination by prosecutor Cornelia Harmzen, Oldewage said his wife gave the baby his last bath on the night before his death because he was fairly drunk and did not want to handle the child.

“It’s dangerous to handle a baby when you’re drunk,” he said.

Questioned by Judge Bert Bam, he said only he, his brother and wife had been at home that night. He did not think his brother had assaulted the baby, but it was possible that his wife did.

“There were serious injuries. A skull fracture, broke ribs, brain bleeding. Wouldn’t you have seen it?” Bam asked.

“When he went to sleep nothing was wrong with the baby. He was still quite happy,” Oldewage answered.

Harmzen put it to him that the motive for the murder was that he had a problem with the fact that the baby was not his.

Oldewage said he had accepted the child as his own and had often given it attention, for example playing “airplane” with him. He could not remember if he supported the baby’s neck while doing so.

Dr Christiaan van Wyk testified that the baby was blue and not breathing when he was admitted to hospital.

Doctors struggled in vain for four hours to save him. Van Wyk said he never seen such serious injuries, even in victims of car accidents.

The trial continues.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Four men have been robbed of their stokvel money outside a bank in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Tuesday.

Two men confronted Jabulani Mdlalose, 56, and three other members of a stokvel when they left a bank in the city centre on Monday, said police spokesperson Thulani Zwane.

“One of them placed a cloth on Mdlalose’s face and forced him to the ground,” he said.

The robbers took a plastic bag containing R140 300 from Mdlalose and fled in a car.

No arrests had been made.

A stokvel is a group savings scheme, usually run by trusted friends or co-workers, where members contribute a set amount each month and either one member gets the total each month to spend on a personal need, or it is invested and divided among members at an agreed time.

– 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

Johannesburg – The ANC accused Public Protector Thuli Madonsela of being “comfortable” with the leak of parts of her report into President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead, City Press reported on Tuesday.

The Mail & Guardian on Friday published extracts from the leaked document on the security upgrades at Zuma’s private home.
For more http://www.news24.com

By Obakeng Maje
Vryburg- Police apprehended a 26-year-old suspect on Sunsday at about 03:40am in Akacia Street, Colridge in Vryburg, North West police said.

“It is alleged that a 21-year-old man was stabbed in the chest on the back and wrist after an argument ensued between him and the suspect. The victim died on his way to hospital” colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.

A murder case has being investigated and the suspect is expected to appear in Vryburg Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_