Potchefstroom-A 40 year-old motorcyclist sustained a back injury after almost being crushed by two passenger vehicles late yesterday afternoon in Albert Luthuli Drive, Potchefstroom.

“According to witnesses, the biker had stopped behind another vehicle at an intersection, when a second vehicle crashed into him from behind, almost trapping him between the vehicles” Er24 spokesperson Christo Venter said.

During the collision the biker had fallen from his motorbike and ended up underneath one of the cars, injuring his back in the process.

“He was stabilised and transported to Mediclinic, Potchefstroom for further medical treatment” outlines Venter.-TDN

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(Edited By Obakeng Maje)

Johannesburg-The Amakhosi were drawn against Namibian giants Black Africa FC in the opening qualifying round, set for 7-9 February, with the return leg scheduled for 14 to 16 February,Kaizer Chiefs official website reported. 

“The winner will face either Madagascar champions CNAPS or Liga Muculmana of Mozambique in the next stage of the tournament. The South African Champions are part of the 52 clubs that have entered for next year’s competition” Kaizer Chiefs spokesperson Vina Maphosa told Chiefs website. 

The draw for the club competition was staged on Monday, 16 December in Marrakech, Morocco. 

The Round of 16 matches will be played between February 28 and March 9, while the final qualifying-round matches are scheduled for March 21-30. 

“Several past winners of Africa’s foremost club competition – Zamalek, Enyimba and Raja Casablanca – will be involved in the preliminary rounds”. 

Chiefs will be going into the CAF Championship at the back of their past Continental experience when they became the first South African club to lift the trophy that carries the name of the late Icon Nelson Mandela, when they won the African Cup Winners’ Cup in 2001.-TDN

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Johannesburg – Five opposition parties have formed a coalition to contest the general elections next year, they announced on Tuesday.

The new Collective for Democracy consists of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Congress of the People (Cope), the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and the United Christian Democratic Party.

“The political dynamics have now changed as the diversity of South Africa is now represented effectively in our Collective for Democracy [CD],” chair Mosiuoa Lekota, also leader of Cope, said.

“We now have an opportunity to bring voters the hope of actual political change instead of giving up on alternatives because the ruling party has cynically manoeuvred its way into all sectors of our society, entrenching its power and corruption.”

The parties said they would work to advance democracy and contest the general election with a view to securing enough representation to form a new government.

Lekota said the CD had been negotiated over a number of years with a view to finding common ground.

The agreement centred on the “joint areas of priority”, which consisted of 20 points that were negotiated and formally accepted at a signing ceremony on Tuesday.

‘Priority’

The agreed areas included prioritising education and training, referring the protection of state information bill to the Constitutional Court, ensuring strict separation of party and State, and the review of the “bloated” government to ensure efficiency and affordability.

“The Collective for Democracy will soon announce their team of potential representatives that will draw on the best people within the parties while focusing on corruption free, competent, trusted candidates,” it said.

ACDP MP Cheryllyn Dudley of the ACDP said her party had embraced the CD.

“The ACDP has embraced and committed to the realisation of a shared future for all South Africans, and the CD is a demonstration of this commitment to a peaceful and prosperous SA for all who live here,” she said.

FF Plus leader Pieter Mulder said: “Coalitions are an important part of our electoral system and makes it possible for voters to vote for the party closest to their values, but still vote against the ANC. Our wonderful country is diverse, and so our future should reflect that.”

Other opposition parties were welcome to join the coalition, as long as they committed to the agreed principles, the CD said.

SAPA

Cape Town – A protest against the alleged removal of Alide Dasnois as Cape Times editor was hijacked on Tuesday by groups calling for media transformation.

The Right2Know campaign had formally applied to protest in front of Newspaper House in Cape Town at lunchtime, about a perceived threat to editorial independence.

About 50 media professionals, members of the political party Agang SA, and members of the public, including children, stood quietly in front of the building holding posters declaring “This is not Gov Times – reinstate Alide now”, and “Surve – hands off the Cape Times”.

Independent News and Media SA (INMSA) chair Iqbal Surve denied in a statement earlier this month that Dasnois had been fired, but had been offered alternative positions in the company.

“Ms Dasnois was not fired,” Surve said in a statement.

Danois, however, has said she was “unfairly dismissed”.

Surve said in a press release that the move formed part of a strategy aimed at arresting poor sales figures.

In a letter to staff three days later, he said the Cape Times’s compounded loss of sales, between 2008 and 2012, amounted to 28%.

News coverage

In this letter, Surve also said Dasnois was reprimanded for not leading with the news of former president Nelson Mandela in its Friday edition. His death was covered in a wraparound editorial supplement.

Instead, the front page carried a public protector finding that the awarding of a fisheries tender by the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries department to Sekunjalo Marine Services Consortium was improper.

The consortium is a subsidiary of Sekunjalo Holdings which acquired a controlling share in INMSA earlier this year. Surve also chairs Sekunjalo.

The Sunday Times also ran with the story.

Sekunjalo subsequently laid criminal charges against a Sunday Times editor and a reporter, accusing the Times Media Group of a “dirty tricks” campaign.

It has since decided to drop the charges and lay a complaint with the Press Ombudsman regarding the Sunday Times and Cape Times’s coverage, as well as a broader complaint regarding an attack on its integrity in various newspapers in the past two years.

Surve categorically denied that Dasnois’s replacement was due to the fisheries tender story.

Posters

About 10 minutes into the protest on Tuesday, a group calling itself the Movement for Transformation of Media in SA (MTMSA) arrived in front of the building.

They carried posters stating “Fire racist reporters” and “Fire Tony Weaver”, who defended Dasnois in his recent “Man Friday” column in the Cape Times.

Some wore ANC and SA National Civic Organisation shirts.

Tension ran high as both sides mingled and shouted their slogans.

Protesters defending Dasnois and media freedom shouted “the ANC is corrupt” and “Zuma is corrupt” while the media transformation group shouted “fire racist reporters” and “transformation now”.

At one point, a man with a R2K T-shirt attempted to divide the two sides to calm the situation.

MTMSA leader Wesley Douglas said they were protesting on the same permit as the R2K organisers.

“We are saying in every democracy around the world you can have a demonstration where you can have the pros and the cons in the same space at the same time. Why can we not have that in South Africa?”

He said they supported the removal of Dasnois but their protest was about more than one individual. It was about the entire media needing to be transformed.

“Why is it that white media houses are attacking black media owners?” he asked.

SAPA

Pretoria – The Pretoria Regional Court outlined a list of strict bail conditions for murder accused Nico Henning after granting him R10m bail on Tuesday.

“I have received a request to extend the date by which you must furnish the guarantee and surety to the sum of R9.7m,” chief Magistrate Desmond Nair said.

“Your application for bail is granted, and bail is fixed at an amount of R10m constituted as follows: A cash amount of R300 000 – in addition R9.7m for which you will furnish a guarantee with sureties.”

He extended the deadline for the provision of sureties to 20 January, after initially setting the date at 20 December.

Henning is charged with murder and conspiring to murder his estranged wife Chanelle Henning, 26. She was shot dead shortly after dropping off their child at a crèche in Faerie Glen, Pretoria, in November 2011.

The 47-year-old had to report to the Hartebeespoort police station on Mondays and Fridays, was not allowed within a kilometre of any international point of departure, and had to get permission from the investigating officer, Captain Petrus van der Spuy, to approach any of his private aircraft.

Henning was not allowed to leave Gauteng and North West without prior approval of the investigating officer.

He was prohibited from having any contact with a list of potential witnesses, including Andre Gouws, Ambrose Monye, numerous Henning family members, and employees of Avis car rental.

The matter would be back in court on 20 January.

Opposing bail

Earlier, Nair said he had considered, but not agreed with, some of Van der Spuy’s reasons for opposing bail.

He had submitted that Henning might flee South Africa to evade trial, conceal or destroy evidence. Van der Spuy alleged Henning was selling some of his properties and aircraft.

“The accused had a period of almost two years to not only destroy evidence, but carefully plan his escape. The accused has plus or minus 27 properties, and the accused has admitted that he is in the process of selling some of the properties, but not all,” said Nair.

“I am alive to the fact that Mr Gouws has been described as a murderer, perjurer, and a liar. It implies that even if he does proceed to testify, there are no guarantees in that regard,” Nair said.

Gouws, 49, who was convicted of killing Chanelle Henning, testified during sentencing proceedings that Henning paid him R1m to carry out the hit so he could get custody of his child.

Henning handed himself to the police in Villieria, Pretoria, on Friday, 6 December, following Gouws’s testimony the previous day.

“A greater level of caution must be applied to his [Gouws’s] evidence,” Nair said.

“The State’s case rests on circumstantial evidence. Indeed there are many missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. What I find noteworthy is that in the absence of the sudden indication by Mr Gouws of the accused’s complicity, the State could not successfully arrest the accused for almost two years.”

‘Uncontroverted testimony’

He said the trial court would have to rely on Gouws’s evidence. He described him as an accomplice who chose to plead not guilty and eventually declared Henning’s involvement during arguments in mitigation of his sentence.

Given such a scenario, the situation was different from “a clear-cut premeditated murder case based on direct uncontroverted testimony”.

Nair said the State had successfully portrayed Gouws as an unreliable witness, and had secured a conviction against him and his co-accused Monye, a former Nigerian Olympic athlete.

“I cannot ignore the address to the court by advocate [Piet] van Wyk [for Henning] that in the trial of Mr Monye and Mr Gouws, the State was successful in discrediting the evidence of Mr Gouws, and was successful in showing him to be a liar and a perjurer,” said Nair.

“They now seek to rely on the very same person… to secure the conviction of the accused.”

During his bail hearing, Henning submitted an affidavit to the court in which he refuted Gouws’s claims.

Two other men, Gerhardus “Doepie” du Plessis and Willem “Pike” Pieterse, are serving 18-year prison terms after confessing to their roles in the murder.

SAPA

By Obakeng Maje

Kimberley-A 27 year-old man and his friend were allegedly died in a terrific accident on Monday at around 00:20am.

Northern Cape police said Mlungisi Kevin Mangena,27, and his female friend known as Lebohang Malebo,31, were allegedly travelling towards Kimberley from Lime Acres when their car rolled and killed them instantly.

“Two people were allegedly certified dead after the driver lost control of his car. Mangena was allegedly strewn out of the car and died on the scene along with Malebo.” Lieutenant Sergio Kock said.

The accident took place 20 km away from Kimberley on Barkly West road.

Kock said a case of culpable homice and inquest were opened and anyone with any information could contact Investigating Officer, Detective Constable Gwyneth Paulsen on 0823020407.

Police investigations continue.-TDN

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By Obakeng Maje

Taung-Hip Hop music is one of the most loved genres in South Africa currently. And we have seen many artists emerge and claim a scalp to become world re-nowned.

 A 21 year-old Taung-born artist, Ikwaliza Skit-Rekere is no exception.

Christened Thato Tsholo started rapping while he was only 14 year-old.

A Dryharts-born artist started to develop love in hip-hop back then and he never looked back.

“I started to develop love in Motswako when I was only 14. I taught the craft of hip hop to some of the guys in Taung and its Surroundings” Ikwaliza smiles.

The charismatic Motswako artist released his single called “Matlhabisa Ditlhong” which is on high rotation at local radio stations.

His single paved way for the most popular motswakolista in Taung and the warm love received indicates that Ikwaliza found his niche in the music industry.

“I worked with good producers from Rural Deep music, Selfmade production and DOD” said Ikwaliza.

Taung self-proclaimed Motswakolista once shared stage with Beat-Junky, RealProf-K and IllGZA(KG).

He was one of local artists who mesmerised the crowds during North West Cultural Calabash in Taung two months ago.

The culmination of his long eventful journey in music is “High Hopes”.

“I released a compilation mixtape and that reflects the passage I went through before reaching my mark. I am planning to release an album soon and my followers will soon have it” said Ikwaliza.

The ‘High Hopes’ is a metaphor of Ikwaliza’s journey. 

Ikwaliza is increasingly garnering a respect amongst his music peers especially in hip hop circles.

“I haven’t reached my climactic point yet, but I’m planning to reach the meridian by a celestial body” he said.

Taung artist was born and raised in Dryharts. He attended school at Boijane High School.

Ikwaliza will be performing in various venues this summer and continues to follow his love for music.-TDN

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By Obakeng Maje

North West-In order to ensure a safe and secure festive season, the police are encouraging everyone to take precautionary measures to safe-guard themselves and their properties during Christmas holidays.  

“It has come to attention of the police that criminals are taking advantage of the festive season and occasional leaving of residences by owners, thus randomly breaking into houses and steal valuable items” captain Pelonomi Makau said.  

Police said residents who will be leaving their houses are urged not to leave them unoccupied. This can be done by leaving a relative or any trusted and known person to take care of the house as well as to inform your neighbours about your absence as well as to apply the following safety tips as part of home security check list:      

∙Ensure that your house number is clearly visible from the street.

∙Cut or trim you r trees and shrubs to make it difficult for criminals to hide.

∙Where possible, have security screens on doors and deadbolts  or deadlocks fitted and fit your home with an alarm.

∙Ensure that that your home light are well lit.

∙Store your tools and ladders properly and away from criminals.

∙Fit your house with automatic timer or sensors lights.

∙Make use of peep holes before opening the door when responding to a knock.

∙Lock the meter box.

∙Engrave your valuables and other household properties.

∙Create your own and keep safe a serial number book for all serial numbered properties.

∙Join local crime prevention initiatives and neighbourhood watches.   

Motorists are warned to exercise caution, be alert  and avoid at all costs to give lifts to hitch-hikers irrespective whether they are males or females as some of them victimise the same motorists who offered them lifts by robbing them. 

“In a recent incident in Koster, a  car was hijacked from the driver after giving lift to three men. The victim’s friend was shot in the leg after arriving at the scene and tried to check what was happening” Makau said.  

The community and motorists can contact the nearest police station in case of any incident or suspicious strangers or hitch-hikers.   

“Crime is everybody’s responsibility, thus the community is urged to work together with police and structures like Community Police Forum to ensure safety and security of all citizens during this period of festivities” outlines Makau.-TDN

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Johannesburg – An allegedly bogus sign language interpreter hired for a Nelson Mandela memorial service addressed by the likes of US President Barack Obama, on Monday dismissed media claims he had faced murder charges in the past.

The signer, Thamsanqa Jantjie, had stood just feet from the United States president and other world leaders on the stage at last Tuesday’s event at FNB Stadium.

Enraged sign language experts said the signing by Jantjie, who claims to be schizophrenic, amounted to little more than “flapping his arms around”.

Raising further security questions, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Jantjie had admitted being part of a mob that burnt two people to death in 2003.

“It was a community thing – what you call mob justice – and I was also there,” Jantjie was quoted as telling the paper, which said charges against him were dropped on grounds that he was mentally unfit to stand trial.

Contacted by AFP on Monday, Jantjie dismissed the report as “nonsense”.

“I don’t know that. Sunday Times is talking nonsense” he said, but refused to elaborate.

Jantjie directed AFP to the national prosecuting authority to verify if he had any criminal record.

But the prosecution agency has already declined to “confirm or deny” the allegations, and said it does not keep records of closed cases.

Government probe

The government has said it was probing whether a security lapse had occurred in hiring Jantjie, as claims emerged of a string of criminal violence charges.

ENCA reported on Friday that the signer had also faced rape, kidnapping and theft charges.

The ANC said it was probing claims that some of its members were directors of the company for which the signer worked.

The Sunday Times said the head of the ANC’s religious affairs department owns the company, South African Interpreters.

“We shall also seek to uncover the veracity of these allegations,” the party said in a statement on Monday, vowing to “act decisively where any wrong doing against anyone in the employ of the ANC is proven”.

Last week, the government formally apologised for any offence caused, and admitted a “mistake” had been made.

It claimed the company that Jantjie worked for had “vanished into thin air”.

AFP

By Obakeng Maje

Mmabatho-North West police are investigating an attempted murder case after a man was allegedly being shot at his residential area in Magogoe village.

A 34 year-old man was allegedly asleep at his house on Monday when he heard his bedroom door kicked opened.

“He was allegedly shot by intruder in his back and hand. He was robbed his two cellphones and the suspect fled” captain Pelonomi Makau said.

Police were called and a case of attempted murder was launched.

Police investigations continue.-TDN

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