Striker Oluwatomiwo “Tomi” Ameobi, who has been on the books of Leeds United and Doncaster Rovers, is currently on trial at Ajax Cape Town.

The English-born player of Nigerian descent, started in Newcastle United’s youth ranks alongside brothers Shola and Sammy Ameobi – both of whom whent on to sign professional contracts and featured for the Magpies in the English Premier League.
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Golden Arrows striker Stanton Lewis is finding it hard to accept his latest injury setback.

It has been a horrible 2013/14 season for the former junior international, who came back from a loan spell at Chippa United, only to find himself sidelined by Manqoba Mngqithi. The arrival of Mark Harrison brought much-needed hope for the former Kaizer Chiefs marksman.
Source: http://www.soccerladuma.co.za

Thembinkosi Fanteni’s search for a club continues as he seeks to put his disappointing 2012/13 campaign behind him.

The striker nicknamed ‘Terror’ for his ability in front of goal and the fear he induces in opposition defenders, did not have the best of times at Wits last season, after signing from Ajax Cape Town at the beginning of the campaign.
Source: http://www.soccerladuma.co.za

Kimberley –

Pastor Chris Baadjies, the owner of the dog that miraculously survived eight days after falling an estimated 160 metres down the Kimberley Big Hole, has decided to donate Gigi to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

Baadjies claimed ownership of the dog last week after reading about the rescue mission in the newspapers.
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Cape Town – A police sergeant based at the Cape Town Central police station appeared in court on Tuesday, charged with dealing in drugs and corruption.

Cornelius Camaron Wessels, 48, appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, before magistrate Sabrina

Sonnenberg, but was not asked to plead.

According to the charge sheet, suspicions of corruption and drug dealing, allegedly involving Wessels, led to an undercover police operation in which he was arrested.

A fake arrest was carried out on a police agent, who was held in a cell.

In the course of the operation, a police captain gave a constable a parcel containing four small bags of dagga, hidden under food, and R100, last November.

The constable was to give Wessels the parcel to give to the man in the cell, and was also to give Wessels the R100 as his reward for illegally delivering the parcel to the “prisoner” in custody.

Prosecutor Ezmarelda Johnson alleges Wessels did as requested, and later corruptly accepted the R100.

In the cell, the “prisoner” opened the parcel in Wessels’s presence, and in doing so exposed the bags of dagga. Wessels had a duty to confiscate the dagga, but allegedly failed to do so.

Wessels was represented by Legal Aid attorney Hailey Lawrence, who asked for a postponement to March 3, when Wessels is expected to plead.

Sapa

Mbombela – A Mpumalanga man accused of participating in a robbery in which a security guard was killed six years ago has testified against his co-accused.

Victor Mathebula, 25, testified in the Nelspruit Circuit of the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday about his involvement in robberies in Bushbuckridge on December 6 and 7, 2007, a Sapa correspondent reported.

Mathebula and Mahlatsi Gian Matsane, 24, Beanen Mpho Matsane, 31, Obbey Seerane, 25, and Socha Sunday Mokoena, 24, have pleaded not guilty.

They are charged with murder, housebreaking with intent to commit robbery, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition. Charges against another State witness, Noel Mashele, 26, were withdrawn.

The court heard that on December 6 around 10.30pm, a gang of six men arrived at a shop at a Shell garage in Thulamahashe. One of them broke open the shop’s door using an iron bar. They robbed the shop and escaped with the tills containing cash.

Around 1.15am on December 7, they arrived at a filling station in Hluvukani village outside Thulamahashe with the intention to rob it. After finding workers asleep, they woke them up and said they wanted to buy petrol and airtime, but then robbed them of cellphones, money, and a firearm. During the robbery, a woman was severely assaulted and a security guard, Eckson Malumane, was shot dead.

Mathebula testified he was there when the two crimes were committed, but said he did not take part.

“I was in company of the five men. I did not know what their intention was. I was surprised when they robbed the two filling stations and shot the man,” Mathebula testified.

The other four accused refused to testify. Justice Ronel Tolmay warned them about the danger of remaining silent when there was overwhelming evidence against them.

Tolmay said the men were together in the car and acted in common purpose.

“After the incident at the first filling station in (Thulamahashe), they all drove in the same vehicle. They went to a second one in Hluvukani, where a second robbery occurred and someone got killed.

State prosecutor JJ Jacobs asked the court to find all five men guilty on all the counts they faced.

Tolmay postponed the case to Wednesday for judgment.

Sapa

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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