Johannesburg – A man accused of killing forensic auditor Lawrence Moepi has dropped his application for bail in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, The Star reported on Wednesday.

Remember Siphoro appeared in court on Tuesday and the matter was postponed to 7 January.

His lawyer reportedly told the newspaper that “a bail application would not be necessary, for now”, but that Siphoro could still apply for it in January.

Siphoro was arrested last month in Soweto.

Moepi was followed into the parking lot of the SizweNtsalubaGobodo offices in October, allegedly by Siphoro and an accomplice in a Volkswagen Golf.

He was then shot allegedly by Siphoro and his partner, while he was getting out of his car.

The pair then allegedly fled the scene. The accomplice is still at large.

The State reportedly asked for a postponement on Tuesday, for further investigations, as the police continued to search for the accomplice.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The African National Congress is failing to produce members with a revolutionary consciousness, Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said on Tuesday.

“Its leadership rejects our principled defence of a pro-working class ANC,” he said, delivering his secretariat report at the National Union of Metalworkers of SA’s special national congress in Boksburg, on the East Rand.

“There is internal conflict and factionalism despite communist leadership.”

Numsa identified the Freedom Charter as the benchmark for judging the ANC, said Jim. If the ANC “dumped” the charter it could not claim it was a revolutionary formation.

“Why must Cosatu call on workers to continue to vote for the ANC if it has taken a decision not to implement the Freedom Charter?” he asked.

“Why should black and African workers not simply directly vote for the DA?”

Earlier, Numsa’s newly-elected president Andrew Chirwa asked delegates to consider calling for President Jacob Zuma to resign following the R206m upgrade to his homestead in Nkandla.

The Numsa congress was expected to discuss whether it should support the ANC in next year’s elections. It would also discuss the possibility of withdrawing its membership from the Congress of SA Trade Unions.

Jim stopped before finishing his report because of time constraints.

He would continue doing so on Wednesday.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Judgment on the professional conduct of apartheid-era chemical warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson is due to be delivered on Wednesday.

The six-year long hearing, initiated by the Health Professions Council of SA, was held at the organisation’s offices in Pretoria.

Jaap Cilliers SC, for Basson, presented closing arguments in November.

He said Basson should be acquitted as the hearing was unfair and unreasonable, and the HPCSA had not proved its case.

Basson was the project officer of Project Coast, a secret biological and chemical warfare research project which violated international protocols and conventions. Basson allegedly acted unethically during his involvement in the project from the 1980s to the early 1990s.

Cilliers argued that Basson’s conduct at the time was mainly to ensure the safety of the populace in the least harmful way.

A charge sheet was provided in 2006, five years after the complaint was laid, said Cilliers.

Basson is accused of acting unethically by being involved in the large-scale production of Mandrax, cocaine and teargas, of weaponising teargas, and of supplying it to Angola’s Unita leader Jonas Savimbi.

He is also accused of acting unethically by providing disorientating substances for cross-border kidnappings and making cyanide capsules available for distribution to operatives for use in committing suicide.

In 2002, Basson was acquitted by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria of criminal charges arising from his conduct.

The HPCSA reviewed the judgment to establish if there were grounds to continue with an inquiry.

The State appealed against the decision in the Supreme Court of Appeal, but the appeal was dismissed.

The State then went to the Constitutional Court but it was dismissed in September 2005.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The case against two men caught in possession of unenriched uranium is due to resume in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

The case was previously postponed for further investigation and for the prosecution to receive a report from the SA Nuclear Energy Corporation on the substance they had seized.

Sibusiso Mkhize and Sasa Vulay were arrested on 14 November. In addition to the uranium, they were found in possession of ecstasy tablets.

The two were also due to apply for bail.

The National Prosecuting Authority previously said Mkhize was a South African and that investigators were still trying to confirm Vulay’s nationality.

The Agence France-Presse news agency reported last month that the uranium was 0.38 percent made up of the U-235 isotope, which is split in a fission reaction.

That level is well below the average 0.7% U-235 found in natural uranium and the 90 percent level needed to be considered weapons grade.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Traffic will be disrupted in front of the Wanderers Cricket Stadium from Wednesday to Saturday because of the South Africa versus India Test cricket match, said Johannesburg metro police.

Traffic in Corlett Drive, Sandton, would be affected from 07:00 to 19:00 on each day, said Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.

“Traffic officers will divert traffic from Athol Road to Rudd Road,” he said, and advised motorists to use alternative routes such as 11th Avenue and Oxford Road.-SAPA

Johannesburg – Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane has thanked the province’s residents for the respect they showed during the mourning period for former president Nelson Mandela.

“We should all emulate Madiba’s good traits,” Mokonyane said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We can all aspire to be more like him by serving our local communities and community organisations with integrity and compassion.

“This will ensure that Gauteng and South Africa will be a better place to live in.”

During Mandela’s memorial service at FNB stadium, in Soweto, last Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma was humiliated when large sections of the crowd booed him whenever his face appeared on the large screens.

The open hostility embarrassed the African National Congress, whose deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa called for restraint.

ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said the party was shocked that the event had been politicised.

“We are not happy at all. We would have preferred that all who attended this ceremony gave Madiba a well-deserved send-off. It came as a bolt to all of us.”

The crowd’s reaction to Zuma marked a sharp contrast to the applause given to former president Thabo Mbeki and US President Barack Obama.

Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu reprimanded the crowd, asking them to be disciplined.

“I want to show the world we can come out here and celebrate the life of an icon. You must show the world that we are disciplined,” a visibly angry Tutu shouted at the crowd in FNB stadium.

“I want to hear a pin drop.”

– SAPA

RUSTENBURG-The latest arrests of three suspects linked to senseless killings around Marikana is encouraging and strengthens the hope that peace & stability is being restored in the area and mining communities around Rustenburg, North West Premier Thandi Modise said on Wednesday.

Premier Modise is upbeat that police investigations are continuing and that there are more possible arrests.

“We welcome the breakthroughs, commend police for the arrests which indicate their determination to get to the bottom of the spate of violence and killings in order to unmask and remove perpetrators of violence from society,” said Modise.

According to police, a 25-year- old suspect appeared briefly in the Rustenburg and Ga-Rankuwa Magistrates courts yesterday. He remains in police custody pending his court appearances in the respective courts next week Monday and Tuesday.

The suspect arrested over the weekend is allegedly linked to the murder two National Union of Mines (NUM) leaders, i.e. a female shop steward who was shot outside her house near the National Union of Mines (NUM) offices at the Western Platinum division in August and former shop steward Percy Letanang who was shot seven times at his home in Segwaelane outside Marikana in November.

The Premier has reiterated her call to unions in the mining sector to respect the Framework for Peace and Stability in the Mining Industry they had signed earlier this year on the 25th of February and to desist from provocation, violence, intimidation and murder and to actively discourage their members from taking the law into their own hands.

According to police, two other suspects are in police custody after they were arrested for the shooting of a 30-year-old man at a tavern in Wonderkop last weekend.

It is alleged that 33-year old Lonmin employee, Vuyane Mtimba shot the deceased twice on the upper body after a brief altercation. Mtimba who was said to be wearing an AMCU t-shirt at the time of the incident reportedly fled the scene after the shooting.

“The suspect who is alleged to be residing in Nkaneng informal settlement was arrested by police after he was found at Wonderkop Hostel where he attempted to kill another man in an armed robbery incident,” Captain Pelonomi Makau said.

He is alleged to have shot bullets towards the second suspect, but, missed.

“When police arrived, the suspects allegedly pointed the police with a firearm in an attempt to shoot them. The police managed to arrest him and consficate his 9mm, Norinco pistol” Makau said.

A suspect’s accomplice, Nkosineza Noko,30, was also arrested.

Vuyane was directly linked to the Wonderkop murder that took place on Friday, 6 December 2013.

The two suspects were denied bail when they appeared in Marikana Periodical Court last Friday.They are facing charges of Attempted Murder, Possession of unlicensed firearm as well as Pointing of firearm.

Vuyane Mtimba is also facing a murder charge in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrates’ Court.-TDN
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The report that the Potchefstroom woman who was shot by her ex-husband has died in hospital evokes sadness and bitterness as gender based violence has robbed three more innocent children of the love and care of their parents, North West Thandi Modise said on Wednesday.

The death of Nicolette Du Randt on Monday evening at Garden City Clinic in Johannesburg brings to four people who died when renowned musician Zirk Bergh allegedly shot dead his wife’s ex-husband, a social worker before turning the gun on himself and fatally shooting himself in a tragic incident that has left not only left Potchefstroom but the North West Province and the entire country in shock. The heart-rending episode occurred on Saturday morning.

Premier Modise had earlier condemned the act as a wicked and ghastly act and said that it should challenge for the 365 days campaign to be intensified as it occurred a few days after the closure of the 16 days of activism on no violence against women and children campaign.

Though the Premier has expressed appreciation that Childline had stepped in to provide to trauma debriefing for the children who had witnessed the tragic incident, she is concerned about the deep emotional and psychological scars that it would leave on them.

Modise has called on men who are experiencing pressure in their personal relationships to seek counselling and professional advice instead of resorting to violence, She has called on real men to stand up to be counted in the fight against the scourge of gender based violence which transcends class and race.

According to an earlier media report by Rapoort, Bergh who was supposed to pick up his daughter for a day’s visit reportedly shot and wounded his ex-wife on her back and head, shot 23 –year- old social worker Deon Kondos and proceeded to shoot her husband Dr. Charl du Randt who was waiting with his four year old daughter car an infant in his car.

The incident reportedly occurred outside the Suid-Afrikaanse Vrouefederasie (SAVF) offices in Potchefstroom at around 8:00 am.

“Real men do not to hurt women but protect them against violence. Our prayers are with the mother of the three children who is hospital and the families that lost their loved ones in the tragic incident,” stressed Modise.-TDN
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Johannesburg – Engineers are working on power outages in Boksburg, the Ekurhuleni metro said on Wednesday.

The power supply to Sunward Park and Freeway Park was lost at 01:00 on Wednesday when two feeder cables were broken, said spokesperson Themba Gadebe.

One was fixed at 02:15. The other one was still being repaired.

The suburbs would have three-hour rotations of power from the working cable until the second one was fixed, said Gadebe.

“The municipality wishes to apologise to the affected residents and assures them that all is being done to restore the power supply as speedily as humanely possible,” he said.

– SAPA

By Obakeng Maje
Potchefstroom-The house caught fire at Mooivalei Small Holdings area and according to reports, no one was injured.

“Fire Emergency Service swiftly responded to a call that a house was on fire at Mooivalei Small Holdings” Er24 spokesperson Chris Venter said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and police investigation continues.-TDN
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