Pretoria – A paedophile jailed indefinitely ten years ago for sexually molesting six young boys was referred on Tuesday for further psychiatric observation.

Judge Aubrey Ledwaba ordered in the High Court in Pretoria that Michiel Meintjies, 48, undergoes observation at Weskoppies psychiatric hospital in Pretoria for 30 days to determine if he remained a danger to society.

Meintjies will have to appear before the court again next month for the reconsideration of his sentence.

Judge Ronnie Bosielo in August 2003 declared Meintjies a danger to the physical and mental well-being of others, in particular young children, and sent him to jail indefinitely.

The judge further ordered that Meintjies must be brought back to court after ten years for a further psychiatric report and reconsideration of his sentence.

When sentencing started ten years ago, Meintjies had to be restrained after trying to inject himself with a substance he smuggled into court in his underpants.

He lost his temper after being sentenced and started swearing and throwing books around.

Later in the day, he had to be bandaged after cutting himself with a razor blade in the court cells.

His court appearances were marked by bizarre incidents, including masturbating and throwing semen at people during one appearance in the magistrate’s court.

He appeared in the High Court semi-naked on two occasions and once had to be carried out of court because he was so drugged he had to be held erect.

There was however no sign of this unruly behaviour when he appeared in the High Court this week.

Bosielo in 2005 refused Meintjies leave to appeal against his conviction on 13 charges of sodomising young boys, exposing them to pornography and creating and possessing child pornography.

The judge at the time referred to psychiatric reports which described Meintjies as a dangerous paedophile who was addicted to substances, had a psychopathic personality and should not be allowed anywhere near children ever again.

He said it was clear Meintjies had a deep-seated propensity to sexually molest young children, expose them to pornographic material, take naked pictures of them and simulate sex on them or have sex simulated on him.

He had suffered from the disorder since he was 14 years old and in standard six.

Meintjies during his evidence admitted to a serious obsession with young children and that he could not be left in their company unattended.

In 1991 he was convicted for similar offences with six young boys and had in the past received treatment in the Weskoppies psychiatric hospital, but it did not succeed in curing his obsession with young children.

Sapa

Pretoria – An HIV-positive Aids counsellor who was convicted of attempted murder for having unprotected sex with his unsuspecting girlfriend has lost his appeal in the High Court in Pretoria.

Judge Tati Makgoka and Acting Judge William Baloyi dismissed the appeal of Lovers Phiri, 35, against his conviction on a charge of attempted murder and the six-year jail sentence imposed on him by a Piet Retief magistrate.

Phiri’s former girlfriend testified during the trial that she had met him in 2010 at a local clinic where she underwent an HIV test, that had a negative result.

Phiri was employed as an HIV/Aids counsellor and also responsible for testing.

The complainant was pregnant and had just separated from the father of her unborn child.

Phiri had at that stage been HIV-positive for three years and was aware of his status.

A relationship later developed between the woman and Phiri and they had consensual sex on two occasions, but Phiri on each occasion declined to use a condom, despite being requested to use one.

The woman subsequently tested HIV-positive when she was tested as part of her pre-natal routine.

She testified that Phiri had apologised and pleaded for forgiveness when she confronted him and accused him of infecting her with the HIV virus.

Phiri claimed in court he had informed the woman of his HIV status before the first time they had sex and that he had used a condom on both occasions.

Judge Makgoka said in his ruling last week that the magistrate had been correct in rejecting Phiri’s version as not reasonably possibly true.

He said there was no merit in the argument that he should merely have been convicted of assault.

“The appellant was not convicted of having in fact transmitted HIV to the complainant. The State did not have to go that far.

“It was sufficient for a conviction on the count of attempted murder to establish that the appellant, knowing that he was HIV-positive, engaged in sexual intercourse with the complainant, whom he knew to be HIV-negative, without any preventative measures.

“It must be accepted, and we can take judicial notice of the fact, that HIV/Aids has no cure presently, and the infection with the virus is likely to lead to reduced life span.

“It was established over a decade ago by this court that such conduct constitutes attempted murder.

“The trial court found to be aggravating the fact that he was employed as an HIV-counsellor by the department of health to help in educating people about the dangers of unprotected sex, among others.

“Indeed, much was expected of the appellant.

“The argument that because there was a love relationship between the parties should serve as a mitigating factor is a startling proposition.

“We do not perceive how this could possibly serve as a mitigating factor.

“The very fact could easily serve as an aggravating one, as lovers are expected to protect one another.

“Although the State did not prove that he transmitted the complainant with HIV virus, his conduct remains reckless,” Judge Makgoka said.

Sapa

Durban – Three men accused of gunning down an ANC leader from Durban’s southern hostels were denied bail by the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Magistrate Vanitha Armu said she believed the State had a “prima facie case” against the three men accused of killing Sithembiso Ngidi.

“This was a premeditated murder and bail is accordingly refused,” she said.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – Fochville in the North West was quiet on Tuesday after service delivery protests last week, Gauteng police said.

“It is very quiet there now,” Sergeant Busi Menoe said.

On Tuesday Gauteng human settlements MEC Ntombi Mekgwe attended a meeting with representatives of Greater Fochville Concerned Citizens (GFCC).

Residents were unhappy because of slow progress in the development of land in Kokosi extensions six and seven. Last week protesters blocked roads with stones and burning tyres. A spaza shop, a bottle store, and a house believed to belong to a councillor, were set alight.

“There was really no reason to demonstrate so violently because already a process was underway to procure more land,” Mekgwe said.

On July 12, 200 hectares of land, purchased for R30 million, were transferred to the human settlements department.

“As for the extension six land, the owner has approached us again to offer the land and avoid expropriation,” she said.

The municipality had already installed services on the land in preparation for development. The final valuations for the land earmarked for extension six were expected in the next two weeks. A further meeting would be held next week.

Those present at Tuesday’s meeting agreed the situation needed to return to normal and that children needed to be allowed back to school.

On Monday, 26 people arrested for public violence during the protest appeared in the Carletonville Magistrate’s Court and were released on a warning, Menoe said.

The matter was postponed to September 30.

On Thursday, 25 people appeared in the court and were also released on a warning, Menoe said.

Initially, 36 people were arrested but only 25 appeared in court on Thursday because the others were minors.

Sapa

Bloemfontein – The Northern Cape government and the ANC were pushing ahead on Tuesday to take control of the Nama Khoi municipality in the Northern Cape.

The African National Congress won a by-election in the embattled municipality, based in Springbok in May 2013, taking control from an opposition party coalition council.

Northern Cape co-operative governance MEC Alvin Botes announced that a special council meeting had been called for Thursday to constitute a new council.

Botes, who was invited to address the meeting, said he would propose the new council institute various investigations against officials appointed by the previous council.

Provincial ANC secretary Zumani Saul said the party was happy with Botes’ decision to constitute a new council this week. The setting up of the new council had been delayed due to a court application against the MEC, to stop him interfering with the council. The court found against the council earlier this month.

Saul said the ANC supported and welcomed the MEC’s proposal for an investigation into the municipal manager. Botes said he would propose the council launch and finalise an investigation against municipal manager Aubrey Baartman.

The reason was that Baartman apparently did not have the proper qualifications for the post.

Baartman was appointed after the Congress of the People and the Democratic Alliance took over the municipality in 2011.

The ANC further supported Botes’ proposal for an audit of the qualifications of all senior managers in the municipality. In reaction, Cope provincial leader Fred Wyngaard said the planned special council meeting would be illegal.

He said the council managed to get permission to appeal the court’s earlier decision against them on Monday.

“Council business can only resume once the appeal has been heard by the court,” he said.

Sapa

A year after the shooting at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, in which 34 protesting miners were killed, the area remains tense, the Bench Marks Foundation said on Tuesday.

“We continue to walk on a knife’s edge in Marikana,” executive director John Capel said in a statement.

“Deaths are still occurring, the mines have still not addressed many of their (corporate social responsibility) promises and we have still not come to the bottom of what actually happened on that fateful day.”

Friday marks the first anniversary of the shooting at the mine, outside Rustenburg in the North West.

The 34 mineworkers were killed on August 16 last year when police tried to disperse them from a hill where they had gathered.

Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in strike-related violence there the preceding week.

The Bench Marks Foundation, which monitors corporate performance in social responsibility, made a number of recommendations to Lonmin last year.

These included that the mine had a social responsibility to help the local communities deal with the trauma they experienced in the wake of the shooting.

It also recommended that the mine pay families of the injured and killed miners compensation equal to their lost income for the next 20 years.

The fact that there was not funding for the legal teams representing injured and arrested miners, and the families of those killed, at the Farlam Commission, set up to probe the violence at Lonmin last August, was also problematic.

Capel said this situation, in contrast with the apparent surplus of financial support for government bodies represented at the commission, fuelled the community’s mistrust of the government.

The Farlam Commission resumes on Wednesday, after it was adjourned pending a decision on possible funding for the legal team representing the injured and arrested miners, led by Dali Mpofu.

Mpofu previously signalled his intention to file papers with the Constitutional Court for a ruling on whether the state should fund their work at the commission. He made a similar request in the High Court in Pretoria earlier this month, but it was dismissed.

“There is a massive need to not only accelerate the Farlam Commission’s proceedings, but to address pertinent public interest issues such as the role of the police, the policing of protests in South Africa, and the culpability of the police and government in relation to this.”

It was vital to address the socio-economic problems that mining communities faced.

Capel called on Lonmin to grant its workers Friday off work to commemorate the lives of those killed in Marikana last year.

Sapa

Cape Town – A baby has been found dead in Ceres in the Western Cape, police said on Tuesday.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said residents found the body on Monday around 5pm.

“A case of murder has been opened and a post mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death and no one has been arrested”, said Van Wyk.

He could not give further details.

Van Wyk asked anyone with information about the baby to contact the police.

Sapa

East London – Public transport must help people access socio-economic opportunities, Eastern Cape transport MEC Thandiswa Marawu said on Tuesday.

“This product will be a lasting legacy of the current term of government, which will be appreciated by many generations to come,” she said at the launch of the province’s integrated transport master plan in East London, according to a copy of her speech.

The plan was aimed at improving the quality of life of Eastern Cape residents, supporting economic growth, and improving access to community services and facilities. It would focus on inter-town and long-distance public transport. The intention was to establish a provincial public transport network.

Arrangements needed to be made with existing operators, such as the minibus taxi industry, to help make the shift to the new system. It was proposed the new system would be operated by businesses the local operators formed.

Several such contracts were envisaged based on geographic areas and operational circumstances, said Marawu.

Only 15.5 percent of households in the Eastern Cape had a car, and 15.9 percent used minibus taxis. Nearly fifty percent of travel within the province was for educational purposes, the highest in South Africa.

About a third of households spent more than 10 percent of their income on transport. A “shocking” 23 percent spent more than 20 percent of their income on public transport, she said.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Gauteng government departments spent R18.6 billion in the first quarter of this financial year, finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe said in the provincial legislature on Tuesday.

“This represents an increase of R500 million compared to the same period last year,” his spokesman John Sukazi said in a statement.

Nkomfe said R343.3m was transferred to non-profit organisations to benefit child care protection services, HIV and Aids initiatives and services to the elderly, among others.

The community safety department used its first quarter resources for operations including road blocks, speed traps and weigh bridges.

The province collected R998.9m in the three months ending in June. This represented a quarter of the annual projection.

Gauteng increased the amount of revenue collected by R165.5m, when compared with the same quarter last year.

“It means that for the remainder of the current financial year, an average amount of R992.9m per quarter must be collected to meet the targeted projection of R3.972bn,” Sukazi said.

The provincial government was working with departments to help improve their revenue collection and management.

Sapa

Johannesburg – Traditional leaders should hold government accountable if it failed to improve the lives of rural communities, North West local government MEC Manketsi Tlhape said on Tuesday.

“Government should be taking the lead from traditional leaders as they know and understand the needs of their communities,” Tlhape said.

If necessary, traditional leaders should summon government and advise it on what needed to be done in their communities, she said.

“They should be directing government’s programme because they are better placed in the communities.

“We must demonstrate co-operation between traditional leaders and government in our province, our communities should see us working together not against each other.”

Tlhape was on a consultation drive in the province following her appointment to the provincial cabinet last month.

She has met traditional leaders in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati, Ngaka Modiri Molema Districts and the North West House of Traditional Leaders.

“Issues that traditional leaders have raised, include capacitating the administration supporting staff complement at traditional council and district offices,” Tlhape said.

Sapa