Cape Town – The nine men accused of dumping human waste at Cape Town International Airport last month believe their actions were not illegal as they were “merely highlighting the plight” of their communities, the Bellville Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday in a bail application.

Legal Brief states investigating officers told the court that the faeces dumped at the airport terminal delayed flights for 10 hours, resulting in a R500 000 loss in revenue. 

The accused include ANC councillor Loyiso Nkohla and former councillor Andile Lili  and they are being charged under the Aviation Act. The accused are asking to be released on R500 bail each. 

Six of the other nine accused were out on warning for a similar offense when they allegedly dumped the waste in protest against the city’s sanitation services. 

On Tuesday, the attorney for the accused siad his clients were the breadwinners in their families, there was “no real damage to property”, they did not pose a threat to society and should be released. 

The bail application continues today.

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Johannesburg – The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) violated the constitutional and labour rights of prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach, the Labour Court in Johannesburg heard on Tuesday.

Breytenbach’s lawyer Andrew Ridding said the NPA acted outside the law by not reinstating Breytenbach to her position.

“It is a constitutional violation. It is a breach of constitutional imperative. Secondly, it is a breach of her employment contract. By transferring her to a position which is not the same as the one she held before, her contract of employment has been breached,” said Ridding.

It was clear the NPA had not restored Breytenbach to her job to keep her from dealing with a particular case, he said.

Breytenbach is making an urgent application to be given back her old job as regional head of the NPA’s specialised commercial crime unit in Pretoria.

Disciplinary hearing

In April 2012 Breytenbach was suspended and later faced a lengthy disciplinary hearing on 15 charges. These included that she had not acted impartially when investigating a mining rights dispute involving Kumba Iron Ore, Kumba’s Sishen mine in the Northern Cape, and Imperial Crown Trading. She was accused of “improper relations” with Sishen’s lawyer Mike Hellens.

On 27 May a NPA disciplinary hearing cleared her of all charges. The following day, the NPA announced it would bring a court challenge against the ruling because it considered the findings “factually incorrect and legally unsustainable”.

Breytenbach was allowed to return to work, but after her return she found the NPA intended sending her to a different office.

She claimed that her suspension was related to her opposition to a decision to withdraw fraud and corruption charges against police crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli.

SAPA

The bail application of the nine people arrested for throwing faeces at the Cape Town International airport will continue in the Bellville Magistrate Court on Tuesday.

The nine face charges under the contravention of the Civil Aviation Act. If convicted, they could be sentenced to an unlimited fine and up to 30 years in jail, or both.
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United States President Barack Obama’s African safari has generated mixed reactions after spending three days in South Africa.

Some say he’s on a scramble for Africa, as Washington is losing out to Beijing. Others say he wants to make up for neglecting the continent in the earlier years of his Presidency.
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There is a 30-day period in which objections can be lodged against Agang SA’s registration as a political party, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Monday.

Mamphela Ramphele’s party had officially been registered, but anyone with objections could still come forward, said IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela.
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The ANC leadership in the Eastern Cape is expected to lead prayers for the ailing former president Nelson Mandela outside his Qunu village home in Mthatha on Tuesday.

The service will be convened at the main gate of Madiba’s homestead. The party has also invited the clergy, church members and friends of the ANC to join the leadership for a second round of prayers at the Mthatha city hall later in the day.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Johannesburg – The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has completed Agang SA’s registration, the fledgling political party said on Monday.

“We are delighted to confirm the completion of the registration of Agang SA with the IEC,” spokesperson Thabo Leshilo said in a statement.

“We thank the IEC for the professionalism with which the application was handled.”

Agang was launched by academic and businesswoman Mamphela Ramphele in Pretoria on 22 June. At the time, the party said about 5 000 supporters and volunteers attended the launch.

Leshilo said the registration was an important milestone for the party.

“It means that we can now collect membership fees and benefit from party political donations.”

At the launch Agang SA had volunteers registering party members.

The volunteers said they received thousands of applications from supporters. People also registered online, for a R20 membership fee.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The DA has lashed out at the department of public works claiming that the classification policy adopted for classifying the Nkandla report was not law.

DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said the minimum information security standards (MISS) – a classification policy adopted by the post-apartheid government while it writes a new official secrets act – was not law.

Therefore, if the authors of the Nkandla report had relied on it, the classification of the report was invalid.

Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele on Monday confirmed that the findings of the probe into the R206m upgrade of President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead have been classified, but distanced himself from the decision.

Cwele’s ministry said in a statement that under the current classification regime – the MISS policy – a document could only be classified by its author.

It was long expected that the report would be handed to Parliament’s standing committee on intelligence, which meets behind closed doors.

But 10 days ago Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi said the document had been classified secret in terms of the MISS and would not be handed to Auditor General Terence Nombembe or Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, who was investigating the upgrade at Nkandla.

Mazibuko said that in a subsequent written response to a parliamentary question Nxesi also invoked the apartheid-era Protection of Information Act – which is due to be repealed by the contested protection of state information bill.

“The bottom line remains: the report is not legally classified and Minister Nxesi is clutching at straws to find excuses for why he has not made it public,” she said.

“He must do the right thing, come clean and make the report public now.”

The cost of the upgrade has made headlines for months and been termed “clearly outrageous” by Deputy Public Works Minister Jeremy Cronin, who said a preliminary report indicated over-charging by contractors.

Classifying the report

Cwele’s spokesperson Brian Dube said the report had been classified by the task team appointed by Minister Nxesi to probe the so-called Nkandlagate controversy.

This was done by the time the findings were shown to the ministers in Cabinet’s justice, crime prevention, and security (JCPS) cluster, he said.

“They saw the report when it was tabled for their meeting and it was classified from the task team,” Dube told Sapa.

“It is factually incorrect that the minister of state security, Dr Siyabonga Cwele, has ‘classified the report top secret’ or issued an instruction to this effect…

“As the report is authored by the task team and owned by the commissioning minister of public works, the minister of state security cannot classify or de-classify it or issue instructions to this effect.”

Cwele’s denial prompted the DA to again accuse Nxesi of a cover-up. The party challenged him to release the outcome of the probe into alleged irregularities in the use of public money for improvements at Zuma’s private home in the KwaZulu-Natal hamlet.

Cwele’s office suggested that the ministers who make up the JCPS cluster had asked that the report indeed be submitted to Parliament.

“From the JCPS cluster, the intention and advice was for this report to be tabled to the relevant committee of Parliament.”

– SAPA

Nine by-elections will be held in five provinces this week, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Monday.

Twenty-nine candidates would vie for the position of ward councillor in polls in the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and the Western Cape on Wednesday.

Four by-elections would take place in KwaZulu-Natal.

“Ward 39 in eThekwini [Durban metro] municipality will be contested by Meshack Siphiwe Khwela of the African National Congress [ANC]; Sihle Sizwe Zulu of the Congress of the People [Cope]; Bongumusa Oscar Zondo of the Inkatha Freedom Party [IFP]; and Qedusizi Qambeshilo Buthelezi of the National Freedom Party [NFP],” IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said.

The vacancy came about after an IFP councillor resigned.

The other KwaZulu-Natal vacancies were in ward two in Duduza, ward six in Mandeni, and Ward 12, also in Mandeni.

Two by-elections would be held in Limpopo – one in the Mutale municipality and another in the Mookgopong municipality.

In the Eastern Cape and Free State, by-elections would be held in Alice and Ladybrand respectively.

One ward would be contested in George in the Western Cape, where candidates from the ANC, DA, Independent Civic Organisation of SA, and the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (Concerned Local Residents) would participate.

The vacancy came about because a DA councillor resigned.

“Voting stations will be open from 07:00 to 21:00. A total of 47 735 voters are registered in the nine wards and 35 voting districts where by-elections will be taking place,” Bapela said.

– SAPA

London – Relatives of honeymoon murder victim Anni Dewani were at a London court on Monday for the start of his extradition hearing, the British Press Association reported.

Anni Dewani, 28, was shot dead in a minibus taxi on the outskirts of Cape Town in November 2010. So far three men had been jailed for her murder.

Her husband Shrien Dewani, 33, has been accused of orchestrating her killing, which he denies.

At the Westminster Magistrates’ Court her father Vinod Hindocha, sister Ami Denborg, and brother Anish Hindocha watched from the public gallery with other relatives as a five-day extradition hearing began.

Shrien Dewani was excused from attending the hearing, but his father Prakash and brother Preyen came to court.

He was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression at a hospital in Bristol. There had been fluctuations in the state of his mental health.

His lawyers previously claimed he would be a high suicide risk if extradited, and his human rights might be violated due to the risk of being violently attacked and sexually assaulted in a South African prison and potentially contracting HIV or Aids.

Dewani was ordered to return to the country in 2011, but this was successfully appealed against and judges ordered that Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle review the case.

Hugo Keith, QC, for the South African government, began proceedings by summarising the case history.

He said the appeal judges found that South African authorities offered assurances that Dewani would be kept in a single cell if he returned, and therefore would be at less risk of attack.

– SAPA