Durban – Two men are alleged to have beaten another man to death because of his bad manners, a prosecutor told the Durban Magistrate’s court on Thursday.

Prosecutor Blackie Swart said Mduduzi Sithole, 24, and Sanele Ngema, 22, were enraged when Sithiwe Akhona, 29, entered a room of the house where the three lived in Durban’s Sea Cow Lake area without knocking on the door.

They proceeded to beat him.

Swart said witnesses told police that Akhona fled, but the two caught him and dragged him back to the room, beat him further and then left him.

He died from his injuries on March 30.

The two were granted bail of R3 000 each. – Sapa

Cape Town – Police have backed down from threats to arrest journalists and seize computers from the Daily Voice newsroom.

On Wednesday last week, eight Mitchells Plain-based officers – led by Warrant Officer Morne Jackson – burst into the Daily Voice’s offices and demanded all records and computer equipment relating to a story they published last month.

The story was about two pupils who were filmed having sex in the back of a classroom during school hours.

The officers were armed with a search warrant and came to take away the newspaper’s computers.

This action would have effectively shut down the paper.

Top Daily Voice legal eagles Jacques Louw and Leroy Vilet swung into action and obtained a High Court order to suspend the warrant.

And this week, the State confirmed it would not now be proceeding with the warrant.

“This is a victory for freedom of speech – and common sense,” says Daily Voice editor Shane Doran.

“If the warrant was executed, this reckless and unconstitutional act could have shut down this newspaper and threatened the livelihoods of all our journalists.

“It went entirely against the rights enshrined in Section 16 of the constitution and was a complete waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

“This was a blatant attempt to kill the messenger and bully the Daily Voice – but it was also an unlawful act that had no justification in law.”

On March 16, the Daily Voice published a front page story headlined: “Sex in class video.”

The story was based on cellphone footage – sent to the paper by a concerned parent – of two pupils having sex in the back of a classroom.

The footage was filmed by a third student.

The Daily Voice immediately handed the footage over to the Western Cape Education Department, who launched their own investigation into the incident.

It subsequently emerged the video was filmed last May and had gone viral among students on the Cape Flats.

The three students have been charged under the Film and Publication Act, but a decision to prosecute the three has still not been made.

Daily Voice

Cape Town – Eleven years ago, Jean Johanna Schapiro, 70, was murdered in her Mouille Point flat. On Wednesday, Bonani Lumka, 35, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in connection with her death.

According to the case summary of the case, Lumka left 24 fingerprints around Schapiro’s flat. Schapiro, a widow and grandmother who lived alone, was robbed and strangled in her Albermarle flat in Beach Road at about 10pm on March 15, 2002.

For more wwww.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – The SA National Defence Force decides the composition of forces it deploys, Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga said on Thursday.

“It is left to the military to command the SANDF, no one else,” he said.

“The SANDF decides on the composition based on the task at hand.”

Mabanga was responding on a report in The Star (and on IOL) on Thursday that, according to a secret document, specialised soldiers were never supposed to be part of the operation in the Central African Republic (CAR).

South Africa’s presence in the CAR was for the “promotion of the training of military personnel through the exchange of trainees, instructors, and observers” according to the memorandum of understanding between the two countries, the newspaper reported.

However, Mabanga said people should not “narrow their thinking”.

“What if the CAR has specialised forces – do we not train them because it was not specifically mentioned? No, we train them. People should not be naive,” he said.

“People should try and broaden their understanding of international relations.”

SA National Defence Union national secretary Pikkie Greef said he could not comment because he had not seen the document.

“I think it is difficult to say if the deployment of any soldiers to the CAR was unlawful before seeing the memorandum of understanding,” said Greef.

“I would like to see the document.”

Thirteen South African soldiers were killed and 27 wounded on March 23 when they were attacked by rebel fighters near the CAR’s capital Bangui. – Sapa

ANC members and police who prevented Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille from visiting President Jacob Zuma’s compound will not be prosecuted, according to a report on Thursday.

KwaZulu-Natal acting director of prosecutions Moipone Noko found that the KwaNxamalala community had obtained permission to gather near the homestead, The Times reported.

“There was no offence committed by any of the members of the KwaNxamalala community as their gathering had been lawfully permitted by their traditional leader in terms of the KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Leadership and Governance Act 05 of 2005,” Noko said.

The DA leader tried to march on Nkandla in November, but retreated after being threatened with violence.

Noko said the police should be commended for having handled the situation properly by ensuring the safety of all those at the scene on the day.

The DA disagreed with her finding and sought legal advice.

DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said the party would consider applying for a review of the decision. – Sapa

Johannesburg – The National Prosecuting Authority plans to open a docket to investigate perjury against two police witnesses who helped sink the Andries Tatane case.

But just how does the State intend conducting that investigation? Well, nobody’s quite sure.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the NPA tried to explain away the fumbled case that left the nation reeling and wanting to know how a crime that played out on camera led to the acquittal of the seven accused police officers.

For more www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – The SA Football Association are still hoping to iron out their differences with the government over the proposed commission of inquiry into match-fixing even though a meeting scheduled for Thursday at Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich was cancelled on Wednesday.

Safa president Kirsten Nematandani earlier confirmed he was to jet out of the country on Wednesday night for talks in the Swiss capital, after Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula indicated he was unhappy about Safa’s insistence on an independent, rather than a judicial, commission. But Nematandani had to change plans late on Wednesday after being told the meeting was off as, according to an email correspondence seen by The Star, Mbalula’s office had failed to con firm in time with Fifa if the minister would be attending.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

North West University, Mahikeng campus rector, Prof Dan Kgwadi, has called on youths to take education as the answer to their future dreams and be part of a collective striving for excellence in nation building.

Addressing youths during the launch of Letlotlo Foundation, an education initiative to promote learning and teaching in Ramatlabama village recently, Kgwadi said: “Communities should support pupils as it takes a nation to educate an individual.”

Fore more http://www.thenewage.co.za

The DA in the Madibeng local municipality has expressed anger against the national Treasury and the opposition party has demanded answers for the withdrawal of R111m as equitable share for implementation of service delivery improvement by the municipality.

DA provincial media manager Tiaan Kotze said Madibeng mayor Poppy Magongwa, had recently delivered her Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework Budget for 2013-14 in which she informed the special municipal council meeting about a letter received from National Treasury that an amount of R76m would not be paid as equitable share.

For more http://www.thenewage.co.za