By Obakeng Maje
Potchefstroom-A crime is one of the most disturbing issues across the country and the latest victim is North West Human Settlement, Public Safety and Liason MEC Nono Maloyi.

North West police opened a case of house breaking after criminals allegedly helped themselves with cash and other house appliances at Maloyi’s house in Promosa, near Potchefstroom.

The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon after Maloyi’s helper left the house.

It is alleged that the woman who work as a domestic worker at Maloyi’s house left the house to visit.

“The cash was stolen and other items and the value of stolen items has not being verified yet” said our mole.

Human Settlement, Public Safety & Liason departmental spokesperson Ben Bole confirmed the incident.

“Yes the house of the MEC was broken in by unknown suspects. The case has been launched at Ikageng Police Station. The value of stolen items not confirmed yet” Ben Bole said.

Our crew tried to get more details from police, but colonel Emelda Setlhako said they have not received the case yet from Ikageng police station.

Our next stop was Brigadier Thulani Ngubane, unfortunately our quest became fruitless as his phone rang unanswered-TDN
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Johannesburg – A 43-year-old man accused of raping his ex-girlfriend has been arrested in Meadowlands, Soweto, Gauteng police said on Thursday.

The man was taken into custody on Wednesday, said Constable Sibusiso Chauke.

Apparently the ex-girlfriend met the man at night in the street in Zone 10 on Tuesday.

“He grabbed her by her neck, forcing her to go with him to his place.”

He allegedly made her take a bath and raped her thereafter.

The man was expected to appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court, he said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Oscar Pistorius has expressed grief over the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, as Valentine’s Day marked a year since her fatal shooting.

“No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident that has caused such heartache for everyone who truly loved – and continues to love Reeva,” he said in a post on his website on Friday morning.

“The pain and sadness – especially for Reeva’s parents, family and friends consumes me with sorrow. The loss of Reeva and the complete trauma of that day, I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Steenkamp was shot dead in Pistorius’s bathroom on 14 February last year. Pistorius has not denied killing her, but says it was an accident after he mistook her for an intruder.

Pistorius will stand trial from 3 March for the murder of Steenkamp in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

For the first time since the shooting, Pistorius turned to Twitter.

He wrote: A few words from my heart on http://www.oscarpistorius.com.

The link led to the page where he had written the message about the shooting.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The Sonke Gender Justice group on Friday welcomed the first conviction linked to ukuthwala in the Western Cape.

The practice, which is associated with some African traditions, involves the kidnapping of women and under-aged girls, and leads to forced marriage.

Sonke’s spokesperson Desmond Lesejane said it had taken a while for the country to be decisive about the practice.

“People have been hiding behind culture but we are grateful that the country is moving [away] from this,” said Lesejane.

He called for action against families who allowed their children to be victims of ukuthwala.

“There is no excuse for it… not tradition, not poverty. It is an inhumane practice,” he said.

Girl kidnapped, raped, assaulted

On Thursday, the Wynberg Regional Court sentenced Mvumeleni Jezile, 32, to 22 years behind bars, The Star reported.

He kidnapped a 14-year-old girl in 2010 and forcefully married, raped and assaulted her.

The paper reported that Jezile was found guilty of trafficking, three counts of rape and two counts of assault.

His victim said she was kidnapped from her home in Ngcobo, Eastern Cape and forced by her grandmother to marry Jezile.

She escaped from him and returned home but her family forced her to return to him.

She told the court that Jezile had assaulted her when she refused to have sex with him.

Following a religious leader

In sentencing, Magistrate Daleen Greyvensteyn said: “He testified that he followed the teaching of a religious leader to get married before having a relationship with a woman.

“However, he has since been in a relationship with a woman for a year and they have a 4-month old baby together,” Greyvensteyn was quoted as saying.

In November, the KwaZulu-Natal traditional affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube signed a pledge denouncing the practice of ukuthwala.

It was also signed by Commission for Gender Equality chairperson Mfanozelwe Shozi, provincial house of traditional leaders chairperson Inkosi Chiliza and KwaZulu-Natal Council of Churches chairperson Bishop Mike Vorster.

They agreed that the practice should take place only if both parties to it consented, and the woman was of marrying age under South African law – which was 18.

During the pledge signing, it was announced that the National Prosecuting Authority would also charge the parents of under-aged girls who agreed to their children being forcefully married.

– SAPA

Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet members lauded his “fair” and “balanced” State of the Nation address on Thursday.

Zuma’s focus on the country’s economy was a highlight for many ministers.

“I think a lot of the speech spoke about the economy… issues of infrastructure,” said Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.

“Yes it was a very economic-laden speech and I think he did that because our times require that we focus on the economy.”

‘All major priorities covered’

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said Zuma’s speech was very well delivered.

“He covered all the major priorities with this administration but I think he showed that in the context of very acute challenges, we’ve made some progress,” Davies said.

“I think that’s a right kind of tone that needs to be adopted. I think that quite often we just focus on what remains to be done and not on what’s been achieved.”

Despite the numerous violent service delivery protests plaguing the country, ministers in the security cluster were upbeat about Zuma’s stance on the issue.

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said he got a very clear message from Zuma on the way forward.

“The challenge is to ensure that ordinary South Africans have access to justice and for us to uphold the rule of law,” Radebe said.

Pride in armed forces

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the country should be proud of the country’s armed forces.

“Certainly if the country was not safe, if the defence of this country was not strong, you would not have the kind of economic stability, development and prosperity we have in South Africa,” she said.

She beamed with pride when describing how the opening of Parliament would not have been possible without the participation of the army, navy and air force in the ceremonial part of the day.

“I was very excited, except at one point I felt sorry for them because they walked for about 45 minutes and they were standing there for an hour and a half,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.

“It’s black and white together and for me defence epitomises that which we are struggling for – a united democratic, non-sexist South Africa.”

Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said he was excited and looking forward to the next five years.

“Look, I think the message was loud and clear. We’ve got a good story to tell, we’ve made massive achievements, especially in the way of the last five years.

“We’ve driven up infrastructure investments, which has been driven really on the back of capital investments by state-owned companies.”

No mention of e-tolls

He said state-owned companies were playing an increasing role in the economy and driving industrialisation, skills development, and job creation.

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters was pleased that Zuma had highlighted the progress of integrated public transport.

“In 2009, President Zuma mentioned that in five years, we are going to be investing in Cape Town, in Port Elizabeth, in Johannesburg. But today I can tell you that we have gone beyond that target, in Rustenburg, in Polokwane, in Msunduzi, many others.”

She was asked why Zuma did not mention the controversial e-tolling system in Gauteng.

“The president cannot repeat the e-tolls. He spoke about it last year and we are saying he spoke about the roads infrastructure as a whole.”
– SAPA

Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma’s State-of-the-Nation address was a bit livelier than last year’s and touched on relevant subjects, analysts said on Thursday.

“I thought it was a lot better than last year and had a bit more life in it than last year,” said Prof Roger Southall of Wits University’s Society, Work and Development Institute.

“It was upbeat and… it was in many ways an election speech highlighting the last 20 years.”

Head of the Wits School of Economic and Business Sciences, Jannie Rossouw, said the speech was good.

It focused on the country’s struggle history, which should not be forgotten, job creation and focus areas such as mining, tourism, and green economy.

He said the president’s speech would instil confidence in investment which was needed for job creation.

“This was the best we could have hoped for at the end of an administration heading into an election.”
Southall said mentioning the mining industry early in the speech was a positive.

“The mining industry is pretty central to the economy. People from outside will look at that in a good light.”

Confusion

The emphasis on infrastructure such as roads and rail was welcomed.

“There was constant emphasis that South Africa is a better place to live in since 1994, but couldn’t it be a lot better than it is?” he asked.

Rossouw said he became confused when Zuma, later in his speech, said the new administration would announce its plan for the country after the elections. This was after highlighting some new plans.

He said he was happy to hear about the stance taken against corruption and that action had been taken against public service officials, but more needed to be done about corrupt politicians.

“What we missed is that we still need decisive action taken against politicians. I don’t see political will to act,” said Rossouw.

Southall thought Zuma handled the matter of community protests well and agreed that sometimes rising expectations contributed to these. It was not always the poorest of the poor that took part in protests, he said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A 69-year-old car guard who was shot when he and his daughter prevented robbers from escaping has died, Gauteng police said on Friday.

“He had not recovered and died in hospital on Wednesday,” said spokesperson Captain Joep Joubert.

On Monday, the father-and-daughter car guard team prevented robbers from getting away with their loot on the East Rand.

The two were shot and wounded when they confronted two robbers in Brakpan. The woman was shot twice in the stomach and her father was shot once, also in the stomach.

The 69-year-old man and his daughter, in her forties, managed to prevent the men from taking the cash after they robbed a man in front of a bank in Voortrekker Street.

A 32-year-old man was going to deposit work money when two armed men confronted him.

One man grabbed the black carry bag containing the money and ran towards the parking area at the back of the bank. The two car guards tried to stop them.

The two dropped the bag, got into a getaway car and sped off with three other accomplices.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Fourteen people were injured on Friday when a minibus and a light delivery vehicle were involved in a collision on Republic Road in Clayville, Gauteng paramedics said.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Santi Steinmann said six people were seriously injured and eight sustained moderate injuries in the rear-end collision in the Midrand area.

All the injured people were treated on scene before being transported to hospital for further medical care.

– SAPA

Cape Town – South Africans should not criticise government for talking about apartheid because it created the problems the country is struggling to solve, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.

Poverty, poor education and a lack of housing were all direct results of the country’s history of institutionalised racism, Zuma told a The New Age breakfast meeting with media and business in Cape Town, focused on his State of the Nation address on Thursday.

“We are dealing with the reality of apartheid, unless you don’t want to look at it, then that’s your problem,” he said.

Anger

Zuma said the lingering consequences of apartheid included the violence that accompanied the recent service delivery protests because South Africans still carried the anger they experienced under apartheid.

“Protests become violent when there is no need for that… We don’t realise we are still angry from apartheid – we have not moved away from that culture… I was very keen to underscore the point of apartheid.”

He disputed the notion that the protests were a result of government’s failings, saying instead they were spurred by its success because it made the shrinking number of people still waiting for basic services more impatient.

But he sent a firm message that violence was unacceptable.

“We need to do more to ensure that those who break the law, the police arrest them. It is high time that people should know what is right, what is in the law.”

Zuma gave a summary of his last State of the Nation address before the 7 May elections, and reiterated its central message that his administration had scored considerable successes.

‘Good story to tell’

“We really have a good story to tell as we wind down this administration. It is a good story which South Africans must be proud of.”

“The narrative says we have done nothing, we are failing – it is wrong.”

Zuma said the economy had grown, education had improved, jobs had been created, and society had become more just.

He stressed that economic growth had to be boosted to five percent to combat unemployment, but said the weak currency was not the result of poor government policies but of global economic environment.

“It is the global economic problems that are causing this. It is not because of policies.”

Tolls

Asked to comment on the e-tolls controversy, Zuma said he believed it should not have been politicised. He said the tolls were essential to the development of South Africa’s economic heartland, and joked that they were not necessary, for example, in Nkandla – his home village in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

“Gauteng is the heart of our economy and it must develop more than any other place. This matter was discussed for a long time… if you are in Gauteng, if you want the economy to develop quicker, you must create the conditions for it.

“I think the matter has been politicised unfortunately beyond the level it should be,” he added.

Last year Zuma sparked controversy when he said: “We can’t think like Africans, in Africa, generally. We are in Johannesburg, this is Johannesburg. It’s not some national road in Malawi.” when he spoke in support of the e-tolls.

His spokesperson Mac Maharaj apologised on Zuma’s behalf for the comment.

– SAPA

Cape Town – A female police officer was shot dead in a shoot-out with armed robbers near Kraaifontein in Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Friday.

“The tragic incident happened on Thursday around 16:50 after Kraaifontein police received a complaint of a house robbery in progress on a farm on Botfontein Road near Kraaifontein,” said Captain Frederick van Wyk.

“Two SA Police Service members attached to the crime prevention unit responded to the complaint. Near the scene members spotted two suspects fleeing on foot through a graveyard in the Wallacedene informal settlement.”

Van Wyk said that when police confronted the suspects in Old Paarl Road in the direction of the Bloekombos informal settlement, one of them fired several random shots.

Suspects wounded

“Police returned fire, wounding both suspects. One of the suspects sustained four gunshot wounds to his legs and shoulder and was taken to hospital and remains under police guard.”

Van Wyk said the other suspect sustained a gunshot to his stomach but managed to flee and was still at large.

“Sadly during the shoot-out with robbers, 30-year-old female Constable Rozelle Koopman died after being shot in the head. Police managed to recover a 9mm pistol with no serial number, and ammunition rounds.”

He said a search was under way for the remaining suspect.

“We want to send our condolences to the family of our fallen colleague, and express our disgust and anger at the suspect who killed her in cold blood while she was doing her job serving the community, said Western Cape Provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer.

– SAPA