Daily Archives: March 9, 2014

Mom held for stabbing three daughters to death


Milan – Authorities in the northern Italian city of Lecco say they have arrested a mother who confessed to stabbing to death her three young daughters.

Carabinieri Colonel Rocco Italiano said they arrested the mother, an Albanian national, after discovering the bodies of the three girls, ages 3, 10 and 13, on Sunday morning.

Italiano said the parents had just separated, the father had departed on Saturday for Albania, and the mother had no job. Italiano said, “There were economic difficulties, but not serious enough to justify this.”

The family had been living in Italy for 13 or 14 years. Authorities were alerted by a neighbour who saw the mother in a state of confusion. – Sapa-AP

Co-operate to stop ANC- FF Plus


Johannesburg –

Co-operation between different groups in South Africa is needed to stop the ANC, Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said on Saturday.

“There is a place for everyone in this country. The FF Plus’s re-worded mission does not want to motivate the Afrikaners alone, but also other minority groups,” Mulder said in a statement.

“Together, we have one goal and that is to defeat the ANC.”

Mulder criticised the ANC and said that there was currently a “tyranny of a majority” without a say for minorities in the country.

He said the FF Plus had “irrevocably committed” itself to co-operating with other communities.

“That is why it is essential that a new dispensation is brought about in which recognition is given to the diversity of the country and its people,” he said.

“We ask for a better dispensation for the Afrikaner, but will also fight for other minorities to obtain this.”

The party’s membership of the Collective for Democracy illustrated this, he added.

The new Collective for Democracy consists of the African Christian Democratic Party, Congress of the People, the FF Plus, the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the United Christian Democratic Party.

Launched in December, the parties said they would work to advance democracy and contest the general election with a view to securing enough representation to form a new government.

Mulder launched the party’s election manifesto on Saturday.

He said the FF Plus would be following a new direction to bring a new dispensation for South Africa which would be an advantage to everyone in the country.

Mulder said that the campaign for a solution for the oppression of Afrikaners and other minority groups in the country should be realistic, modern and fair for all. – Sapa

18 children injured in a crash


Johannesburg – Eighteen people, mostly children, were injured when a bakkie overturned down a steep embankment on the R74 in Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday afternoon, Netcare 911 said.

Spokesperson Chris Botha said children between the ages of six and 16 were being transported to a local soccer ground in Stanger when the vehicle veered off the road, overturned, and they were flung out as it tumbled.

Netcare 911, provincial paramedics and the KwaDakuza fire department arrived at the scene and found that 16 children “miraculously” escaped with minor injuries, but two sustained serious injuries.

Paramedics stabilised the injured on scene before they were transported to various hospitals in the area for further treatment.

SAPA

Eskom: No power cuts expected


Johannesburg – Eskom was not expecting any power cuts this week although the system would still be tight, it said on Sunday.

“The situation is stable at the moment… at this stage there are no power cut planned,” spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said.

This was after the power utility had to introduce emergency rostered power cuts in certain areas, called load shedding, to prevent a collapse of the national power grid because coal supplies for electricity generators became wet in the past week’s persistent rain.

On Friday, Eskom CEO Brian Dames said the power cuts were a result of wet coal received from open-cast mines.

Etzinger said the system remain constrained, but the public would be informed if there were any changes.

When asked if the coal was still wet, he said there was still rain in Mpumalanga, where most of the mines are situated, but the situation was better than last week.

SAPA

Sundowns stay second


Durban – Mamelodi Sundowns have cut the gap at the top of the PSL table after goals in each half by Surprise Moriri and Teko Modise gave them a 2-0 win over AmaZulu at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu, north of Durban, on Sunday.

Forward Moriri, making a rare start in attack, headed the visitors ahead after 10 minutes, before midfielder Modise capitalised on an error by home goalkeeper Tapuwa Kapini to double the advantage.

The result closed the gap between the second-placed Brazilians and leaders Kaizer Chiefs to six points, while Usuthu stayed seventh.

AmaZulu made most of the early running in front of lively crowd, but almost fell hind after eight minutes when Tebogo Langerman cut inside from the left and sent a serving shot towards goalkeeper Kapini, who had to tip over.

From the resulting Elias Pelembe corner the visitors went ahead as Moriri powered in a header at the near post.

The hosts had a chance to hit straight back courtesy of a 25-yard free-kick, wastefully shot high and wide by an embarrassed Marc van Heerden.

Sundows too had a set-piece opening not long after, although the result was the same from over 30 metres this time.

With the midfield packed and the visitors happy to sit on their lead, there was little chance to get forward for Craig Rosslee’s men, Langerman had another chance on the half-hour when he again pushed forward, only to this time blaze over, while left-back Van Heerden drew some boos from the frustrated home crowd when he wasted a 25-yard dead ball situation from the left.

AmaZulu did get a little closer just before the break when Bonginkosi Macala’s cross was headed over by Ayanda Dlamini.

After the restart, chances continued to prove few and far between with Bafana Bafana defender Van Heerden sending a rare attempt from open play well over, The home side were denied a penalty after 73 minutes when substitute Mzikayise Mashaba appeared to handle the ball in the box from a Van Heerden free-kick, although referee Thabo Nkosi waved play on.

And when Sundowns broke forward moments later they landed the killer blow with Anthony Laffor’s left-side cross missed by the diving Kapini allowing Modise time to control and slot in as they ran out easy winners.

SAPA

ANC’s 45% poll panic


Johannesburg – The ANC in Gauteng has asked its volunteers to intensify their mobilisation campaign in townships to avoid getting less than 50% of the vote in the polls, City Press reported on Sunday.

It was sparked by its own internal polls, which showed it could obtain at most 45% of electoral support in the province.

This would be a sharp decline from the 64.4% the party won in the 2009 general elections.

The party’s internal polls, which were presented to campaigners in two separate meetings in recent weeks, suggest the party’s electoral support stands at 45% at best.

The ANC’s in-house research is in line with the findings of an Ipsos survey, published in politicsweb, which put the ruling party’s support in Gauteng at 45.5%.

This means it will need a coalition partner to govern Gauteng if the tide does not turn before 7 May.

However, ANC president Jacob Zuma, speaking in Ga-Rankuwa on Saturday, said he was confident the party would stay in powerin Gauteng.

Ipsos SA’s director of public affairs, Mari Harris, said in a statement issued in Februarythat the public’s perception of how well government was doing had declined in the past three years, Harris said.

“Only about a third of South Africans are of the opinion that the country is going in the right direction.”

Half of the adults believe that President Jacob Zuma and his government are not doing their jobs well, the survey showed.

“It should come as no surprise that the public are not impressed with government performance in most of the policy areas we measure,” said Harris.

Ipsos, a market research company, had conducted face-to-face interviews with 3 564 randomly selected adult South Africans who were interviewed in their homes and home languages.

The interviews were conducted in November last year, said Harris, adding that they were done every six months.

The DA’s candidate for premier in Gauteng, Musi Maimane, said in mid-January that the The DA’s polling shows that the ANC’s support could drop to less than 50%in Gauteng.

The ANC’s immediate response was to shoot it down as a “pipe dream”. 

– City Press

Third person dies in a gang shooting


Cape Town – A third person died on Sunday following a gang shooting in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, Western Cape police said.

Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said a person died in hospital on Sunday morning following the shooting in Skorpal street on Saturday night.

Four people were caught in the crossfire.

A 12-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy were killed and another person seriously injured.

No arrests had yet been made.

The Workers International Vanguard Party said residents in the area organised a mass march on Sunday afternoon at the corner of AZ Berman Drive and Morgenster Road to protest against the shootings.

Spokesperson Shaheed Mahomed said residents were angry about the ongoing shootings and violence allegedly committed by gangsters.

He said at least 10 people were killed in gang-related incidents on Saturday night, including a six-year-old girl.

Kinana said they could only confirm the three deaths.

“I have no knowledge of the other people and numbers… Unless people are referring to other incidents [or] knowledge of which I do not have with me,” he said.

SAPA

Limpopo roads closed due to rain


Johannesburg – Some of Limpopo roads were on Sunday closed following heavy rainfall for the past few days, which left at least one person missing after being swept away.

“There has been heavy rains which led to some of our roads been washed away, these resulted in those roads been partly and completely closed,” said the department.

The road between Vaalwater and Lephalale was one of the affected and motorists were urged to use R510 or R518 when travelling to Lephalale.

It said two culverts were washed away on the road at Melkrivier leading to Waterberg lodge.

“The Strydom tunnel is operating on one lane, our team is busy attending to the matter to have both lanes operational.”

The department urged motorist to be extra cautious and on high alert when travelling on the province’s roads.

A 69-year-old woman was still missing after she was washed away with her husband while swimming in an undercover swimming pool in Bela-Bela, Limpopo police said.

They were washed away on Friday in Kariba Lodge when the Bela-Bela dam overflowed, said Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.

“The top part of the dam burst and the water flowed into Kariba Lodge.”

He said a search team was activated when they realised the two were missing.

The body of a 74-year-old man was found on Saturday but his wife was still missing.

“We were anticipating to continue the search today [Sunday] but it cannot happen because of the continuing rain and the river is very full.”

He said the search team was on standby to continue the search should the water decrease.

Sixteen families were evacuated from Monotomosetlha informal settlement near Coligny as part of disaster relief effort, said the office of the North West premier on Sunday.

The families were removed from the wetland to an alternative area on Saturday, said spokesperson Lesiba Kgwele in a statement.

“The relocation is part of relief effort to ensure that all families who are affected by floods are assisted and that those who are displaced and temporarily accommodated at churches are relocated to a habitable area.”

Premier Thandi Modise urged municipalities to adhere to the disaster management protocol and alert the Provincial Disaster Management Centre of all flooding incidents to ensure that relief efforts and support was co-ordinated to reach those in need quicker.

No power cuts expected

There were no incidents reported in the Eastern Cape, the provincial Local Government and Traditional Affairs department said on Sunday.

“We have not heard any reports of floods yet but we would love to advise our people to be vigilant at all times and parents should ensure their children are safe.”

There were no flood-related incidents in Johannesburg and Tshwane by Sunday afternoon.

“Nothing much happened, it did not rain that much to cause any major incident or flooding,” said Tshwane Emergency Management Service spokesman Johan Pieterse.

Eskom said it was not expecting any power cuts next week although the system would still be tight.

“The situation is stable at the moment… at this stage there are no power cut planned,” said spokesperson Andrew Etzinger.

Last week it had to institute rostered power cuts because coal was open cast mines that power electricity generators was wet.

The power grid remain constrained but the public would be informed if there would be any changes, he said.

SAPA

FF+ launches elections manifesto


Johannesburg – The Freedom Front Plus launched its election manifesto in Pretoria on Sunday, it said in a statement.

Party leader Pieter Mulder said the party called for co-operation and wanted a solution for the oppression of Afrikaners and other minority groups, including the San and Khoi.

“There is a place for everyone in this country. The FF Plus’ re-worded mission does not want to motivate the Afrikaner’s alone, but also other minority groups. Together, we have one goal and that is to defeat the ANC,” Mulder said.

He said there was currently no say for minorities in the country.

The FF Plus committed itself to cooperating with other communities.

“We ask for a better dispensation for the Afrikaner, but will also fight for other minorities to obtain this,” he said.

– SAPA

Cable theft causes substation explosion


Johannesburg – Parts of Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, were without electricity on Sunday after a substation exploded, the City of Tshwane said.

“It has been established that the blast occurred as a result of [a] cable theft attempt,” spokesperson Selby Bokaba said in a statement.

The explosion, which happened around 11:00 at the Soshanguve K section substation, left residents in sections K, M, H and F without power.

Residents living in sections IA, FF, DD, and BB were also without power due to the IA substation tripping because of the explosion.

“Technicians from the city of Tshwane’s energy and electricity division have been hard at work and managed to back feed substation IA,” Bokaba said.

Power was later restored to sections FF, DD, BB and IA.

He said sections K, M, H and F were still without power, which was expected to be restored on Monday.

The city apologised for the inconvenience caused.

SAPA