Johannesburg – Three men accused of murdering a Free State farmer and his wife are expected to apply for bail this week, the Hawks said on Monday.
“They are all set to apply for bail in the Dewetsdorp Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday,” said Hawks spokesperson Paul Ramaloko.

Ismael Mafosi, Teboho Khoantle, and Johannes Pitseng allegedly attacked farmer Andrew Monokara and his wife Lorraine on their farm Graigmont, near Dewetsdorp, on 6 May.

The three allegedly tied up the couple with a wire and shot them in the head. The woman was raped, Ramaloko said.

Monokara died instantly while his wife succumbed to her wounds in Bloemfontein’s Pelonomi hospital on 9 May.

The attackers took a television set and a firearm which belonged to the farmer. They fled the scene in the couple’s double cab bakkie.

The vehicle and the firearm have since been recovered following the arrest on 19 May.

The three men first appeared in the Dewetsdorp Magistrate’s Court on 21 May on charges of murder, robbery and illegal possession of a firearm.

Ramaloko said investigators awaited DNA results in order to be able to link them to the rape charge.

Civil rights organisation AfriForum said the Monokaras were the first black farming couple murdered in a farm attack in the province.

“This incident proves beyond any doubt that farm attacks are not a racial issue. Rural areas are unsafe and the refusal by the police to introduce proper security aggravates the situation,” said spokesperson Ian Cameron.

SAPA

Johannesburg – A Limpopo woman accused of hacking one of her three-month-old twins to death with an axe was sent for mental observation on Monday.

The matter was postponed to 30 June in the Vuwani Magistrate’s Court.

The woman allegedly hacked her baby to death at the Ha-Mutsha village outside Thohoyandou on Friday evening.

“The badly injured baby was taken to Tshilidzini hospital but was declared dead on arrival,” said Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.

The 30-year-old mother was alleged to have tried to also kill the second twin.

“While the police were racing to the crime scene, some frantic community members managed to rescue the other twin whom she allegedly wanted to kill, and contained the mother until she was detained by the police,” said Mulaudzi.

The surviving twin was doing well and was with the woman’s relatives.

Mulaudzi said the motive for the attack was unknown.

SAPA

Cape Town –  President Jacob Zuma’s appointment of ex-spy chief Siyabonga Cwele as minister of telecommunications and postal services, could soon see the rebirth of an apartheid-era information ministry, the DA said on Monday.
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Pretoria – A man identified only as Mr X will not testify this week about the 2012 Marikana shootings, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the events said in Pretoria on Monday.
Arrangements that needed to be made first with the Lonmin platinum mine were taking longer than expected, said commission chairman, retired Judge Ian Farlam.

Mr X had been scheduled to take the stand on Wednesday.

He is said to have been part of a group of protesting miners who underwent a ritual at Marikana that included the burning of live sheep on the night of 11 August 2012.

The rituals were a preparation for a confrontation with police, according to documents in the SA Police Service application.

He is expected to testify about “the killing and intimidation of Lonmin employees who were unwilling to take part in the violent strike”.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during the violent wage-related strike at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations.

On 16 August 2012, 34 people, mostly mineworkers, were shot dead by police, who were allegedly trying to disarm and disperse them.

Another 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed during the preceding week.

Earlier in the day, a police officer testifying before the commission denied having given the order to shoot to police on 16 August.

“I only shouted watch out, I didn’t give the instruction to shoot,” Captain Wayne Peter Kidd said.

Advocate George Bizos for the Legal Resources Centre, said two police officers alleged Kidd gave an instruction to shoot on 16 August 2012.

Kidd was part of a reserve group deployed in Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West, to protect an informal settlement near the hill where the strikers had gathered.

He told the commission he did not know the details of police Standing Order 262.

It contains guidelines on how police should perform crowd management during protests and public unrest.

Kidd said he was put in charge after the public order police commander left.

Bizos asked Kidd if his supervisors knew that he had no experience in crowd management.

“I don’t know if they knew, but they knew I was a Tactical Response Team commander,” he said.

The inquiry continues.

SAPA

By Obakeng Maje
Kimberley- Two men aged 53 and 17 are behind bars after the Kimberley police found them in possession of stolen copper cables weighing 30kg to the value of R2000.

The suspects were arrested this morning during routine crime prevention stop and search around town and around the local scrap yards.

“A 17-year-old boy was arrested after the police received as tipped off information about a man who hitch-hiked from Hopetown to Kimberley carrying a heavily loaded bag with copper, while a 53-year-old man was arrested at the nearby local scrapyard” lieutenant Olebogeng Tawana said.

The suspects are due to appear before the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court tomorrow on charges of possession of copper cable.-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
The police in the Northern Cape supported the Community Outreach Framework and the Safer Schools Programme when they inter-acted and reached out to approximately 3470 leaners at six(6) schools, senior citizens and community members in the Upington and Kakamas clusters over a period of 4 days which commenced on 20 May 2014 and concluded on 23 May 2014.

“The focus of the school and community visits was to reach out and improve relationships with the community and also to strengthen the Safer Schools programme. The intention was also to enhance police-community relationships by mobilising the general community to participate in crime prevention initiatives and to educate the learners about crime and criminality through music” lieutenant Sergio Kock said.

The learners were addressed by various SAPS speakers and one of the topics was the Prohibition of the Dangerous Weapons Act 2013, Act No 15 of 2013. The SAPS Provincial Band also entertained senior citizens at the Vlytige Senior Citizens Club in Rosedale.

The band was accompanied by the cluster commander of the Upington cluster, Brigadier Paul Cengani as well as Colonel Marie Cengani, the Kakamas Cluster Commander.

The local Community Policing Forum Chairpersons also accompanied the provincial delegation which consisted of members from Provincial Corporate Communication and Provincial Visible Policing.

“Through Project Harmony , the South African Police Service will continue to build harmonious relationships with the communities we serve by fighting crime through music” Kock concludes.-TDN
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