By Obakeng Maje 
Wolmaransstad- Three suspects are expected to appear in Makwassie Magistrates’ Court on Friday for theft under false pretence and robbery.

The trio were arrested on Wednesday at Makwassie after a tip-off from the member of public about presence of men who previously conned people under the pretext of selling livestock.

“The suspects aged 38, 42 and 45 were positively linked to previously reported cases in Wolmaransstad Cluster between 2012 and 2014 with estimated value of R600 000” colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.

The suspects allegedly lure their victims by showing and selling them livestock that does not belong to them. 

“It is alleged that they would then take the victims to a house in Boskuil near Makwassie or any other place around Wolmaransstad to do the transaction. They (suspects) would then run away in different directions after receiving the money and eventually collected by different cars” he said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects worked in groups and used different names. The Acting Provincial Commissioner, Major General Ryno Naidoo thanked the community for their cooperation with the police in the fight against crime.

The police urge any member of the community who might have been a victim of this kind of crime in and around Wolmaransstad to contact Major Dihemo Dihemo on 082 773 0630. Investigation into the matter continues and more arrests are imminent.-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
Taung- The North West Social Development in Dr Segomotsi Ruth Mompati intensify its commitment to help the abused children within the communities. The department said they need people who could come out and voluntarily foster for the children who come from abusive home.

Tuelo Mankabane who is a social worker for Ward 4 in Dryharts village, near Taung request that three people who would like to act as foster parents to abused children must come forward, he said that during community meeting.

“We need three parents who could be voluntarily chosen and accommodates children in the area who will be identified by department of Social Development. We need someone with a conducive home, minimum having three children under her/his care and would be assessed by the department to see if that person meet the criteria” Mankabane said.

He said the department will help the chosen parent with a monthly salary of R750 per child. And the person might accommodate close to six children at once.

A safety parent initiative is to help children from broken background and before they copy things that are bad from their parents/guardian.

“We want to build a positive society with morals and values of life. Children are our future leaders, so they need to be taken care of” he said.

The department also advised blind and myopic people to come forward to be identified for any job opportunities or skill development- TDN
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Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address failed to address sex worker issues, the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) said on Thursday.

The omission was despite Zuma acknowledging that crimes against women, children and marginalised groups remained high, Sweat director Sally-Jean Shackleton said in a letter addressed to Zuma and Minister of Women in the Presidency Susan Shabangu.

This was even though such crimes had decreased in the last five years, according to police statistics.

“The commitment to improving workers’ rights is applauded but excluded a recognition of the fact that sex workers have limited labour law protection due to the criminalised status of sex work,” Shackleton said.

Steps that would reduce assault, rape, harassment, and intimidation of sex workers by police were needed.

Shackleton said sex workers were mistreated and discriminated against at public healthcare facilities, and by the courts.

Zuma’s silence on sex work undermined the safety and well-being of sex workers, whose human rights were compromised under the current legal dispensation.

This was despite sex workers having rights which the Constitution purported to respect and protect.

She said no progress had been made regarding the SA Law Reform Commission’s project 107, on adult prostitution, a situation that had remained the same for the last 13 years.

This was despite Zuma, in replying to a parliamentary question in October 2013, stating seven commissioners had been appointed to deal with the matter.

Shackleton said a recent study by the Women’s Legal Centre showed that 30% of sex workers in South Africa’s five biggest cities experienced abuse by police officers.

“Criminalisation accordingly drives sex workers even further to the margins of our society,” she said.

She called on Zuma to prioritise addressing human rights violations against sex workers, via a law-reform process that would decriminalise adult, consensual sex work.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Residents of Botlokwa in Limpopo pelted cars with stones and barricaded the N1 on Wednesday, Limpopo police said.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said residents wanted to remove the chairman of the traditional council.

He said on Monday a group called Botlokwa Community Safety wanted to march, but the municipality declined the request because due processes were not followed.

“Today [Wednesday] at 09:00 they gathered at traditional council with the view of removing the chairperson forcefully.”

He said public order police dispersed the crowd, which went to the N1 to barricade the freeway between Polokwane and Louis Trichardt.

Shops belonging to foreign nationals were looted and cars were stoned.

“The situation is now under control. Cars are able to move in and out of the area.

“We however want to emphasise that anarchy in communities will not be allowed and we will not hesitate to arrest those taking the law into their hands.”

Mulaudzi said the cluster commander was facilitating dialogue between the municipality, the traditional council and the concerned group to find a solution to the issue raised.

SAPA

Johannesburg – The body of a police officer was found in an open veld in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg, on Wednesday, Gauteng police said.

Warrant Officer Thabo Abednigo Mahlaba’s body was found in a decomposed state by mineworkers, Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said.

The 50-year-old, who was allegedly kidnapped, was reported missing by his wife on 6 June.

The officer, who was last seen alive on 5 June at the Kagiso Police Station, allegedly went to withdraw money from an ATM in Krugersdorp on the day and had not returned home.

He was last seen wearing a black cap, blue denim jeans, a denim jacket, and a formal pair of shoes, said Dlamini.

The cause of his death was unknown and no arrests had yet been made.

SAPA

Johannesburg – A charge of murder and attempted murder relating to the 1999 killing of Oupa Ramogibe will not be reinstated against former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, Freedom Under Law (FUL) said on Wednesday.

Charges that had been reinstated by the National Prosecuting Authority against Mdluli included assault, intimidation and defeating the ends of justice, said FUL chairman Johann Kriegler.

“The information from the National Director of Public Prosecutions [NDPP] is that… in respect of the violence charges related to the murder, the prosecution is being reinstated in respect of all of the charges except for the murder charge,” he said.

“The murder and attempted murder charges are not proceeding.”

FUL was also informed that the NDPP had instructed senior prosecutors to review the possibility of reinstating fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli.

“But that hasn’t happened yet. That is the only information I can give you. I have no idea when things are likely to happen.”

On Tuesday night, the NPA confirmed that some charges had been reinstated against Mdluli, but could not reveal which ones.

Mdluli was suspended amid allegations of fraud and corruption, and charges relating to the murder of his ex-lover’s husband Ramogibe in February 1999.

In the 15-year-old case, Mdluli and three others were initially accused of killing Ramogibe, as well as charges of intimidation, kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder.

Ramogibe allegedly received death threats after marrying Mdluli’s former girlfriend and was told to leave her or he would be killed. He opened an attempted murder case before his death. At the time, Mdluli was the station commander of the Vosloorus police station in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, and was accused of sabotaging the investigation.

Charges withdrawn

The charges of kidnapping and assault relate to allegations that he intimidated and assaulted the family and friends of his ex-lover to find out where she had moved when she got married.

The fraud and corruption charges, meanwhile, relate to a different time in Mdluli’s life in his capacity as head of the crime intelligence unit. He is accused of employing family members and friends as intelligence operatives, and misusing police funding to buy luxury cars.

The fraud and corruption charges were withdrawn on 14 December 2011, and in March 2012, Mdluli was reinstated as head of crime intelligence.

A month later, the NPA provisionally withdrew the murder charges, pending an inquest into the matter.

In May that year, then police minister Nathi Mthethwa announced Mdluli would be transferred from crime intelligence to the office of the deputy national police commissioner for operations.

Later, he was suspended for a second time when allegations emerged from the inquest into Ramogibe’s murder. In November 2012, the inquest cleared him of any involvement in the murder.

In April, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upheld a high court ruling against the withdrawal of fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli.

The SCA said it could not immediately order the reinstatement of criminal prosecution and disciplinary proceedings, as this would constitute undue interference with the executive and a transgression of the separation of powers.

FUL had sought an order in the High Court in Pretoria to set aside the decisions and reinstate the charges against Mdluli.

SAPA

Johannesburg – A Limpopo municipality has procured laptops from a filling station registered in the name of a councillor’s son while another has paid a company R700 000 for recording a single disciplinary session, City Press reports.
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Johannesburg – A charge of murder and attempted murder relating to the 1999 killing of Oupa Ramogibe will not be reinstated against former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, Freedom Under Law (FUL) said on Wednesday.

Charges that had been reinstated by the National Prosecuting Authority against Mdluli included assault, intimidation and defeating the ends of justice, said FUL chairman Johann Kriegler.

“The information from the National Director of Public Prosecutions [NDPP] is that… in respect of the violence charges related to the murder, the prosecution is being reinstated in respect of all of the charges except for the murder charge,” he said.

“The murder and attempted murder charges are not proceeding.”

FUL was also informed that the NDPP had instructed senior prosecutors to review the possibility of reinstating fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli.

“But that hasn’t happened yet. That is the only information I can give you. I have no idea when things are likely to happen.”

On Tuesday night, the NPA confirmed that some charges had been reinstated against Mdluli, but could not reveal which ones.

Mdluli was suspended amid allegations of fraud and corruption, and charges relating to the murder of his ex-lover’s husband Ramogibe in February 1999.

In the 15-year-old case, Mdluli and three others were initially accused of killing Ramogibe, as well as charges of intimidation, kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder.

Ramogibe allegedly received death threats after marrying Mdluli’s former girlfriend and was told to leave her or he would be killed. He opened an attempted murder case before his death. At the time, Mdluli was the station commander of the Vosloorus police station in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, and was accused of sabotaging the investigation.

Charges withdrawn

The charges of kidnapping and assault relate to allegations that he intimidated and assaulted the family and friends of his ex-lover to find out where she had moved when she got married.

The fraud and corruption charges, meanwhile, relate to a different time in Mdluli’s life in his capacity as head of the crime intelligence unit. He is accused of employing family members and friends as intelligence operatives, and misusing police funding to buy luxury cars.

The fraud and corruption charges were withdrawn on 14 December 2011, and in March 2012, Mdluli was reinstated as head of crime intelligence.

A month later, the NPA provisionally withdrew the murder charges, pending an inquest into the matter.

In May that year, then police minister Nathi Mthethwa announced Mdluli would be transferred from crime intelligence to the office of the deputy national police commissioner for operations.

Later, he was suspended for a second time when allegations emerged from the inquest into Ramogibe’s murder. In November 2012, the inquest cleared him of any involvement in the murder.

In April, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upheld a high court ruling against the withdrawal of fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli.

The SCA said it could not immediately order the reinstatement of criminal prosecution and disciplinary proceedings, as this would constitute undue interference with the executive and a transgression of the separation of powers.

FUL had sought an order in the High Court in Pretoria to set aside the decisions and reinstate the charges against Mdluli.

SAPA