By Obakeng Maje
Rustenburg- North West police confirmed that 16 accused who were arrested during protest on the 13 May 2014 were released after paying admission of guilty fee.

Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said 16 suspects consist of 14 women and 2 men were arrested during protest and they barricaded roads with burning tyres and rubble in venting their anger.

“We arrested 16 suspects during the protest and charged them for public violence. The protest took place at Mmaditlhokwe village, near Rustenburg” Mokgwabone said.

They appeared before Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court and were found guilty. The magistrate ordered them to pay a fine of R100 each and were released.

The suspects said the blasts from Tharisa mine damages their houses and their children are affected by highly compressed air spreading outward from the explosion.

““We are thankful about the hard work done by our members.  This will hopefully serve as a lesson to those who disregard the laws of the country that police will deal harshly with them”, said the Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo.-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
Kimbeley- The Galeshewe Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit are investigating a housebreaking with the intention to rape and theft which allegedly took place at Ivory Park, Roodepan on 5 February 2014 at approximately 20:45.

The 27 year-old victim alleges she was sleeping when woken up by an unknown man pulling her legs. The suspect threatened to hurt her children, which were sleeping in the other room if she screams.

“He raped her and also stole a kettle, toaster, clothing iron and a bed lamp before fleeing the scene. The suspect is alleged to be a coloured male between the age of 28 and 30, approximately 1.7metre tall, medium build, dark in complexion and speaks Afrikaans” lieutenant Sergio Kock said.

The police request that anyone with information please call Detective Warrant Officer Dupie Duplessis on 082 359 9230 or 08600 10 111 or sms anonymously to 32211.

All information will be treated with the strictest of confidence. The investigation continues.-TDN
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Johannesburg – Discussion on the new immigration regulations will continue and problems will be tested to prevent negative impacts on the economy, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Friday.

“Our doors are not closed. We are open to further engagement on the consequences. You can never introduce new regulations that are perfect and will work,” he said at The New Age’s televised breakfast briefing in Midrand.

“You have to expect that there would be challenges and we are open to testing those on the ground if there is a need to change anything. We are open to continuous engagement with the different parties… because we wouldn’t want these regulations to have a negative impact on tourism and other elements of our economic growth and development.”

The regulations, which came into effect in May, introduce a new visa regime for South Africa. It outlines a clear distinction between short-stay visas and long-stay permanent residence permits.

Managing national security

It also stipulates that visa applications need to be made by applicants in person, and those wanting to change the status of their visa can no longer do so in South Africa but have to do so at missions abroad.

Gigaba said officials in foreign missions were being trained on the implementation of the legislation.

“We are moving into a new era of immigration management… It imposes on us to be proactive and it will bring many positive processes to our country. One of the issues is how to manage national security,” he said.

Gigaba said he understood the problems businesses were facing with regard to the implementation of the new regulations.

“We will test existing legislation with the policy framework we are going to bring about. It is at an advanced stage.”

Gigaba happy with public discourse

He said he was pleased with the reaction to the new legislation as it showed that people were participating in the process.

“I’m very happy about the public discourse around the new legislation because it says that South Africans, not only academics and practitioners are being involved in the process, but ordinary South Africans are being drawn in.

“The reaction we got was that some people have rejected it completely without considering that there are positives, and sometimes people reject the legislation when the real issue is about the implementation, and so the regulations themselves don’t pose a problem.”

Gigaba’s department would also appeal a court case it lost last month in the Western Cape High Court in favour of two people separated from their spouses because of immigration laws.

“We are appealing it because we believe we are correct in our approach,” he told delegates at the briefing.

Foreign partners branded undesirable

According to the SABC on 30 June, Brent Johnson and Cherene Delorie took the department to court to challenge what they called “unconstitutional legislation” governing visa applications.

Their foreign partners were branded undesirable and barred entry into South Africa. Home affairs said this was after they failed to follow due process when renewing their visas earlier in 2014.

Judge James Yekiso ruled that the status of undesirability over Johnson’s wife and son who are in Denmark, and Delorie’s husband who is in Zimbabwe, be suspended and they be allowed to return to South Africa.

SAPA

Johannesburg – The proposal by acting SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng that journalists be given a licence to practice reveals his ignorance about journalistic practice in a democracy, Sanef said on Friday.

“The SA National Editors’ Forum condemns the proposal,” it said.

“It is unfortunate that the remarks come from a high-ranking official of the public broadcaster, one of the biggest media houses in the country. The proposal is at odds with freedom of speech which is enshrined in the Constitution.”

Professional

On Thursday, Motsoeneng proposed that journalists have a licence to practice like those in the medical and law professions.

He said journalists who acted unprofessionally should be stripped of their licences.

“You know when you are a journalist, you are a professional journalist. If you don’t have ethics and principles and you mislead on your reporting, like lawyers… if you commit any mistake they take your licence,” he was quoted as saying by the SABC.

“We should do the same thing with journalists, that is what we need to do if we want to build South Africa.”

He was speaking at the annual Joburg Radio Days at Wits University in Johannesburg.

Dictatorships

Sanef said that in many dictatorships and authoritarian countries journalists were forced to register and obtain licences to work.

“These governments do this so that they can control the gathering and publication of news by journalists,” it said.

“In such countries, publication of stories which disclose official misconduct, abuse of power, corruption, cronyism and nepotism would be described as unprofessional or harmful to the state and the licence of the journalists writing them would be withdrawn.”

Sanef said a licence would be used as a tool by authorities that journalists in democracies have rejected.

Ignorance

“Motsoeneng has already demonstrated his ignorance of journalistic practice and principle by trying to prescribe to SABC journalists to broadcast 70 percent ‘good news’ about the government with 30 percent relegated for the so-called ‘negative’ news.”

The forum said the media had devised a system of regulation in South Africa by an ombudsman and a retired High Court judge to deal with journalistic practice that contravened its code of conduct.

In February, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela released a report “When governance and ethics fail” which found Motsoeneng’s SABC appointment irregular. Among other things, his salary increased from R1.5m to R2.4m in one year.

She found he misrepresented his qualifications – that he passed matric – to the SABC, and recommended he be replaced.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa will attend the commemoration of the battle of Delville Wood in France, the presidency said on Friday.

“This year’s commemoration service is of particular significance taking place against the background of the planned re-interment of the remains of Private Myengwa Beleza, one of the first South Africans and a member of the African Native Labour Corps to perish during World War 1 in France,” Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said in a statement.

The two would be accompanied by Ramaphosa’s wife Tshepo Motsepe and Deputy International Relations Minister Nomaindia Mfeketo.

Mamoepa said Beleza’s remains would be exhumed from the civilian cemetery of Seine-Maritime near Le Havre and reburied at Delville Wood Memorial as part of honouring all South Africans who were involved in the battle.

“Due to segregation at the time, black South Africans who had perished during the war were buried separately in different civilian cemeteries across France, while their white counterparts were buried at the Delville Wood Memorial,” he said.

The reburial of Beleza will go a long way towards the restoration of the dignity of black South Africans who participated in the war.

After the visit in France, Ramaphosa would proceed to Sri Lanka for an official visit from 7 to 8 July, said Mamoepa.
SAPA

Cape Town – Almost 1 000 immigrants have filed an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court to force the home affairs department to do its job and process their permit applications.

Meanwhile, another set of applicants, who were granted permits, are seeking payment of repatriation deposits, which cost about as much as a flight back to their home countries, reported The Times.

Applicants say they have become increasingly frustrated with the service rendered by the department, particularly with regards to the new immigration laws.

In terms of the law, a foreigner may not apply for new visa documents from South Africa but needs to do so from his or her home country.

‘Undesirable persons’

And foreigners who did not leave South Africa before the new regulations came into force risk being declared undesirable persons, for between one and five years, and being banned from the country.

With the department failing to process permit applications, immigrants are unable to access medical or banking services and could be arrested or deported.

In an e-mail to News24, a South African man, Jean du Toit, told how his Ukrainian wife, Irina Tokar, had applied for a permanent residence permit more than 60 days before the expiry of her temporary visa.

All the couple have received from the department is a letter acknowledging receipt of the application.

Du Toit said his wife had gone home with the couple’s 9-month-old baby to attend to an urgent family matter “but not before she was declared an undesirable person and banned from South Africa for 5 years”.

“She launched an appeal with Home Affairs but to date [received] no acknowledgement of [receipt] of the appeal,” said Du Toit.

‘Unconstitutional legislation’

On Tuesday the department said it was studying a ruling given by the Western Cape High Court in favour of two people separated from their spouses because of immigration laws.

According to the SABC, Brent Johnson and Cherene Delorie took the department to court to challenge what they called “unconstitutional legislation” governing visa applications.

Their foreign partners were branded undesirable and barred entry into South Africa.

Home Affairs said this was after they failed to follow due process when renewing their visas earlier in 2014. News24

Johannesburg – A police constable allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend on Thursday at their house in Delft, Cape Town, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) said.

“It is alleged the couple was returning from Bellville court over a domestic violence case against the police officer,” IPID acting spokesperson Grace Langa said in a statement.

The officer allegedly used his service pistol to shoot the 37-year-old-mother of two.

“It is alleged that 15 gunshots were fired.”

The 36-year-old officer handed himself over to the Delft police where he was arrested.

The couple’s two children were in the house at the time.

“It is further alleged that there is a history of domestic violence between the couple,” Langa said.

SAPA