Pretoria – Charges against 279 miners who were arrested during the August 2012 unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana were dropped in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court, north of Pretoria, on Wednesday.

“The charges were dropped due to the fact that the State would not be able to prove their cases if the matter went to trial,” said Andries Nkome, who was part of the defence team.

He said this had been the defence’s argument from the beginning.

The group was charged with public violence, illegal gathering, possession of dangerous weapons and intimidation following the unrest at the mine which claimed the lives of 44 people.

Initially, the miners also faced charges related to murder but these were provisionally withdrawn by the court.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police at Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West, on August 16, 2012 and over 70 were wounded.

Ten other people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

The police claimed they were trying to disarm and disperse armed striking miners who had gathered illegally at the mine.

Nkome said the miners were now weighing their options about laying charges against the police who they claimed injured and assaulted them during the arrests.

“They are considering their legal options about the assault, and their decision on how to go about the matter will be made known in due course,” he said.

Sapa

A 58-year-old man was found murdered in his furniture workshop in Hartbeesfontein, near Klerksdorp, at the weekend, North West police said.

He appeared to have been struck on the head, Colonel Emelda Setlhako said.

“He was found dead at the workshop by the landlady on Sunday,” Setlhako said.

The attackers fled with his cellphone and police were investigating a case of murder and robbery. No arrests had been made. – Sapa

Ventersdorp – An 18-year-old woman was raped and murdered in Tshing near Ventersdorp, North West police said on Sunday.

“It is alleged that the victim was found lying dead on the ground. Motive for the incident is not known at this stage,” said Colonel Emelda Setlhako.

She said the woman was raped and killed on Friday.

A 24-year-old man had been arrested and was expected to appear in the Ventersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Sapa

Schweizer Reneke -A 19-year-old man was stabbed to death with a pair of scissors in Ipeleng near Schweizer-Reneke, North West police said.

Colonel Emelda Setlhako said a fight broke out between the victim and three other men at a tavern on Saturday.

“It is alleged that the victim was stabbed with a scissors in his right arm. Motive for the incident is not known at this stage.”

Three suspects were arrested on Saturday.

They were expected to appear in the Schweizer-Reneke Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Sapa

Rustenburg – To his supporters and followers Joseph Mathunjwa, the president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is a hero, but he regards himself as a failure.



“I am not a hero. I am a failure. I failed to save the lives of 34 mineworkers. I failed to convince them to leave the koppie,” Mathunjwa told about 12 000 people at Nkaneng informal settlement in Wonderkop , Marikana.

They had gathered to mark the deaths of 34 mineworkers killed in a clash with police during a strike on August 16, 2012.

Association of mineworkers and construction union (AMCU) president Joseph Mathunjwa. Picture: Tiro Ramatlhatse.

The surprised crowd had earlier praised him, calling him “hunger buster” and the “appointed son of God” to deliver them from poverty.

They lauded his ability to have negotiated a wage agreement that increased their salary by R1000.

The agreement was signed in June this year, after a new strike that lasted five months at Lonmin, Impala and Anglo American platinum mining companies near the North West town of Rustenburg.

Mathunjwa commands respect amongst his followers. When he arrives they all want to shake his hand, or take a cellphone picture. When he speaks, they listen attentively.

On Saturday Mathunjwa shared with them what he thinks of himself.

“I regard myself as a failure, not a hero,” he said.

Mathunjwa was once expelled from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and went on to form his own union, Amcu, which dethroned NUM as the dominant union along the platinum belt.

He told the crowd that August 16 2012 reminded him of how he had failed to pursued mineworkers to leave the koppie they had gathered on during a wildcat strike in 2012 where Lonmin mineworkers held out on their demand for an increase to R12,500 per month.

“I knelt as a symbol of respect. I pleaded with them to leave there,” he said, pointing about 500m away at the foot of the koppie.

“But they were defiant. They said they wanted management to come to them with answers to their demands.”

Ten people had already died in the preceding week Ä among them two policemen and two Lonmin security guards.

But not long after he spoke to them, 34 people were shot dead when police opened fire on them.

The Farlam Commission of Inquiry is currently piecing together the events of the days before the August 16, and on the day of the shootings, taking evidence from a range of witnesses from policemen to the Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was a non executive director of Lonmin at the time.

Mathunjwa said he could not sleep peacefully when he thought of the families of the dead mineworkers and what the future held for them.

His union donated R2 million to start a trust fund that would help widows and families of slain mineworkers, many of whom have said they are struggling to make ends meet.

He also pledged R12 500 to each widow. “This is the money your husbands and children died fighting for,” he said

Sapa

A number of businessmen believed to be part of a syndicate dealing in diamonds were arrested in Kimberley, Northern Cape on Friday, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

“In a sting operation carried out by a multi-disciplinary project team of law enforcement agencies, a number of senior businessmen were arrested in Kimberley on charges of contravening the Diamonds Act, that is illegal diamond dealing, possession and sale of unpolished diamonds and money laundering,” spokesman Nathi Mncube said.

He said the team was set up in October 2011, and through the use of undercover agents it was discovered that various unlawful transactions in dealing in unwrought diamonds took place in the Northern Cape.

He said the Northern Cape High Court on Friday, granted the NPA 10 preservation orders in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act effectively freezing property in the sum of approximately R50 million.

“The freezing orders were made up of R43 million in cash being proceeds from criminal activity, five fixed properties and four vehicles that were used to commit illegal diamond transactions.”

He said the order takes place with immediate effect pending the filing of forfeiture applications against the cash and other property in due course.

Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko said the 19 were arrested in different provinces. They were arrested in Kimberley, in Vryburg in the North West, Bloemfontein in the Free State and Johannesburg in Gauteng.

“Some of them appeared in court and were granted bail of between R50,000 and R500,000,” he said.

Ramaloko said more people were expected to be arrested.

– Sapa

One person died and 18 other people were injured when a taxi and a car collided head-on on Saturday, on the N18 in Hartswater, Northern Cape, paramedics said.

Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said when paramedics arrived, the car and taxi were scattered across the highway.

“After triaging they established that one person had tragically died, one was in a critical condition and seventeen others sustained injuries ranging from serious to minor,” he said in a statement.

The injured were stabilised on the scene before they were taken to hospital.

Botha said the cause of the accident was not known.

       
-Sapa

Three newspapers on Friday identified the teenager convicted of a triple murder in Griekwastad in the Northern Cape on the day of his 18th birthday.

The Star printed a photo of Don Steenkamp sitting in court, above the story headlined “This is boy who raped sister, killed parents”.

According to the newspaper, a court order preventing the media from revealing the teenager’s identity because he was a minor was lifted when he turned 18.

Beeld carried a photo of Steenkamp on the front page with the caption “Griekwastad. Hier is Don [here is Don]”.

Beeld’s sister paper Volksblad had the photo and story on its front page.

Steenkamp was found guilty of murdering his father, Griekwastad farmer Deon Steenkamp, 44, his mother Christel, 43, and his sister Marthella, 14.

Previously most media reports did not state the family connection as this would have identified him while he was under the age of 18.

They were shot dead on their farm Naauwhoek on April 6, 2012.

He was also found guilty on charges of raping the girl and lying to the police.

On Wednesday, Northern Cape Judge President Frans Kgomo sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment on each of the three murder counts, 12 years on the rape count, and four years for defeating the ends of justice. All sentences would run concurrently.

Friday was Steenkamp’s second day in jail.

Media lawyer Dario Milo said South African law was unclear on the issue of identifying a child who was the subject of a court case and who turned 18. However, he believed the newspapers were justified in identifying him.

“The automatic lapsing of the protection… makes sense because the right to freedom of expression and the principle of open justice require that statutory restrictions on court reporting are interpreted as narrowly as possible.

“Those newspapers who have decided today [Friday] to name the Griekwastad convicted murderer will therefore, in our view, have a solid basis to argue that this decision was justifiable,” he said in his blog Musings on Media.

However, statutory interpretation was complex.

The position on this in South African law was governed by the Criminal Procedure Act read together with the Child Justice Act.

Section 63(6) of the Child Justice Act provided that section 154(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act “applies with the changes required by the context regarding the publication of information”.

He said section 154(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act protected an accused person under the age of 18 during criminal proceedings, while the Child Justice Act applied to someone who was over 18 during criminal proceedings but was under that age at the time he or she was arrested.

In certain circumstances, the act also applied to someone who was over 18 but under the age of 21.

“Thus, one reading of the Child Justice Act is that the phrase… means that once the Child Justice Act is deemed to apply to a particular person then the reporting restrictions in the Criminal Procedure Act will apply until the completion of those proceedings, even if the accused is now well over 18,” he said.

This could also apply to any appeal.

But when minors turned 18 they gained various freedoms they did not have before and lost certain special protections reserved for children.

Responding to a request from a newspaper to identify Steenkamp, Kgomo said what happened after judgment was none of his concern.

The judge president said when he was approached on Tuesday about publishing the boy’s identity before judgment was delivered his answer was an “emphatic no”.

“The horse has now bolted… What happens after I had given judgment, as of now, is none of my concern as presiding judicial officer in the case.

“I am functus officio.”

This meant that an official’s mandate on the matter had expired.

Kgomo could not deal with any queries once he had pronounced on the matter.

“Judges do not dispense legal advice. They speak through their judgments,” he said.

During sentencing, Kgomo told the teenager to face the consequences of his deeds.

“In two days you are a man. Now, be a man,” he told the teenager on Wednesday before sentencing him.

-Sapa

A man appeared in the Bafokeng Magistrate’s Court for allegedly killing his girlfriend, North West police said on Tuesday.

The case against Daniel Boikanyo, 49, was postponed on Monday to August 25 for further investigation, Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.

Boikanyo was arrested on Friday after his girlfriend’s clothes, including a pair of jeans and underpants, were found at his house.

Residents found the woman’s decomposing body in Chachalaza, near Rustenburg, on Thursday. She had multiple stab wounds. The motive for the killing was not known.

-Sapa

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Orkney- The 5.5 magnitude earthquake in North West earlier this month was possibly linked to mining in the area, a University of Pretoria academic said on Monday.

“What might happen, after enough mining, we are creating stresses, more and more stresses and they are propagating deeper and deeper,” said Prof Andrezj Kijko, the director of the university’s Natural Hazard Centre.”

We are adding stresses to already existing stresses, tectonic components… and then we are triggering [an] earthquake.

“We are talking about accelerating earthquakes, just by mining,” Kijko said.

A 31-year-old man was killed in a mining village near Orkney when the 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck the region.

At least 34 miners were injured and more than 600 houses damaged.  

-Sapa