North West Community Safety and Transport Management MEC Gaoage Molapisi wishes to condemn the violence and gangsterism that is emerging in Boikhutso location in Lichtenburg with the strongest possible term.

Few days ago a young person has been brutally killed and one is currently in hospital after two groups attacked each other over projects that are in place in the area.

One group has now decided to turn Boikhutso to Bengazi, terrorising people and destroying property of innocent civilians.

“These acts are not wanted in this time and era. Government is doing its best to change and better the lives of people and is bringing services to communities, but unfortunately it is the same community members that fight and kill one another just to deny others from benefiting out of these developments government is bringing.

People must equally share and benefit, of course it cannot be everyone who will benefit in the particular project but not a certain group that is stronger than the other,” said Molapisi.

MEC said these violent acts are happening when people are allowed to express themselves openly without fear of prosecution.

“Attacking people and destroying property is by all intends and purpose a simple act of criminality which totally is uncalled for and cannot close our eyes and pretend we don’t see. We must act and we are definitely going to act. We have been provoked and we will respond harshly,” warned Molapisi.

     He said communities have every right to bring their unhappiness about anything they may not be happy about to government and that can be done peacefully and amicably which can achieve better results.

“As MEC responsible for community safety I’m duty bound to see to it that I bring sanity in Boikhutso. People of Boikhutso must be free on the streets, at school, at church and at their homes. We will never, never be sweethearts with individuals who want to own this place. We will knock at every door, search every house, stop and search anyone if needs be we will camp here in Boikhutso. We will remove anyone in the community who does not belong to a peaceful society and put them where they belong without hesitation. We are going to meet with the community leaders this afternoon and our SAPS to map a way forward,” concluded Molapisi.
-TDN
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Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba has named a squad mixed with youth and experience for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan later on Friday.

Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa will captain the team in the absence of Itu Khune. This is Meyiwa’s fourth appearance for Bafana Bafana after making his debut against Lesotho in June last year. He came on as a sub for Wayne Sandilands.

Meyiwa then played against Swaziland in the 3-0 win last year and the 1-1 draw against Australia in May this year.

The Bafana attack will be led by Tokelo Rantie and Bongani Ndulula. While this will be Rantie’s 21st appearance, for Ndulula it will be his first appearance.

Ndulula was a regular scorer with the national Under-23 side, where he earned the nickname ‘Drogba’, he has yet to convert that early promise into goals in the PSL. He had spells with lower league Young Stars and Blackburn Rovers before signing for Bloemfontein Celtic and made his PSL debut in 2009/10.

After just a single season Ndulula was snapped up by Orlando Pirates, but never managed to win a regular place there and was signed by AmaZulu in January 2013.

The defence will be marshalled by Ngcongca, who is probably the most experienced player in the squad with 35 caps. He will play along Hlatshwayo, Matlaba and Mathoho

Bafana Bafana line-up: Meyiwa, Hlatshwayo, Matlaba, Mathoho, Ngcongca, Furman, Jali, Masango, Ndulula, Dolly, Rantie.

Bafana subs: Keet, Khumalo, Vilakazi, Manyisa, Zwane, Coetsee, Ntuli
-TDN
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ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni has submitted representations on why his drink-driving charges should be withdrawn, the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court has heard.

The African National Congress member was not present today but his attorney, Sylvester Vogel, confirmed that written representations had been handed to the state.

Prosecutor Adiel Jansen said he received a “voluminous” bundle yesterday and that the director of public prosecutions needed six weeks to study it.

“The director of public prosecutions needs the opportunity to go through everything and come to a decision,” he told Magistrate Nasha Banwari.

Banwari postponed the matter until October 22.

Yengeni was not in court because he had been excused from flying from Johannesburg for the provisional postponement.

Banwari held over a warrant of arrest until his next appearance.

Yengeni has not yet pleaded to charges of drink-driving and reckless and negligent driving.

As an alternative to the drink-driving charge, Yengeni is alleged to have driven with a blood-alcohol level of 0.25%, five times the legal limit of 0.05.

Yengeni was arrested in August last year after City of Cape Town law enforcement officials saw him allegedly driving his Maserati erratically in the Cape Town CBD.

Police later released him on bail and warned him to make his first court appearance on March 4.

In a statement issued after his arrest, the city’s safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith said Yengeni had been one of 52 people arrested during a weekend operation.

Smith alleged that at least one of Yengeni’s car number plates was missing at the time.

He said a screening device indicated that Yengeni was substantially over the blood alcohol level.

For this reason, Yengeni was taken to the “shadow centre” for a blood sample to be taken and sent to a lab for analysis.

In 2007 Yengeni was arrested in Goodwood Cape Town on a charge of drink-driving but was found not guilty.

– Sapa

Johannesburg – South African land should be returned to its “rightful owners” because it was “violently stolen”, according to the white EFF secretary of the Tuks “student command team”.

“The land was violently stolen. [There should be] no compensation, it must be given back to the rightful owners,” Jaco Oelofse told Sapa in an interview.

“However, this doesn’t mean white people can’t share in the land, but before we talk about sharing land with white people, let’s focus on getting white people to share the land first.”

He said all white South Africans belonged in the country.

Oelofse has been a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters since October 2013 and a member of the University of Pretoria (Tuks) EFF “student command team” since February.

The 23-year-old philosophy and political science student said: “There is no other alternative than nationalisation.”

EFF leader Julius Malema has said in the past that all land – black- and white-owned – should be transferred to state ownership, without compensation and the state should administer and use land for sustainable development purposes.

The EFF has also in the past said land expropriation should happen without compensation for equal redistribution.

Oelofse said he chose the EFF because there was no other party he could vote for. The EFF offered a better alternative to governance and ensured a more empowered population, he said.

Oelofse said as a Marxist he identified with the EFF. He said since he started studying, his interest in “radical theory” grew.

“I associate with a radical party that has the interest of the downtrodden, poor and voiceless at heart,” said Oelofse.

“As a gay person I also believe the EFF is the right party, they have by far the most progressive policy on gender and sexuality. The EFF fights for the equal treatment of all, we can’t exclude any groups who occupy the margins of society.”

EFF ‘sees the root of the problem’

He said apart from the EFF, there was no other student society openly fighting white supremacy, patriarchy, sexism and homophobia with such “radical ambition”.

Oelofse said the EFF saw the root of the problem and not just the surface issue, which was why they were not always popular. They made people uncomfortable when they had to face the radical truth.

When he joined the EFF, Oelofse said his membership was accepted with “open arms” and although he “agrees to disagree” with some friends and family, his parents had supported his political stance.

The university held student council elections on Wednesday.

The EFF Tuks team secured the deputy president position in Wednesday’s elections. He said it was good for an organisation that had only been on campus since February.

However, the EFF was not completely satisfied with the results, because it could not accept AfriForum’s victory over the transformation portfolio.

SA ‘needs Malema’

He said the EFF was generally well received on campus and students approached them to join.

“We brought a spark of radical politics to Tuks.”

However, there were students who did not like to see them, but Oelofse shrugged off remarks made.

“[On Wednesday] a group of white male students called me a blood-traitor and “moffie”. Not very original, I know, but they tried.”

He had not yet met EFF leader Julius Malema but would like to.

“The media is effective in demonising a strong black voice. I think he is an excellent leader and is exactly the type of leader this country needs,” said Oelofse.

“He knows politics, he is a great orator and what I like about him is that he understands that the truth is radical, he speaks the truth.”

SAPA