Johannesburg – The NPA on Tuesday expressed frustration with delays in the case against former police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.

“This is frustrating for the victims and the public,” said Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Louw.

She was speaking outside the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, sitting in Palm Ridge, following Mdluli’s brief appearance.

The case was postponed to allow the defence to be provided with documents.

Louw said the NPA was mandated to deal with every case expeditiously, but this delay was “out of their control”.

Mdluli faces a string of charges related to the fatal shooting of Oupa Ramogibe, his former lover’s husband.

These include kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, intimidation, and defeating the ends of justice.

According to the charge sheet, Mdluli allegedly went to extreme lengths between 1997 and 1999 to find his former lover Tshidi Buthelezi and her husband.

Mdluli and his co-accused, Mthembeni Mtunzi-Omhle Mthunzi, 54, allegedly forced Buthelezi’s friend Alice Manana out of her Boksburg, East Rand, home and took her to the Vosloorus police station. There she was allegedly assaulted to have her reveal Buthelezi’s whereabouts.

Mthunzi and Mdluli worked together at the police station between 1997 and 1999. Mdluli was the station’s branch commander.

Mdluli had had a long-term relationship with Buthelezi since their school days and he claimed she was his wife. He bought a property in Dawn Park and lived there with her. They had a child together.

During her relationship with Mdluli, Buthelezi met Ramogibe and they began a relationship, and married in July 1998.

Buthelezi did not inform Mdluli of this development. He found out about the wedding and obtained a copy of the marriage certificate.

Relationships

According to the charge sheet, Ramogibe was in another relationship with Lerato Seballo at the same time as Buthelezi.

“Accused two [Mdluli] visited the homes of Seballo, Sophia Ramogibe, and Jostinah Ramogibe in an attempt to convince them by means of intimidation to put pressure on Tshidi Buthelezi and Oupa to end their relationship,” the charge sheet reads.

“Buthelezi and Oupa went into hiding after they got married and it came to their knowledge that Mdluli was looking for them. At one stage, they hid in Orange Farm.”

The two accused visited Manana at her Boksburg home in 1998, allegedly took her against her will, and instructed her to show them where Buthelezi and Oupa were hiding.

She was allegedly told to speak the truth or she would be killed. After the assault at the police station, they took her to Orange Farm, and found Buthelezi and Oupa Ramogibe.

The couple were taken to the police station and allegedly assaulted.

Ramogibe was shot dead on 17 February 1999.

The following day the Ramogibe family reported the matter to police.

They claimed Ramogibe received death threats after marrying Buthelezi and was told to leave her or he would be killed. He had opened an attempted murder case before his death.

“It will be alleged that [Mdluli] secreted the police dockets concerning the attempted murder of Alice Manana and the kidnapping of Oupa, in the safe in his office at the Vosloorus police station, to ensure that no further criminal investigations and/or criminal prosecutions would be instituted against him,” according to the charge sheet.

The case resumes on 5 December.

SAPA

Pretoria – ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was one of the “concerned MPs” who leaked information on the 1999 arms deal, the Seriti Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

“One of the prime names, in fact the leader, was Ms Winnie Mandela,” arms deal critic Terry Crawford-Browne told the inquiry in Pretoria.

He said information in the so-called “De Lille dossier” had been assembled by ANC intelligence operatives working with the party’s MPs.

“In the months before the supply agreements were signed, ANC whistle-blowers produced boxes of documentation to support allegations of corruption and fraud,” said Crawford-Browne.

Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille testified at the inquiry this year and handed in her dossier as evidence.

Co-commissioner Thekiso Musi asked Crawford-Browne to clarify who had compiled the De Lille dossier – ANC operatives or MPs.

Crawford-Browne responded: “The operatives were working on behalf of the ANC MPs who were very suspicious in Parliament about the arms deal issue. They were feeling that it was a misallocation of resources given the circumstances in those days.”

Commission chairperson Judge Willie Seriti pressed Crawford-Browne to name the ANC officials.

Crawford-Browne said the MPs had left Parliament “for one reason or the other”. He asked to hand the names to Seriti confidentially, but Seriti insisted Crawford-Browne mention the names publicly.

“I want you to give the names in public,” said Seriti.

Crawford-Browne then named Madikizela-Mandela.

He said the documents were given to then judge Willem Heath in November 1999.

“Judge Heath had informed Ms De Lille that his decision would be made by January 2000.

“Instead of waiting for his findings, the government and contractors now proceeded with undue haste as if to present South Africa with a fait accompli,” said Crawford-Browne.

SAPA

ohannesburg – Two men were arrested for allegedly raping a woman in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape police said on Tuesday.

The men, aged 18 and 22, allegedly raped a 32-year-old woman on Friday, police spokesperson Zamukulungisa Jozana said.

They were apparently drunk when they found the woman at her sister’s house, allegedly raped her and ran away. They were arrested on Saturday at 08:00.

They were expected to appear before the Mqanduli Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges of rape.

SAPA

Cape Town – Julius Malema on Tuesday led EFF MPs out of their disciplinary hearing in Parliament, leaving it to proceed in their absence with charges arising from their protest about the Nkandla controversy
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Johannesburg – Two men who attempted to bribe a Diepsloot police officer were on Tuesday found guilty of corruption, said Johannesburg police.

The pair appeared in the Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court in the west of Pretoria, said police spokesperson Daniel Mavimbela.

“The magistrate handed each accused a R5 000 fine, or a 12 months’ imprisonment sentence,” said Mavimbela.

It was alleged that the pair wanted to corrupt Colonel Amos Balatse as he and other police officers facilitated a dispute involving two Diepsloot groups which were in a battle for control of a church in the area.

“One of the accused phoned the station commander on numerous occasions and suggested that Balatse should use his power to influence the outcome of the facilitation process,” Mavimbela said in a statement.

Last month, anti-corruption investigators set a trap for the men.

They were caught in Balatse’s office shortly after they had given him money to back their cause.

SAPA

Johannesburg – An online birth certificate registration system for children born at a Durban hospital was launched on Tuesday, the KwaZulu-Natal health department said.

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, together with KZN Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, had launched the new online birth certificate registration system for children born at Durban’s Addington Hospital, spokesperson Desmond Motha said.

Thirty-nine of the province’s 53 hospitals offering maternity services are now directly linked to home affairs.

Gigaba said no baby born at a government hospital should leave without a birth certificate.

“We will work to ensure that all hospitals are covered,” he said.

Dhlomo welcomed the new system, saying it would help expedite access to government-sponsored social services like child support grants, while curtailing birth certificate fraud.

SAPA

Pretoria – A Moroccan consul was found dead in a pool of blood at his guesthouse in Pretoria, his embassy said on Tuesday.

Police are still investigating how and why Fatmi Noureddine was killed. An autopsy is being carried out.

“The police are very cautious” a clearly distraught diplomatic colleague told AFP. “It has to be a robbery.”

“He did not turn up for work at the normal time, which seemed strange because he was always on time. His phone was off.”

Colleagues went to Noureddine’s guesthouse, on climbing the stairs to his residence and “found him in a pool of blood”, the official said.

A cellphone was said to be missing from the scene, but it was not known if he had any money at home.

AFP