Kimberley – Five men were killed when their car was crushed by a truck on the N14 near Kuruman, Northern Cape, on Tuesday morning, paramedics said.

“On arrival, ER24 paramedics discovered that a light motor vehicle lay crushed beneath the large truck,” ER24 spokesman Russel Meiring said in a statement.

Four of the men were already dead by the time paramedics arrived.

“The fifth occupant was found to be in a critical condition. Rescue services had to use the jaws-of-life equipment to free the critically injured patient as well as the four bodies.”

The injured man died on arrival at the Kuruman Hospital. Meiring said the truck driver was not found on the scene. The cause of the collision was not yet known.

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Kimberley – A two-year-old toddler died after a heavy steel gate fell on him at the police housing complex in Hull Street.

Boitumelo “Junior” Mothobi, who was named after his father, was playing with two of his friends when the incident took place on Monday evening.
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Kimberley – The labour department is investigating the Upington, Northern Cape, crane accident that killed three people and injured six others, the department said on Wednesday.

“The department of labour has dispatched a team led by the occupational health and safety specialist inspector to investigate an incident at KHI Solar One site,” spokesman Kebalepile Khula said in a statement.

A crawler crane fell over during a storm and crushed three container offices on Monday.

“The team is currently on the scene conducting the investigation in line with the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act… and hopes to start compiling their preliminary report at the end of this week.”

Khula said once completed, the report with findings, would be forwarded to the national director of public prosecutions.

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Kimberley – A man accused of murdering his 24-year-old girlfriend has appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court, Northern Cape police said on Wednesday.

Simon Zuba, 35, would remain in custody until his bail application on Tuesday, Lieutenant Sergio Kock said.

Zuba was arrested on Monday afternoon after telling police about his girlfriend Margaret Olyn’s death. Her body was found in a house on a smallholding near Kimberley, where the couple lived.

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Kimberley – A Northern Cape man suspected of murdering his cousin has appeared briefly the Douglas Magistrate’s Court, Northern Cape police said on Friday.

Willem Springbok, 26, appeared in court on Thursday, said Lieutenant Sergio Kock.

The case was postponed to November 25 when he is expected to bring a formal bail application.

He is accused of stabbing Mohammed Springbok, 29, during a brawl on October 26.

“It is alleged the deceased and the suspect were busy drinking on a farm near Plooysburg and had an argument over a bottle of whisky,” said Kock.

“The suspect fatally wounded the victim with a sharp object in his neck and fled the scene.”

Police arrested Willem Springbok two weeks later in Kimberley.

“(He) was found hiding under a couch,” said Kock. He faces a murder charge.

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Pretoria – Political concerns led to police pushing for a confrontation with striking platinum miners in Marikana in 2012, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Wednesday.

“The SAPS acted from improper political reasons in deciding to remove strikers,” evidence leader Geoff Budlender submitted during final arguments at the inquiry’s hearings in Pretoria.

He said North West police commissioner Lt-Gen Zukiswa Mbombo, in a meeting with Lonmin, had urged the mine’s management not to undermine the National Union of Mineworkers in favour of its rival, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.

“One (motive) was to respond to the call Cyril Ramaphosa made to the minister of police. That call was the trigger to what happened on the 16th (of August).”

Deputy president Ramaphosa was a non-executive director and shareholder in Lonmin at the time.

The inquiry is investigating the deaths of 34 people, mostly striking mineworkers, shot dead in a clash with the police on August 16. More than 70 people were wounded and more than 200 arrested. The police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them. In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed.

Budlender argued that Ramaphosa could not have anticipated or reasonably foreseen that killings would result from his call.

In the event top police management devised an operation to disarm and disperse striking miners who had congregated on a koppie at Wonderkop, near Marikana.

At a meeting on August 15, 2012 it was decided to take action the following day.

Budlender said: “One might conclude some police might have anticipated (deaths). There were mortuary vehicles on scene.”

The conduct of national police commissioner Riah Phiyega during the Marikana operation and the police’s subsequent handling should be investigated, the evidence leaders submitted.

It appeared senior police officers had been evasive in answers to the commission and certain evidence had been concealed or tampered with.

Earlier, evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson urged the commissioners to recall their horror when they first heard of the Marikana shooting.

It was important to remember that feeling because it reflected “the reality of the situation”, he said.

“Looking day-in and day-out at pictures of bodies shot to pieces by assault rifles dulls our outrage at what is, and should be, unacceptable in a constitutional democracy.”

Chaskalson slowly recited the names of those killed at Marikana.

“Remember every victim who died at Marikana… as an individual human being with a family and a life.”

The evidence leaders were giving their final arguments in the inquiry, and were given 90 minutes each to highlight aspects from their heads of argument.

At the end of last month, President Jacob Zuma granted the commission its final extension. Public hearings had to be completed by next Friday.

After the arguments, the commission had until March 30, 2015 to write its report. The findings would then be handed to Zuma.

The inquiry continues on Thursday.

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Rustenburg – North West pastors on Thursday welcomed President Jacob Zuma appointing Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe as special envoy to Nigeria.

Mahikeng Ministers Fellowship chairman apostle Zandisile Reginald Mpame said they hoped Radebe would explain why the bodies were still in Nigeria almost two months after the collapse.

Radebe was expected to travel to Nigeria to expedite the repatriation of the remains of 85 South Africans who were among 116 people killed in a building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria on September 12.

Mpame expressed disappointment over the “inhumane manner” in which Nigerian authorities had dealt with the repatriation process.

“It is completely unacceptable by any standard that the identification process and repatriation of the bodies of our compatriots has taken close to 60 days,” said Mpame.

He said families continued to deal with the trauma of the deaths and would only have closure once they had buried them.

Two weeks ago, Radebe said DNA samples of the deceased were being analysed at a laboratory in Stellenbosch.

Government said it was unaware of how far the process was.

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Mahikeng – A couple who killed a man before taking off in his car were sentenced in the North West High Court sitting in Mahikeng on Thursday, said police.

David Lichtenstein, 32, was handed a life sentence for the murder of 62-year-old Johannes Petrus Steyn, said Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone.

“He was further handed 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances,” he said.

Lichtenstein and his girlfriend, Petrolala Bezuidenhout, who was 18 years old at the time, strangled Steyn to death.

“They were arrested the following day in Carletonville and found in possession of the deceased’s white Volkswagen Citi Golf,” said Mokgwabone.

Bezuidenhout was sentenced to 12 years for the murder and eight years for robbery. Her sentences would run concurrently.

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The ANC welcomes the conviction of treason-accused Johan Prinsloo, the party said on Thursday.

“Prinsloo was part of the troika that was accused of seeking to overthrow the South African government by organising mortar bombs to bomb the ANC’s 53rd National Conference in Manguang in December 2012,” said spokesman Zizi Kodwa.

“The attempted right-wing coup plot and the actions of Prinsloo and his ilk were designed to reverse the significant gains made by the people of South Africa in seeking reconciliation and unity,” he said.

He said they further sought other weapons to attack the president and the national executive committee of the ANC.

“The bloodshed that they would have caused, had they succeeded in their treasonous deed, would undoubtedly have had the effect of seeking to plunge this country into crisis.”

The Free State High Court convicted Prinsloo of high treason and possession of ammunition and jailed him for eight years.

His co-accused Mark Trollip had last year pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy and was also handed an eight-year jail term.

A third defendant, Martin Keevy, was found mentally unfit to stand trial and charges against him were withdrawn.

The men arrested in the central Free State province were members of the Federal Freedom Party (FFP), which wants a separate state for white minority Afrikaners.

Charges against the fourth accused, Hein Boonzaaier, then the party leader, were dropped due to insufficient evidence.

Kodwa said the ANC commended the criminal justice system for handling an extremely sensitive case.

“We once again reiterate our call for stringent enforcement of gun control laws and those designed to deter the possession of ammunition and illegal firearms. Ours collectively is to ensure that the people in our country are, and feel, safe.”

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Rustenburg police have warned men in the area of a gang of women who trick them into offering accommodation for the night then spike their drinks and rob them.

“Police are appealing to men to refrain from inviting female strangers into their homes in a bid to curb the increasing cases of theft,” said Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone on Friday.

The “beautiful” women’s modus operandi was to befriend lone men in shebeens and then tell them they had nowhere to stay for the night.

The women targeted men who appeared to have money, smartphones, and flashy cars, and managed to inveigle themselves into a night’s accommodation at the man’s house.

“When the victim wakes up a couple of hours later, they discover that the attractive women are gone and the properties are stolen,” said Sabata.

In three cases reported to police – the most recent being last Sunday – the men had said they were drugged and then cleaned out by the “sleek” women.

In last week’s case the women drugged a 43-year-old man at his home in Tlhabane and made off with his grey BMW X1, laptop, plasma television, iPad, and cellphones.

The women were still at large. – Sapa