By Reginald Kanyane
Rustenburg- A swift response by members of the Rustenburg Flying Squad and Tactical Response Teams(TRT) led to the arrest of three men and recovery of stolen motor vehicle on Monday, at about 09:30 at Yizo-Yizo Informal Settlement, Tlhabane.

The arrest came after Rustenburg Flying Squad received information from a vehicle tracker about the stolen white Toyota Hiace. They followed the signal and later found one suspect driving the vehicle.

Two other suspects were apprehended later during the day when they came to pick up the stolen vehicle from a panelbeater.

“ccording to the information, the vehicle was stolen on Friday at Tlhatlhaganyane Tribal office near Sun City. The suspects with ages ranging between 20 and 40 are due to appear in Bafokeng Magistrates Court soon facing charges of possession of suspected stolen property. North West SAPS Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo has commended the members for the good work” colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said.

North West Commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo said “This arrest demonstrates our state of readiness to reduce crime and to ensure that our communities feel safe during the festive season.”
-TDN
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Mahikeng – The constitutional court has dismissed the application by disbanded council of Ngaka Modiri Molema and the suspended municipal manager Mokgele Mojaki, for leave to appeal the North West High Court decision, to enforce Section 139 (1)(c) as invoked by the North West Provincial Executive Council.

Ngaka Modiri Molema District councillors approached the highest court in the land after their bid to interdict the council dissolution and appointment of an administrator, was dismissed by the North West High Court in Mahikeng.

MEC for Local Government and Human Settlement Collen Maine has welcomed the court’s decision. “The decision by the highest court in the land proves that our intervention at the district municipality has always been lawful as we have never lost any application brought against us. This gives the Administrator full powers to run the municipality and also afford us space to prepare for the by-election next Wednesday” said Maine.

A week ago the suspended Municipal Manager Mokgele Mojaki’s application to have his suspension set aside was dismissed with cost by the Labour Court in Braamfontein – Johannesburg and the SAMWU in the municipality also lost application of an unlawful lockout against the municipality in the same court.

The Administrator Kumaran Nair said “Now that we have dealt with court series that were filed against us now we can focus on providing services to our communities and implement all project envisaged to bring long lasting solution to water shortage in the district.”

Under the tenure of Mokgele Mojaki and the disbanded council, the district municipality received successive disclaimer audit opinions with extensive qualifications under the Compliance and Predetermined Objectives components of the municipal audit. In addition the Auditor General has also extensively recorded repeat findings that will confirm that there were no remedial measures that were implemented.

The audit reports show that the aggregate unauthorized, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure for 2011/12 and 2012/13 financial years amounted to approximately R1, 350 billion.

Amongst others, the council also failed to act on alleged maladministration, fraud and corruption; to provide support to the local municipalities in terms of section 88 of the Municipal Structures Act and failure by district to provide communities with basic services in particular water.
-TDN
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Mahikeng – North West MEC for Local Government and Human Settlement Collen Maine has urged all registered voters in different municipalities under Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality to go out in their numbers and vote in the up-coming by-elections on the 26th of November 2014. The by-elections follow the decision by the North West Provincial EXCO to invoke Section 139 (1) (c) of the constitution, to disband the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality council on the 3rd of September 2014.

Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality is made up of five local municipalities namely Mahikeng, Ratlou, Tswaing, Ramotshere-Moiloa and Ditsobotla municipalities. The elections are conducted by Independent Electoral Commission – IEC. There are 481 voting stations in the 101 wards in entire district. All voting stations are expected to be opened on the 26th of November 2014 from 07h00 in the morning till 07h00 in the evening.

MEC Collen Maine encouraged all registered voters to take this opportunity to go out and vote. “We urge all legible voters to take part in the up-coming elections as the success of the elections, which are aimed at rebuilding the municipality, rests entirely on their shoulders. We have taken a journey of intervening in the municipality which was in the best interest of our communities, now it is their turn to do make their contribution by voting in the new council” remarked Maine.

Different politically parties will be battle it out to occupy 41 seats available in the council. Proportionally elected councillors or PR Councillors, who make up 40% of the council, will be elected by communities on the 26th of November. The other 60% of the council which is made up of Local Council representative to district council – LC Councillors will be voted in by councillors in all five municipalities under Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality.

MEC Collen Maine says the department can’t wait to have a new council that will move Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality forward. “We expect the election to be free and fair, to usher in the new council as the municipality can’t be under the intervention forever. We want to see stability and good governance in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality. The intervention team has been deployed there to bring stability and prepare ground for the council that will be elected on the 26th November 2014. The new council must support our local municipalities, must ensure provision of basic services especially water, must act against maladministration, fraud or corruption without fear or favour”, charged Maine.

The new council is expected to be sworn within 14 days after the elections.
-TDN
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By Obakeng Maje
North West police are investigating a case of House Robbery, Pointing of firearm and rape that took place on the 10 November 2014 in Syferpan farm in Coligny.

“The wanted suspects are sought after a case of House Robbery, Rape and Pointing of Fire-arm, which occurred on the 10 November 2014 around 19:00 at the farm Syferpan Coligny. Both suspects are black males, 26 years old and of medium height. One suspect has a light completion, short brush hair-cut, muscular build and speaks fluent Afrikaans and English” North West police said.

The other suspect was slender built, medium to dark completion, speaks Afrikaans, fluent in English and wore a hoodie jacket which covered his head.

The I/O on this case is DWO M Viljoen of the Detective Branch Coligny. He can be contacted on the following numbers: 018-673 0171 / 082 373 7294 / 080 209 9912.

The SAPS ask anybody with information regarding these suspects to come forward.
-TDN
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Cape Town – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa should not be portrayed as a hero who saved the EFF, the Economic Freedom Fighters said on Tuesday.

The EFF was responding to the deal struck between Ramaphosa and opposition parties that disciplinary proceedings against the EFF would be held in abeyance in return for assurances that they would respect parliamentary rules.

“While noting the role he PLAYED in facilitating the agreement which in one way or another was going to be reached, the notion that Cyril Ramaphosa liberated or pardoned members of the EFF should be dismissed with contempt,” the EFF said in a statement.

“Members of the EFF liberated and freed themselves.”

The EFF welcomed the political solution being sought to replace punitive measures.

“We have always known, as is evident from the representation made by commander-in-chief Julius Malema to the Powers and Privileges Committee on the day the 20 EFF MPs were summoned to appear, that the solution must be a political one because the ruling party cannot be the complainant, the lawyer, the prosecutor and the judge.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Ramaphosa told media the opposition had pledged to respect leaders of government, who would in turn come to Parliament regularly to account to the legislature and answer “difficult” questions.

But Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane suggested that Ramaphosa had only secured a tentative agreement from his party to toe the line.

He said the DA cautiously welcomed the concession not to pursue the suspension of the EFF MPs, but signalled the party would not let up pressure on Speaker Baleka Mbete, whom opposition parties accuse of bias.

Ramaphosa’s decision to set up a working committee of parliamentary party leaders, CHAIRED by himself with Maimane and ANC Chief Whip Stone Sizani as deputies, was “an admission that Parliament is not working under the speakership of Baleka Mbete”, he added.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Police said on Tuesday that a man had been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and rape by the Northern Cape High Court in Kimberley.

Gert Waterwond was convicted of raping and murdering Katty Johannes, 53, on 3 October last year in Campbell, said spokesperson Donald Mdhluli.

Waterwond committed the crimes with another man, Abraham Swartz. Both men were arrested the same day Johannes was murdered.

Swartz died during the trial.

Waterwond and Swartz stole two chickens from Johannes’s garden about 18:00 on 3 October. Later that night, they returned to the house, where Johannes was home alone with her eight-year-old daughter.

“They broke into the house and stole an amplifier and a DVD player… Both men raped the woman in front of the child. They then strangled her and left,” Mdhluli said.

Johannes’s husband was not home as he was fishing with family friends.

The two men were arrested following a manhunt. A DVD player, amplifier and two slaughtered chickens were found in their possession. They were POSITIVELY identified in an ID parade and charged with rape, murder and housebreaking.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A two-year-old boy drowned in a pool in Kapenta Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Tuesday, paramedics said.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said that paramedics pulled him out of the water and performed advanced life support resuscitation, but to no avail.

“Exact detail as to how the child landed in the pool will remain a subject for police investigation,” said Botha.
– SAPA

Johannesburg – The lawyers of paralympian Oscar Pistorius have filed papers opposing the State’s application to appeal his culpable homicide conviction and sentence.

In papers filed this week, posted on broadcaster eNCA’s website, Pistorius’ lawyers argued there was no error of law when he was sentenced to five years in prison for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend, law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp.
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Cape Town – Lawyers for British businessman Shrien Dewani will file their heads of argument on Wednesday for his discharge on charges of conspiring to kill his wife Anni.

On Monday, Francois van Zyl, for Dewani, said the defence intended making an application to Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso in terms of section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Van Zyl said the defence needed time to prepare its application as there were many facts it had to deal with.

The State was expected to file responding papers on Friday.

Traverso said the application would be heard on Monday.

Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act provides that if at the close of the prosecution’s case, the court believes there is no evidence that the accused committed the offence, it may return a verdict of not guilty.

Dewani is on trial for allegedly plotting with taxi driver Zola Tongo and others to kill Anni while they were on honeymoon in Cape Town in November 2010.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping, murder, and defeating the ends of justice.

He claims the couple were hijacked as Tongo was driving them through Gugulethu in his minibus on Saturday, November 13, 2010.

Tongo is serving an 18-year jail term and Mziwamadoda Qwabe 25 years. Xolile Mngeni was serving life in jail for firing the shot that killed Anni, but died in prison from a brain tumour last month.

– SAPA