Johannesburg – Tension at the City of Joburg’s Emergency Management Services (EMS) boiled over on Wednesday night when a firefighter from the Orange Farm station shot and killed his boss.

The man was one of the firefighters placed on suspension following an illegal strike over the deaths of two firefighters who died of smoke inhalation after being trapped in an inner-city building this year.

On Wednesday night, the Orange Farm fire station’s action commander, Lesedi Phatsoe, arrived at the firefighter’s Vanderbijlpark home to serve him with a notice to appear before a hearing. He was shot dead.

Police spokesman Captain Johannes Motsiri said an argument broke out between the two.

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Johannesburg – The trial against a 21-year-old man alleged to have been behind the accident that led to the death of Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere and his best friend is expected to continue in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Preshalin Naidoo faces a case of culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving.

He has made several appearances since his arrest earlier this year following Mhere and Kady-Shay O’Bryan’s death.

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Picture: (Fury as NWU up in smoke)

BY REGINALD KANYANE

STUDENTS and management at North West University Mafikeng Campus reached a compromise to go back to their residence on Wednesday afternoon.

  It was not clear what influence Premier Supra Mahumapelo exerted on the negotiations as met with students and management over the issue.

  University management had decided to indefinitely close the institution and evacuate all students from campus residence following a week of violent protests.

  Police moved in and drove students out around 6am and everyone was out of the campus by 8am.

Premier Supra Mahumapelo visited the students who were stranded on the road and called on them to remain calm while his office negotiated with the university.

  In his address, Mahumapelo said: “It is wrong that the university uses force to evacuate students because there could be injuries and even loss of life. We want them to talk to you so that an amicable solution is found.

  “We get worried that students coming from poor backgrounds and other African states can be given such a short notice to leave. How do they go back home and yet expected to be back in time for examinations,” Mahumapelo said.

  On the other hand, the student leadership rushed to court to try and interdict the indefinite closure.

The university has been closed down due to student protests that started on October 21.

  NWU vice chancellor, Prof Dan Kgwadi said that there was need to restore order and make sure that university staff is allowed back on campus to perform its duties.

   “The Mafikeng Campus of the NWU currently is under siege by students since October 21 and management and staff had been locked out of campus.

  “Considerable damage had been done to facilities on campus which must now be repaired to ensure that examinations can begin on Monday, 2 November 2015,” he said.

  Kgwadi added that there was need for police to remain on campus to make sure that there was no further damage to property.

  “Management will now assess the situation and take the necessary steps to prepare for the commencement of examinations,” he said.

  Student representative council (SRC) president Linda Mabengwana said they had worked hard to have students back on campus but they had three outstanding issues before business could return to normal.

  “We want the issue of the examination dates moved forward because November 2 is too close. We also demand that students who participated in the protests should not be charged and that police should not be allowed on campus. We are not criminals that they should patrol here.

  “If these are not met, we cannot allow staff members back on campus and we would continue our fight in the courts of law,” Mabengwana said.

  Students also had misgivings over the way they had been evacuated.

A final year Political Sciences and International Relations student, Ofentse Pilane said: “We do not appreciate the way the message was communicated to us. We learnt through media that we will be evicted. What about other students who are from various areas and countries? How would they find an alternative accommodation in the short space of time?”

  Another student from Rustenburg, Tshepiso Mataboge said that she will only be back at the campus after the situation has calmed down.

-TDN

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A prestigious private school in Ballito said it stood firmly behind its no drug policy after a high court ruled in favour of a pupil who was expelled after being bust for smoking dagga.

Durban High Court acting Judge Cassim Sardiwalla on Tuesday ruled that a 15-year-old grade 8 pupil at Ashton International College, be allowed to return to school.

The use of the substance was discovered during a random drug test done by the school. Sardiwalla said the process the school followed was flawed because it did not abide by its own policies and rules.

In a statement, the school said it was “not the ruling that Ashton International College were hoping for”.

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A gang of ATM bombers escaped empty-handed in Stanger on Tuesday night, but not before wounding a KwaZulu-Natal policewoman in a hail of bullets.

It emerged that the ten-strong gang, who were apparently armed with high-calibre assault rifles, were unable to detonate explosive charges in the ATM gallery.

Two independent police sources with knowledge of the investigation, who could not be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed that the gang escaped with nothing.

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A police officer who allegedly helped co-ordinate a botched robbery at a West Rand police station appeared in court on Wednesday, the Hawks said.

Constable Mpho Matsoso, 30, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with conspiring with three men to rob the Dunnottar police station, near Springs, of firearms, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

He further faced charges of attempted murder, corruption, armed robbery, malicious damage to property, and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

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Bloemfontein – University of Free State vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen vowed to hundreds of students on campus on Wednesday he would do everything in his power to help those who can’t afford tuition fees.

He said he was proud of the manner in which students conducted themselves in the past week during the #FeesMustFall campaign.

Jansen was responding to a memorandum of demands – including help for needy students, the removal of apartheid-era statues and the end of outsourcing – that was handed to him by students earlier this week.

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Johannesburg – University of Witwatersrand Vice Chancellor Adam Habib would resign if he really cared about the students, Wits EFF leader Vuyani Pambo said on Wednesday.

Pambo told Habib that he had lost the students’ trust.

Habib attempted to address students at the university after he had earlier promised to speak to them following a protest by a group of students and workers who called for an end to outsourcing.

Habib asked for a month to address their outsourcing concerns, but students refused to accepted that and shouted that he was making them angry.

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All 102-year-old Nomahlanu Hadebe wanted was to see her great-grandchildren and, thanks to cataract surgery, she now can.

Hadebe is one of 12 elderly people from disadvantaged communities in KwaZulu-Natal’s iLembe District, whose eyesight was restored thanks to the “big heart” of opthamologist, Dr Malcolm Carey, and a hospital that “cares about the community it serves”.

All 12 patients had cataracts, a progressive clouding of the lens inside the eye, causing sight to become fuzzy, making everyday activities increasingly difficult.

Carey performed Hadebe’s surgery free of charge at Netcare Alberlito Hospital last week.

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A man was killed when the bakkie he was driving was rear-ended by a lorry on the N2 near Amanzimtoti on Wednesday morning.

Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said that two passengers in the cab of the bakkie were also injured. One man was described as being in a serious condition while the other was described as being a in a critical condition.

Botha said that eyewitnesses told paramedics at the accident that the lorry had rear-ended the bakkie which then veered off the N2 and up the embankment into the underside of the Umdoni Road bridge that crosses over the N2.

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