Johannesburg – Three stolen vehicles were found at the home of a police officer in Eldorado Park, Gauteng police said on Tuesday.

The vehicles, a Volkswagen Golf 6 and two Volkswagen Polos, were discovered around 09:00, police spokesperson Katlego Mogale said.

The officer was not home at the time.

He would face charges of possession of suspected stolen property upon his arrest, Mogale said.

The provincial flying squad team had followed a signal which led them to the officer’s home in Alley Street, Eldorado Park.

“It is alleged that when the members knocked and screamed for the gate to be opened, no one answered. They proceeded to take the gate off the rail and gained entrance.”

Mogale said the Golf 6 had been chopped up. It was reported hijacked in Dawn Park in the East Rand last month.

The other two Polos had their chassis numbers tampered with, Mogale said.

Cape Town – National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise will apply parliamentary rules and conventions strictly during President Jacob Zuma‘s State of the Nation address on Thursday.

“We will strictly be following the rules and we will confine ourselves to the rules,” Modise told a media briefing by Parliament’s presiding officers on Tuesday ahead of the official opening of Parliament.

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Rustenburg- Bokone Bophirima is the third province after Kwa-Zulu Natal and Limpopo to benefit from the German Development Bank funding initiative, MEC for Social Development Fenny Gaolaolwe said on Tuesday.

“The German Development Bank has set aside R35 million for the establishment of six community care centres for orphans, vulnerable children across the four districts. After many negotiations and rigorous technical assessment processes, the partnership between the German Development Bank and the Department of Social Development is finally yielding much anticipated results,” Gaolaolwe said.

Earlier this year, Gaolaolwe said team comprised of a project coordinator, social service point managers and the departmental management team had already concluded an organizational capacity assessment that would determine the state of readiness of the centres to implement the programme.

“These organizations include Ikitsing home based care at Rustenburg service point, Ikageng Basha at Moses Kotane service point, Tshireletsego care and support at Ventersdorp service point, St Abram orphanage centre at Mamusa service point and lastly Malebogo home based care at Taung service point,” she said, adding that she had appointed additional social workers and auxiliary workers to provide comprehensive social services to community care centres.

The news about a multi-million fund from the German Development bank brought a sigh of relief to Deborah Mosito, the founder of Ikitsing home based care at Lethabong outside Rustenburg.

Mosito said she established a small centre in 2004 to address the plight of orphans and vulnerable children at Lethabong.

“Since these years we have struggled to get funding. We are grateful that our organization will also benefit from the German bank donations,” Mosito said.

Ealier, German development bank representative Busso Von Alvensleben said that Lethabong village is one of the beneficiaries of the community care centres.

“We have, since 1994, focused on HIV-Aids prevention programmes. This funding is generated from the German taxpayers to make a difference in distressed communities,” Von Alvensleben said.

The construction of the centres will start soon in the identified service points.

Cape Town – The net is reportedly closing in on the person believed to be responsible for the gruesome attack on a family in Stellenbosch, according to a report.

Die Son reported on Tuesday that police are searching for the shop where the murder weapon – an axe – was bought. It is believed the axe was then sharpened before the incident.

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Durban – A South African police officer has been arrested in Hong Kong for allegedly trafficking drugs, it was reported on Tuesday.

Sergeant Busisiwe Zungu was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport, reported The Mercury.

Zungu’s arrest came as a shock to her family and friends who described her as a law-abiding citizen who “was very proud of her clean record”.

Her police partner also described her as a hard worker.

Zungu has been suspended from the Saps who are also conducting their own investigation into the alleged trafficking.

Patricia Gerber, head of Locked Up, an organisation that assists South Africans arrested overseas for drug smuggling, says China unfortunately has the death penalty for drug-related offences.

Last month, a Johannesburg father was sentenced to death in Malaysia after he was found guilty of drug smuggling.

Deon Cornelius was found guilty of smuggling 2kg of methamphetamine into Malaysia when he landed at Penang International Airport on 4 October 2013, News24 reported.

Gerber says many of those who get arrested are decoys and not mules.

“They [the mules] travel all over the world and are protected by corrupt police and airport authorities,” Gerber said in an email to News24.

“The decoy on the other hand is a person who is recruited by means of manipulation, coercion and are threatened at times.

“They are recruited for the sole purpose [of being] arrested so that the drug mules can walk through with the larger amounts, this is done unbeknown to the decoy.

“Before the arrival of the decoy the airport receives a tip off… The mules do have a hassle-free passage.”

In 2011, South African woman, Janice Linden was executed in China for drug smuggling, reported Sapa.

She was arrested in Guangzhou in November 2008 after she was caught with 3kg of crystal methamphetamine (tik) in her luggage. She was convicted of drug smuggling in 2009.

Bloemfontein – A 17-year-old boy stabbed his stepfather to death with a kitchen knife on Sunday night, apparently in self-defence.

Netwerk24 reported on Tuesday that the boy and his stepfather were arguing when the stepfather apparently threatened to shoot him.

He then stabbed the 59-year-old man five times.

The cause of the argument is unknown, but no gun was found in the home, according to Free State police.

The boy’s mother was at their Fichardt Park, Bloemfontein, home at the time of the incident, and cradled her dying husband, Netwerk24 reported.

A neighbour said the teenager was in a state after the stabbing, and hovered over his stepfather, repeatedly urging him not to die.

OFM reported that the man died at the scene and the boy was arrested for murder. He will appear in court on Tuesday.

Bloemfontein – The Constitutional Court will hear an application on Tuesday by a non-governmental organisation seeking to determine whether Parliament has failed in its constitutional obligation to get political parties to disclose the source of their private funding.

Currently, political parties are not obliged to disclose their funders.

The applicant in the matter, My Vote Counts NPC, is calling for a more inclusive, transparent and accountable political system.

Forming the basis of their case was the constitutional right to access information and the right to vote.

The group contends that citizens are entitled to access information about private funding to political parties and Parliament has a constitutional obligation to enact specific legislation to mandate this disclosure, in addition to the wide general provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia).

Parliament, represented by the Speaker of the National Assembly and chair of the National Council of Provinces, was opposing the application.

It claimed that Paia adequately and exhaustively covered the constitutional right of access to information and the disclosure of the private funding of political parties may be requested through the existing legislation.

It also planned to argue that it had enacted several pieces of legislation that promoted accountable and transparent governance, therefore it had no obligation to enact the specific legislation sought by My Vote Counts.

All political parties currently represented in Parliament are cited as respondents, but none of them opposes the application.

They have agreed that the Constitution confers exclusive jurisdiction the Constitutional Court.

Kimberley – Four pupils from a Northern Cape school who are facing charges of raping a fellow teen have been expelled from the school pending an investigation, Netwerk24 reported on Tuesday.

The four have been charged for raping the 18-year-old boy in the school’s hostel. The incident was caught on cellphone cameras and one of the videos has gone viral.

“The pupils involved received notice of expulsion and an order to appear before a disciplinary committee. They have also received the charges,” said Sydney Stander, education department spokesperson.

The victim was tied with rope to a steel-framed bed, beaten, smeared with a white substance thought to be soap or shaving cream, and then raped with the handle of a broomstick.

About 20 boys watched and laughed while the victim cried out for help.

The attack is suspected to have been racially motivated because the four, aged between 14 and 18, are white and the boy is coloured.

It is suspected they attacked the teen last Sunday after finding out his mother was white, reported City Press.

They appeared in court last Friday and have been granted bail. They will be back in court on 5 March.