Pretoria – The Pretoria Regional Court outlined a list of strict bail conditions for murder accused Nico Henning after granting him R10m bail on Tuesday.

“I have received a request to extend the date by which you must furnish the guarantee and surety to the sum of R9.7m,” chief Magistrate Desmond Nair said.

“Your application for bail is granted, and bail is fixed at an amount of R10m constituted as follows: A cash amount of R300 000 – in addition R9.7m for which you will furnish a guarantee with sureties.”

He extended the deadline for the provision of sureties to 20 January, after initially setting the date at 20 December.

Henning is charged with murder and conspiring to murder his estranged wife Chanelle Henning, 26. She was shot dead shortly after dropping off their child at a crèche in Faerie Glen, Pretoria, in November 2011.

The 47-year-old had to report to the Hartebeespoort police station on Mondays and Fridays, was not allowed within a kilometre of any international point of departure, and had to get permission from the investigating officer, Captain Petrus van der Spuy, to approach any of his private aircraft.

Henning was not allowed to leave Gauteng and North West without prior approval of the investigating officer.

He was prohibited from having any contact with a list of potential witnesses, including Andre Gouws, Ambrose Monye, numerous Henning family members, and employees of Avis car rental.

The matter would be back in court on 20 January.

Opposing bail

Earlier, Nair said he had considered, but not agreed with, some of Van der Spuy’s reasons for opposing bail.

He had submitted that Henning might flee South Africa to evade trial, conceal or destroy evidence. Van der Spuy alleged Henning was selling some of his properties and aircraft.

“The accused had a period of almost two years to not only destroy evidence, but carefully plan his escape. The accused has plus or minus 27 properties, and the accused has admitted that he is in the process of selling some of the properties, but not all,” said Nair.

“I am alive to the fact that Mr Gouws has been described as a murderer, perjurer, and a liar. It implies that even if he does proceed to testify, there are no guarantees in that regard,” Nair said.

Gouws, 49, who was convicted of killing Chanelle Henning, testified during sentencing proceedings that Henning paid him R1m to carry out the hit so he could get custody of his child.

Henning handed himself to the police in Villieria, Pretoria, on Friday, 6 December, following Gouws’s testimony the previous day.

“A greater level of caution must be applied to his [Gouws’s] evidence,” Nair said.

“The State’s case rests on circumstantial evidence. Indeed there are many missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. What I find noteworthy is that in the absence of the sudden indication by Mr Gouws of the accused’s complicity, the State could not successfully arrest the accused for almost two years.”

‘Uncontroverted testimony’

He said the trial court would have to rely on Gouws’s evidence. He described him as an accomplice who chose to plead not guilty and eventually declared Henning’s involvement during arguments in mitigation of his sentence.

Given such a scenario, the situation was different from “a clear-cut premeditated murder case based on direct uncontroverted testimony”.

Nair said the State had successfully portrayed Gouws as an unreliable witness, and had secured a conviction against him and his co-accused Monye, a former Nigerian Olympic athlete.

“I cannot ignore the address to the court by advocate [Piet] van Wyk [for Henning] that in the trial of Mr Monye and Mr Gouws, the State was successful in discrediting the evidence of Mr Gouws, and was successful in showing him to be a liar and a perjurer,” said Nair.

“They now seek to rely on the very same person… to secure the conviction of the accused.”

During his bail hearing, Henning submitted an affidavit to the court in which he refuted Gouws’s claims.

Two other men, Gerhardus “Doepie” du Plessis and Willem “Pike” Pieterse, are serving 18-year prison terms after confessing to their roles in the murder.

SAPA

By Obakeng Maje

Kimberley-A 27 year-old man and his friend were allegedly died in a terrific accident on Monday at around 00:20am.

Northern Cape police said Mlungisi Kevin Mangena,27, and his female friend known as Lebohang Malebo,31, were allegedly travelling towards Kimberley from Lime Acres when their car rolled and killed them instantly.

“Two people were allegedly certified dead after the driver lost control of his car. Mangena was allegedly strewn out of the car and died on the scene along with Malebo.” Lieutenant Sergio Kock said.

The accident took place 20 km away from Kimberley on Barkly West road.

Kock said a case of culpable homice and inquest were opened and anyone with any information could contact Investigating Officer, Detective Constable Gwyneth Paulsen on 0823020407.

Police investigations continue.-TDN

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By Obakeng Maje

Taung-Hip Hop music is one of the most loved genres in South Africa currently. And we have seen many artists emerge and claim a scalp to become world re-nowned.

 A 21 year-old Taung-born artist, Ikwaliza Skit-Rekere is no exception.

Christened Thato Tsholo started rapping while he was only 14 year-old.

A Dryharts-born artist started to develop love in hip-hop back then and he never looked back.

“I started to develop love in Motswako when I was only 14. I taught the craft of hip hop to some of the guys in Taung and its Surroundings” Ikwaliza smiles.

The charismatic Motswako artist released his single called “Matlhabisa Ditlhong” which is on high rotation at local radio stations.

His single paved way for the most popular motswakolista in Taung and the warm love received indicates that Ikwaliza found his niche in the music industry.

“I worked with good producers from Rural Deep music, Selfmade production and DOD” said Ikwaliza.

Taung self-proclaimed Motswakolista once shared stage with Beat-Junky, RealProf-K and IllGZA(KG).

He was one of local artists who mesmerised the crowds during North West Cultural Calabash in Taung two months ago.

The culmination of his long eventful journey in music is “High Hopes”.

“I released a compilation mixtape and that reflects the passage I went through before reaching my mark. I am planning to release an album soon and my followers will soon have it” said Ikwaliza.

The ‘High Hopes’ is a metaphor of Ikwaliza’s journey. 

Ikwaliza is increasingly garnering a respect amongst his music peers especially in hip hop circles.

“I haven’t reached my climactic point yet, but I’m planning to reach the meridian by a celestial body” he said.

Taung artist was born and raised in Dryharts. He attended school at Boijane High School.

Ikwaliza will be performing in various venues this summer and continues to follow his love for music.-TDN

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By Obakeng Maje

North West-In order to ensure a safe and secure festive season, the police are encouraging everyone to take precautionary measures to safe-guard themselves and their properties during Christmas holidays.  

“It has come to attention of the police that criminals are taking advantage of the festive season and occasional leaving of residences by owners, thus randomly breaking into houses and steal valuable items” captain Pelonomi Makau said.  

Police said residents who will be leaving their houses are urged not to leave them unoccupied. This can be done by leaving a relative or any trusted and known person to take care of the house as well as to inform your neighbours about your absence as well as to apply the following safety tips as part of home security check list:      

∙Ensure that your house number is clearly visible from the street.

∙Cut or trim you r trees and shrubs to make it difficult for criminals to hide.

∙Where possible, have security screens on doors and deadbolts  or deadlocks fitted and fit your home with an alarm.

∙Ensure that that your home light are well lit.

∙Store your tools and ladders properly and away from criminals.

∙Fit your house with automatic timer or sensors lights.

∙Make use of peep holes before opening the door when responding to a knock.

∙Lock the meter box.

∙Engrave your valuables and other household properties.

∙Create your own and keep safe a serial number book for all serial numbered properties.

∙Join local crime prevention initiatives and neighbourhood watches.   

Motorists are warned to exercise caution, be alert  and avoid at all costs to give lifts to hitch-hikers irrespective whether they are males or females as some of them victimise the same motorists who offered them lifts by robbing them. 

“In a recent incident in Koster, a  car was hijacked from the driver after giving lift to three men. The victim’s friend was shot in the leg after arriving at the scene and tried to check what was happening” Makau said.  

The community and motorists can contact the nearest police station in case of any incident or suspicious strangers or hitch-hikers.   

“Crime is everybody’s responsibility, thus the community is urged to work together with police and structures like Community Police Forum to ensure safety and security of all citizens during this period of festivities” outlines Makau.-TDN

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Johannesburg – An allegedly bogus sign language interpreter hired for a Nelson Mandela memorial service addressed by the likes of US President Barack Obama, on Monday dismissed media claims he had faced murder charges in the past.

The signer, Thamsanqa Jantjie, had stood just feet from the United States president and other world leaders on the stage at last Tuesday’s event at FNB Stadium.

Enraged sign language experts said the signing by Jantjie, who claims to be schizophrenic, amounted to little more than “flapping his arms around”.

Raising further security questions, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Jantjie had admitted being part of a mob that burnt two people to death in 2003.

“It was a community thing – what you call mob justice – and I was also there,” Jantjie was quoted as telling the paper, which said charges against him were dropped on grounds that he was mentally unfit to stand trial.

Contacted by AFP on Monday, Jantjie dismissed the report as “nonsense”.

“I don’t know that. Sunday Times is talking nonsense” he said, but refused to elaborate.

Jantjie directed AFP to the national prosecuting authority to verify if he had any criminal record.

But the prosecution agency has already declined to “confirm or deny” the allegations, and said it does not keep records of closed cases.

Government probe

The government has said it was probing whether a security lapse had occurred in hiring Jantjie, as claims emerged of a string of criminal violence charges.

ENCA reported on Friday that the signer had also faced rape, kidnapping and theft charges.

The ANC said it was probing claims that some of its members were directors of the company for which the signer worked.

The Sunday Times said the head of the ANC’s religious affairs department owns the company, South African Interpreters.

“We shall also seek to uncover the veracity of these allegations,” the party said in a statement on Monday, vowing to “act decisively where any wrong doing against anyone in the employ of the ANC is proven”.

Last week, the government formally apologised for any offence caused, and admitted a “mistake” had been made.

It claimed the company that Jantjie worked for had “vanished into thin air”.

AFP

By Obakeng Maje

Mmabatho-North West police are investigating an attempted murder case after a man was allegedly being shot at his residential area in Magogoe village.

A 34 year-old man was allegedly asleep at his house on Monday when he heard his bedroom door kicked opened.

“He was allegedly shot by intruder in his back and hand. He was robbed his two cellphones and the suspect fled” captain Pelonomi Makau said.

Police were called and a case of attempted murder was launched.

Police investigations continue.-TDN

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By Obakeng Maje

Motswedi-Police near Zeerust have arrested twelve suspects on charges of Public Violence and Malicious damage to property at Lobatla village. 

“It is alleged that the community members went to Lobatla Tribal office and complained about a man whom they alleged to have bewitched another community member who died a week ago. After the alleged death of the community member no case was registered with the police” captain Pelonomi Makau said. 

Police were also invited to the meeting to address the community.

Makau said that after the police left, the community went to the victim’s house and burnt it to ashes. According to the information, the victim and his family were not in their house at the time of the incident, and  estimated costs to the damaged property could be not be established. 

The suspects will appear in the Lehurutshe Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

The North West Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Zukiswa Mbombo has condemned the unruly behaviour of some members involved in the crime committed. “ There is no way in which the police will allow people to take the law into their own hands. People must always report incidents to the police and leave the law to take its cause” said the General Mbombo.-TDN

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By Obakeng Maje

The North West police arrested a total of 814 suspects through various operations in the past seven days between 08 and 15 December 2013 for Contact, Contact related, Property related, trio and other crimes, that includes 186 for Safer Festive  Season Operation Duty Calls.

These include 6 for Murder, 16 for Rape,144 for Assault GBH and Assault common, 14 for robbery Aggravating, 31 for house robbery, 37 for shop lifting, 24 for driving under the influence of liquor, 63 for Drug related and 28 undocumented persons. 

“The operation also led to confiscation of three cellphones,  38 possession for suspected  stolen property, 43 for possession of illegal firearms” captain Pelonomi Makau said.

In most of the cases, suspects have already appeared in various courts while others are expected to appear on Tuesday.-TDN

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Pretoria – On a public holiday dedicated to reconciliation, South Africans started coming to terms with the loss of Nelson Mandela, unveiling a giant statue on Monday to honour his struggle for equality.

A day after he was buried with full honours in Qunu a 9mbronze likeness was unveiled in the vast gardens of the Union Buildings.

This is where generations of apartheid heads of state signed many of the racial laws Mandela spent most of his life fighting against, but also where he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president in 1994.

Last week, up to 100 000 people stood there in hours-long queues to file past Mandela’s open casket as he lay in state for three days.

President Jacob Zuma presided over the unveiling of the effigy of a smiling Mandela in mid-stride, arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture, sporting a trademark “Madiba shirt”.

Zuma said the open-armed gesture denoted that “South Africa is now a democratic country, he is embracing the entire nation, he is advancing to the nation to say: ‘let us come together, let us unite’”.

For 50 million compatriots, Mandela was not just a statesman and president, but a moral guide who led their polarised country away from internecine racial conflict.

“Yes, he has a history of struggle, and yes, he used to be a soldier, but now we wanted to create a peaceful figure that embraced the whole nation, the whole South Africa,” sculptor Andre Prinsloo, who helped assemble the colossus, told AFP.

The 4.5-ton statue is the largest of many erected around the world in honour of the anti-apartheid hero.

“When one looks at comrade Madiba’s statue out there… it is almost like we are hitting the last nail in the coffin of apartheid,” Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy president of the ruling ANC, told the ceremony.

“Now our father is up there saying to the world we have defeated apartheid.”

The towering effigy had been planned long before Mandela’s death.

Built at a cost of R8m, it replaces a statue of Barry Hertzog, an Afrikaner nationalist who was prime minister of South Africa from 1924 to 1939.

Zuma thanked a representative of the Hertzog family who attended the ceremony for granting permission to move the Afrikaner’s statue elsewhere in the gardens.

And he announced the Union Buildings would become a national heritage site, “to write a new and inclusive narrative for our country”.

“We are now one nation and… our national symbols need to reflect that unity in diversity,” the president said.

‘Reconciliation, peace, that’s what this is about’

South Africans gathered at the Union Buildings to follow the unveiling on big screens as a 21-gun salute rang out and air force jets flew over in a “missing man” formation usually reserved for honouring a fallen pilot.

“Reconciliation, peace, that’s what this is about,” said Afrikaner Retha Jansen, 63, who came to be part of history.

Zuma stressed that for true reconciliation to be possible, “glaring socio-economic disparities” still had to be corrected.

The Day of Reconciliation was first marked in 1995.

Before that, 16 December had been commemorated by Afrikaners, the custodians of apartheid, for over 150 years to mark a 1838 victory over Zulu warriors in the Battle of Blood River.

But 16 December is also the anniversary of the founding of the ANC’s military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Zuma described the loss of Mandela as “the moment of our greatest sorrow as the Rainbow Nation” – a term coined for country’s different races uniting in peace.

But “there should be no more tears. We must celebrate and take forward his legacy,” the president said.

“Let us all get back to work tomorrow, to build the South Africa that Madiba sacrificed 27 years of his life in prison for.”

Ten days of official mourning ended at midnight Sunday, and the national flag went back to flying at full-mast.

AFP

Johannesburg – The ANC had nothing to do with the appointment of a bogus sign language interpreter at former president Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, the party said on Monday.

“The ANC reiterates that the organisation did not take part in the government process to procure the service provider for the memorial service,” ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

He was reacting to media reports that some employees of the ANC owned a company that employed the interpreter, Thamsanqa Jantjie.

The Sunday Times reported that Jantjie was employed by a company owned by the ANC’s religious and traditional affairs desk head, Bantubahle Xozwa.

Xozwa told the paper that Jantjie was employed as an administrator and facilitator in his company, South African Interpreters.

“Thamsanqa is not an interpreter,” Xozwa was quoted as saying.

“He was disqualified years ago on the basis of his health. He was interpreting at the memorial service in his personal capacity.”

Jantjie had a history of mental problems.

He told the newspaper that he was a patient of Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital in Krugersdorp.

He was discharged and started working after being medicated and monitored by doctors.

On Wednesday, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said government would investigate claims that Jantjie did not use intelligible sign language.

Mthembu said the ANC supported the probe by government.

After the memorial at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday, Jantjie told various media outlets he had suffered a schizophrenic episode in which he had seen angels, and that he had panicked when he realised he was surrounded by armed police.

SAPA