Johannesburg – Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile is expected to launch “Freedom Fridays” in Soweto, government said on Thursday.

He would launch it on Friday to mark the lead up to the country celebrating 20 years of freedom and democracy, said government communications spokeswoman Phumla Williams.

Citizens were encouraged to use every Friday from September 20

until the end of December 2014 to celebrate the milestones of the country’s freedom.

“Freedom Friday is a call on the nation to wear anything that expresses their pride in being South African on Fridays.

“They can wear anything from a jersey of a favourite football or rugby team to traditional wear to show their unity in celebrating this important landmark in our country’s history.”

Williams said the main aim of Freedom Fridays was to mobilise collective ownership of 20 years of democracy by all sectors of society, to “promote social cohesion and a national identity that is representative of our rich and diverse culture”.

Parents and teachers were urged to educate children about how democracy was achieved.

Sapa

Kimberley – A Kimberley mother blames herself after her husband allegedly fathered two children with their eldest daughter and also raped the youngest one.

Speaking to the media for the first time about the daily trauma her family endured at the hands of the man who was supposed to protect them, the woman said on Tuesday that she was still haunted by the memories of her husband raping the children.

“I can still see him sneaking into the bed where my daughters were sleeping and forcing himself on both of them.
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Potchefstroom – At least 24 state-owned cattle have disappeared from a facility in North West, supposedly to benefit people attending President Jacob Zuma’s imbizo, which never took place.

In September last year, the cattle were taken from the Potchefstroom Agriculture College, where they were used to help students with their practical training. The college is owned by the North West Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Rural Development.

Unionists and other insiders said the dairy cattle were valued at about R300 000.
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Women are usually the first line of defence in every family and play a central role in holding the family unit together and instilling good behaviour, North West Premier Thandi Modise told over 1000 women gathered for the Provincial Women’s Day of Prayer at the Mmabatho Convention Centre in Mahikeng on Thursday.

Premier Modise said that women cannot just sit back and fold our arms while our communities are ravished by social ills such as gender based violence, corruption and lack of respect.

“Let us pray for the province without talking about politics. Let’s pray for good manners, dignity, trust, honesty, respect and care for each other, love for our children, treasure our parents, respect every religion, pray for an to the drought, unhappiness in the province and for the whole South Africa.” Premier Modise urged the women in outlining the purpose of the prayer service.

“God never gives you a responsibility if He thinks you will not be able to carry it. We have to support each other as women as we journey together to build a better society,” said Premier Modise.

The interfaith prayer meeting convened under the theme “Building Faith Through Prayer” was part of the World Prayer Day Celebration.

This spiritual warfare was held amidst the scourge of gender-based violence, including rapes and spousal abuse that have ravished the province and the country in recent days.

The prayer assembly attended by women from various denominations was also intended at strengthening ties between the provincial government and faith based organisations towards moral regeneration and social cohesion and to among others.

Amongst those in attendance was MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Desbo Mohomo and Gospel sensation Winnie Mashaba who thrilled the congregation with hymns such as Re tla mo rorisa, Ha Modimo a Le Teng, and Kena Le Modisa.

Durban – Durban businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane will stand trial in the Durban Commercial Crime Court in January.

Magistrate Nalini Govender refused a State application for a six-week postponement so it could write up an indictment to have Mpisane tried in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban.

Handing down her decision on Thursday, she said: “I am not persuaded by the reasons of the State to grant such a long adjournment.”

Prosecutor Wendy O’Brien earlier told the court the State was seeking a six-week postponement to obtain a forensic report, and to allow the deputy director of prosecutions time to examine the case documents in nine lever arch files.

She said KwaZulu-Natal director of public prosecutions (DPP) Sophy Moipone Dinah Noko had authorised that the case against Mpisane proceed in the high court.

Mpisane, who is out on R100 000 bail, faces 53 charges of fraud, forgery, and uttering of a forged document.

She is accused of submitting forged documents to obtain Construction Industry Development Board gradings, which were then used to win five public works department tenders worth R140m.

Govender said the State had failed to take any action since Mpisane’s 13 August court appearance, when the prosecution first announced it intended taking the matter to the high court.

There was no “satisfactory explanation” for the State’s inaction.

Govender said there was no justification for the six-week postponement the State requested, and Mpisane would be prejudiced by the “inordinate delay”.

The trial was scheduled to start on 21 January. The State had to finalise the charges against Mpisane by 18 October.

O’Brien asked that the case be heard by another magistrate in another court.

Govender said if the State was unhappy with her hearing the case, it could bring an application for her to recuse herself when the trial starts.

– SAPA

Pretoria – The rate of sexual offences decreased by 0.4% during the 2012/13 financial year, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Thursday.

However, the raw figures for the total number of sexual offences showed an increase from the 2011/12 figure of 64 514 to 66 387 in 2012/13.

Mthethwa’s spokesperson Zweli Mnisi later explained that population growth had to be taken into account when considering the figures.

Speaking at the release of the annual crime statistics in Pretoria, Mthethwa said rape had decreased by 0.4% over the past financial year.

“Nonetheless, we want to reiterate the point that we are still unhappy and concerned about the levels of rape in the country,” he said.

“Protection of communities is now central to our strategies that are aimed at reducing incidences of gender-based violence.”

Sexual assault decreased by 6.2% over the same period, after increasing during the preceding three years.

– SAPA

Tlokwe, in North West, will probably revert to ANC control but at a price, political analysts said on Thursday.

“If you analyse [Wednesday’s] three ward elections, with the exception of the influence of independent candidates… then basically it was a business as usual scenario, very similar to the scenario we had in the 2011 local government elections,” said North West political analyst Professor André Duvenhage.

“But what is important is that there were very, very, high levels of political apathy, if you compare this election with the 2011 elections.”

There was a huge drop in Wednesday’s voter turnout.

The ANC retained control in two of the three wards in the Tlokwe by-elections.

In Ward 26, the party’s candidate Oupa Mogoshane lost, with 900 votes to independent candidate Butiki “Stone” Mahlabe’s 1 425 votes. Mahlabe was a former ANC councillor.

A total of 5 677 people were registered to vote in the ward, but only 2 374 cast their ballots.

University of Johannesburg political analyst Professor Steven Friedman said the by-elections highlighted that the threat to the ANC did not come from other parties, but people from the organisation.

“It illustrates the point that the real threat from the ANC comes from splits. The party becomes vulnerable when there are splits,” he said.

Victory in two wards

The ANC won the by-elections in Ward 6 and Ward 18.

In Ward 6, the ANC’s Japhta Monaisa won 882 of the 1 386 valid votes cast. The DA’s Johann Coetzee came in second with 493 votes.

A total of 4 254 people were registered to vote in Ward 6, but only 1 408 voted.

In Ward 18, the ANC faced off with another former party member and provincial chief whip David Kham, who registered as an independent candidate. ANC candidate Thapelo Skozana won with 884 votes to Kham’s 520.

A total of 3 251 people were registered to vote in Ward 18, but only 1 452 votes were cast.

Mahlabe and Kham were two of the 14 ANC councillors expelled from the party in July for participating in a motion of no confidence against Tlokwe mayor Maphetle Maphetle.

Maphetle was replaced as mayor by DA councillor Annette Combrink.

The ANC’s national disciplinary committee later overturned the expulsions, but Mahlabe and Kham decided not to return to the party.

Duvenhage said that, following Wednesday’s by-election, the Tlokwe council was in a similar situation to a hung parliament – one which does not have a majority and is in a position where it cannot make proper decisions.

“Before the by-elections, 21 councillors supported the ANC and 22 councillors supported the opposition groups and independent candidates. Now at this point we have a total of 23-23,” he said.

In this type of situation, the speaker had the final vote.

The current speaker of the Tlokwe council was an ANC member, and as a result the party was most likely going to retain control of the municipality.

Postponed by-elections

After the next six Tlokwe by-elections, which were postponed by the Electoral Court earlier this week, the ANC would be in a more powerful position.

“I think we are going to have an ANC majority,” said Duvenhage.

“At the moment it’s a slight majority, with the speaker’s vote, but in future they will probably ensure they have had least three or four of the other seats,” said Duvenhage.

Friedman said he would not be surprised if the ANC won the other six wards, but he was sceptical of a landslide victory for the party.

“I think the ANC will win most of them, if not all. If it does win all six, it is likely to do so with vastly decreased numbers.”

Duvenhage said this was good news for the ANC, and the party would definitely take the opportunity to unseat Combrink and table a vote of no confidence.

“We are talking about a date very close to the next by-election. They will probably wait until [then].

“I believe that the ANC at that point will be in a position to get Tlokwe under ANC control,” Duvenhage said.

Friedman said there was no doubt that the ANC would unseat Combrink in the Tlokwe council.

He expected the move in mid November, once the by-elections were concluded.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Serious crime in South Africa is on the rise again for the first time in 10 years, Agang SA said on Thursday.

“Nearly 20 years since freedom, violent crime is still unacceptably high and it is the poorest, who are often affected worst,” Agang SA political director Moeketsi Mosola said in a statement.

“Failures by the [ANC] government in providing quality education and in creating jobs continue to trap millions in poverty without hope. This is the root cause of crime and it is a betrayal of the values of the struggle.”

Mosola said serious crime could be tackled only by ensuring people did not go hungry, that they could earn money to sustain their families, and that their children could get quality education.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa released the 2012/13 crime statistics in Pretoria on Thursday.

Mthethwa said the number of murders had increased by 0.6% in the past financial year.

However, this figure was down 16.6% over the past four years, and 27.2% over the past nine years.

SA deserves better

Mosola said South Africans deserved better and needed a criminal justice system that ensured criminals were caught and prosecuted.

The police should be commended for the difficult job they did and the reduction in other types of crime, but they also deserved better.

He said they deserved better leadership, training, and equipment, and more officers were needed.

“Crime reports should be published at least monthly, enabling the public to be better informed about crime trends, and to be able to hold the police and political leadership accountable,” Mosola said.

Communities and police needed the latest information about crime trends in their area to work together to combat crime, he said.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The police have failed to reassure people that they are winning the war against crime, the DA said on Thursday after the release of the national crime statistics.

“It is abundantly clear that there has been an increase in major crimes, [and] meagre incremental decreases are hardly solace for those who continue to live in fear,” said DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard.

“It is devastating that the murder rate is up for the first time in five years, reversing what had become a most welcome trend.”

She said the DA would study the statistics and conduct a comprehensive analysis.

It would then provide recommendations on what needed be done to reduce crime in South Africa.

“The miniscule 0.4% decrease in sexual offences is highly unsatisfactory, particularly when most rape cases are not reported,” said Kohler-Barnard.

“The high incidence of rape in South Africa is our national shame, and needs to be backed with stronger reporting mechanisms, arrests and convictions.”

She also found it worrying that the statistics released on Thursday morning were up to 18-months-old.

The out of date information did not help people protect themselves as they did not know what to expect in their neighbourhoods, she said.

“The DA will continue to push for a monthly release of crime statistics,” said Kohler-Barnard.

– SAPA

London – The evidence against Shrien Dewani, accused of ordering the murder of his fiancée on honeymoon, would not stand up in a British court, a forensic scientist has told the BBC.

Anni Dewani, 28, was shot in a taxi on the outskirts of Cape Town in 2010.

Professor Jim Fraser told the BBC’s Panorama programme there was “simply a cloud of suspicion… rather than any evidence” against Dewani, a 33-year-old British businessman, who has denied any involvement in the shooting.

Dewani remains in Britain in a mental health clinic where he is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and is fighting extradition to South Africa.

He has launched a bid to take his case to the Supreme Court after a judge ruled he should be transferred to stand trial.

Fraser told the BBC there were contradictions in the evidence of a witness, who is expected to form a key part of the prosecution case in South Africa, and said the investigation fell short of British standards.

Panorama said it had seen video confessions, CCTV footage, phone records, scientific evidence and pictures of the crime scene.

The Dewanis’ taxi driver Zola Tongo was jailed for 18 years in 2010 after he admitted his part in the killing, and another accomplice, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, also pleaded guilty to murder and was given a 25-year prison sentence.

CCTV footage contradicts statement

The BBC programme examined a statement by Tongo, who having struck a plea bargain is expected to testify in the case alleging that Dewani hired him.

Panorama said the CCTV footage and phone records appear to contradict Tongo’s sworn statement.

On the day Anni Dewani was murdered, the couple had had a late breakfast.

Tongo’s said in his statement that Dewani called him at 11:30, asking to be picked up. But phone records in the police file show no such call took place.

Taylor said: “A single thing that was inconsequential – even a number of things that were inconsequential – wouldn’t worry me.

“But there are really quite a few things here which are plainly untrue.

“This is not an investigation that would meet the standards in this country.”

Taylor has advised the British interior ministry, or Home Office, on a number of high-profile cases.

– AFP