Johannesburg –

The hunt was on Wednesday for a small aircraft that was last heard of over Mozambique’s remote northwest, with fears growing about the fate of its occupants.

“The aircraft went missing on Sunday and a search and rescue operation was launched immediately,” said Jonny Smith, spokesman for the Johannesburg-based Aeronautical Search and Rescue.

The craft – a Beechcraft 58 – had two people on board, and was travelling from Malawi en route to Lanseria airport, north of Johannesburg. It was last heard of around Mozambique’s vast province of Tete.

“The Mozambicans requested our help in the search and a joint operation has been set up in Beira,” said Smith.

“At this stage it very difficult to predict what might have happened to it. Our search continues,” he added.

According to Mozambique Civil Aviation Agency, the plane did not send out a distress signal. The agency earlier said the aircraft was last heard of on Tuesday. – Sapa-AFP

BY Obakeng Maje

Banyana Banyana striker Andisiwe Mgcoyi scored the only goal of the match against Senegal to keep her team’s CAF African Women Championship 2012 title hopes alive in Group A action at the Malabo stadium on Wednesday, 31 October 2012.

 The tall Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies (Sasol League Gauteng) player finished off a good move after a period of extensive Banyana Banyana pressure in the 70th minute, to give the South Africans a hard-fought and much-needed win after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to hosts Equatorial Guinea at the same venue.

The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana will leave the island for the mainland on Thursday, 1 November 2012, to prepare for their final Group A, fixture, against the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Bata on Saturday, 3 November 2012.

This was Senegal’s second defeat in the tournament, having gone down 1-0 to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday.

Fielding an attack-minded formation, the South Africans had too much pace on the flanks for Senegal, with Nothando Vilakazi – moved from left back defender to left wing for the match – causing lot of trouble among the Senegalese defenders.

Against Senegal, Banyana Banyana’s midfield dominated possession and the South Africans could have had a healthy advantage by half-time. In the seventh minute, the livewire Mgcoyi latched on to a superb through-ball to beat the Senegalese offside but saw her attempted lob going narrowly wide with the advancing goalkeeper Mariane Fall well beaten.

Portia Modise, playing her 100th international game, was in attacking mood, but was also thwarted by some good goalkeeping by Fall.

In the second half, Banyana Banyana head coach Joseph Mkhonza continued his offensive approach with Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies (Sasol League Free State) striker Sanah Mollo and Durban Ladies (Sasol League KwaZulu Natal) goal-hungry Silindile Ngubane – on for Noko Matlou and Nocawe Skiti respectively – playing key roles in forcing the Senegalese side back into their own half for long periods of play.

Spurs WFC (Sasol League Western Cape) speedster Jermaine Seoposenwe – on for Mgcoyi in the final minutes of the match – also looked dangerous on the attack.

Johannesburg – An aluminium and steel recycling factory in Industria was on fire in the early hours of Thursday morning, Johannesburg emergency services personnel said.

“There have been no injuries reported and the fire is contained and stopped,” said spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi at 3.30am.

“Firefighters are monitoring the factory… The damage is not that much because the fire was stopped and contained before it spread through the factory.”

Mulaudzi said one of the storage facilities where aluminium and steel is stored caught fire at around 1.30am on Thursday morning.

The cause of the fire was not known and would be investigated, he added. – Sapa

Cape Town – Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi would not say on Wednesday whether the underground bunker reportedly planned for President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla private residence was designed to handle a long siege.

“With due respect, I don’t understand the… question,” he told the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Mario Oriani-Ambrosini in the National Assembly.

The IFP MP had asked him: “Is the design of the complex to enable the president… to survive a long siege? Because it doesn’t seem the complex is designed specifically to withstand a terrorist attack.”

Oriani-Ambrosini also asked, to laughter from opposition MPs, if the bunker was to ensure the “long-term sustainability” of the president should he ever find himself under siege “and unwilling to surrender himself to somebody wanting to get him there”.

Earlier, Nxesi dodged questions about the reported R200-million-plus upgrades to Zuma’s private residence at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal, acknowledging only that his department met “on a continuous basis” with the Department of Defence and the South African Police Service to discuss the “implementation of security measures at… state facilities”.

Such discussion included the private and the official accommodation of members of the executive, and whether “various projects were executed in accordance with risk assessments done by the SAPS and the Defence Department”.

Asked whether an underground bunker was warranted at a private residence, Nxesi again repeated he could not discuss such security matters, which were a matter for the Department of Defence.

However, he did suggest the reported cost of the project was not correct.

Asked by Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer whether the R230-million spent on the safety of one person was worth more than the education, health and safety of millions of poor South Africans, he responded: “I do not know where you get this figure.” – Sapa

Durban – Three robbers, who beat a Westville couple and held them captive for two hours, were forced to flee almost empty-handed after inadvertently pressing the panic button on Tuesday morning.

But that wasn’t the extent of their troubles – they also managed to botch their getaway, by wrecking the clutch of the couple’s car, which they had loaded up with their loot, including three TV sets and a sound system. They abandoned the stalled car and fled, taking with them only the small items they could carry.

The Dawncliffe couple – aged 57 and 61 – asked not to be named, because they feared for their lives after being assaulted, tied up and locked in their bathroom while the suspects ransacked their home after midnight.

Recalling the ordeal, they described it as “horrendous”, saying the robbers threatened to kill them while demanding money, cellphones, bank cards with pin codes, as well as guns and jewellery.

It is believed that they entered the home through a window while the couple was asleep.

“My wife saw a face looking into hers and she screamed,” the man said. “Soon after, I woke up and they started assaulting us with sticks while they tied us up with Sellotape and made us lie on the floor at the edge of the bed. That’s when they made demands and threatened to kill us.

Forc more details go to http://www.iol.co.za/

Senior police officers met to discuss their operations on the day 34 miners were killed in Marikana, the Farlam Commission heard on Wednesday.

“The briefing was about the duties of the day,” crime scene expert Captain Apollo Mohlaki told the commission, sitting in Rustenburg.

They were told to be on standby so they could photograph traditional weapons at a hill near the Nkaneng informal settlement, near Wonderkop.

“We were told there was an agreement that people will leave their weapons at a hill,” he said.

Under cross-examination by advocate George Bizos SC, representing the families of mineworkers killed by police on August 16, Mohlaki said the officers were not told there might be violence.

“Did you hear that the business of people gathering on a hill will be ended today? (August 16),” Bizos asked.

“Not at all,” he responded.

Mohlaki said he was called to the scene around 4pm. On arrival he saw police, paramedics, and dead bodies.

“Did you ask what happened?” Bizos asked him.

He said he did not. Instead, he asked the whereabouts of a senior police officer named Naidoo, whom he found about 500 metres away. He said Naidoo told him there was a crime scene and that he (Mohlaki) knew what to do.

He then asked a Constable Molefe to take videos of the scene while he started collecting evidence. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

Seven directors were removed as members of the Board of the North West Transport Investments (NTI) at a general shareholders meeting held in Mahikeng on Wednesday.

The decisive action taken by North West Provincial Executive Council (Exco) convened as a general shareholders meeting in terms of Section 61 of the companies Act, No.71 of 2008 was chaired by Premier Thandi Modise. The provincial government holds 100% of the issued share capital of NTI.

The resolve to remove the directors was taken on the recommendation of the MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport, Raymond Elisha after establishing that the Directors were incorrectly appointed by the Executive Authority at the time contrary and had appointed directors to each of the subsidiary companies, North West Star and Attridgeville Bus Service, especially with regard to the term of office. Some of these Directors are found to have been appointed by the Interim Executive Chair

, ultra vires his powers.

According to report tabled by MEC Elisha, the appointment of the directors were 

 contrary and beyond the ambit of the provisions contained in the Department of Public Enterprise Protocol on Corporate Governance in the Public Sector dated September 2002, more particularly the provisions contained in paragraph 5.1.6.1 and 5.1.6.2. thereof. Over and above that, Elisha had also established that the board had allegedly

∙         Breached Treasury Regulation 29.2.1. in that they failed to conclude a shareholder compact for the year preceding March 2011∙         Breached their fiduciary duties in respect of compliance with the provisions of Section 50 of the Public finance Management Act.No.1 of 1999 for failing to keep full and proper record of the company in respect of the financial affairs and invest property of Section 55(1)(a) and(b) of the PFMA∙         Failed to implement a system of properly evaluating the Company’s major capital projects with regards to payments of the amount of R110,208,218.00 and not disclosing this payment as irregular and expenditure in the annual financial statements for 2010/11∙         Failed to hold an Annual General Meeting for the year 2011∙         Failed to review the remuneration policy for the Board of Directors of the Company in 2010 and 2011 and, table the said remuneration policy for approval by the Executive Authority∙         Failed to submit annual financial statements of the Company for the year 2012 to the Treasury of the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, within two months after the end of the financial year of the Company as contemplated in Section 55(1) (c)(ii) of the PFMA.A forensic audit firm is in the process of investigating financial irregularities that were identified by the 2010/2011 qualified Auditor General’s report.

The removal of the Board of Directors Board is in line with Premier Modise’s administration’s commitment to clean governance aimed at ridding provincial government departments, municipalities and state owned enterprises of the scourge of corruption and maladministration targeted to achieve clean audits by 2014.

New Directors appointed by the general shareholders meeting to oversee the affairs of NTI are Mohamed Iqbal Motala, Paschallis Thapelo Makhetha, Machii Esther Dladla and Jeanne-Marie Brown. 

Paris – Monkeys are just like the vast majority of human beings when it comes to sex – when they go ape, they want privacy.

Among long-tailed macaques, the urge for hanky-panky was dampened when they were watched by other monkeys, according to an unusual experiment reported in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Scientists from the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands monitored 15 female and seven male macaques in a giant enclosure for four months.

They installed everything for perfect love-making – the simian equivalents of Barry White, satin sheets and mirrored ceilings.

The monkeys had tyres and ladders for courting rituals, sawdust bedding, tasty offerings of fruit to replenish lost energy and even a swimming pool for chillout time.

But the animals’ main requirement was a quiet spot, to avoid interference from other monkeys, especially dominant alpha males.

“By concealing sexual behaviour, females and subordinate males try to reduce harassment from group members,” Anna Overduin-de Vries said in an email to AFP.

“Although harassment is not frequent, it may have serious consequences such as getting injured or not being able to finish a copulation.” – Sapa-AFP

AfriForum, the ANC and Julius Malema have reached a settlement over the “Shoot the Boer” song, according to reports.

In September last year, the High Court in Johannesburg, sitting at the Equality Court, convicted Malema of hate speech after lobby group AfriForum took him to court for singing the song.

At the time the ANC became an intervening party and defended the song, based on its use in the struggle against the apartheid.

Both Malema and the ANC said that when sung it was not meant literally, although AfriForum differed.

Judge Colin Lamont held the words undermined people’s dignity and were discriminatory and harmful.

Malema lost an application in November for leave to appeal directly to the Constitutional Court against the ruling. He filed a notice of appeal with the SCA in December. Lamont granted him leave to appeal.

The Supreme Court of Appeal was due to hear the appeal on Thursday.

On Wednesday AfriForum’s spokesperson Willie Spies reportedly told the Mail & Guardian that a deal was struck at 8.30pm on Tuesday night after a day-long mediation on Friday.

“The settlement that has been reached provides for three things. Firstly, the ANC acknowledged that certain struggle songs contain lyrics that originate from a specific era in history which today can be hurtful to minority communities. Secondly, the ANC and Malema undertook to encourage and counsel their supporters and members to refrain from singing songs that could contain hurtful phrases. Thirdly, the parties committed to continued informal debate about cultural heritage and freedom,” Spies was quoted as saying.

“As a result, the ANC abandoned its appeal and AfriForum and the Transvaal Agricultural Union abandoned the order granted by [the Supreme Court of Appeal] with all the parties consenting to the substitution of the … order with this agreement,” he added.

Details of the settlement were due to be announced at a joint press conference on Wednesday.

According to reports, the ANC will likely withdraw the appeal in the SCA on Thursday. – IOL