Johannesburg – At the age of 25, Mpho Rakgwale is South Africa’s youngest convicted serial rapist.

He was back in the high court sitting in Randburg on Wednesday after being found guilty of rape, kidnapping and robbery last year.

Rakgwale was convicted of 61 charges: 21 for rape, 17 for kidnapping, six for the illegal possession of firearms, five for aggravated robbery, six for the illegal possession of ammunition and another six for robbery

He received six life terms and 232 years’ imprisonment.

Rakgwale appeared nonchalant, chewing gum during court proceedings.

He was convicted on more charges on Wednesday – 12 for a string of kidnappings, rapes and robberies between May and September 2012.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

Kids: Principal won’t let us write exams

THESE matric pupils haven’t had maths or physical science teachers for the past year.

And according to them, their principal is now forcing them to get sick notes so they can miss their matric exams in these subjects and write supplementary papers next year.

Angry pupils at Vutomi Secondary School in Orange Farm, Joburg told Daily Sun many of them had already applied to tertiary institutions and the principal was ruining their plans.

Thobile Mgaga (18) and Mercy Nembambulo (19) said: “We planned to complete our matric this year, but now we are being forced to extend it by six months.

“While other pupils will be writing their science and maths exams, we’ll be expected to visit a nearby clinic for a check-up, even though we’re not sick.

For more http://www.dailysun.co.za

BY REGINALD KANYANE

COMMUNITY safety and transport management MEC, Gaoage Molapisi and his team came under heavy criticism after the department was found to be incurred about a billion in irregular expenditure.

  This came when the department appeared before the provincial legislature committee at Baga-Phuduhucwana Tribal Authority hall in Taung to present on its financial statements on Tuesday.

  Some of the money is said to have been lost before the reconfiguration of the two departments into one entity.

  Committee chairperson, Jeannette Dibetso-Nyathi said: “The department presented two annual financial reports with different figures. We understand that the first one was designed before the configuration, while the other one came to light afterwards. The department has close to R1bn irregular expenditure, and we wanted to know if there were any other plans in place to deal with irregularities.

“The auditor general also highlighted that there was R10m paid to the monitoring firms. We recommended that they must make sure that they work thorough on their action plan. They presented a well-tailored plan on how they will deal with all irregularities. According to the auditor general, there was a deficiency within the department. We also heard that there was a R140m unauthorised expenditure,” Dibetso-Nyathi said.

  She also said they portfolio committee wanted to know how the department is planning to deal with fleet within the department and the non-monitoring of buses that ferry schoolchildren.

  Head of department, Bailey Mahlakoleng said: “We have established a team which will deal with the internal misconduct. There were some recommendations after investigations. The issue of fleet vehicles, we still want to find a proper way of dealing with that issue. Until today, we are dealing with that issue manually. They drivers fill in log booklets.

  “There are traffic fines that we sitting with, but we working tirelessly for our employees to account on them. Buses transportation management are not monitored on full time basis. Most of the contractors were inherited from the previous department, so we believe in the next financial year we will manage and plan accordingly,” Mahlakoleng said.

  In his submission, MEC Molapisi said the department had applied for condonement so that they could start on a clean slate.

  “We have written to the treasury to make recommendations and give guidance on dealing with prior disclaimers. We hope the condonement will be applied. We have appointed a task team to deal with any misconduct and irregular expenditure by our employees. Recommendations will be implemented,” Molapisi said.

  Responding on the issue of traffic cops having working in old uniforms that were procured back in 2010, Molapisi said: “We planning to make use of cooperatives and buy uniforms from them. It will be very expensive for the department to buy uniform for each of traffic officers at once. So we still working around that issue and see how we could manage in providing them with full uniforms. But we are supplying uniforms to them as much as we can.”

-TDN

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BY REGINALD KANYANE

MURDER case against nine suspects was postponed by Vryburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. A 48 year-old farmer, his wife and seven other suspects were arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and assault case.   

Tigwinita Luwantu, Lindiwe Mpathani,39, Moipolai Mmastoki, 54, Lehula Kedibone, 37, Simphiwe Cele, 31,  David Plaatjie, 43, and Thatafalo Kibane,18 allegedly kidnapped,  assaulted, and killed a man and seriously wounded other two men on their farm in Soutpansfontein, near Stella last week.

National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson, Frank Lesenyego said: “Three men were accused of stealing livestock from Tigwinita’s farm. Ten suspects were subsequently arrested on Wednesday last week following the incident. Three people were later released. One person could not be positively linked to the crime while other two were minors aged 14 and 16 respectively,”

Lesenyego said the group allegedly assaulted three men with knobkerries and poured them with boiling water on their bodies. He said that three victims were allegedly walking in the veld looking for wood when they were caught by the group.

“Moses Mosepele died while the other two are still recovering at a local hospital. The family of the deceased accused Stella police for being involved in the assault after they arrived at the scene,”

“The suspects will be remanded in custody including two Constables, Bonginkosi Mazibuko and Olebogeng Nkele. Police officers were arrested after they allegedly participated in assaulting the victims. The case was postponed until Friday for bail applicationapplication,” he said.

-TDN

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Cape Town – MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company that’s facing a $5.2 billion fine in Nigeria, must follow the rules in countries where it does business, said South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“We will obviously be taking note of what is happening with a view of seeing how the company involved responds and reacts in this matter,” Ramaphosa told lawmakers in Cape Town on Wednesday. “We would like our companies to comply with the laws and regulations of countries where they operate, without violating those.”

The comments by Ramaphosa, a former chairman of MTN, suggest South African authorities may leave MTN to fend for itself as it seeks to have the penalty reduced. MTN shares have slumped 14 percent since October 26, when Nigeria’s industry regulator imposed the fine for failing to disconnect customers with unregistered phone cards.

For more http://www.iol.co.za

Bloemfontein – State prosecutor Gerrie Nel said on Tuesday he could not comment on the context in which Oscar Pistorius’s advocate Barry Roux had told him that he, Roux, was going to “lose”.

“No, I can’t. You should speak to Roux about it,” Nel told News24, smiling as he wheeled his briefcase across the Supreme Court of Appeal courtyard to the exit.

Roux did not answer his phone or respond to a text message for clarification.

After court adjourned on Tuesday afternoon, pool microphones for the broadcast picked up Roux and Nel chatting after proceedings, which had been broadcast live.

For more http://www.news24.com

BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
Chairperson of Mkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association, in North West, Leon Mkabela to address the unbecoming behaviour of its member and the former mayor of Ramotshere Moiloa local municipality Africa Thale.

Mkabela said his association will also pronounce its decision to suspend the membership of Thale for refusing to abide to the orders of the ANC.

He said they will also raise reports that Afrika Thale has resorted to use members of MKMVA as his protectors which is viewed as a fight against the decision of the ANC.

The conference will be held on November 4 at ANC Parliamentary House in Venterdorp at 11H00.
-TDN
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BY REGINALD KANYANE
The North West Provincial Government has appointed four new Heads of Departments (HoDs) and two Deputy Directors General (DDG).

The newly appointed HoDs are for departments of Social Development, Finance, Economy and Enterprise Development and Tourism, while the appointed Deputy Directors General are for Administration and Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation respectively, within the Office of the Premier. 

This was announced by premier Supra Mahumapelo today during a media briefing that was held in Mahikeng.

Mahumapelo said, while the Provincial Government has put in place a flexible moratorium on filling of vacant posts across the departments, it remained critical for the province to prioritise filling of these management posts as the government administration rests in their hands.

“We have been having many officials appointed to act on critical Senior Management posts, and this is one way of dealing with this “acting” situation. We are also prioritising core function posts in lower levels, this with a view to ensure that service delivery is not compromised,” Mahumapelo said.

Emphasising the significance of introducing a flexible moratorium on the filling of vacant posts, Mahumapelo said it is meant to deal with the escalating wage bill.
-TDN
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