Johannesburg – A group of Bekkersdal residents marched to the nearby Simunye township on Thursday, Gauteng police said.

“Their intentions are not known. At this stage, the group is peaceful and police are on the ground to maintain law and order,” police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said.

More police from different units were sent to the area.

“Today the situation is still quiet in Bekkersdal and police are monitoring the area,” he said.

On Wednesday, a local councillor fired shots into the ground when protesters tried to attack him. They ran away and no one was injured.

Police confiscated the gun and opened a case of discharging a firearm.

In a separate case a foreign shop owner was arrested on Wednesday for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

Residents told the police the man had a gun which he had used to shoot and wound a 14-year-old boy.

Officers searched the shop and found the gun.

The shop owner would appear in the Westonaria Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

The boy was recovering in hospital.

Shooting

In an unrelated shooting, a 20-year-old man was shot dead in Bekkersdal on Wednesday night. It was not linked to the protest, Dlamini said.

A car pulled up outside a shack around 23:00 on Wednesday.

Two of the four occupants got out and insulted the two men standing outside the shack before shooting at them.

One man was hit and died on the scene.

The assailants got back into the car and sped off.

– SAPA

Cape Town – The government has no firm position on calls for Parliament to be moved from Cape Town to Pretoria, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said on Thursday.

The issue of possibly relocating Parliament has come up several times since the late 1990s, with many top ANC MPs supporting a move – saying billions of rand could be saved as officials would not have to move between the two cities, and that having two centres of government was an apartheid-era arrangement.

Chabane suggested Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s concern about the exorbitant costs of moving ministers and departmental delegations between the two cities should not be seen as a firm decision to relocate the legislature.

“We move a huge chunk of administration from time to time to come and attend to issues in Cape Town,” Chabane said.

“What the statement [from Gordhan] says is that we need to find the ways to reduce the number of officials we bring down.”

Pretoria is the country’s administrative capital, while Cape Town is the legislative capital.

“We have to pay accommodation, transportation… and allowances that have to be paid, so therefore we think there is a case for us to be able to reduce that expenditure in the short term, but Treasury also, with public works, have been asked to see what is the cost for us to maintain the two capitals,” Chabane said.

He said it should be noted that a decision to move Parliament was not one to be made by the executive, but by the legislature itself.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Protesters in Bekkersdal burnt down the community centre on Thursday, police said.

Police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said several people were arrested in connection with the fire.

“I cannot, at this stage, say how many people were arrested. I will release a statement with the figures later today [Thursday].”

Protesting residents set the building alight after 14:00. Dlamini was not sure whether the blaze had been extinguished.

“Fire engines have been deployed and police are stationed everywhere in the area.”

Dlamini said the situation in the area was still tense.

A group of Bekkersdal residents marched to the nearby Simunye township earlier in the day.

Police said the group was peaceful.

– sapa

Johannesburg – One of the men implicated in the death of Kirsty Theologo after an alleged Satanic ritual found God through the incident, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg sitting in Palm Ridge heard on Thursday.

Clinical psychologist Suzette Heath said Robin Harwood seemed to believe his role in Theologo’s killing was all part of God’s plan.

Theologo, 18, was doused with petrol and set alight on a hill in Linmeyer in October 2011 as part of a “soul-selling” ritual.

She died in hospital a week later, while her friend, who was 14-years-old at the time, survived the attack.

“The whole thing went wrong so he [Harwood] believes this is how God led him to meet with Him [God],” said Heath.

“He is sad that Kirsty was killed, but remorse is a complex emotion.”

Reading from her notes, Heath said Harwood told her: “I do regret that it happened… I can’t look at it in a negative way because then I will break.”

Harwood did not think of helping the girls after they were set alight. He and his co-accused left the injured girls on the hill.

“He said he ran away… He didn’t think of helping her.”

Heath told the court she could not ascertain whether Harwood and his co-accused were concerned about the girls’ well-being following the attack, as they went clubbing the next day.

Memory loss

Earlier, she explained why Harwood failed to remember all the events that happened on the night of the ritual.

“It could be that he wants to lessen his contribution to the incident,” said Heath.

While Harwood might have been aware of his actions, he might not have fully understood the consequences.

Peer-pressure, alcohol, drugs, and the fact that the crime involved dealing with the devil could have contributed to Harwood not backing out.

Harwood, Linden Wagner, Courtney Daniels, and Harvey Isha are on trial for Theologo’s murder and the attempted murder of her friend.

Two others, Jeremy King and Lester Moody, earlier confessed to the crime and were each sentenced to 17 years in prison, five of them suspended.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled on Thursday that the Airports Company SA (Acsa) and Primedia acted unconstitutionally by censoring an advertising campaign at OR Tambo International Airport, said activist group Avaaz.

Avaaz took the companies to court after its posters depicting President Jacob Zuma watching over a lioness about to be shot with a handgun were removed from the airport in Kempton Park.

The caption on the posters read: “President Zuma can save her [the lioness’s] life”.

The posters were part of a campaign to prevent trade in lion bones.

“This decision is a victory for citizens everywhere who now can begin, again, calling on President Zuma to end the brutal lion bone trade before lions are wiped out for good,” said Avaaz campaign director Emma Ruby-Sachs.

Avaaz said Acsa asked Primedia to remove the posters because it was concerned that the inclusion of Zuma’s image and name in the poster would cause a “public relations nightmare”.

Acsa spokesperson Unathi Batyashe-Fillis said the company would comment after studying the written judgment.

– SAPA

Rustenburg-North West MEC for Social Development Collen Maine says his department will tomorrow conduct a provincial social work seminar to re-enforce the commitment of social workers and presents awards to long serving social workers.

“Tomorrow’s seminar at Royal Bafokeng Conference will allow us an opportunity resolve the challenges facing social workers on their endeavour to delivery social services to our communities,” Maine said.

A one day seminar, Maine said will deliberate on the state of social work practice, professional development and management of social workers.

Maine will also presents awards to long serving social workers (10 – 40 years service) at a gala dinner to be held at Royal Bafokeng sports ground on Friday evening.

The Registra of the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACCSP), Provincial social work veterans forum, and more than 600 social workers will attend the event.

Details are as follows:-

Provincial Seminar

Date: 25 October 2013

Venue:

  Roya Bafokeng Conference Centre

Time : 10h00

Gala dinner to be held at Royal Bafokeng Sports Ground at 18h00.-TDN

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

(Edited By Obakeng Maje)

By Obakeng Maje

Fochville-One person left fatally injured in an accident that took place this morning.

A Truck collided with a private vehicle between Fochville and Glenhawie on N12 road.

Er24 paramedics we called and injured person was rushed to hospital.

The cause of the accident is sketchy at the moment.-TDN

Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DaillyNews or @IceT_

Former Mamelodi Sundowns striker, Emmanuel Baffour, has joined Ashanti Gold in Ghana’s Premier League.

Soccer-Laduma revealed that Baffour returned to Ghana, after struggling to land a deal in South Africa.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

Johannesburg – Five people were arrested at the Clayville Testing Station in Isando, Kempton Park, on Wednesday for fraud and corruption, said the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). 

“The five… believed to be part of a syndicate operating in the area, were arrested for buying and selling 21-day temporary licence vehicle permits,” the RTMC said in a statement.

One of them worked for FAW trucks, one was from Veridot/Datadot at Clayville, two of them were runners, and the fifth worked at the testing station, on the East Rand, it said.

“The syndicate is alleged to have been selling these permits fraudulently for quite some time.”

They had been charged, were being held by the police at Olifantsfontein and would appear in the regional court there on Thursday morning.

“Corruption in any form will not be accepted and tolerated. The RTMC will continue to respond without fear to [the] public reporting this kind of cancerous behaviour and will react with intent and purpose,” said RTMC acting CEO Gilberto Martins.

“We are confident that our sustained efforts will reap rewards and perpetrators of organised crime will be [held] to account,” he said. 

SAPA

North West Premier Thandi Modise says that the arrest of three suspects in connection with the murder of the Chairperson of the National Union Mineworkers (NUM) of Marikana is encouraging and gives hope that peace and stability will be restored in Marikana and mining communities around Rustenburg.

“We welcome this breakthrough and commend police for the speedy arrest and call on the community to support police in their on-going investigations to ensure that those responsible for the recent spate of violence and killings are unmasked and brought to book soonest,” said  Premier Modise.

The Premier called on unions in the mining sector to respect the Framework for Peace and Stability in the Mining Industry they had signed earlier this year on the 25th of February and to desist from provocation, violence, intimidation and murder and to actively discourage their members from taking the law into their own hands.

According to police, the trio are expected to appear in the Rustenburg Magistrates Court later today. Their arrest follows an intensive investigation after the NUM leader was shot eight times and killed at the Marikana hill, near Lonmin’s platinum mine, last Thursday. 

He was reportedly shot once while driving. When he got out of his car another seven bullets were fired at him. He died on the scene.-TDN

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