Johannesburg – Heritage should be that of education, health care and safety the Democratic Alliance’s Gauteng premier candidate, Mmusi Maimane, said on Tuesday.

“Our challenge is to create the environment where the heritage of excellent education, quality health care and personal safety, no matter where we come from, no matter our position in life,” Maimane said at one of his stops on the Believe Bus Tour in Dobsonville, Soweto.

Maimane spoke about the country’s heritage and what its diversity meant for South Africans.

“I believe that we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs. We can give every person a foothold onto the ladder of success. This ladder will not help people to get ahead when it is only available to the politically connected. No, that is not freedom. Tenders to family and friends do not amount to a ladder.”

He intended to inject business opportunities and growth to the province and create jobs that benefit every person in the province.

“That is a heritage worth fighting for. That is a heritage that I want to see become a reality in Gauteng.”

“We must bridge the gap of inequality. The heritage we will leave must be one of opportunity for all of our children,” said Maimane.

SAPA

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe says much still needs to be done before South Africa can be united as a nation.

He was addressing people at Heritage Day celebrations at Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape. “Having travelled this long and arduous road to freedom, we have as South Africans come a long way in addressing injustice, inequality and poverty but still have much more to achieve,” says Motlanthe.

Motlanthe also says township dwellers should use the legacy of townships as hotbeds of political activism to reclaim their heritage. Mdantsane celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Motlanthe says heritage preservation projects should be used to document and celebrate townships legacy. “The living conditions in Mdantsane, like those in many other South African townships, helped educate and consciences many people about the need to fight oppression. These celebrations should be an opportunity of telling stories about the people who came to stay in this township; the evolution of Mdantsane community and its daily experiences, its social, cultural, economic and political experiences; and other contributions in sport arts and culture.”

This year Heritage Day is celebrated under the theme—“Reclaiming, Restoring and Celebrating Our Living Heritage”.

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

Johannesburg – Rapport must unconditionally apologise to the University of Stellenbosch and some of its staff for claims made in a report published in June about changes at the university, the Press Ombudsman ruled on Monday.

The newspaper was instructed to apologise to the university’s rector, Professor Russel Botman, for making the unfounded and unreasonable allegation, that his role was being reduced to that of cutting ribbons and kissing babies.

Press Ombudsman Johan Retief also ordered it to apologise to him for the serious damage this caused to his credibility and reputation.

No publication had the right to report something just because someone said it. The usual norms and standards set out in the Press Code always applied, he said.

He made the ruling in response to a complaint by the university about a story published on page four on 30 June, and headlined “US gets new money boss: Amazement as rector’s post is scaled down and vice-rector is pushed out”.

The university accused reporter Marlene Malan of malicious intent, claiming she had, among other things, made mistakes because she did not check her facts with the university, twisted information, withheld information and combined unrelated matters.

Malan reported that the university had drastically changed the way in which it would be managed, and that it was not renewing the contract of vice-rector of community services and personnel Professor Julian Smith partly because of his part in the collapse of the university’s high-performance sports institute, and his appointment of Gugu Ntuli as its head without following proper procedure.

She also reported that Botman would cede his duties as chief executive to Professor Leopold van Huyssteen, and that it was speculated he would serve purely as a ceremonial head who only cut ribbons and kissed babies. She quoted sources who disagreed with this.

Retief found that malice was not behind her errors.

Negative context

He instructed Rapport to apologise for placing management changes at the university in an unnecessarily negative context, and for coupling these with the renewal of Smith’s contract and the developments at the sports centre, and for stating as a fact that the correct procedures were not followed in Ntuli’s appointment.

He also reprimanded the newspaper for stating it as a fact that Van Huyssteen would report directly to the university’s board. He found the story’s sub-heading misleading.

He told Rapport Malan should have asked the university for official comment about the delegation of some of Botman’s duties, rather than relying only on the opinions of certain board members.

Rapport was given a worded apology which it was instructed to place above the fold on page four under a headline which contained the word “apology” and a reference to the University of Stellenbosch.

Both parties have seven days to appeal the decision.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Police are studying the judgment delivered by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in the case of former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.

“All I can say is that we are studying the judgment,” Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said on Tuesday.

He declined to comment on a report published in The New Age, which stated that police intended to appeal the court ruling.

The paper quoted an unnamed source who they claimed was “highly placed”.

“The matter is definitely going to the Supreme Court of Appeals and it could end up in the Constitutional Court if that’s what it takes to achieve the desirable results,” the source was quoted as saying.

The court ruled on Monday that all fraud and corruption charges levelled against Mdluli be reinstated and that national police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, take steps to reinstate disciplinary charges against him.

Judge John Murphy set aside a decision made last year to reinstate Mdluli as head of criminal intelligence.

He also turned around the case surrounding Oupa Ramogibe.

Ramogibe, who married Mdluli’s ex-lover, was killed in 1999. His family suspected that Mdluli was behind his death but Mdluli was cleared of any involvement and the case was sent for inquest instead of prosecution.

Murphy said this was dubious and he set the decision aside.

“There are affidavits from seven witnesses who personally witnessed Mdluli threatening to kill Ramogibe, or threatening and assaulting other people,” said Murphy.

“This evidence presents a compelling prima facie case against Mdluli.”

The application for a review and the setting aside of the decision to withdraw criminal and disciplinary charges against Mdluli was brought by lobby group Freedom Under Law (FUL).

SAPA

Johannesburg – The department of home affairs is prepared to work with Kenya in determining the validity of a South African passport linked to a member of al-Shabaab involved in the attacks in Nairobi, spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said on Tuesday.

“The government has not had sight of the alleged passport, nor has it received an official communiqué from the Kenyan officials,” Mamoepa said.

He said should such a notice be received, the state would then act on it.

“Given our good bilateral relations, we stand ready to co-operate with the Kenyan authorities to determine the validity of the passport,” he added.

The Beeld reported on a so-called “white widow”, a woman in possession of a false South African passport and believed to have been instrumental in the planning and execution of the recent terror attacks in Nairobi.

The newspaper reports that Kenyan officials were investigating Samantha Lewthwaite, who is married to British Islamic militant Jermaine Grant, currently on trial in Mombasa for possession of explosives.

A Free State professor, Hussein Solomon, was quoted in the newspaper saying Lewthwaite was commonly known to move between Britain, Kenya, South Africa and Pakistan.

“It is known that when she was in the country earlier this year, she was in Fordsburg and in Mayfair [Johannesburg]. She managed to get into the country although her name is on the Interpol list of wanted people,” Solomon was quoted as saying.

Solomon reportedly spent the last year in Kenya studying the al-Shabaab organisation and its actions.

A photograph of the faked South African passport was reportedly published on Monday in various British newspapers, in the name of Natalie Faye Webb.

Lewthwaite was apparently a regular visitor to the country and used the South African passport as one of different aliases whenever she travelled.

SAPA

Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) at Anglo American Platinum will hold a strike to protest job cuts.

Amcu President Joseph Mathunjwa said today the required 48-hour strike notice was served to the company yesterday and the strike would start on Friday.

Amplats, the world’s top platinum producer, said last month that it would cut about 4 800 jobs – laying off 3 300 workers and paying off the rest.

The platinum arm of global mining group Anglo American had plans in January to cut 14 000 jobs but backed away from that target after a fierce backlash from the government and unions. But workers remain unhappy with the final result.

Amplats spokesperson Mpumi Sithole said the company received the notice and would engage with the Amcu.

“Strikes and work stoppages will result in further losses that will hamper plans for future sustainability,” Sithole said.

“Downsizing the workforce is unfortunate but necessary for the survival of the business.”

Amcu has emerged as the dominant union on the platinum belt after a violent turf war last year with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in which more than 50 people were killed.

Platinum producers are currently in pay negotiations with unions, which if deadlocked, may lead to more strikes. Amcu wants rises of more than 100%.

Huge wage hikes or strikes could hurt Amplats’ results as it strives to recover from last year, when low platinum prices and a wave of violent wildcat work stoppages pushed it into the red.

Gold producers sealed a pay rise agreement with the NUM that will see salary increases of up to 8%, but Amcu rejected the offer and is still in talks with the companies.

Coal producers are also in wage talks. Companies made a final wage offer to unions on Friday, proposing pay increases of between 7% and 11%.

NUM said it was still consulting members on the offer. Amcu is not involved in the coal wage talks.

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

Orlando Pirates will be looking to bring the MTN8 trophy back to Parktown after it spent last season at Dobsonville with Moroka Swallows.

The Buccaneers won back-to-back MTN8 titles in 2010 and 2011, however couldn’t retain it for a third season last time out.

However, this year they go into the second leg of their semi-final with Kaizer Chiefs with a 1-0 lead, thanks to Daine Klate’s free kick, and will be confident of making it into the final. Read: Bucs Grab The Advantage

Should Roger de Sa’s men triumph over Chiefs, they will be well on their way to winning their 10th Top Eight title having already won nine over the years.

The Buccaneers 9 Top Eight victories:

1972, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2010, 2011

Pirates’ record in the tournament in its current format, the MTN8, is seven wins, five draws and three draws from 15 games.

The two clubs have met 75 times in all competitions since the establishment of the NSL in 1985, with Pirates winning just 19 of those games compared to 30 won by the Amakhosi.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.com

Nairobi – A UK woman being sought by counter-terrorist officers in Kenya, has claimed to be a South African, reports said on Tuesday.

The Guardian reported that Kenyan officials are investigating whether UK born Samantha Lewthwaite was part of a terror cell connected to the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab, which planned to target the city of Mombasa in 2013.

Lewthwaite is the widow of the King’s Cross bomber, Germaine Lindsay.

Eric Kiraithe, a Kenyan police spokesperson, said that Lewthwaite has had three identities.

Reports have emerged that the woman being sought was claiming to be Natalie Faye Webb, a South African, but it has been established that the passport she was carrying was fake.

Early in January a Mombasa court issued an arrest warrant for Natalie Faye Webb, following an application lodged by the anti-terrorism police unit.

The magistrate ordered that the “anti-terrorism police unit arrest Ms Natalie Faye Webb of Britain and a local Kenyan Habib Saleh Ghani with immediate effect”.

“Kenya cannot take any chance as far as acts of terrorism are concerned,” she added.

Based on her appearance, the names she used in Kenya and the number of children she has, the Guardian reported that there is strong circumstantial evidence that the woman is Lindsay’s wife.

Scotland Yard would not comment.

Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officers have travelled to Kenya to help in the inquiry, and there have been ongoing attempts to trace Lewthwaite in the UK.

Lindsay was one of four suicide bombers who detonated his rucksack bomb in London in July 2005. The 19-year-old blew up a Piccadilly Line train, killing 26 people.

Lindsay met Lewthwaite, the daughter of a former UK soldier, through an internet chatroom, it was established at the 7 July inquest.

The couple married in 2002, and had two children.

After the bombing, Lewthwaite had a third child by an unknown father.

The woman Kenyan police are seeking is suspected of linking up with other members of the terror cell in Mombasa.

According to the Guardian, there are thought to be between 30 and 40 Britons at present fighting in Somalia with al-Shabaab.

For more http://www.news24.com

Johannesburg – Gang rapist and house robber Thandanani Tharib Msomi, 26, was jailed for life on Monday by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg.

His two accomplices, aged 19 and 31, were still on trial and were expected to appear in court again on 23 October, said police spokesperson Solomon Mbele.

He said they gang-raped a 33-year-old female and stole a home theatre system after breaking into her home in Emalangeni Reserve, near Mpumalanga township, outside Durban, on 1 October 2011.

Mbele said Msomi was sentenced to life for the rape and to 15 years’ imprisonment for housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.

“The ruthless and barbaric attack of women by criminals of Thandanani’s calibre will not be tolerated in our society and we welcome [the] maximum sentence meted out by the court,” said KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni.

“Our endeavours to effectively investigate reported crimes instil hope to victims of crime and send our clear resolute commitment to criminals that we will trace, arrest and successfully prosecute them,” he said.

SAPA

Johannesburg – VIP protection guards without advanced driving course qualifications were allowed to drive VIPs, the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday.

This emerged during the trial of Joseph Motsamai Semitjie, who is accused of reckless or negligent driving, and of failing to help injured motorcyclist Thomas Ferreira.

Ferreira collided with the BMW X5 Semitjie was driving when it skipped a traffic light while on the left-hand side of the yellow line in Paardekraal Drive.

He sustained head injuries and was comatose for weeks.

“VIP guards who did not have proper qualifications were given state authority and were allowed to drive VIPs,” Semitjie’s colleague Sergeant Tshepo Lethlathle told the court.

Prosecutor Micky Thesna asked Lethlathle when the right time was to switch on a car’s blue lights and siren.

Lethlathle said this was when they were instructed to do so by the VIP.

“So, if the VIP you are transporting instructs you to stop because he wants to buy dagga would you follow such instructions?” Thesna asked.

Lethlathle replied that he did not know.

“You are avoiding my question because you know that buying dagga is illegal, just as much as crossing a red traffic light,” said Thesna.

During cross examination, Magistrate Abdul Khan asked Lethlathle whether it was legal to skip a red traffic light.

“If you are transporting a VIP and they tell you that they are late, and the traffic light is red, as a driver you have to observe and warn other motorists before crossing a red traffic light,” Lethlathle said.

Lethlathle told the court VIP drivers’ mandate was to safely transport VIPs to their destination.

“How safe is the VIP if a red traffic light is crossed?” asked Khan.

Earlier, Lethlathle was asked to describe Mmemezi’s character.

He described the former housing MEC as someone who wanted things done his way.

“I lodged several complaints to my superiors against former MEC Mmemezi, but nothing was done about the complaints.”

The matter was postponed to 17 October to allow the defence to subpoena one last witness.

SAPA