Johannesburg – Police are investigating another 44 people with possible links to an international child pornography ring, and have obtained at least 30 search warrants so far, a spokesperson said on Friday.

“We did an investigation on 50 suspects… we then obtained 30 search warrants early in August,” said Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale.

“We executed those warrants and that’s how we arrested those six. The six are part of the 50.”

Top executives

He could not confirm a report in The Times that among the alleged paedophiles were top executives of banks, insurance firms, legal practices, and IT companies.

A policeman with knowledge of the investigation told the newspaper that several of the suspects have links to high-profile companies and professional practices.

“They are not small fry. A few are said to be quite powerful,” the source told The Times.

“There are a number of the suspects, married, with children and living so-called normal lives, who are being incredibly uncooperative,” the officer added.

Arrests

Police had followed up on a tip-off from Interpol last Thursday and arrested six men in four provinces for possession of child porn.

The accused were arrested in Lichtenburg, Bloemfontein, White River, Douglasdale, Florida, and Potchefstroom.

They were a teacher, a retired school principal, a headmaster, a lawyer, a dermatologist, and a businessman.

Since the arrests, they had appeared in various South African courts separately and had their cases postponed.

Makgale said police were trying to obtain the remaining 20 search warrants.

On Wednesday, the newspaper reported the case had links to Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Western Europe, and Australasia.

It reported that children as young as 5 were believed to have been groomed to have sex with each other and adults.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A jump in South Africa’s headline consumer inflation needs to be watched, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday, citing concern about higher fuel prices in tandem with a weaker currency.

Gordhan also said Africa’s top economy has not yet seen a big increase in exports even as the rand has softened.

“A rapid depreciation of the rand at the same time as the kind of increases in fuel prices [we’re seeing] is not healthy for SA’s inflation,” Gordhan told Reuters on the sidelines of a media briefing in Johannesburg.

“We’ve got to be watchful.”

Headline inflation accelerated to 6.3% year-on-year in July, from 5.5% the previous month, breaching the central bank’s target band of between 3 – 6%, mainly because of higher fuel and electricity prices.

While the weaker rand should support manufacturers as it makes South Africa’s exports more competitive, Gordhan said the benefits so far had been limited.

“We don’t see the massive increase in exports that we should be seeing,” he said.

Down tools

The rand fell to a four-year low on Thursday, mainly because investors dumped risky emerging markets assets due to uncertainty about whether the US Federal Reserve would start to curtail its monthly bond-buying programme.

The rand has lost 22% against the dollar since the start of the year and is looking more vulnerable than other emerging market currencies because of continuing labour unrest in the domestic vehicle manufacturing and mining industries.

The country is facing strikes across leading sectors of the economy, with the vehicle manufacturers strike in its fourth day and some construction workers and gold miners threatening to down tools from next week.

While many of the factors driving weakness in the rand were outside of SA’s control, Gordhan said the country would weather the storm mainly because of a floating exchange rate and a bond market that offers high yields to investors.

“We are not the Fed of the United States…we’re not tapering QE [quantitative easing]. We are not the financial investors who look for yield and move their money in a way in which they can get their yield, but we’ll survive it.”

Gordhan said economic growth for 2013 was likely to come in close to the central bank’s 2% forecast as mining production had shown some improvements since last year.

Reuters

Pretoria – North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe pleaded with officers to be tolerant towards striking Marikana miners last year, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Thursday.

“I pleaded with officers to be tolerant… I even used the Andries Tatane case to show how we can be tolerant in exercising our duties,” Mpembe told the commission.

Tatane died in 2011 when police fired rubber bullets during a protest by residents of Ficksburg in the Free State.

Louis Gumbi, for the family of murdered Warrant Officer Sello Leepaku and wounded Lieutenant Shitumo Solomon Baloyi, said several officers indicated in notebook entries that Mpembe gave instructions to block marching protesters.

The commission is probing the deaths of 44 people in strike-related violence in Marikana, North West, last year.

Thirty four people, almost all striking mineworkers, were killed on 16 August while police tried to disperse and disarm them.

Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

Earlier on Thursday, Gumbi read out notebook entries by three officers dispatched to Marikana on 13 August last year.

Officers were attacked and two were killed, while some were seriously wounded as a result of them blocking the protesters, the officers wrote in their notebooks.

Leepaku and Warrant Officer Tsietsi Monene were shot and hacked to death that day.

Mpembe said the officers omitted some of the vital instructions he issued.

“Regarding these officers put to me as witnesses by Gumbi, none of them indicate that I told them to exercise tolerance,” he said.

“Some mentioned it in their statements, but none wrote it down in their notebooks or diaries.”

SAPA

Orlando Pirates were beaten 3-1 by Mpumalanga Black Aces in a practice match at the Rand Stadium on Thursday morning.

Sea Robbers coach Roger de Sa fielded an experimental side in the game, which served as part of Bucs’ preparations for Saturday’s MTN8 first leg semi-final showdown with Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs.

Former Buccaneer Onyekachi Okonkwo was notably on the scoresheet for the visiting Premiership newcomers.

“We gave the new guys and those that have not played this season a run in this match,” De Sa told his club’s official website.

“We need these guys all ready to help the 18 players who have made the team and I think despite the loss here today, the technical team will now have an idea on how to balance the team with these players we have here today.”

For more http://www.kickoff.com

Orlando Pirates captain Lucky Lekgwathi has hit back at claims that the Soweto Derby is ‘boring’.

The Buccaneers face arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the first competitive Derby this Saturday in the MTN8 semifinal, first leg at Soccer City, and the veteran defender insists fans will have a spectacle on their hands.

“Fans need to stop saying the Derby is boring,” he said at today’s press conference. “We don’t go out there to make the game boring. It’s tough out there.
For more http://www.kickoff.com

Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane believes it is vital his side makes home advantage count against Orlando Pirates in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final on Saturday.

Chiefs host the Buccaneers at Soccer City before reviving hostilities a few kilometres down the Soweto highway in the return duel at Orlando Stadium on September 24.

Amakhosi can derive extra motivation from the fact that they are yet to beat the Sea Robbers in this competition since it was adopted by MTN in 2008.

The Soweto giants have met three times, with Pirates winning twice while the other contest finished in a draw.

“A win is very important for us on Saturday because we are playing at home,” Letsholonyane says.
For more http://www.kickoff.com

Orlando Pirates winger Daine Klate has encouraged his teammates to take their CAF Champions League form into the domestic scene starting off with this weekend’s Soweto Derby against Kaizer Chiefs in the MTN8 semi-final first-leg clash.
For more http://www.kickoff.com

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Jeff Radebe will act as President until Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe returns from Zimbabwe. This has been announced by Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj.

President Jacob Zuma has left for Angola for talks with President José Eduardo Dos Santos and the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila.

The three are expected to discuss current peace efforts in the DRC.

The consultation is a follow-up to a meeting held by the three Presidents on 12 March 2013 in Luanda.

The three Heads of State are expected to discuss a range of issues relating to peace and stability in the region, particularly the current peace efforts in the DRC.

While deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is representing South Africa at Robert Mugabe’s inauguration as president of Zimbabwe in Harare.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

President Jacob Zuma has arrived early in Angola for Friday talks on ways to strengthen regional security. Zuma will be joined by his Angolan counterpart Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and Congolese president Joseph Kabila.

The three countries have huge resources that can power the regional economy if sufficiently harnessed.

Angola is a country which has risen from the ashes of decades of civil war to become Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria. It’s also an emerging power in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Angola has not only become an important player economically, it’s also crucial for the stability of the region.

South African ambassador to Angola Nhlanhla Ngwenya says a peaceful Angola with all its untapped minerals could be a great partner to South Africa.

On its part Angola is doing a lot to change its image and attract investments and the country’s Chamber of Commerce says it’s working hard to put infrastructure in place.

The meeting with President Zuma is a follow up meeting to the March 2013 meeting where the three countries met to thrash out matters of common regional interest.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za

North West’s oldest citizen was buried with dignity yesterday, thanks to the efforts of MEC for human settlements, public safety and liaison, Nono Maloyi.

She visited the family last week and promised to help the family with the burial.

Hlokwana Mahlalela, 109, died last week Monday at Rankelenyane village outside Rustenburg, shortly after her deplorable living conditions were exposed by the media.

At the time of her death the provincial government had begun building her a house.

Acting departmental spokesperson Ben Bole said the department donated essential items that were needed for the burial.

“The family was assisted with groceries, a tent and a beast for slaughter. As the department we are glad that gogo Mahlalela was buried with the dignity she deserved.”

The department planned to complete the house soon and hand it over to the family in honour of their promise to Mahlalela.

Maloyi said the provincial government was committed to looking after its senior citizens.
For more http://www.thenewage.co.za