Cape Town – Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi on Tuesday insisted the report into alleged misspending at Nkandla remains secret to protect President Jacob Zuma’s security.

Nxesi was again pressed on Tuesday to release it to Parliament’s public works portfolio committee – even with those parts dealing directly with security excised – but told MPs to be patient.

They should await Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report into security upgrades costing R206m at Zuma’s homestead in the KwaZulu-Natal hamlet, he said.

“It is insensitive to request a document which deals with the security of the head of state. It is as simple as that,” he said.

“So my argument is let’s wait for the public protector and the parliamentary processes to take their own course… let’s wait for those reports and then once they come, let’s deal with those issues.”

Nxesi confirmed that the report – which contains the findings of a government task team’s investigation into spending at Nkandla – was handed to Speaker Max Sisulu.

The minister has recommended that it be given to Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence for scrutiny.

‘Relentless cover-up’

On Tuesday he reminded MPs that all political parties were represented on that committee.

Nxesi was asked for the report by DA MP Anchen Dreyer, who has accused the government of a “relentless cover-up” of what transpired at Nkandla.

Dreyer also asked whether the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had received a presidential proclamation enabling it to probe spending at Nkandla, following recent reports that it had been waiting in vain for more than six months.

Nxesi side-stepped the question, saying the president, not public works, had to issue such a proclamation.

“That question cannot be asked to this one, because it is not us who are signing that. Proclamations are dealt with at another level. That question can be asked at that level, not from us.”

He pointed out that the department had been co-operating with Mandonsela, who recently conducted an in loco inspection at Nkandla.

She said in July her report was 99% ready.

“On this particular matter, even the public protector has been able to say these departments have been co-operating in terms of this information.”

The cost of the upgrade has caused public outrage, which grew worse in June when Nxesi told Parliament that the report had been classified.

Deputy Public Works Minister Jeremy Cronin has said the findings indicated over-charging by contractors.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – A man is suspected to have committed suicide after shooting two people in Vanderbijlpark in Johannesburg, Gauteng police said on Tuesday .

Gerhardus Derrick shot dead Stephanus Labuschagne and wounded his wife Sunnet at a local soap factory in Vanderbijlpark on Tuesday morning, Lt-Col Lungelo Dlamini said.

“Stephanus was shot in the head and died on the spot, his wife sustained a flesh wound in the head and was rushed to hospital,” said Dlamini.

“After the shooting it is suspected that the Mr Derrick drank some tablets and fled from the scene in an Isuzu bakkie. Police chased him until R59 towards Meyerton where he stopped and died in his vehicle.”

The motive for the killings is still unknown.

Sapa

Pretoria – South Africa’s military force design was very modest in 1998, a senior SA Navy officer told the Seriti Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday.

“From the look of it, it was a very modest force design in terms of the size of the country,” Rear Admiral Alan Green said in Pretoria.

“Now whether there is a threat or not, as long as there’s a mandate for us to have a national defence force… It is the role of that department to indicate how it intends achieving that and that’s what the department did.”

The execution of this, however, relied on funding which was not determined by the defence department.

Green was testifying on the rationale of the multi-billion rand arms deal and the utilisation of the equipment acquired.

He was the first witness to testify in the initial phase of the commission’s public hearings into the strategic defence procurement package.

President Jacob Zuma appointed the commission in 2011 to investigate alleged corruption in the 1999 arms deal.

Spending

Evidence leader Tshepo Sibeko asked Green about comments made that South Africa did not need to spend so much money on arms as it was not at war at the time.

Green said anything less than the core force that was decided on would have made it difficult to expand on if the need arose.

“When we say there’s no clear threat, I don’t believe we should be nave of the possibility of a threat arising in the medium term,” he said.

“Therefore, we need to have a core force.”

He said capabilities, especially submarines, could not be developed in the medium term.

“It’s a long-term programme, we’ve had experience of that. We knew how long it took us to establish our submarine capability, the greatest deterrent in the maritime environment.”

The large ship capabilities with the frigates also took a long time. It was a developmental process. People needed to be trained, said Green.

A platform needed to be developed for future growth.

He said a defence posture was meant to be a deterrent.

“By having a vessel in the harbour, one is executing the deterrent factor.”

It was easier to “ramp up” the army than the navy or air force.

“Had we expressed that force design as is… We would have had no capability, whatsoever, to defend and protect,” said Green.

– SAPA

Cape Town – The defence closed it case on Tuesday in the Western Cape High Court trial of Thandi Maqubela, accused of killing her husband, acting Judge Patrick Maqubela.

Maqubela is charged with murder, forgery, and fraud.

On the latter two charges she allegedly forged her deceased husband’s signature on his will and fraudulently presented it at the Johannesburg office of the Master of the High Court.

Her co-accused, her business associate Vela Mabena, is charged only with murder.

At Tuesday’s proceedings before Judge John Murphy, Marius Broeksma, for Maqubela, presented the testimony of his client’s brother Zuko Ndlebe.

Ndlebe corroborated Maqubela’s earlier testimony that a police official based in Johannesburg tried to extort money from the deceased.

He also corroborated evidence that cars had been seen on two different occasions at the judge’s Sandton, Johannesburg, home, and that both cars sped away when Ndlebe approached.

Broeksma told the court that Ndlebe was the final witness to testify for the defence.

Maqubela’s body was found in his luxury Bantry Bay apartment on 6 June 2009.

The State alleges the judge was suffocated on his bed on 5 June, the day before his body was found.

Murphy recently ordered the indictment changed to state that he was murdered by placing a piece of plastic clingwrap over his nose or “by any other means unknown to the State”.

Randall Titus, for Mabena, closed his case on Tuesday without leading Mabena’s evidence.

Closing argument is to be presented on 7 October.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Four people were shot dead and a fifth wounded in a car in Midrand, Gauteng police said on Tuesday.

All the victims were passengers in a Toyota Tazz the shooter was driving, at the intersection of Jupiter and Whisken roads in Crowthorne in the early hours of Monday, police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said.

“The suspect apparently had an argument with one of the passengers and fatally shot him. He also fired shots at three other passengers, a man and two women.”

The victims were aged between 16 and 30.

Another passenger, a 30-year-old woman, was wounded.

Police believed they were returning from a party in Olievenhoutbosch.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Tension and political intolerance between Agang SA and ANC members have been blamed for the brutal attack on a Limpopo ANC councillor at the weekend.

Unknown men assaulted Polokwane councillor Lesetja Legodi with iron rods before stabbing him in the head at his Solomondale village outside Polokwane.

Legodi, who confirmed the incident, was ambushed while walking home from a night vigil on Saturday.
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Johannesburg – A soldier killed during an operation in the Kruger National Park was not shot at, the SA National Defence Force said on Tuesday.

“It is not clear whether he shot himself accidentally or he committed suicide. He was not shot at,” said Brig-Gen Xolani Mabanga.

Private Thabiso Zulu, of Regiment East Rand, was deployed on Sunday with 2 SA Infantry Battalion when he was killed while on duty during Operation Corona in the Kruger.

It is a border patrol operation.

A board of inquiry has been convened to investigate the shooting.

Sapa

Durban – Police raided two used spare car parts dealers in Isipingo where a stolen Isuzu bakkie was in the process of being chopped up for its parts.

Two men, aged 33 and 32, have been arrested and charged with possession of stolen property.

It came after officers from the vehicle task team traced the signal of a tracking device on the vehicle to a used-car dealer in Gopal Singh Road on Sunday, where they discovered the bin of the bakkie.
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Cape Town – Police have arrested two members of the “crowbar gang” who were filmed fleeing the scene of a burglary in Brackenfell last week.

Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said two suspects were arrested at their homes in Gugulethu on Friday and on Monday.

The CCTV footage was apparently crucial in the arrests, and police say they know the identities of three other gang members.
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Durban – A missing Durban man is feared dead by his wife after he was accosted and abducted by armed hijackers on Monday night in Mount Moriah, near Phoenix.

Dumisani Mdlalose returned to his home at about 8pm and was approached by three armed men who put a gun to his head and forced him back into his BMW 318i before speeding off with him.

His wife, who was in the passenger front seat, ran away from the men unharmed and called for help in the community.
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