Durban – Eight pupils accused of murdering a KwaZulu-Natal teenager sobbed in court on Monday when told they would have to remain in custody.

Dressed in their uniforms as they stood in the dock at the Umbumbulu Magistrate’s Court, they had hoped that because they were school pupils, the court would release them.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Bloemfontein – Three police constables have been arrested in Ficksburg for allegedly assaulting residents, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said on Tuesday.

Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini said the officers, known locally as the “Rambo Squad”, were arrested on Tuesday morning.

They allegedly assaulted people in Meqheleng and Ficksburg over the weekend of 10 August.

One of the victims was allegedly run over by a police vehicle.

The Ipid would investigate an attempted murder charge, after police previously opened a docket of reckless and negligent driving.

Dlamini said the directorate was notified of the incidents on 14 August and started to investigate the next day.

“The investigation uncovered sufficient evidence to warrant the arrest of the suspects,” said Dlamini.
More arrests were expected.

– SAPA

Pretoria – Convicted child molester Cezanne Visser or “Advocate Barbie” – has several job offers on her release on parole, it was reported on Tuesday.

The head of correctional services’ incarceration and corrections unit, deputy commissioner James Smalberger, refused to give details of the job offers – and pleaded with the public to give Visser a second chance.

“We need to give her space to apply her mind and decide which job she is going to take,” said Smalberger.

Visser left the correctional services national headquarters in Pretoria on Monday morning, holding hands with her mother, Susan Lemmer, The Times reported.

She will be placed under house arrest after serving three years of a seven-year sentence.

Visser was found guilty of 11 charges, which included two of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl, and soliciting a 13-year-old girl to commit indecent acts.

She was also sentenced on a charge of defrauding a children’s home to get them to allow children to spend weekends with her and her then lover Dirk Prinsloo.

Visser was convicted in 2009 and began serving prison time – after a failed application to appeal her sentence – in 2010.

She was previously turned down twice for release on correctional supervision by the parole board.

– News24

Johannesburg – Oscar Pistorius lawyer said on Tuesday he was unaware of talks with Reeva Steenkamp’s family over an out-of-court settlement.

The Times reported that the Paralympic star is seeking an out-of-court deal with the family of the woman he killed.

Steenkamp, who was a model and law graduate, and her half-brother were financially supporting their parents. This including paying the rent for the parents’ Port Elizabeth home.

When contacted about the deal, Pistorius’s lawyer Kenny Oldwage told AFP: “I am not aware of these discussions and I can’t comment.”

The Steenkamp family lawyer Petrus de Bruyn confirmed discussions were underway, but refused to give details.

“We have both said that we are in talks with each other and that’s all we are prepared to say,” he told AFP.

The parents are reportedly planning to lodge a civil suit claiming R3m in damages.

The 26-year-old Pistorius wept and prayed in court on Monday before being served with his indictment for murder and given his trial date.

Steenkamp, a blonde cover girl and law graduate who would have turned 30 on Monday, died in the bathroom of Pistorius’s upmarket Pretoria home in the early hours of 14 February.

The double amputee athlete known as “Blade Runner”, who is currently out on bail, has admitted to killing Steenkamp but denied murder, saying he shot her through a locked bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.

Prosecutors will argue he is guilty of premeditated murder.

– AFP

Pretoria – North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe did not think striking mineworkers at Marikana posed a threat to him and other police officers, when they confronted them on 13 August 2012, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

This was despite allegations that a group of mineworkers were responsible for the deaths of two security guards killed at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West the previous day.

The guards were set alight in their vehicle.

“I did not know who the destabilisers were,” said Mpembe, who was the overall commander of the police operation.

Mpembe and the officers confronted the armed miners near a railway line and requested that they leave their weapons.

The miners refused, saying they would disarm once they reached the hill where other miners had gathered.

Police escorted the miners to the hill but when an officer fired teargas in their direction, the miners turned on police.

Two police officers were killed and another was injured during the attack.

Threat analysis

Louis Gumbi, for the family of slain officer Sello Leepaku, and for Lieutenant Shitumo Solomon Baloyi who was stabbed, questioned why Mpembe had not done a threat analysis prior to confronting the miners.

“Before you approached the miners, you had the employer’s [Lonmin] and the police’s view on how miners had behaved previously… You had also seen video evidence,” said Gumbi.

“You had enough information to know that you were not dealing with ordinary strikers but people who had rituals performed on them, and who had killed two security guards the day before,” said Gumbi.

In earlier proceedings, it was revealed that a sangoma had performed rituals on some of the miners. The ritual made miners believe they were invincible.

Mpembe said: “It did not come to my attention that this was the same group [who could have killed the security guards].”

The commission, which is sitting in Pretoria, is investigating the deaths of 44 people killed during strike-related unrest in Marikana last year.

Thirty-four people – almost all striking mineworkers – were killed on 16 August 2012, when police fired on them while trying to disperse and disarm them.

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

– SAPA

Cape Town – The City of Joburg has come under fire for a security flaw that may have compromised ratepayer information, a report says.

According to a report on MyBroadband, the online services system reveals names, addresses, account numbers, PIN codes and financial details to anyone with an internet connection.

“I honestly tried to report it to the COJ, but their call centre could not assist. I then sent them an e-mail but I don’t anticipate that something will happen quickly there,” an anonymous user who discovered the flaw reported.

The flaw concerns the viewing of invoices online, but it is claimed that the service is not password protected.

According to an Ekurhuleni resident the same vulnerability exists in the Ekurhuleni Municipality’s online system, but it requires a user to log in before being able to access the invoices.

– News24

By TDN
Mahikeng-Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Lechesa Tshenoli and North West Premier Thandi Modise have expressed optimism that the Section 154 intervention in Madibeng Local Municipality has registered significant progress that will also be intensified and accelerated in the next few weeks.
According to the assessment meeting that Minister Tshenoli, Premier Modise and MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Manketse Tlhape held with the Executive Mayor of Madibeng Local Municipality, Councillor Poppy Magongwa and members of her Mayoral Committee in Brits on Monday, the municipality has reduced its historic debt and is dealing effectively with its current debt.
Meanwhile, The Provincial government and South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) Bojanala Platinum Regional Structure agreed to engage further after SANCO has consulted with it’s branches in Madibeng on the draft response to their Memorandum that was consolidated by the Office of the Premier and presented by Premier Modise as feedback on Monday afternoon.
“We appreciated the mature and constructive engagement that SANCO has demonstrated and commit to further investigate new allegations of corruption and maladministration raised in the memorandum. If we set the rules, they must apply to all of us. When it comes to corruption, we must forget gender, colour or political affiliation and focus on the problem and leave no stone unturned.” Said Premier Modise.
Modise said that the interest of the provincial government is to see Madibeng being a functional and corrupt free municipality that delivers quality services to its communities.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

By Obakeng Maje
Kimberley-The SAPS welcomes the murder sentencing which was passed on the 19 August 2013 in the Kimberley High Court. Johusha Ponde(20) was sentenced to an effective 14 years imprisonment after he murdered 30 year old female, known as Rebecca Kafuna in Platfontein near Kimberley on 17 July 2012.
All this came after Detective Warrant Officer Desmond Markgraaf of the Kimberley Detectives ensured that he brought water-tight case to the Court of Law. This evidence softly persuaded the accused to plead guilty on the murder charge.
The occurrence of the mentioned incident is as follows:
“On 17 July 2012 at approximately 09:00am the deceased walked her child to school in Platfontein. The deceased was 36 weeks pregnant at the time she was murdered. Rebecca Kafuna(30) never returned home and her half-naked body was discovered in a dumping site in Platfontein on the following day” lieutenant Sergio Kock said. Police said the accused was arrested soon after the incident.
“It was later detected that the victim died because of multiple head injuries (inflicted with a sharp and blunt object) and strangulation. She also sustained vaginal injuries as well as brutal injuries to her body” he said.
The accused, Johusha Ponde (20), was found guilty on murder but acquitted on the rape charge in the Kimberley High Court and sentenced an effective 14 years imprisonment on 19 August 2013.
“The Kimberley Cluster Commander, Major General Jean Abrahams lauds Detective Warrant Officer Desmond Markgraaf (Investigation Officer) for a job well done and also thanks the community for their assistance as witnesses in court”.
“The SAPS is committed to creating a safe and secure environment for all people and this can only be achieved if individuals and communities cooperate with police and bring forth information on criminals and their activities. We are currently celebrating Women’s Month and the community should know that crimes against women and children are deemed very serious and remains a priority to the police.” Police concludes.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Pretoria – Arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne read a letter to the Seriti Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday in which he lodged some complaints.

Commission chairperson Willie Seriti told the commission he received the letter from Crawford-Browne on Monday. He asked Crawford-Browne to read it into the record.

Crawford-Browne said there were 23 points in the letter. He objected that Monday’s pre-hearing conference was a closed session.

“[The minister] said the commission would be an open and transparent process,” Crawford-Browne said.

However, evidence leader Moss Mphaga SC, said Crawford-Browne was in the pre-hearing conference.

The first witness was expected to testify in the commission on Tuesday.

Rear Admiral Alan Green was expected to shed light on the SA National Defence Force’s mandate and its functions and policies which culminated in the decision to purchase arms.

– SAPA

Pretoria – Lawyers for a policeman who was wounded and another who was killed during the unrest in Marikana last year are no longer being funded, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

Louis Gumbi, for the family of slain police officer Sello Leepaku, and for Lieutenant Shitumo Solomon Baloyi who was stabbed by striking mineworkers during the unrest, said the funding they had received had ceased in May.

The funding had come from the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union.

Baloyi filed an urgent court application in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria several days ago in a bid to have the SA Police Service pay his legal costs.

National police commissioner Riah Phiyega opposed the application, saying Baloyi could use the services of the lawyers representing the police.

Baloyi rejected this, saying there was a conflict of interest between himself and the police’s legal team.

He wanted police to fund any lawyer he chose to use.

The high court dismissed his application.

On Tuesday, Gumbi said he and his team would continue representing Baloyi and the Leepaku family, despite the lack of funds.

Meanwhile, the lawyers for miners who were arrested and wounded during the unrest were still waiting for a potential donor to decide whether to fund them.

The decision was expected to be made later on Tuesday.

On Monday the Constitutional Court rejected their application to have the State fund them. This came after the North Gauteng High Court also dismissed their application.

Dali Mpofu, for the miners, indicated they would return to the high court to contest its decision to dismiss the application.

On Tuesday, Gumbi continued his cross-examination of North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe.

Mpembe was present when Leepaku and another officer, Tsietsi Monene, were stabbed, hacked, and shot to death.

Baloyi was severely stabbed in the incident.

The commission, sitting in Centurion, is investigating the circumstances that led to the deaths of 44 people during the strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West.

Thirty-four striking mine workers were killed on 16 August 2012 when police fired on them while trying to disperse and disarm them. Ten people, including two police officers and security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

– SAPA