Johannesburg – The first anniversary of the shooting at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, near Mahikeng in the North West, will be marked during a commemorative rally on Friday.

On 10 August last year, Lonmin rock drillers embarked on an unprotected strike for a monthly salary of R12 500.

More workers joined the strike and the protesters gathered at a hill near Nkaneng informal settlement carrying weapons, such as pangas, spears, knobkerries, and iron rods.

On 16 August last year, police trying to disperse and disarm them opened fire on the mineworkers, killing 34 of them.

Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in strike-related violence the preceding week.

Violent deaths

Several violent deaths in the area following the Lonmin strike have been blamed on rivalry between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union [AMCU] and the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM].

The Congress of SA Trade Unions, to which NUM is affiliated, said that there had been “overwhelming concern” in the wake of the Marikana shooting that such killings should never again happen in democratic South Africa.

“Tragically however, one year later, we cannot say that there have been no further deaths,” spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement on Thursday.

Social problems, poverty and lack of transformation still affected the lives of mining communities.

A framework agreement for a sustainable mining industry, signed by government, employers and most unions, needed to be fulfilled in order to prevent a repetition of the Marikana tragedy, Craven said.

He said the union federation was “bitterly disappointed” at the procedural arguments stalling the work of the Farlam Commission.

President Jacob Zuma appointed the commission to probe circumstances around the 16 August shooting.

State funding for miners’ lawyer

On Friday, the Constitutional Court is expected to rule whether the State should pay the legal costs for the miners arrested and injured at Marikana.

In June Dali Mpofu, for the miners, told the commission that due to financial constraints his team could be forced to withdraw from the inquiry.

He previously brought an urgent court application in the North Gauteng High Court several weeks ago seeking funding, but this was dismissed.

The commission has been postponed several times while solutions to the funding problems were sought.

Amnesty International’s Africa spokesperson Noel Kututwa said on Thursday that the organisation was concerned that the Farlam Commission was in crisis.

“The long-term consequences for the respect and protection of human rights in South Africa will be severe should the South African authorities fail in taking all necessary steps to achieve accountability for what happened in Marikana on 16 August 2012.”

The SA Communist Party called for the speedy conclusion of the Farlam Commission’s work.

“The SACP hopes that the commission will also attend to the broader systemic, underlying issues around the mining areas and the mining industry.”

The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said it was concerned about continuing violence and killings in the Marikana area.

“The SAHRC recognises the urgent need for an understanding of all of the causes and reasons for these deaths, and what can be done to improve the material conditions of the people of Marikana, and hold those responsible accountable.”

Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele said: “As we honour all those who died at Marikana, we must encourage a spirit of reconciliation backed by practical steps so that all concerned parties can work together to finally bring peace to Marikana”.

Police brutality

The CCMA said its offices would observe a minute of silence at noon on Friday as a mark of respect for those killed at Marikana.

The CCMA committed itself to working tirelessly in efforts to prevent a repetition of the events of 16 August last year. It also acknowledged the work of its members in relation to the Marikana labour disputes.

Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution chairperson Sipho Pityana said police needed to heed lessons learnt from the Marikana shooting.

“The continued brutality of the police, and their inadequacies in policing protests, shows how urgent it is that reforms are introduced to protect the human rights of everyone who lives in South Africa.”

National police commissioner Riah Phiyega called for peace at Friday’s commemorative events.

“We wish to appeal to everyone who will be in attendance to conduct themselves appropriately and to co-operate with the event organisers, marshals and the police,” she said on Thursday.

“Most importantly, we plead with them to not carry dangerous weapons including knives, knobkerries, firearms or any other dangerous weapons.”

NUM, ANC not attending commemorations

NUM and the African National Congress in the North West signalled on Thursday that they would not be attending the commemorations.

NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said the decision was based on the fact that the events were organised by the Marikana Support Group, rather than deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s office.

NUM initially welcomed Amcu’s invitation to its president Senzeni Zokwana to attend the commemoration. Zokwana had been asked to share the stage with Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa in an attempt to ease tensions in the platinum belt.

Lonmin signed an agreement with Amcu this week, recognising it as the company’s majority trade union. 

The agreement set a threshold of a 30% membership for any trade union to be recognised by the company.

Membership of the NUM, which used to be the majority union, has dropped to 20% of Lonmin’s workforce.

ANC provincial spokesperson Kenny Morolong said: “The commemoration is organised by an illegitimate team called ‘Marikana support group’ – a group which the ANC does not recognise”.

The ANC would only participate in a commemoration organised by government, as agreed with families, Lonmin Platinum and labour unions, he said.

SAPA

Mabhuti Khenyeza is free to play soccer again after his 12-month ban was overturned.

KickOff.com can confirm that the 31-year-old striker, who was recently signed by Mpumalanga Black Aces, was instead handed a R50 000 fine, R25 000 of which is suspended.

As it stands, Khenyeza will be able to feature for Aces straight away, though we have learnt that the Premier Soccer League may take the matter to arbitration.

Khenyeza was originally banned for 12 months after being found guilty of spitting at and abusing a match official while playing for Ajax Cape Town against Mamelodi Sundowns.

“We are very pleased with the ruling and now hope the player will assist Aces in our 2013/14 season. He can now focus on football matters on the pitch and put this saga behind him,” Aces co-chairman George Morfou says.
For more http://www.kicoff.com

Johannesburg – If Julius Malema provided self-incriminating evidence during proceedings related to his tax affairs, this would not be used against him in his criminal case, according to court papers.

The papers were filed by curators Cloete Murray and Avuwe Ndyamara, who have applied for an order against the Economic Freedom Fighters’ leader.

The order, if granted, would compel Malema to answer questions about some of his assets, which the curators believed he could have hidden from the SA Revenue Service (Sars).

In the court documents, Murray writes: “According to the applicants (the curators), the order should be interpreted so as to compel the first respondent (Malema) to answer self-incriminating questions on the basis that the self-incriminating evidence will be given at a closed and private inquiry and cannot be used against him in criminal proceedings.”

This clause was included after Malema refused to answer certain questions during court proceedings in May. If the court agreed to these conditions, a magistrate in a regional court would be bound by the order.

Earlier Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay confirmed that Murray and Ndyamara filed the application last week. The two were appointed by the Master of the High Court in Pretoria to trace Malema’s assets.

Sars obtained a judgment against the former ANC Youth League president earlier in the year, in connection with his outstanding R16 million tax bill.

Lackay said: “As a creditor Sars has an interest in the relief sought by the curators before court, as these efforts may eventually contribute to the recovery of outstanding tax by the individual.”

Sars attached some of Malema’s properties to recoup this debt. In May, his incomplete mansion in Sandton, Johannesburg, was sold on auction for R5.9m. His farm in Limpopo fetched R2.5m at an auction in June. Several of his household goods were auctioned off earlier this year.

Malema’s lawyer Tumi Mokwena could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sapa

Johannesburg – The Constitutional Court will rule on Friday on whether the State should pay the legal costs for the miners arrested and injured at Marikana last August, the Constitutional Court said on Thursday.

“Judgment will be handed down tomorrow, Friday, August 16 at 2pm,” the court said in a statement.

The legal costs relate to the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, which is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana last year.

Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers on August 16. Ten people, including two police officers, were killed in the preceding week.

On June 21 Dali Mpofu, for the miners, told the commission that due to financial constraints, it could be his last day representing the miners. He brought an urgent court application in the High Court in Pretoria several weeks ago seeking funding, but this was dismissed.

Mpofu then took the State to the Constitutional Court, asking that it pay for his legal team.

The commission was postponed on Wednesday pending the court’s decision.

Mpofu provisionally withdrew from the commission in July pending the high court decision. Friday marks the first anniversary of the shootings in Marikana.

Sapa

Nelspruit – A man was sentenced in effect to 14 years in prison for poaching by the Nelspruit Regional Court on Thursday.

A Sapa correspondent reported that rangers arrested 21-year-old Leonard Mhlongo, from Mozambique, and his co-accused Kenneth Sibiya, in the Mjokwane section of the Kruger National Park (KNP) on January 19.

They had killed and dehorned a black rhino cow and its calf.

Prosecutor Isbet Erwee told the court the two men were found in possession of three black rhino horns, two from the cow and one from its calf. She said a third suspect, who carried the rifle used in the killing, escaped when the two men were arrested.

The two faced charges of entering the KNP to commit a restricted activity without obtaining permission from management, and two charges of performing a restricted activity in a designated area.

“The other accused, Sibiya, skipped bail and has disappeared. Police are tracking his whereabouts,” Erwee said.

In a statement read out in court, Mhlongo, who worked in Mozambique and earned 3700 meticals (about R1230) per month, said Sibiya fetched him from home and invited him to come work in South Africa.

“I did unlawfully cross and enter the border into the Kruger National Park with Sibiya. After we met up with another man inside the park, it was when I realised what they wanted us to do,” he said.

“I had no authority to kill the two rhinos and I request the court for a fine as I plan to raise R20 000 to pay,” he said.

In passing sentence, magistrate Edward Hall said that according to Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa, if no solution was found to stop the killing of rhinos, there would be none left in the country by 2026.

“It is a nationwide problem as we read in newspapers every day. The accused is from Mozambique and a second one skipped bail, which shows the attitude of poachers.

“To enter illegally in the KNP with a firearm is a planned criminal activity. The calf could have been saved and been there for generations to come, but it was killed together with its mother,” Hall said.

Hall said the number of rhino killed in the current year to August exceeded last year’s figure by 140.

He sentenced Mhlongo to four years in prison for entering the KNP illegally, 10 years for killing the rhino cow, and eight years for killing the calf. The eight years would run concurrently with the 10 years. Mhlongo was declared unfit to own a firearm.

Sapa

Durban – Three vehicles belonging to former uMgungundhlovu district municipality councillor Lucky Moloi were seized by the State on Thursday.

This was ahead of Moloi being sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Friday after being found guilty of corruption in March.

Prosecutor Makosi Mnthembu asked magistrate Jac Jordaan in court on Thursday to impose a sentence of a minimum of five years in prison on Moloi.

Moloi was convicted of receiving a “commission” of R200 000 from a property seller for recommending and approving the sale of a Pietermaritzburg property to the district municipality in October 2003

Taking inflation into account, it was calculated the value of the proceeds from Moloi’s unlawful activity would be worth around R343 000 today.

Moloi’s seized vehicles were two Mercedes-Benz worth R60 000

each, and a bakkie also worth R60 000.

Mnthembu said Moloi had been a prominent politician elected to be a trustee for the people, especially the poor, but had abused his position.

Sapa

Bloemfontein – A Free State man, who raped various women, has been sentenced in the Bethlehem Circuit Court to nine life imprisonment terms, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Thursday.

Free State NPA spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said Tshediso Benjamin Mokoena, 37, from Petrus Steyn was sentenced a further 50 years imprisonment on charges of theft, assault, and attempted rape.

Mokoena was linked by DNA to some of the rapes, while some victims identified him during an identification parade.

Shuping said Mokoena’s first victim was a 13-year-old girl from Bethlehem, who was forcefully taken away while visiting friends, and raped.

A woman from Petrus Steyn was his second victim in April 2009, and his third victim was a 17-year-old girl whose home he had broken into.

Mokoena continued his criminal spree in the eastern Free State area and raped six more women, aged between 13 and 20 years, in March and April 2012.

He was caught in May 2012 when he abducted a 17-year-old girl at gunpoint and raped her in a house through the night.

Shuping said the next morning the rapist gave the girl his contact number with an invitation to call him again.

The girl reported him to police and he was arrested.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The Gauteng education department will study a court decision awarding R23.5m to a pupil injured 10 years ago, an official said on Thursday.

“The department has noted the court’s decision, and… will be studying the judgment before making any comments,” spokesperson Gershwin Chuenyane said in a statement.

The education MEC was ordered by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to pay R23.5m in damages to a judge’s son, The Star reported on Thursday.

Christian Rabie, 23, suffered various injuries when he fractured his skull during a school playground game 10 years ago.

KwaZulu-Natal Judge Piet Koen was called to adjudicate over how much damages should be awarded to Rabie.

He was awarded R20.2m for loss of income and earning capacity, R800 000 in general damages, R787 386 towards future medical expenses, and R1.6m as a 7.5% add-on for the cost of protecting the award, according to the report.

The judge ordered that a trust fund be established to administer the money.

Injured during a game

The son of North Gauteng High Court Judge Pierre Rabie was hurt in a game where older boys flipped the younger ones into the air in a cricket net.

During a break on 31 July 2003, and in Grade 8 at the time, he was tossed into the air and fell to the ground.

The court had earlier ruled that the education department was liable for damages.

The department in 2008 appealed against the ruling that it was held 100% liable for damages, but five years ago the court turned down the appeal and said Rabie lacked the maturity to realise he could be injured.

He is now a law student at the University of SA (Unisa).

– SAPA

Johannesburg – An ANC councillor’s house was burnt down in Duduza, near Nigel, on the East Rand, on Thursday, the Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality said.

Ward 84 Councillor Silas Letsema’s house was set alight with his two young children inside, spokesperson Sam Modiba said.

Both escaped unharmed.

Letsema was not home at the time.

Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Ntombi Mekgwe said the house was one of two that were torched, allegedly by local residents whose illegally-built shacks were demolished in Tsakane Extension 17.

Mekgwe said the Tsakane shacks were demolished because they were built on government-owned land used for one of two RDP housing projects in the area.

Those living on the land had paid R70 to individuals who had allegedly falsely promised them RDP houses.

When the demolition crew arrived residents began pulling down their shacks and torched the home of a man who allegedly sold them the land illegally.

“In venting out their anger, the residents also burnt down the house of [Letsema].”

Mekgwe called on people to first ask the human settlements department if they were approached to buy land, to prevent being exploited by land-selling syndicates.

Council speaker Patricia Kumalo said: “The vandalising and damaging of public and private property can never be justifiable under any circumstances.”

Modiba said a case of malicious damage to property and arson would be opened on Thursday afternoon.

– SAPA