Johannesburg – Police are probing the cause of a blaze that ripped through the Broadacres Shopping Centre in northern Johannesburg, a report said on Saturday.

According to Eyewitness News, all employees were swiftly evacuated and the fire, which had started around 19:00, was quickly contained.

Sapa reported that two people were treated for smoke inhalation and taken to a nearby hospital, but no other injuries were reported.

EWN said that three restaurants bore the brunt of the fire, the cause of which is still unclear.
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Mbombela – A Mpumalanga man was sentenced to a fine of R20 000 (or six years’ imprisonment) in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday for killing a man in self-defence.

Ernest Friday Motau, 29, from Schoemanskloof, was arrested in June 2010 for stabbing and killing Johannes Kanego Theledi, 34, during a fight outside a tavern.

Magistrate Shirley Msibi told the court Motau had not wasted the court’s time as he pleaded guilty.

“All witnesses stated clearly that you stabbed the deceased in self-defence after you were attacked by a group of men while trying to stop a fight. On evidence provided before the court, you were assaulted and hit with a beer bottle before stabbing him.

“Although you were convicted for assault in 2004, that will not be considered, as you have not been in conflict with the law ever since,” Msibi told Motau.

Motau was initially charged with murder, which was later changed to culpable homicide. Msibi said all those involved were drunk at the time.

She told Msibi he was unfit to possess a firearm, and ruled that half the sentence be suspended for five years, on condition he was not arrested and charged for a similar offence.

“You are also offered an option to pay the fine in instalments until it is completed,” said Msibi. – Sapa

Durban – The case against a man allegedly linked to the murder of the sangoma responsible for the rituals performed on Marikana mineworkers has been postponed, the NPA said on Friday.

The 28-year-old man was expected to bring a formal bail application in the Bizana Magistrate’s Court on May 23, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luxolo Tyali said. Tyali could not provide the man’s name.

The Hawks arrested the man, from KwaMaphumulo, outside Pietermaritzburg, at Durban’s KwaMashu hostel on Tuesday night.

The sangoma, Alton Zikhuthele Joja, 69, also known as Ndzabe, was at his home in the Ludeke Holt village, in Mbizana, Eastern Cape, when five men armed with pistols and rifles entered his homestead on March 24. They shot him when he approached their car, then fled.

The vehicle was later found abandoned and burnt out, with a rifle inside. Joja died on arrival at a local hospital. He had been expected to testify at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry regarding his role in the rituals that apparently caused protesters to believe they would be invisible and invincible in the face of gunfire.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the police’s killing of 34 striking mineworkers near Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana on August 16, and the deaths the previous week of 10 people, including two policemen, in strike-related unrest. – Sapa

Cape Town – The annual defence budget debate is an interesting phenomenon. Every year since 1994 there has been almost total cross-party support in Parliament for increases in defence funding; and yet every year the gap between what the government expects of the SANDF and the funding it provides, has widened.
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Johannesburg – A South African woman was reportedly caught by customs officials at Mumbai Airport carrying 26 kilogrammes of drugs, the SABC reported on Friday.

According to Indian media reports this was one of the biggest drug busts in recent times.

The woman, identified as Sity Lentin, was searched by Indian custom officials as she prepared to board a Ethiopian Airways flight to South Africa, the broadcaster reported.

Acting on a tip-off officials searched her luggage and found a false pocket in which drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and ketamine were concealed.

The SABC reported Lentin was believed to work for an event management company which has operations in India, Canada and Singapore.

SAPA

Johannesburg – The DA and the Mpumalanga education department condemned on Friday an alleged incident of racial segregation at Hendrina Combined School, near Middelburg.

The Democratic Alliance’s provincial spokesperson Anthony Benadie said he was told on Thursday of a plan that would have black and white pupils hold separate matric dance events.

“[We received] information from angry parents who were… notified at a meeting for the English matric class that the school’s white parents and scholars had decided to host their own matric farewell, and that the black learners must hold their own,” said Benadie in a statement.

The department said they were not aware of the incident but were looking into it.

“The department condemns any form of discrimination based on race, sex or colour that may take place in any of its schools and will institute a probe into this matter,” said spokesperson Jasper Zwane.

The principal of the school Arthur Williams said he could not comment on the matter.

“I have been instructed not to speak to the media,” he said.

According to the DA, white parents cited “cultural differences” as the reason for the separate events.

Benadie said he telephonically engaged with Williams on two separate occasions.

“During the first he stated that because the school was unable to pay for a matric dance, the required funds were raised by a parents’ committee.”

However, in the second discussion, Benadie said Williams changed his stance, saying that the school was hosting a combined farewell which all learners were invited to attend.

SAPA

The case against the Limpopo taxi driver who defaced the controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma at Johannesburg’s Goodman Art Gallery last year, has been postponed to early next month in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court.

Louis Mabokela entered the Rosebank gallery in May last year and smeared black paint on the Brett Murray picture titled ‘Spear of the Nation’, which depicted Zuma’s private parts.

Mabokela’s pleaded not guilty to a charge of malicious damage to property.

Professor Barend le Grange, who also defaced the painting, earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge and paid a fine of R1 000.

Mabokela was allegedly assaulted by security personnel inside the gallery while Le Grange was left untouched.
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Cape Town – Another arrest was made on Friday afternoon in connection with the murder of 18-year-old schoolboy Enrico Martin, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said an 18-year-old was arrested at 3pm in Bonteheuwel.

Police arrested a 19-year-old from Athlone on Thursday evening. Both would appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Martin was shot shortly after 8am on Wednesday while entering the Spes Bona High School premises in Athlone.

Van Wyk said at the time that three men, two of them armed, dressed in school tracksuit tops, approached Martin. One of them shot him in the head.

Education MEC Donald Grant said paramedics revived Martin and took him to Groote Schuur Hospital, but he died soon after arrival. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Union rivalry is the main source of instability at South African mines and labour groups should work with companies to resolve disputes, said Cyril Ramaphosa, the deputy president of the ruling African National Congress.
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Kimberley – The Northern Cape’s transport department head Steven Jonkers appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for allegedly ignoring tender procedures.

Jonkers, 47, appeared with Clarissa Ann Carstens, 45, on charges of contravening the Public Finance Management Act, said Northern Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Mashudu Malabi.

The charges related to the awarding of bus contracts in the Springbok region in the Northern Cape, Malabi said

They were granted bail of R5000 each and the matter was postponed to June 25. – Sapa