Rustenburg – The police officers who shot dead striking mineworkers positioned themselves for an attack, the Farlam Commission heard on Tuesday.

Armed with semi-automatic rifles, they formed their line before any attack against them was launched, said lawyer Dali Mpofu, for the injured and arrested miners.

“Would you agree… that the basic line was formed prior to the attack and it was therefore formed for another reason and not (as a) defensive (method)?” asked Mpofu.

He was cross-examining Major-General Charl Annandale, who headed the police’s tactical response team during the wage-related unrest in Marikana last year.

Annandale said he was not entirely sure what prompted the police to form their line at that moment.

“It could have been to show force or to protect the group.”

He said the police’s show of force was meant to discourage protesters from advancing any further. He said the method had been used successfully many times in the past.

Ishmael Semenya, for the South African Police Service, objected to Annandale being asked any further questions about the police line, saying he had not been there.

Commission chairman Ian Farlam agreed, saying Mpofu should rather save the question for an officer who was on the scene at the time.

The commission, sitting in Rustenburg, is investigating the deaths of 44 people killed in Lonmin’s wage-related unrest last year.

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

By Obakeng Maje

Tswaing-The Democratic Alliance has expressed its serious concern about 20 permanent jobs in the Tswaing Municipality without the required appointment procedures illegally filled to a verbal request by the Municipal Manager, Mr Mere.  

“There were no ads are placed and the requirements set out in the Municipal Systems Act were not followed” DA Tiaan Kotze said.

“Further information provided by concerned officials confirmed was also that the appointments nepotistic nature. ANC councillors and officials of Tswaing Municipality’s family and friends have been appointed and the capacity to function in a specific position in no way played a role” said DA in the province. 

The party said it was purely political appointments – cadre deployment in its most banal form, as has become the standard in the North West.

“The Tswaing DA Caucus strongly disapproves these events.

The lack of competent, qualified and experienced staff already have a stranglehold on service delivery in the municipality” DA said.

The new appointments are of particular concern in view of the fact that the salaries of Tswaing personnel already amounted to 85% of own revenues with service delivery still radically deteriorating said Kotze.

According to opposition party, comprehensive investigation of appointments and the legality of the appointments should be done at a high level. 

“Furthermore, there already had to be a competency audit of all jobs in the Tswaing Administration been done, according to a decision and recommendation as part of the Turnaround Strategy during the period in which Tswaing Municipality Provincial Administration”.

“The DA will bring these appointments to the attention of the Auditor General and the Acting Minister responsible for North Local Government, Mr Paul Sebegoe” Tiaan Kotze concludes.

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Kaizer Chiefs are reportedly not keen on participating in Africa but their assistant coach Doctor Khumalo has a different view.

By virtue of being PSL champions, Amakhosi would be eligible to participate in Africa’s premium competition, but recent reports suggest they could boycott the 2014 CAF Champions League.

However, Khumalo is hoping the club will use the opportunity to test themselves against the continent’s best.

“Well, I’m not too sure whether we would go for it but participating in Africa means the team and the country will benefit,” the legendary midfielder argues. “I would love to see Kaizer Chiefs playing in Africa, because we would be putting the country on the map.”

Back in 2005, CAF slapped Chiefs with a $1,500 fine when they withdrew from the Confederation Cup, after they had been eliminated in the third round of the Champions League by Tunisian side Esperance.

Clubs that are eliminated in the third round of the Champions League drop to the Confederation Cup.

In addition, Chiefs were slapped with a three-year ban.

In 2001, Chiefs won the Africa Cup Winners’ Cup – now of course called the CAF Confederation Cup, after it was merged with the CAF Cup.
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Former Bafana Bafana captain Bongani Khumalo’s future with English Premiership outfit Tottenham Hotspur looks uncertain and there is a possibility that he may be offloaded at the end of the season.

Khumalo spent last season in Greece on-loan to Paok FC. The former SuperSport United defender also spent time with Reading in England before moving to Greece.

In a chat with KickOff.com, Khumalo’s business manager Glyn Binkin confirms that Spurs have not yet informed them about the players future at the club.

“Bongani is still contracted to Tottenham Hotspur and has two-years left on his contract.

“The club has not notified us about anything but we are weighing up our options,” Binkin says.
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DOCTOR Khumalo will be Kaizer Chiefs’ stand-in coach in the two remaining Absa Premiership matches – and he will not be taking any advice from coach Stuart Baxter via cellphone.
Chiefs take on Supersport United at the Peter Mokaba Stadium tomorrow night.

Asked if he would be taking calls from Baxter during the match, Khumalo emphatically replied: “No, no, no … that’s old-fashioned.

“I work with Stuart, not for Stuart – and there’s a difference.

“If I work for him, I’ll have a cellphone on the bench because I won’t know what to do. But because I work with him, there shouldn’t be much of a change.”

It will certainly be a different affair to Black Leopards’ 5-2 thumping by Mamelodi Sundowns last week. Leopards chairman David Thidiela, whose side is fighting to avoid relegation this season, was caught on camera sending texts from the stands to his technical team on what changes to make during the match.

Khumalo said his task is to simply enforce what he and Baxter have worked on in the build-up to the games against Supersport tomorrow and AmaTuks on Saturday.

Amakhosi need only a point to clinch the Premiership title.

“There will be no pressure on me. I know what is expected of me and I have sat on the bench before and led the team in more difficult situations than this.

“We won’t have to change anything because what is important is to win the two remaining matches,” Khumalo said.

The former Bafana midfielder paid a glowing tribute to Baxter, who is on the brink of winning the Premier League and Nedbank Cup in his first season at Chiefs.

“I’d like to thank him for coming on board and doing so well.

“We thought we would take it step by step and we really did not anticipate being where we are at the moment in his first year here.

“The plan wasn’t necessarily to be the best in the 2012-13 season alone, but in the long term. This is just the cherry on top and the beginning of good things. We know very well that most teams will be well prepared to try and beat us next season,” Khumalo said.
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Stones have been lobbed at Numsa’s head office in Newtown, Johannesburg, breaking six windows and damaging a sign, police said on Tuesday.
A man was seen throwing stones at the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) building at 2am on Monday, said Warrant Officer Xoli Mbele.

“The security guards tried to chase him, but he got away,” he said, adding that a case of malicious damage to property was being investigated.

“[We] are shocked and devastated by this latest attack on our head office, which is a property built on workers meagre wages,” Numsa spokesman Castro Ngobese said in a statement condemning the attack.

He said that this was not the first case the union had reported to the police.

Last year, computers were stolen from the building on more than one occasion by “well-dressed young men”, and a Numsa-owned car was stolen outside the building.

Ngobese said it was sad that after 19 years of democracy the union was still having to deal with the issues of security it had on its property under apartheid.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) also condemned the attack and called on unions to support Numsa.

“Remember that your offices could be next. An injury to one is an injury to all,” Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement.

JOHANNESBURG – Lonmin’s Marikana mine on Tuesday said workers at 13 of its shafts in the North West embarked on an unprotected and illegal strike.

Employees arrived at work earlier, but refused to go underground.

It is understood they are angry over the murder of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) regional chairperson Mawethu Stevens who was gunned down on Saturday at a local tavern.

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Johannesburg – The Gupta family has been accused of distributing food parcels at an ANC North West branch meeting to sway decisions in favour of President Jacob Zuma, it was reported on Tuesday.

Six African National Congress leaders had written a letter to the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters to protest about the alleged role of Gupta family members at the meeting on May 1, Business Day reported.

“These (food parcels) were leveraged to sway decisions of the members of the organisation (ANC),” one of the six co-signatories to the letter was quoted as telling the newspaper.

Business Day reported that repeated attempts to reach Gupta family spokesman Gary Naidoo for comment failed on Monday.

It reported that the letter was accompanied by photographs, purportedly of a convoy of luxury cars and police vehicles arriving at the venue, and of a pile of food parcels on the floor in a hall.

Gupta family members were apparently taking a break from the family’s lavish wedding celebrations at nearby Sun City.

According to the newspaper, the branch meeting was called to nominate delegates for a regional conference next month in the ANC’s Bojanala region – the biggest in North West – at which Zuma’s supporters were expecting a fight-back from those who lost the leadership battle in Mangaung.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe reportedly told Business Day his office had not received the letter of objection, but that he would dismiss out of hand any complaint mentioning the Guptas. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Mining operations at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Rustenburg, North West, were suspended on Tuesday, the company said.

“We can confirm there is a stoppage. Workers arrived for work, but did not go underground. The reason for them not going underground is unclear,” said spokeswoman Sue Vey.

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) regional co-ordinator Mxhasi Sithethi said the situation was tense at the mine.

“People are singing outside our office, demanding the closure of the NUM office… It is tense.”

He said the protesters were members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

The NUM and Amcu have been fighting for control of the mines in the area since last year.

It was not clear whether the protest on Tuesday was related to the death of an Amcu official at the weekend.

Amcu North West regional organiser Mawethu Steven was shot dead by four men at a tavern in Photsaneng, in the informal settlement of Nkaneng, on Saturday.

On Monday, Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa appealed for “calm” in the platinum belt following the shooting.

“We would like to call on all our members during this difficult and emotional time to remain calm and allow the law to take its course,” he said.

Twin brothers were also shot dead at Nkaneng, in Wonderkop, on Saturday.

Sithethi said one of them was an NUM shopsteward.

North West police said the brothers were shot dead by a group of armed men draped in blankets and wearing balaclavas.

The group stormed into a shack on Saturday night and asked them the whereabouts of another, who was not identified.

The brothers were shot when they said they did not know the man.

“The one brother, who was shot two times, died on the scene, while the other brother died on arrival at the Andrew Saffy Memorial Hospital,” Brigadier Thulani Ngubani said at the time.

Two women, who were in the shack at the time, were wounded.

One was shot in the thigh, and the other was hacked with a panga. They were taken to hospital and were discharged on Sunday. – Sapa

The auction will take place at the former ANC Women’s League president’s Orlando West, Soweto, home on Tuesday next week.

This follows a judgment against her in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on May 6 2011.

She was hauled before the courts in 2009 by Abbotts College, which trades as the Independent Institute of Education, in a bid to recover money owed to it.

According to court documents, Madikizela-Mandela in January 2008 agreed to pay Abbotts College R40000 in accommodation fees for Nobantu Vutela, cited as her great-niece.

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