ohannesburg – The second phase of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry is being planned and a number of possible topics are being discussed, it said on Tuesday.

A broad range of social issues could be relevant to the inquiry, the commission evidence leaders’ head Mbuyiseli Madlanga SC, said in a statement.

The parties had been asked to submit topics they intended canvassing at the commission, which is chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people Ä 34 of them at the hands of the police Ä in strike-related violence at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana, North West, in August last year.

Madlanga said it was necessary to plan the next phase to help evidence leaders decide the sequence in which topics would be addressed.

It would also help parties to the inquiry to know on which issues they could be questioned.

The commission had to decide which topics were relevant to its work and which matters should be referred to other organs of state for investigation.

The preliminary list of topics for the second phase includes:

the composition of the protesters; the lived experience of mineworkers; housing and services issues; migrant labour issues; the stratification of the mining labour force; the impact of events at Impala Platinum and Lonmin’s Karee Mine; Lonmin’s history in platinum mining in the Rustenburg area; and its social policies and practices in relation to employees.

Also on the list are: the history of the conflict between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union in the Rustenburg platinum industry; collective bargaining; violence; production; financial performance of platinum mining in general, and Lonmin’s platinum mines in Rustenburg in particular; investment; and unsecured credit.

Other topics listed are: issues between the Bapo ba Mogale Royal Family and the community and Lonmin or the Lonmin mineworkers; the mining charter; security; the capacity of parties to engage the state in support of their positions in industrial disputes; allegations that police tortured people arrested on August 16; and the role of local, provincial, and national government under the Regulation of Gatherings Act; and the extent to which government complied with its obligations under the act in relation to events at Marikana.

Madlanga said the parties had begun exchanging documents and witness statements relevant to the second phase. – Sapa

Johannesburg – Despite staring relegation in the face, Black Leopards coach Sunday Chidzambwa is putting on a brave face at the back end of his side’s dismal league campaign.

With a crushing 5-2 Absa Premiership loss at the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns in Polokwane on Tuesday, Leopards remained firmly rooted to the foot of the table.

“We won’t give up until the final game. You never know what will happen,” Chidzambwa said.

Leopards conceded two goals inside 10 minutes, and let in another Sundowns strike after half an hour.

“I think we got it all wrong today, defensively and offensively,” Chidzambwa said.

“We were very disorganised, especially in the first half.”

The result also marked the eighth home defeat of the season for Leopards.

With two matches remaining, Lidoda Duvha were one point behind Chippa United and four behind Ajax Cape Town.

Faced with the prospect of playing Orlando Pirates and Free State Stars in their remaining fixtures, Chidzambwa did concede the future for his side looked grim.

“These things happen in football. It’s not our year and we just have to live with it.

“I think we have to try and play well in the upcoming fixtures.”

Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane, meanwhile, was not totally pleased with the performance of his charges.

“There’s no team that creates as many chances as this team,” said Mosimane.

“Today we took many chances and we scored five goals, but I have to be honest, I was not happy with the play.”

Mosimane cited the 2-1 league win over Free State Stars in their previous match as a more pleasing turnout by his troops.

“Our game against Free State Stars was much better. [Against Leopards] we got carried away a little bit and we allowed them to score two goals.”

Mosimane, however, said he could not be too harsh when his side had scored so many goals in the game.

“But what else do you want when you score five goals? It’s a good win.”

SAPA

Johannesburg –

Not being allowed to televise an African Champions League soccer match in the Democratic Republic of Congo has cost the SABC money, but it will not reveal how much.

This information was confidential, spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said on Wednesday.

The SABC was prevented from televising Orlando Pirates’ second-leg match against TP Mazembe on Sunday.

Pirates lost 1-0, but qualified for the last eight group stage of the competition on a 3-2 goal aggregate as a result of their 3-1 win in the first-leg at Orlando Stadium.

The costs of failing to broadcast the game included transport and accommodation of the crew and equipment, and advertising revenue.

Kganyago said it “differ(ed) from one advertiser to the other” whether advertising fees would have to be paid back.

“The engagement between us and our advertisers is confidential and we are not going to put it in the public space,” he said.

The match organisers stopped the SABC from televising it, claiming it did not have permission to do so.

Kganyago disputed this.

“We have clearly indicated we had an agreement wherein we gave them the feed when the two teams played at Orlando Stadium and they had to reciprocate when the (second-leg) match was played in Lubumbashi.”

“How else do they explain their getting the feed for the first leg if there was no agreement?” he asked. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

COSATU Moses Kotane Local is bracing itself for a very massive protest march to the World acclaimed entertainment hub, Sun City, to demand answers from the top management of both Sun City and Sun International on their agreement with the Guptas on the arrangement of the latter wedding arrangements.

“It is clear that the agreement was made to undermine workers at the said institution more so African black people who are also members of both COSATU affiliates (SACCAWU and SATAWU) at that institution” said Moses Kotane branch secretary, Madito wa ga Molebalwa.

“COSATU is in possession of an e-mail that was doing the rounds sent by management informing workers that they will be supplied with deodorants, soaps and others in order to keep clean when serving these highly connected Guptas family and this was total violation of poor workers integrity as it was a first of its kind at Sun City that has been receiving high profiled guests like Michael Jackson and others including our own World acclaimed Icon Tata Madiba Mandela without such humiliating “presents” by the powers that be at Sun City” Molebalwa said.

He said COSATU further needs or demand answers as it is well informed that the said Guptas and their guests received a preferential treatment from the Department of Home Affairs as it is informed that home affairs officials went to Sun City to work on the Guptas papers as well as SARS.

The other demand will be of all case numbers on all racial matters reported to Sun City management including the attempted rape matter by one of the Guptas guests as Sun City management claimed that they assisted in opening such cases with the Sun City police.

“COSATU Moses Kotane has vowed and resolved that it will embark on disturbing all major events that will be taking place at Sun City until it gets all needed answers on all matters raised in here starting on Saturday the 11th of May 2013 as Sun City will be hosting the South African Music Awards at the Super bowl” He said.

However North West police said they will be very observant and make sure the award run smoothly without any hassle.

“The Police, together with other Law enforcement agencies, including Fire and Emergency Services, Provincial Traffic, Emergency Medical Services, Disaster Management  and private security companies have geared themselves up for the influx of thousands of people into the North West Province this coming week-end” said colonel Sabata Mokgwabone. 

The South African Music Awards (SAMA) will be held from Friday till Saturday at Sun City, Super Bowl, outside Rustenburg.

“We call on all our members at Sun City to snub this occasion and all South Africans to boycott all events hosted by this racial hub” Molebalwa said.

The South African Police Service and other role players in the province are geared to ensure a safe and secure environment for all stakeholders that will be visiting Sun City during the awards. 

“The Venue Operational Centre (VOC) will be available for the duration of the event. This will enable members of the public to report incidents of crime on site as well as at Sun City Police Station” said Mokgwabone.   

Mokgwabone said without dampening the spirit of the festivities, Police and other security agencies will enforce strict control over drunk driving, speeding and consumption of alcohol in public. 

He said strict measures will also be in place to ensure that licence holders adhere to the conditions of their licences.

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Johannesburg – Gauteng police are looking for the husband of a woman who was found brutally murdered in her home in Deneysville near Sasolburg.

Police would not reveal the name of the husband, reported The Sowetan.

The body of the 39-year-old woman was found by neighbours who had come looking for her on Sunday morning.

The neighbours initially thought the woman was asleep in her bed, but when they lifted the blankets, they saw gaping wounds to her head and body.

The woman was also covered in blood.
For more http://www.news24.com

Orania, Northern Cape – Welcome to Orania, South Africa: a whites-only enclave established in 1991 during the dying years of apartheid.

The town, in the sparsely populated Karoo region, is inhabited only by Afrikaners.

These descendants of Dutch-speaking migrants who arrived in the country in 1652 with Jan van Riebeeck, now make up six percent of the “Rainbow Nation’s” population.

But they make up 100 percent of rural Orania.

It was the Afrikaners who formed the backbone of the National Party that introduced apartheid, and many South Africans regard Orania’s residents as little more than latter-day “bittereinders” (a term used for Boer War holdouts) who rage against today’s majority rule.

But residents maintain the town is not racist.
They argue that Orania is the best way of preserving Afrikaner culture and language and offers a safe sanctuary from crime-ridden neighbourhoods.

“We are safe here,” said resident Kobus Jonck. “We do not worry about locking our cars at night, even the (house) doors… they are never locked.”

It’s easy to see why some may find the setting idyllic.

The town is built on the 8 000 hectares of a private farm, along the Orange River, in the beautifully desolate Northern Cape province.

There are no high-rise buildings or factories. Children run barefoot between small prefabricated homes.

According to the town’s authorities, its modest population of 1 000 is growing at nine percent a year.

Carel Boshoff (pictured) was the founder of Orania. He was also the son-in-law of late prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid. File photo: AFP

AFP

Jonck, a sheep farmer, settled in Orania in 2012 with his family only after going through an interview process with the town committee.

“When new people come to Orania, they are interviewed by a group of people to make sure that they have sufficient understanding of what the town is about,” said Carel Boshoff IV, the son of the late founder of the town, Carel Boshoff III.

Its leaders have dreams of turning it into an independent state for the Afrikaner minority, who today number three million.

In line with the town’s motto of “working for freedom”, residents are encouraged to be self sufficient, and the majority are farmers or traders.

They all work to grow and develop the town and labour is provided by the townspeople. As little as possible comes from the outside.

Like any other town, Orania is run by a council which is elected on an annual basis, according to Mayor Harry Theron.

It boasts shops, schools and its own flag and currency, the ora, which is pegged to the rand.

But unlike other towns, blacks are not welcome.

At the entrance of the town, a statue of Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, stands proudly among other prominent icons of the old South Africa.

The town’s flag – with blue, white and orange colours similar to the old apartheid-era flag – is visible everywhere across this microstate-in-the-making.

Perhaps ironically, Orania’s existence is protected under article 235 of the Constitution which ensures right to self-determination.

The legislation was adopted after the end of apartheid, following years of fighting against the system of separate homelands for native blacks.

“This republic is growing,” proclaimed Quintin Diederichs, a former rugby player who became a resident three years ago.

“We have 50 ompanies that we have created with our own hands,” said Diederichs.

But beneath the seemingly safe and secure environment lurks paranoia, some residents believe that one day blacks might turn against them.

A waiter at a bar said that he fears “black South Africans will kill all white people” when peace icon Nelson Mandela dies.

The 94-year-old who was jailed by the apartheid regime became South Africa’s first black president in 1994.

Upon his release from prison in 1990 he preached reconciliation and non-racialism.

Orania is probably not what the revered statesman envisaged for a new South Africa. – Sapa-AFP

North West –

Two people have been arrested following the killing of a rhino cow in the Kruger National Park, North West police said on Sunday.

“A rifle and two horns were also recovered,” police spokeswoman Colonel Ronel Otto said.

The two alleged poachers, originally from Mozambique, were caught in the park after the poaching near the Pafuri camp.

They would face charges of rhino poaching and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition in the Makhado Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The arrests brought the number of alleged poachers arrested in the park since January to 43.

On Tuesday the environmental affairs department said the number of rhino poached in the country thus far this year was 273. – Sapa

Pretoria – An eleven-year-old girl clung to her little brother at night to try to escape her stepfather who raped her six nights in a row – all because he wanted to get back at her mother who he believed was being unfaithful.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Johannesburg – Flights to and from OR Tambo Airport were possibly delayed by the controversial Jet Airways plane transporting Gupta wedding guests, as it performed what seemed to be a sightseeing flight over Pretoria before landing at Waterkloof Airforce base early last Tuesday morning.

This came to light in an interview with Athol Franz, owner and editor of African Pilot magazine, aired on eNews Channel Africa on Monday. 

In the interview Franz explained how having a flight plan is requirement for any commercial flight, but that air traffic controllers at OR Tambo International had no idea about the movements of, what has come to be known as, the Gupta flight.

“The air traffic controllers at OR Tambo had to take evasive action. Certain aircraft were held waiting on the ground and other aircraft that were in the air were diverted, because they had no idea what this plane was doing at that time,” Franz explained, citing an earlier conversation he’d had with an air traffic controller from OR Tambo. 

He added that although they had the plane on radar and were tracking it, they had no idea of where it was going. They assumed that it would land at OR Tambo and couldn’t release any planes till it had done so. 

According to Beeld, the flight approached Pretoria from the east, flying over Bronkhorstspruit, before turning north. After this it turned left and circled over the capital, in the vicinity of the Union Buildings.

For more http://www.news24.com