ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni has submitted representations on why his drink-driving charges should be withdrawn, the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court has heard.

The African National Congress member was not present today but his attorney, Sylvester Vogel, confirmed that written representations had been handed to the state.

Prosecutor Adiel Jansen said he received a “voluminous” bundle yesterday and that the director of public prosecutions needed six weeks to study it.

“The director of public prosecutions needs the opportunity to go through everything and come to a decision,” he told Magistrate Nasha Banwari.

Banwari postponed the matter until October 22.

Yengeni was not in court because he had been excused from flying from Johannesburg for the provisional postponement.

Banwari held over a warrant of arrest until his next appearance.

Yengeni has not yet pleaded to charges of drink-driving and reckless and negligent driving.

As an alternative to the drink-driving charge, Yengeni is alleged to have driven with a blood-alcohol level of 0.25%, five times the legal limit of 0.05.

Yengeni was arrested in August last year after City of Cape Town law enforcement officials saw him allegedly driving his Maserati erratically in the Cape Town CBD.

Police later released him on bail and warned him to make his first court appearance on March 4.

In a statement issued after his arrest, the city’s safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith said Yengeni had been one of 52 people arrested during a weekend operation.

Smith alleged that at least one of Yengeni’s car number plates was missing at the time.

He said a screening device indicated that Yengeni was substantially over the blood alcohol level.

For this reason, Yengeni was taken to the “shadow centre” for a blood sample to be taken and sent to a lab for analysis.

In 2007 Yengeni was arrested in Goodwood Cape Town on a charge of drink-driving but was found not guilty.

– Sapa

Johannesburg – South African land should be returned to its “rightful owners” because it was “violently stolen”, according to the white EFF secretary of the Tuks “student command team”.

“The land was violently stolen. [There should be] no compensation, it must be given back to the rightful owners,” Jaco Oelofse told Sapa in an interview.

“However, this doesn’t mean white people can’t share in the land, but before we talk about sharing land with white people, let’s focus on getting white people to share the land first.”

He said all white South Africans belonged in the country.

Oelofse has been a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters since October 2013 and a member of the University of Pretoria (Tuks) EFF “student command team” since February.

The 23-year-old philosophy and political science student said: “There is no other alternative than nationalisation.”

EFF leader Julius Malema has said in the past that all land – black- and white-owned – should be transferred to state ownership, without compensation and the state should administer and use land for sustainable development purposes.

The EFF has also in the past said land expropriation should happen without compensation for equal redistribution.

Oelofse said he chose the EFF because there was no other party he could vote for. The EFF offered a better alternative to governance and ensured a more empowered population, he said.

Oelofse said as a Marxist he identified with the EFF. He said since he started studying, his interest in “radical theory” grew.

“I associate with a radical party that has the interest of the downtrodden, poor and voiceless at heart,” said Oelofse.

“As a gay person I also believe the EFF is the right party, they have by far the most progressive policy on gender and sexuality. The EFF fights for the equal treatment of all, we can’t exclude any groups who occupy the margins of society.”

EFF ‘sees the root of the problem’

He said apart from the EFF, there was no other student society openly fighting white supremacy, patriarchy, sexism and homophobia with such “radical ambition”.

Oelofse said the EFF saw the root of the problem and not just the surface issue, which was why they were not always popular. They made people uncomfortable when they had to face the radical truth.

When he joined the EFF, Oelofse said his membership was accepted with “open arms” and although he “agrees to disagree” with some friends and family, his parents had supported his political stance.

The university held student council elections on Wednesday.

The EFF Tuks team secured the deputy president position in Wednesday’s elections. He said it was good for an organisation that had only been on campus since February.

However, the EFF was not completely satisfied with the results, because it could not accept AfriForum’s victory over the transformation portfolio.

SA ‘needs Malema’

He said the EFF was generally well received on campus and students approached them to join.

“We brought a spark of radical politics to Tuks.”

However, there were students who did not like to see them, but Oelofse shrugged off remarks made.

“[On Wednesday] a group of white male students called me a blood-traitor and “moffie”. Not very original, I know, but they tried.”

He had not yet met EFF leader Julius Malema but would like to.

“The media is effective in demonising a strong black voice. I think he is an excellent leader and is exactly the type of leader this country needs,” said Oelofse.

“He knows politics, he is a great orator and what I like about him is that he understands that the truth is radical, he speaks the truth.”

SAPA

– Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has insisted that his charges are here to win Friday evening’s encounter against hosts Sudan in a first meeting between the two passionate football nations.

The two clash in the opening Group encounter of the CAF Orange Africa Cup of Nations qualifier where only two nations go through to 2015 finals in Morocco.

Other teams in the group include Congo and reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions Nigeria.

After Friday’s game, Bafana Bafana leave Khartoum straight after the final whistle and are expected to arrive in South Africa on Saturday morning where they will catch a connecting flight to Cape Town two hours after arriving.

Mashaba said he was grateful for his employers, the South African Football Association (SAFA) for having organised a chartered plane as this would make their travelling schedule quite easier.

Bafana Bafana arrived in the Sudanese capital on Wednesday evening and their planned training on the same day was disrupted after the plane had taken a short detour to Dar es Salaam to refuel. The team will only train at the match venue at 20h00 on Thursday evening to get a feel of how the atmosphere will be like on Friday.

“Apart from the disruption on Wednesday where we expected to arrive in Khartoum around midday but ended up arriving at the hotel just before 18h00, the boys are in high spirits and are raring to give it a go on Friday evening,” said coach Shakes Mashaba.

“We would want to open this qualifying round of matches with three points. That is what we came here for – a win,” he said adding that a draw would also be a good result.

The straight-talking coach said he was excited about the attitude of his players.

“They are young and raring to give everything for the country. That is the attitude I like from players,” he said.

In keeping with his norm, Mashaba will name the starting line-up on Thursday evening after training.

“Players need to know whether they are in the starting line up or not so that they can condition themselves to the situation. It is the type of procedure I need to keep implementing,” he said.
The match between Bafana Bafana will kick off at 20h00 at El Merreikh Stadium.
-TDN
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Rustenburg- The promotion and importance of transformation within the tourism industry in the North West Province, will take center stage when the North West MEC for Tourism, Desbo Mohono engages tour operators on the profiling of tourism assets in the townships and villages on Friday in Rustenburg.

MEC Mohono will also reveal her Six Months Tourism Action Plan Schedule which will amongst other things narrate in details, systems put in place by the department to promote Township and Village tourism products. 

The launch will be held as follows:

Date: 05 September 2014

Time: 10 AM

Venue: Devine Boutique Hotel (No 12 Keurtjie Laan, Geelhout Park 6, Rustenburg) 
-TDN
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Johannesburg– Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa will lead Bafana Bafana in their crucial CAF Orange Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Sudan at El Merreikh Stadium on Friday evening.

The announcement was made by coach Shakes Mashaba on Friday afternoon ahead of the team’s final training session at the match venue.

“I think the young man has worked hard and deserved the chance. He is a leader and I like his overall attitude,” said Mashaba.

Friday’s match kicks off at 20h00 and Bafana Bafana will fly back soon after the game.

They will travel to Cape Town on Saturday morning to start preparing for the match against Nigeria scheduled for Wednesday, 10 September 2014 at Cape Town Stadium.-TDN
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Makwassie – The intervention by the North West Department for Local Government and Human Settlement at Maqussie Hills local municipality will see a stop to massive sewer spillages experienced in the area recently and over the years.

This follows the handing over of sewer machinery worth R1.2 million by MEC Collen Maine to deal decisively with sewer spillages in the area. They include a honey suck truck for over flowing drainage and a jet machine.

MEC Maine said the plea by community members did not fall on deaf ears. “The situation was a health hazard to residents and we believed no one must be subjected to such a situation. We were unable to turn a blind hence we came up with such an intervention. The honey suck truck and a bakkie with a jet machine trailer will stop unnecessary sewer spillages. However the municipality will continue to capacitate residents on the does and don’t of ensuring an unblocked sanitation channel to avoid spillages” remarked MEC Maine.

Few months ago sewer spillages, which were experienced in Lebaleng Extension 3, 4 and 5, were a thorn in the flesh as it left the area with a bad stench. This some residents took to the streets to complain about the situation.

Mayor of Maquassie Hills, Noni Kgabi, expressed joy when receiving both the truck and bakkie from the MEC Maine. “We have been in dire need of these equipments for a very long time. We will now deal with blockages as when they happen, reducing the turnaround time. Spillages in the area which have bothered residents will be a thing of the past” remarked the delightful Kgabi.

Apart from handing over of new equipments, the municipality through the assistance of the department engaged in a sewer pump station refurbishment to the value of over R700 000.

In process 70 young people in the area were employed. The other group engaged in a sewer awareness campaign, the other for disinfecting the area where spillages took place and cleaning of roads, the third group installed new equipments in the sewer pump station and the last group manufactured lockable manhole covers.

Ward 11 councillor Doctor Mohadi said with the machinery the municipality they will be on top of each and every sewer problem that arise. “As the councillor of this ward, now and then I was receiving sewer blockage problems and spillages in the ward. With the refurbishment of the sewer plant and the handing over of this machinery we couldn’t have asked for anything better. This is delivering on our pre-election mandate of putting to a stop the sewer problem in the area” said Mohadi.

The municipality will continue to educate residents on how to avoid sewer blockages which causes spillages.

During the awareness campaign residents were encouraged not to deposit foreign materials into sewer system like plastics, cart boxes, disposable nappies and tins. As a result the municipality will install lockable sewer manhole cover as residents also open the covers and deposits materials which ultimately blocks the sewer system. Only municipal workers will possess the key to the covers.
-TDN
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DA leader Helen Zille will be in Pretoria on Thursday for the deadline of the handing over of the so-called “spy tapes”.

Democratic Alliance supporters were expected to gather outside the High Court in Pretoria at noon, where Zille would announce the status of the handover.

She would be accompanied by DA Gauteng leader John Moodey, Gauteng north chairman Solly Msimanga and national spokespeople Marius Redelinghuys and Phumzile van Damme.

Last week the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that within five days the National Prosecuting Authority had to comply with a previous order, in an application brought by the DA, to release the tapes. President Jacob Zuma had opposed the move.

The recordings, internal memoranda, reports and minutes of meetings dealing with the contents of the recordings had to be provided. Conversations on the recordings were cited as a reason to drop fraud and corruption charges against Zuma, shortly before he was sworn in as president in 2009.

The tapes allegedly reveal collusion between the former heads of the Directorate of Special Operations, the now defunct Scorpions, Leonard McCarthy, and the NPA’s former head Bulelani Ngcuka, to manipulate the prosecutorial process before the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007.

Zuma was elected ANC president at the conference. At the time, acting NPA boss Mokotedi Mpshe said they showed there was a political conspiracy against Zuma and so the case could not continue.

-Sapa