Tebogo Mokeri did everything short of chaining his 22-year-old son in the house to try and get him off the streets and off the drugs.

Johannesburg - Tebogo Mokeri did everything short of chaining his 22-year-old son in the house to try to get him off the streets and off the drugs.

He beat him up, got him arrested, gave him a job in his business to keep him busy and also got him into a technical school to keep him off the streets and learn a trade.

None of that worked. Not only is Mokeri’s son now deep into drugs but he is also a pusher who operates not far from his home - and he dropped out of school.

Mokeri has also lost his business - he went bankrupt because of the amount of money his son stole. He and his second wife are divorced, a break-up he attributes to the stress they suffered because of his son’s drug addiction.

For the past two years, Mokeri’s son has been living at his supplier’s place, peddling drugs.

His father sees him every day: dirty and high and selling drugs. It breaks Mokeri’s heart to see his son in such a bad way.

“It’s painful as his father to see that, but what can I say? He tells me that he is a grown-up and we can’t choose his life for him.

“I can’t even force him to stay at home. I tried everything for him but it does not help. He was even arrested for drug dealing but his dealer bailed him.

“I can’t shackle him in the house; I really don’t know what to do,” said the 48-year-old dad.

Mokeri, who is from Christiana in North West, has been working and staying in Claremont, Joburg, for many years. When he and his first wife divorced, he got custody of the children, who then stayed with their grandmother in North West.

When he got word that his teenage son back home was “being naughty”, he brought him back to Joburg to keep an eye on him.

When things got worse, Mokeri said, his son would steal everything from the family, including their pots, and sell them at a scrapyard.

He will never forget the day he realised his son was using tik. He found evidence of tik pipes.

It was then that he realised just how far gone his son was.

“I beat him up and he went to the police saying I had assaulted him and pointed a gun at him. They suggested that we see a social worker.

“When he realised that the police were not going to arrest me as he wanted, he broke all the windows at my flat,” Mokeri said.

The therapy with the social worker was unsuccessful and his son’s behaviour continued to spiral out of control.

Although his son has now chosen to live at the drug dealer’s house, he does come home once in a while.

When he does this, the family has to lock all their doors and watch the son when he is around - fearful of him stealing whatever he can lay his hands on.

“I’ve thought about taking him to rehab, but the truth is it has to start with the person themselves. He needs to want to stop,” he said.

Mokeri has lost all hope and does not know what to do to help his son.

He runs a soccer team for pensioners in the area and wants to do the same for youngsters.

“I want an entertainment area for children because the only thing we have here is a park; hence children entertain themselves with alcohol and drugs.

“I would also like to start counselling sessions because maybe the children are having problems at home and are scared to talk about it, and end up taking drugs,” he said.

botho.molosankwe@inl.co.za

The Star

A suspected house robber died in Plettenberg Bay during a confrontation with police over the weekend.

Plettenberg Bay - A suspected house robber died in Plettenberg Bay during a confrontation with police over the weekend.

Western Cape police spokeswoman Captain Bernadine Steyn said on Monday it was unclear whether police shot and killed him, or whether he committed suicide.

The man died from a gunshot wound to the head shortly after he robbed a 70-year-old woman's house on Saturday night. He also tried to rob an abandoned house next door.

“The circumstances surrounding the incident (are) still unclear and being investigated, including the possibility that the suspect fatally wounded himself,” Steyn said.

A man forced his way into the woman's house on Saturday and demanded she hand over her valuables.

“The suspect, who had a knife, demanded cash and a firearm from the victim, after which he ransacked the house. He also took the safe that was in one of the bedrooms out of the wall and forced it opened with an iron pole,” said Steyn.

He took a 7.65mm pistol from the safe, as well as household items including a laptop, a cellular phone, sunglasses, and clothes, and went to an empty house next door.

A security company and police were called and confronted the man at the empty house.

“The suspect allegedly fired shots at them (and they) returned fire,” said Steyn.

The man died on the scene. An inquest docket was opened. - Sapa

The State will approach the Supreme Court of Appeal to ask for a heavier sentence against former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown.

Cape Town - The State will approach the Supreme Court of Appeal to ask for a heavier sentence against former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Monday.

NPA Western Cape spokesman Eric Ntabazalila confirmed the provincial director of public prosecutions, Rodney de Kock, would petition the SCA.

The Western Cape High Court on Monday morning denied the State's application for leave to appeal Brown's sentence.

Judge Anton Veldhuizen listened to the State's arguments, confirmed the defence was opposing the legal action, and then turned down the application.

Brown paid a R150,000 fine last month, which was his sentence handed down by the high court for two fraud convictions. Had he not paid the fine, he would have been imprisoned for 36 months.

He was also sentenced to 18 months in jail on each count, suspended for four years, on condition he not be convicted of fraud again.

In April, he was convicted after admitting to misrepresentations he made regarding investments entrusted to him by Mantadia Asset Trust Company (Matco) and the Transport Education and Training Authority.

Matco, subsequently renamed the Living Hands Umbrella Trust, was responsible for paying money from the mineworkers' provident fund to the widows and orphans of workers killed in mine accidents.

His trial started in November 2012, and five State witnesses presented evidence.

He handed up four admissions documents and then decided to change his plea to guilty on the two main counts.

Jannie van Vuuren, for the State, argued during the leave to appeal application that the court misdirected itself and that he was sure another court would impose a jail sentence.

He described Brown's sentence as “startlingly and inappropriately lenient”.

He said the court erred in its finding that fraud without actual monetary loss did not fall within the minimum sentence provisions.

Had it fallen within these provisions, Brown would have faced a possible 15 years in jail.

Van Vuuren argued that the court had erred by basing the sentence on the narrow description of offences in Brown's admissions document, while “completely ignoring” the evidence already on record.

He said the court disregarded the evidence given by State witnesses about the fraud counts and sentence without giving any reason. It had erred in limiting the State's effort to cross-examine Brown during his testimony in mitigation of sentence, he said.

Van Vuuren said the court had no good reason to find that the State had mismanaged the case.

“The case was not mismanaged. Inasmuch as the court found to the contrary, the court's conclusion is coloured by the misdirections that reasonably fall to be corrected by another court,” he said. - Sapa

Human waste has been dumped on the steps of the Western Cape legislature, premier Helen Zille's office said.

Cape Town - Human waste was dumped on the steps of the Western Cape legislature on Monday, premier Helen Zille's office said.

The culprits were being sought, said her spokesman, Zak Mbhele.

“This afternoon's incident, in which the human waste contents of porta-loos were spilled on the steps of the legislature building, is absolutely disgusting,” he said.

“We are analysing camera footage to identify the culprits who, according to witnesses, are allegedly ANC Youth League members.”

Mbhele said criminal charges would be laid. He accused the ANCYL of using “ungovernable tactics” ahead of next year's national elections.

The league denied the accusations. Its regional secretary Mfuzo Zenzile said the party had held no meeting or protest which could have resulted in its members being at the legislature building.

“If there are individual members of the ANC who performed this, they did it as individuals and not as part of the ANC clique,” Zenzile said.

“If the DA wants to take them on, they can do so, but they should take them on as individuals and not as part of the ANC clique.”

Last month, the provincial high court granted the City of Cape Town an interdict against 89 former employees of toilet service company Sannicare, and seven people associated with the ANCYL.

Sannicare janitors, who were responsible for cleaning communal toilets, blocked a part of the N2 highway with burning tyres, and dumped faeces on the road. The group was dismissed.

ANCYL regional chairman Khaya Yozi denied its members had played any part in the toilet dispute.

“These are very extreme and unfounded allegations. It's just poor of the city, when they are caught with their pants down, to blame it on someone else,” he said in May.

“We are not involved in these threats or violence whatsoever.” - Sapa

A former Protea Coin credit controller appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court on charges of fraud and forgery.

Cape Town - A former Protea Coin credit controller appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Monday, on charges of fraud and forgery.

Egan Dale Harmse, 34, faces 57 counts of fraud and 58 of forgery. He was told to appear in court again on July 3.

At his first appearance on May 31, Harmse asked for free legal representation. At Monday's proceedings, Legal Aid SA attorney Hailey Lawrence said Harmse failed the means test and therefore did not qualify for legal aid.

According to the charge sheet, Harmse was credit controller for four years, until June 2008.

His duties were to manage clients' accounts, contact clients with outstanding accounts, send invoices and issue receipts.

Prosecutor Ezmeralda Johnson said Harmse was not authorised to personally collect money from clients, or offer them discounts.

She alleged that he collected cash payments from various clients - from September 2006, to June 2008 - and used R156 204 for his own purposes. According to the charge sheet, all invoices were generated and issued by the company's Pretoria head office. Harmse, however, allegedly unlawfully generated and issued invoices himself.

Clients who fell victim to the fraud were listed in the charge sheet as Fruit and Vegetable City, S Paleker Motors, Langverwacht Spar, Huda Service Station and Ben Vorster Motors. - Sapa

The DA has neglected Cape Town's poor communities in the storms and severe cold weather of the past few days, Cosatu said.

Cape Town - The DA has neglected Cape Town's poor communities in the storms and severe cold weather of the past few days, Cosatu said on Monday.

It accused city mayor Patricia de Lille and premier Helen Zille of ignoring the devastation.

“The Congress of SA Trade Unions extends its condolences to all the people who are facing incredible hardships as a result of the Democratic Alliance refusing to prioritise the needs of the poor,” it said.

It accused the DA, which runs the province, of failing to plan ahead.

“They know when bad weather is going to hit, but they only send relief the next day. Whatever happened to preventive action?” Cosatu asked.

Cape Town's disaster risk management centre said it had helped thousands of people affected by the floods since the rain started on Saturday.

In collaboration with the non-governmental organisations HDI Support, the Mustadafin Foundation and the SA Red Cross Society, the centre had given 26 490 people hot meals and handed out 28 518 blankets in the worst affected areas since Saturday.

Spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said those displaced by the floods were being accommodated at community halls until other arrangements could be made.

Emergency workers continued to keep watch on informal settlements and the city's electricity, water and sanitation departments would try to restore services.

“With further rains expected over the next few days, the city will continue with its efforts to minimise the discomfort and inconvenience experienced by its citizens,” said Solomons-Johannes. - Sapa

Three men were arrested for illegal activities in Nyanga after a police search revealed numerous supicious items.

Cape Town - Three men were arrested for illegal activities in Nyanga on Monday, Western Cape police said.

The men, aged 29, 39 and 42, were arrested after police searched their house, said Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana.

“Police recovered an unlicensed firearm and ammunition hidden under the blankets,” he said.

Several identity documents, bank cards and SA Social Security Agency cards were also confiscated.

Kinana said a grocery bin filled with money was also found at the house. - Sapa

Johannes Kana has confessed to raping, kicking and punching 17-year-old Anene Booysen but not to murdering her.

Bredasdorp - Johannes Kana has confessed to raping, kicking and punching 17-year-old Anene Booysen but not to murdering her, insisting she was alive when he left her.

The National Prosecuting Authority has rejected Kana’s guilty plea on the rape charge because it has information indicating he has not told the full story of what happened at the crime scene.

The State also believes that Kana murdered Booysen by disembowelling her.

Kana, 21, pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder when he appeared in the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The court, while not as full as it had been previously, was packed with family, friends and residents.

Kana, who had a slight build, wore a black and grey hooded sweatshirt with tan pants. He stood in the dock, tattooed arms crossed behind his back, while he listened to the proceedings.

Kana turned around a number of times to gesture and whisper to those in the rows behind him.

Kana had at first pleaded not guilty to both charges. It then emerged he had misunderstood and changed his plea.

Pieter du Toit, for the defence, read Kana’s version of events.

Kana said he was out drinking with friends on February 1 before going in the early hours of February 2 to a Bredasdorp bar.

He saw Booysen there.

“I was with my friends. She came to sit with me.”

Kana and Booysen walked from the bar towards her home and stopped to vry (kiss) each other.

She then pushed him away, but he pulled down her pants. She fell to the ground and her head. He then raped her. He also punched and kicked her.

“After I raped her, I ran away to my house.”

Kana said no one else had been involved in the incident.

The State recently dropped charges against Jonathan Davids, 22, after DNA forensic tests on semen and blood ruled him out as a suspect.

“Anene was alive when I left her and had no open wounds.”

Both had been under the influence of alcohol.

“I always knew that my actions were wrong, and that I could be punished by the State. Although I was under the influence of alcohol, I still knew what I was doing, and I acted deliberately.”

Kana apologised for what he had done.

Prosecutor Maria Marshall had read out details of the two charges which Kana faced.

The first was that Kana raped Booysen “with his penis, or other object unknown to the State, penetrated her vagina or anus without her permission”.

The murder charge was that Booysen died because of injuries sustained when he “pushed his hand, and or object unknown to the State, into her vagina or anus to pull her intestines out”.

Magistrate Graham Cupido postponed the case to July 9.

He said the director of public prosecution in the Western Cape, Rodney de Kock, would decide where the case would be held – in the regional or high court.

Booysen was found at a construction site in the Overberg town on February 2.

She was later taken to Tygerberg Hospital where she died after identifying one of her attackers as Zwai, which led to Davids’s arrest.

At the time of the attack it was said that Booysen’s abdomen had been slit and her fingers and legs broken.

It had since emerged that Booysen had not suffered any external injuries aside from those mentioned in the State’s charge sheet.

Kana’s family would not speak to the Cape Times on Monday. Booysen family members did not want to comment.

Nico September, Davids’s uncle, said his nephew was “coping” after his release.

“He’s taking it day by day. Still shaking. Some people still look at him.”

michelle.jones@inl.co.za

Cape Times

ANCYL members who emptied porta-loos of raw sewage outside Helen Zille's office said they were "ready to be arrested".

Cape Town - The ANC Youth League members behind Monday’s porta-loo spill outside Premier Helen Zille’s office said they were “ready to be arrested” the minute they opened the first canister of raw sewage.

ANC proportional councillor and youth league member Loyiso Nkohla and former ANC councillor and banned league member Andile Lili led a group of protesters to the provincial legislature, where they emptied five porta-loos full of raw sewage outside 7 Wale Street before lunchtime.

The main entrance to the legislature was closed for more than an hour as cleaning staff hosed away the waste.

Nkohla and Lili arrived with the portable toilets in the back of an Audi around noon.

They walked to the legislature’s main entrance and emptied the canisters of sewage in full view of the police, who were seated behind a counter in the legislature’s foyer. The group left minutes later.

Lili said the spill was a “warning” and that thousands of informal dwellers would descend on the legislature in seven days to do “the real dump”.

“We will return with thousands of these bucket toilets next week and empty them around the legislature building,” Lili said.

“Zille must also be ready to be beaten with these toilets when she visits the townships. We’ve had enough of these toilets. We were ready to be arrested and will die for this.”

Nkohla said porta-loos in Philippi’s Brown’s Farm area had not been cleaned for weeks.

“It is unacceptable,” he said. “We had to do this to send a clear message.”

The ANC Youth League denied responsibility.

Mfuzo Zenzile, secretary of the league’s Dullah Omar (metro) region, said Lili was no longer a league member and that Nkohla would “be dealt with if he acted in his capacity as a youth league member”.

“We condemn this act,” Zenzile said. “The law must take its course.”

Zenzile added that residents of Philippi, Nyanga and Khayelitsha were “growing tired” of the city’s “non-delivery”.

“While we don’t condone these actions, we understand where the people are coming from,” he said.

“It is winter, people are cold and the toilets are not being cleaned. Not the city or the provincial government is offering solutions.”

Axolile Notywala of the Social Justice Coalition said yesterday’s incident was a “clear sign of the people’s frustration”.

“The authorities need to get their act together and start delivering on their promises,” he said.

“At the weekend, the city’s toilet-cleaning contractors had still not cleaned the portable loos in Philippi. These are the things that are causing protests on the N2 and acts like the one outside the premier’s office.”

Zille’s spokesman, Zak Mbhele, said the incident was “absolutely disgusting”.

He said a team from the premier’s office was analysing camera footage to identify the culprits “who, according to witnesses, are allegedly ANC Youth League members”.

“Once we have identified them, we will be pressing criminal charges,” Mbhele said.

“On May 23, the City of Cape Town was granted an interim interdict against seven identified ANC Youth League-linked residents and their supporters who spilled the contents of porta-loos on the N2 highway recently.

“As part of this interdict, these toilets (as city property) are not allowed to be removed, therefore this was a criminal act.”

Mbhele said the latest incident was another blatant example of the “ungovernability tactics” that the ANC Youth League and its cadres were planning to use in the run-up to next year’s election.

clayton.barnes@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Stuck in Sutherland, in the snow, in a blackout. That's the fate of the residents of SA's coldest town - and about 90 bikers.

Northern Cape - Stuck in Sutherland, in the snow, in a blackout.

That is the fate of the residents in the coldest town in South Africa – and about 90 bikers who went there for their annual joyride.

Heavy snow has cut off this Northern Cape town from the outside world since Saturday night.

“The Verlatenkloof Pass from Matjiesfontein is closed and the gravel road to Ceres you can’t go on. The electricity went off on Sunday and Eskom can’t get in to fix the electricity so we’ve got no power.

“There was no school this morning, and the snow is still falling. No one can get in and no one can get out. Luckily we’ve got a coal stove to keep us warm,” said local resident Mariana Bernado.

Between 80 and 90 bikers from the Scattered Links bike club are also stranded in the town. Snow began falling on Saturday at 5pm and has continued on and off ever since.

Club president Gerhard “Wurm” van den Bergh of Durbanville said on Monday they always went to Sutherland on the first Saturday in June. They travelled there in pelting rain on Saturday, checked into the hotel and guest houses and relaxed. Then the snow began.

“You should see it – it’s like Alaska. The snow is about 2m deep in places and the ice is about 10 to 15cm thick. The ice is the real problem. It’s under the snow and you can’t drive on it.

“Even 4x4 vehicles can’t get through and the police Casspir even got stuck. A Pep Store truck overturned on the road and the police tried to get there but the Casspir got stuck. The only way out or in is by chopper,” Van den Bergh said.

On Monday, the temperature was 2.2ºC and the minimum temperature was -0.3ºC on Sunday night.

“One of our 4x4 back-up vehicles got stuck. It couldn’t even turn around, it had to be pulled out. There is ice under the snow and the wheels just spin. And there’s no electricity in the town. But the hotel is being really good to us and giving us cut rates and feeding us spaghetti and soup. At least we’re not in tents.”

The locals who have coal and wood are keeping warm with fires, and using candles for lighting.

Denise du Plessis of Sutherland Hotel was not deterred by the big “snow-in”. “We’re working with candles and gas and we’re managing.”

Cape Times

The student who was arrested for allegedly flipped the bird at President Zuma’s motorcade, may reach an out-of-court settlement.

Cape Town - UCT student Chumani Maxwele, who sued the Minister of Police for just over R1.4 million for wrongful arrest, has entered into discussions with lawyers for the police ministry about a possible out-of-court settlement.

Maxwele took the matter to court claiming he was arrested and abused by the police for allegedly showing his middle finger to President Jacob Zuma’s motorcade while jogging on the M3, near UCT, in February 2010.

In his court action, Maxwele said he was bundled into a police VIP protection vehicle, hooded and had his hands tied behind his back.

He said he was kept in custody for 24 hours and interrogated by intelligence agents. He claimed he was forced under duress to write a letter of apology to Zuma.

Maxwele wanted R800 000 for damage to his reputation for statements made by a police ministry spokesman, R200 000 for defamation after the police questioned the woman supervising his sociology research at UCT, R200 000 for the “unlawful” search of his home, R200 000 for wrongful arrest and insult to his dignity, and R50 000 for assault after the police bound his hands with cable-ties and put a bag over his head.

The police ministry admits a “rifle bag” was placed over his head and that his hands were cable-tied.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Four months after being released from Pollsmoor Prison, Marthinus van der Walt was arrested for murdering Prof Louis Heyns.

Cape Town - Four months and four days after being released from Pollsmoor Prison, Marthinus van der Walt was arrested for murdering Stellenbosch academic Professor Louis Heyns.

Van der Walt, 33, his brother Sarel, 42, and Malmesbury businessman Juan Liedeman, 37, on Monday made their first appearance in the Somerset West Magistrate’s Court in connection with the killing.

It emerged the brothers would be charged with murder and robbery, while Liedeman faced a robbery charge.

In a phone interview, regional Correctional Services commissioner Delekile Klaas said Marthinus van der Walt had been released from prison after serving a five-year sentence for a car theft case.

“That’s when his term ended,” he said.

Klaas said that while serving his five-year term Van der Walt had applied for parole, but this was turned down as he did not have a fixed address.

He said Van der Walt had previous convictions.

On Monday, before the Van der Walt brothers and Liedeman appeared in the dock, patients and medics who had worked with Heyns, a paediatrician and Stellenbosch University lecturer from Welgelegen, silently lined up outside the court building holding white candles.

The group of about 60 then went to the spot where Heyns’s body was found - a shallow grave in Strand - and lit candles, which they placed, along with flowers, around the spot.

Afterwards, they walked to the nearby beach and gathered in a circle.

Heyns’s body was found on Thursday after he went missing on May 22.

The charge sheet in court on Monday shed some light on what happened to Heyns after he left his brother’s home in Somerset West at 8.30pm.

It said that on May 22, near De Beers Avenue at Somerset Mall, Heyns had been kicked and hit with closed fists.

The charge sheet said that in the same vicinity he had been robbed of his Peugeot vehicle, a gold ring, a cellphone, a pair of takkies, an identity card and a Cape Consumers Card.

During Monday’s court proceedings, legal aid attorney Ilza le Minnie, representing the Van der Walt brothers, said Marthinus van der Walt had been released from Pollsmoor on January 26.

Since his incarceration for the Heyns case, she said, Van Der Walt told her that he and his brother had been threatened and she had tried to see if they could be detained somewhere other than Pollsmoor.

Le Minnie did not elaborate on Marthinus van der Walt’s release from the prison in January.

Earlier during proceedings, State prosecutor Diedre Hindley asked that the case be postponed for a week as the matter had been referred to the director of public prosecutions for written confirmation.

However, William Booth, representing Liedeman, said this written confirmation was to indicate the schedule of offences faced by the accused.

Booth asked what charge his client faced and Hindley responded that it was robbery.

Booth found this unlikely.

He said Liedeman was arrested last Wednesday and since then he had not seen a warrant for his client’s arrest.

But Booth had seen a warrant, dated after Liedeman’s arrest, to search Liedeman’s business premises in Malmesbury.

Booth said this indicated his client likely faced a possession of stolen goods charge - which was either unscheduled or a Schedule One offence.

“This case, with regards to the murder, doesn’t link my client,” he said.

Booth said Liedeman was a married businessman who had lived in Malmesbury all his life and had no pending cases nor warrants of arrest out for him.

“My client, Your Worship, is not in any way linked to the robbery of this vehicle,” he said.

The case was postponed to Monday.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A crucial new site has emerged in the murder mystery around Stellenbosch University Professor Louis Heyns.

Cape Town - A crucial new site has emerged in the murder mystery around Stellenbosch University Professor Louis Heyns: a busy road next to the massive shopping centre, Somerset Mall.

The 59-year-old’s body was found last Thursday morning in a shallow grave on the primary dunes lining Strand beachfront - covered by freshly dug sand.

Since then, it has remained unclear what Heyns may have been doing at the beach late last Wednesday night and has led to widespread speculation.

On Monday, in the Somerset West Magistrate’s Court, three men appeared in connection with his murder.

Marthinus van der Walt, 33, and his elder brother Sarel, 42, were charged with Heyns’s murder. And Juan Liedeman, 37, was charged with “robbery with aggravating circumstances”. The trio entered the dock shortly after 10.30am.

The younger brother was dressed in a dirty grey hooded tracksuit top, his older brother in a checkered jacket and the powerfully-built Liedeman in a black leather jacket.

In court, prosecutor Deidre Hindley applied for a seven-day remand for the trio - reporting to magistrate NB Magutywa that they had asked the provincial Director of Public Prosecutions to rule on what schedule of crimes the trio should formally face.

Different crimes are categorised by “schedule” in the Criminal Procedure Act and can dictate key determinants in bail hearings, such as whether the prosecution or defence should carry the onus of proving exceptional circumstances in favour of, or against, the granting of bail.

In court, the brothers were represented by a legal aid attorney, Ilza le Minnie, who raised no objection to the request for the remand and asked only that the pair not be taken to Polsmoor Prison - as they had received death threats from inmates there.

But the legal representative hired by Liedeman’s family, William Booth, objected strenuously to the request for the seven-day remand.

He argued that his client was correctly not being charged with murder, with the brothers, as his client had “nothing to do with the murder”.

Booth argued that his client had only been arrested because Heyns’s car had been found at his client’s business, in Malmesbury.

Booth argued that his client was “not a co-perpetrator” in Heyns’s death, that he did not act with “common purpose” and that he had not been at the crime scene.

Furthermore, his client owned more than one business in Malmesbury, where he had lived all his life, was married with children and was not a flight risk.

Booth said the application for the seven-day remand should not take priority over Liedeman’s “right to bail” and being treated as “innocent until proven guilty”. But Magutywa approved the prosecution’s request.

Booth then asked that Liedeman be allowed to apply for bail as soon as Tuesday. But the magistrate turned this down too and ordered the trio to be remanded until June 10 after the full seven days.

Magutywa also said he had no jurisdiction over where the Van der Walt brothers should be kept behind bars, and so all three were shunted off to Pollsmoor late on Monday afternoon.

In the trio’s charge sheets in court, two crucial pieces of evidence were discovered.

First, that Heyns had at some point been in De Beers Avenue, next to Somerset Mall. This road runs to the south of the mall, and leads to the R44, near the turn-off to Strand.

But, crucially, it is about 2km from the site where Heyns’s body was found.

Second, the charge sheet gives insight into how Heyns died - that he was choked, kicked with “shoed feet” and hit with “balled fists”.

The actual death site remains unproven, but more light on the matter is expected at bail proceedings on Monday.

Cape Argus

A Wynberg Boys' rugby team walked off the field during a match against Paarl Gimnasium after alleged racial abuse.

Cape Town - A Wynberg Boys’ rugby team walked off the field during a match against Paarl Gimnasium over the weekend after some of them were alleged to have been racially abused.

The school’s under-16 team were – according to sources at the game – subjected to the k-word, and at some point a Paarl Gim boy allegedly told a boy from Wynberg: “I will slap the coloured off your face.”

When the alleged slurs continued in the second half, the Wynberg Boys’ team decided to walk off the field. At the time, Paarl Gim were leading 33-0.

Wynberg Boys’ High School principal Keith Richardson confirmed that the side had walked off. He said he had heard various stories from the team, and was pursuing the matter.

“I spoke to the Paarl Gim headmaster and he hadn’t heard of the incident… I think there is more going around on social networks,” he said.

Richardson said they were also trying to get in contact with the referee, who is said to have heard the racial slurs and is alleged to have done nothing to stop them.

“We are trying to research the exact facts.”

Paarl Gim headmaster Eddie Bateman could not be reached for comment on Monday, nor could the head of rugby at Paarl Gim, Deon Gerber.

Western Province Rugby Union’s manager of schools rugby, Theo Kleinhans, said he had not yet received a complaint or a report on the incident.

“The policy of the Western Province Rugby Union is that they (schools) have to discuss the matter first and then it will be decided what happens to the player or players involved.”

Kleinhans said players could incur anything from a one-match ban to being banned for the season.

The incident sparked outrage on social networks, with many applauding Wynberg Boys for standing up against racism.

@JustSportZA tweeted: “So one of Wynberg’s U16 rugby sides marched off the field this morning after Paarl Gim players racially abused a black player. Disgraceful.”

On Facebook, Haroun Fortuin said: “Now only if some of our so-called leaders can follow these youngsters’ example.”

Another said: “Wynberg Boys’ High I salute you, I hate racism as I’m faced with it every day at my place of work.”

On Twitter, @Ladysans said: “Don’t have the full details, but if true, big up to the Wynberg rugby boys who walked off the field after their teammate was racially abused.”

yolisa.tswanya@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Six people have died and more than 30 000 others need aid after the extreme winter storms in the Western Cape.

Cape Town - As cold, wet conditions are expected to continue in the city on Tuesday, officials have confirmed six deaths since the weekend, as the weather continues to take its toll on the Western Cape.

The provincial government’s Disaster Risk Reduction team confirmed that one person, a homeless woman who has not yet been identified, died from hypothermia in Robertson.

This follows the death of Elizabeth Barry, a Wynberg resident in her early seventies, who was found on a pavement in Wynberg in cold conditions on Sunday morning.

Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa also confirmed three deadly road accidents since Friday. Three people died in accidents related to wet road conditions in De Doorns, Prince Alfred Hamlet and Cape Town.

“Despite heavy downpours, hail and gale-force winds we still recorded motorists at speeds of up to 175km/h in a 100km zone. This is not only reckless and irresponsible, it is criminal, and control of a vehicle at this speed in the current wet road conditions can be lost in an instant resulting in the loss of innocent lives.”

In the Winelands Municipality, a road worker died when his team were trapped in a rockfall on the Franschhoek Pass.

“A team of three went up the pass to clear the road of rocks on Sunday evening. Upon arriving on the scene there was a second, more devastating rock slide,” said Tasso Steyn, Stellenbosch’s deputy fire chief.

“One member of the crew sustained serious injuries to his head, back and leg. He died before rescue workers could reach him,” Steyn said.

He said rescue workers responded to the team in distress, in spite of the danger of further rockfalls.

Africa said the pass remained closed while the risks of further rockfalls were assessed.

The road between Ceres and Touws River was also closed due to heavy snowfall.

Rowena Kellies, spokeswoman for the municipality, identified the dead man as 38-year-old Msindisi Duka.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. Mr Duka will be greatly missed,” she said.

The two surviving members of the team were taken to the MediClinic in Paarl.

Tshipi Mtangayi, 59, broke both his hips, his shoulder and sustained head injuries. He remains in hospital in a stable condition.

Paul Nyanyatsi, 49, sustained an ankle injury and was discharged.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesman for the city’s disaster management, said that around 9 000 households (the majority of which are shacks in informal settlements) had been waterlogged following heavy rain over the weekend and on Monday.

Nearly 30 000 people were in need of aid. Solomons-Johannes said that most had been provided with emergency clothes, blankets and food. The 2 266 people displaced by storms and flooding in Bishop Lavis, Hout Bay, and parts of Gugulethu, Strand and Khayelitsha were being accommodated at community halls until alternative arrangements could be made, he said.

“Since June 1, the city’s disaster risk management centre, in collaboration with HDI, Mustadafin and the Red Cross, has provided 26 490 affected citizens with hot meals, and handed out a total of 28 518 blankets in the areas that have been worst affected by the weekend’s storms,” said Solomons-Johannes.

In Dunoon, the RDP house of Elizabeth Mntungwa has been waterlogged since the weekend.

Mntungwa, who is a “safety mother” to nine children currently in the care of social workers, said the wet conditions had seen her little ones coming down with colds and flu.

* For all emergency situations, call 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.

Cape Argus

The DA has dismissed allegations that it helped to orchestrate an attack on ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman.

Cape Town - The DA has dismissed as “stupid” allegations by ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman that it helped to orchestrate an attack on him following a meeting in Oudtshoorn in April.

On Monday, Fransman questioned whether the attack on him and other provincial executive members was part of the DA’s “early strategy” to take control of the Klein Karoo town.

This comes after the DA, supported by five rebel ANC councillors, ousted ANC mayor Gordon April in a motion of no confidence during a council meeting last Friday.

Fransman likened the takeover to a coup d’état.

He said the motion of no confidence in Speaker John Stoffels, April and his deputy Vlancio Donson was “invalid” and had to be signed by the majority of councillors at least six days before the council meeting last week.

The DA dismissed the claims, saying its action was above board and that the motion was accepted with a 17-0 vote.

April was back in his office on Monday and appointed a new mayoral committee, while the DA spent the evening consulting its lawyers to obtain an urgent interdict preventing the ANC from continuing to run the municipality.

“The question that the DA, and (the DA’s deputy provincial leader) Theuns Botha in particular, must answer, is: was the attack that evening also part of their plan for takeover?” Fransman said.

“We know that some of our councillors were involved. What we didn’t know was if the DA and Botha had a hand in it and what that role was.

“That question remains unanswered. It also remains to be clarified whether he already, in the week of that attack, had meetings with the ANC councillors.”

Fransman, who is also Deputy Minister of International Relations, had to be rescued by his bodyguard from an attack by an angry mob outside a municipal building in Oudtshoorn in April. Fransman was in the town to give the mayor, April, his marching orders.

April faces charges of theft, intimidation and the illegal use of a municipal vehicle.

On Friday, DA councillors Chris MacPherson, Ben van Wyk and Felicity Magxaka were appointed as Speaker, mayor and deputy mayor respectively.

Five of the ANC councillors, and the one Cope councillor, voted with the DA.

After the council meeting, the five ANC councillors who supported the motion to have April removed resigned and joined the DA.

Botha said the councillors only recently approached the DA with their intent. “I don’t even want to respond to Fransman’s aspersions that the DA was behind the attack on him. It’s just stupid of him to say that,” Botha said.

“Fransman is the father of his own troubles. The DA has taken control of Oudtshoorn and we will conduct a full audit on all appointments.

“We believe appointments of ANC cadres were made without the correct processes being followed.”

During the council meeting last week, the DA suspended several ANC municipal officials pending disciplinary hearings.

April said Stoffels would approach the Western Cape High Court today to seek relief and set aside the decisions of Friday’s council meeting.

clayton.barnes@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Gangsters shot and killed a well-known computer technician and wounded a youth who had apparently recognised the killers.

Cape Town - Gangsters shot and killed a well-known computer technician in Rocklands last night and wounded a youth who had apparently recognised the killers.

Neighbours of a man identified only as Lorenzo “Charra”, but who’s surname is understood to be Payne, said two men arrived at their victim’s Pluto Road home and called him out to talk to him at about 7pm.

After a conversation, he turned and walked back in, only to be called out again.

Then the two men drew firearms. The man called Charra turned and ran back to his house but died at the front door. Police say he had been shot in the chest. Neighbours thought he had been shot in the back as he fled to his house.

An unnamed 17-year-old youth who saw the shooting and recognised the gunmen ran from the scene, followed by the gunmen. They fired at him, hitting him in the left side and left arm.

Neighbours, who said the gunmen appeared to be gangsters, said the murdered man was well known in the area for repairing people’s home computers. The shooting took place not far from where a number of Pakistanis were shot and killed in a bakery about two months ago. The murdered man was at the scene of those killings.

Police liaison officer Captain FC van Wyk said no arrests had been made. A murder and attempted murder case was opened for investigation.

Contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 with information.

Cape Argus

Human waste was thrown at a bus on which Western Cape premier Helen Zille was travelling to a green event.

Cape Town - A group of people in Khayelitsha threw human waste at a bus on which Western Cape premier Helen Zille and others had travelled to a green economy event on Tuesday, her spokesman said.

During the Western Cape government event for the “110 percent green” campaign, some ANC Youth League members started protesting outside, said spokesman Zak Mbhele.

He said they threw faeces at the bus and some cars outside the venue.

“Police that were stationed around the venue fired tear gas to disperse the mob.”

Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said two men, aged 23 and 26, were arrested for public violence and would appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Regional ANCYL chairman Khaya Yozi said he was not aware of the involvement of any of its members.

“We approve and give notice ahead (of) any programmes. When we are embarking on a programme, we call media and all media houses and let them know about a protest or march. We did not organise this,” he said.

On Monday, two men dumped human waste on the steps of the Western Cape legislature in a protest about portable toilets.

ANC councillor and youth league member Loyiso Nkohla, and former ANC councillor and banned league member Andile Lili told The Cape Argus it was a “warning” of things to come.

“We will return with thousands of these bucket toilets next week and empty them around the legislature building,” Lili was quoted as saying.

“We were ready to be arrested and will die for this.”

Mbhele said at the time that criminal charges would be laid. He accused the ANCYL of using “ungovernable tactics” ahead of next year's national elections.

The ANCYL denied the accusations on Monday. Its regional secretary Mfuzo Zenzile said the party had held no meeting or protest which could have resulted in its members being at the legislature building.

“If there are individual members of the ANC who performed this, they did it as individuals and not as part of the ANC clique,” Zenzile said.

“If the DA wants to take them on, they can do so, but they should take them on as individuals and not as part of the ANC clique.”

ANCYL national spokesman Bandile Masuku condemned the Western Cape legislature incident.

“This protest action is disgusting and despicable to say the least. We believe the group could have opted for a decent, yet effective form of protest action,” he said on Tuesday.

“The ANCYL commits itself to bolster the ANC's drive to win back the Western Cape from 1/8the 3/8 DA. We will do this using our tried, tested, decent, and effective methods to raise the grievances of the poor without opting to vandalism.”

He said the matter was being investigated and it was confirming the identities of those responsible.

Last month, the Cape High Court granted the City of Cape Town an interdict against 89 former employees of toilet service company Sannicare, and seven people associated with the ANCYL.

Sannicare janitors, who were responsible for cleaning communal toilets, blocked a part of the N2 highway with burning tyres, and dumped faeces on the road. They were protesting against being dismissed. - Sapa

The case against a Durbanville man accused of raping a four-month-old baby has been postponed due to illness.

Cape Town - A man accused of raping a four-month-old baby appeared in the Parow Regional Court on Tuesday.

The 54-year-old man's trial was postponed until August 29 because the magistrate was ill.

The State alleged that the baby's mother left her in the man's care on the night of October 19, while she went out, the Cape Argus reported.

A short while later, the constant crying of a baby was heard by a traffic officer living in the same complex.

The officer reportedly went to investigate and knocked on the door for about 10 minutes. When the man eventually opened the door, he claimed to have been sleeping. The baby was inside, wrapped in a blanket.

According to the newspaper, the baby's mother later changed her daughter's nappy and found blood.

She was checked medically and was found to have been raped.

The man, from Durbanville, has not yet been asked to plead. - Sapa

The Prosecuting Authority needs an independent director to regain public trust after a number of controversial cases, experts say.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) must urgently appoint a “robustly independent director”, as a first step to win back public trust, constitutional experts have said.

They pointed out that the NPA had been involved in a number of controversially handled cases lately, which was eroding people’s confidence in the justice system.

Lawson Naidoo, executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, said that after the number of failed court cases and “suspicions of political meddling” in NPA affairs, “people are beginning to lose faith in the justice process. And this will be very damaging in the long term”.

Naidoo said public confidence in the impartiality of the NPA had been eroded in the wake of the J Arthur Brown, Andries Tatane and Glynnis Breytenbach rulings.

In the case of Ficksburg teacher and activist Tatane, fault appeared to lie close to the NPA, he said. In March seven policemen were acquitted in the Ficksburg Magistrate’s Court for Tatane’s murder. Tatane died after suffering injuries at a protest on April 13, 2011.

“We saw on television screens (Tatane) being shot in the street,” said Naidoo.

“Perceptions play a huge role here .... (it) casts a very negative light on the NPA.”

Naidoo said the cases of Breytenbach and Brown had also harmed the NPA’s reputation. Last month an NPA disciplinary hearing ruled in favour of suspended senior prosecutor Breytenbach, allowing her to return to work. Breytenbach, who was suspended in April last year, was cleared of all 15 charges against her.

On May 15 former Fidentia boss Brown was given a suspended prison sentence and fined R150 000 after being convicted on two counts of fraud.

IN 2007, Brown was charged with 192 counts of fraud, theft and money laundering.

Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos agreed that when a perception is created in the public mind that justice is not applied fairly, the public can “take the law into their own hands”. De Vos said just the perception of unfairness is enough to foster a culture of corruption, “because there is a perception that you won’t get prosecuted if you know the right people”.

But Naidoo said a decrease in confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of the justice system was in no way caused solely by NPA failures.

Daily “frustrations with ineffective policing” were also to blame. These frustrations could have deadly real world effects, like vigilante killings that had occurred in Khayelitsha. “In the end this all undermines the key principle of the rule of law,” he said.

But he added that negative perceptions of effectiveness of the organisation were not always its fault, citing the case of Jonathan Davids, one of two suspects arrested for the rape and murder of Anene Booysen.

Davids was released last month and cleared of all charged against him, despite being denied bail at an earlier hearing.

“If the evidence isn’t there, of course they (the NPA) musn’t prosecute,” said Naidoo. He added that in the case of Davids, it appeared that the police had overstated the strength of its case.

This left the NPA with the embarrassing task of throwing out the case, although they had not collected the original evidence, which was done by the police.

jan.cronje@inl.co.za

Cape Times