Table View residents are calling the area a "war zone" as a task team tries to reduce the Seli 1 wreck.

Cape town - Table View residents are calling the area a “war zone” after what has been weeks filled with rattling explosions as task teams reduce the Seli 1 wreck.

For 23-year-old Henco Lotz it has all become too much.

The reserve police officer and local business owner has watched as shock waves from the explosions have slowly destroyed his home on Tritonia Road, which is about 2km from where the Seli 1 is grounded on Blaauwberg beach.

He pointed to cracks in his ceiling which continue to widen as the blasts ring out across his neighbourhood.

When work on the wreck began again this morning, the shock waves from one of the five blasts dislodged the light in his bedroom, sending it crashing down in a rain of plaster and screws.

“Every day I feel like I’m waking up in some war-torn country, I’m just fed up.”

Lotz said the entire house rattled when the blasting began, sending his two dogs, Vulcan and Jack, into a frenzy.

“I have to put them in a store room just to stop them from trying to run away. But even there, they are jumping out of the window.”

He added that he could feel warm air rushing around him after a big explosion.

“My fiancée can’t sleep when she gets back from her night shift. I can’t work during the day… And then after all that, I drive past the wreck and nothing has changed. It still looks the same… When will this end?”

Lotz’s mother Candice, who owns a house on the same property, said the blasts had caused cracks to spring up all over her house, including the walls.

Rina Swanepoel, an administrator at the Seascape guest house, said she could feel the shock waves rattle the building.

“Luckily, we have no damage. It’s just very noisy, even for us and we are far away from the blasts… It was meant to be finished ages ago, now it just seems like they are desperate and throwing whatever they can at (the wreck).”

A local window repair business said they had received several calls to come and replace windows that had been shattered by the shock waves.

The Seli 1 wreck has been an eyesore to many of Table View’s residents since its engine failed and the vessel ran aground on Blaauwberg beach in 2009. Carrying 30 000 tons of coal and 660 tons of heavy fuel oil, the wreck has been occasionally haemorrhaging fossil fuel for the past four years.

The City of Cape Town, the SA Navy and Environmental Affairs teamed up to remove the wreck earlier this year.

But on Thursday, a job that looked as though it was done had to be reassessed after the team discovered additional parts of the vessel that had to be reduced.

The city’s disaster management spokesman, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, said that the task team was still implementing precautions to protect the environment from any pollution.

The latest stage of blasting is set to last until Friday next week, but this might change if the operation carries on.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Accused mastermind behind a R2.07bn perlemoen poaching syndicate Frank Barends, will stay in custody for the remainder of his trial.

Cape Times - Frank Barends, who is accused of being the mastermind behind a R2.07 billion national perlemoen poaching syndicate, will stay in custody for the remainder of his trial, which could take as long as five years.

Judge Vincent Saldanha rejected Barends’s bail application in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday, saying he had already “squandered” previous opportunities.

“The State has noted that he played a management role in the enterprise.

“While the State can’t ensure incarceration would restrain him from acting as such, it would create a less conducive environment.

“The State has argued that he showed a blatant disregard for the justice system in his conduct after he was released on bail for the Hermanus matter on similar charges,” he said.

Barends, a fisherman from Gansbaai, and 25 co-accused collectively face 590 charges including illegal possession of abalone, racketeering and corruption in Gansbaai.

Among the accused are Barends’s wife Josephine and his bookkeeper, Sarah Dunsdon.

They are due back in court for a pre-trial hearing on July 26.

Barends is charged with controlling a syndicate in the Western Cape and being the main buyer of poached perlemoen from divers.

He has been incarcerated for 17 months.

His lawyer Peter

Mihalik said by the time the case was concluded, Barends would have been an awaiting-trial prisoner for seven years.

Judge Saldanha said Barends used the widespread poverty in the Gansbaai community as an excuse to justify running the illegal syndicate and defend his offences.

“The applicant (Barends) has acted perversely and used the poverty of the small fishing community as an excuse for the dealings of the illegal abalone transactions.

“It could never be the justification for the (threat to the) sustainability of protected marine life and environment,” Judge Saldanha said.

In his affidavit, Barends said he was not a flight risk as he had close ties to his family in the Western Cape.

He said he also previously handed in his passport, had no contact with witnesses and the community supported his release.

A Chinese citizen, Ran Wei, who allegedly ran and funded the syndicate, is yet to be arrested.

barbara.maregele@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Every day millions of litres of fresh mountain water rushes away unused into drains or sewers underneath Cape Town.

Cape Town - For eight years Caron von Zeil of Newlands has worked on Reclaim Camissa, a project that uncovered and documented the vast amount of fresh water that flows to waste underneath Cape Town.

Her work has been cutting edge: most of the springs and rivers that flow from Table Mountain have been paved over and forgotten, and every day millions of litres of fresh mountain water rushes away unused into drains or sewers.

Von Zeil’s archive research showed that historically there were 36 springs in the City Bowl. She has uncovered 25 springs and four underground rivers. The City of Cape Town has only 13 springs on their records. Parliament is sitting on two springs and a huge underground reservoir.

Von Zeil’s research began as a master’s degree at UCT and developed into Reclaim Camissa, a non-profit organisation that worked on ideas to harness this underground water, and on cultural projects that could be developed.

Since 2005 she has been trying to get the city council to endorse Reclaim Camissa. Today she is no closer to this goal - although several officials and councillors say her project is “great”.

“We don’t understand it. We’ve done all this work at no charge and we’ve shared it with the city, with officials from just about every department, with councillors, and they all say it’s great, but we get nowhere,” Von Zeil said.

Her work has excited several water scientists, planners and academics.

Reclaim Camissa’s first pilot project was called Field of Springs, which was to be based on vacant council land in Oranjezicht where several springs were located. It would harness the spring water and be an outdoor water museum with natural ponds where people could see the water being cleansed. It would have an outdoor laboratory, education centre, bird hide and a bottling system where offices that used large glass water coolers could tap into the spring water.

Reclaim Camissa won first prize in the 2010 Multiplicity competition for inclusion in the city council’s winning bid for the World Design Capital and it was recognised by the Cape Town Partnership as “One of the Big Five Ideas” for the city. Premier Helen Zille awarded the Field of Springs project her 110 percent Green Flag status, which confers prestige on projects by “green pioneers”.

But for all that acclaim, the project has gone nowhere because it lacks city council endorsement.

Now the city has given the Oranjezicht land Von Zeil asked to lease for Field of Springs to another organisation, which applied after her.

“They are growing vegetables on the land. Agriculture on top of freshwater springs. That is crazy and it is illegal in terms of the National Water Act and the National Environmental Management Act.”

Von Zeil has called on councillor Garreth Bloor to rescind the lease. However, she says, the city’s property management department has told her the land has not been leased, although a vegetable garden has been established on it, with access to 4 000 litres of free water a day.

Von Zeil brought the matter to the attention of the city in March last year, but says it has not been addressed. “If there is no lease, it is tantamount to a land invasion.”

David Dewar, emeritus professor and senior research scholar in the School of Architecture and Planning at UCT, is one of the trustees of Reclaim Camissa, and has made several visits to the Civic Centre with Von Zeil to get the city council’s endorsement.

“We got pushed from one department to another. We’ve given presentations to almost every city department and they say ‘fantastic, but it’s not my department’,” Dewar said.

“We had a meeting with mayor Patricia de Lille, who made Ossie Asmal the point man to make things easier, but we’ve never heard from him. We had a meeting with councillor Garreth Bloor months ago where he promised to treat it as a matter of urgency, but nothing happened.”

The Reclaim Camissa trustees have since heard the city is planning to apply to the Department of Water Affairs for a water licence for the spring water.

“They’re seeking to make this their own,” Dewar said.

The council was asked for comment on Wednesday, but had not replied by deadline on Thursday.

Cape Times

MEC Theuns Botha was forced to apologise for using the word bobbejaan (baboon) during a debate in the Western Cape legislature.

Cape Town - Health MEC Theuns Botha was forced to apologise for using the word bobbejaan (baboon) during a debate in the Western Cape legislature.

Botha, deputy DA leader in the province, shouted “’n bobbejaan sê hoe” (a baboon says how) to ANC MPL Ntombizodwa Magwaza in a debate last month. The debate was on employment equity.

Speaker Richard Majola said he investigated the matter after ANC MPL Mcebisi Skwatsha raised a point of order about Botha’s utterances.

He said he had called Botha to a meeting and asked him to explain what he said. Botha told Majola his words were “’n bobbejaan maak hô” (a baboon makes hoh) and that he didn’t call Magwaza a baboon.

“Botha went on to say that he would never do so because he loved the honourable (Magwaza) too much,” Majola told the legislature.

Majola said that after close inspection of Hansard records, it was clear Botha had said “’n bobbejaan sê hoe”. Botha’s utterances were preceded by requests from him to Magwaza that she had to stop side commentary during the debate.

He accepted Botha’s explanation. “But given the racist undertone of the word bobbejaan and the fact that… words could be construed as referring to a member of the house, I (ask) honourable Botha to withdraw the remarks and apologise,” he said.

Botha apologised and withdrew his statement.

cobus.coetzee@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Flash-floods swamped morning commuter traffic leading to long delays on a number of major routes across Greater Cape Town.

Cape Town - Flash-floods swamped morning commuter traffic on Friday leading to long delays on a number of major routes across Greater Cape Town.

Rushing rainwater reduced traffic on Vanguard Drive to a single lane, backing up vehicles heading into the city from Mitchell’s Plain.

The Dean Street intersection with Main Road in Newlands was ankle-deep in water that flowed towards the Liesbeeck River and the N1 was clogged with cars delayed by up to an hour between Belville and the CBD.

City disaster management teams were dispatched to divert flooding on the N1 at the M5 Koeberg Interchange which closed a section of the outbound carriageway.

One commuter tweeted that her car had been spun 90 degrees by the water as she tried to navigate the flood.

Cape Town Traffic’s Maxine Greeff said peak-hour traffic was far heavier than usual - in all likelihood because commuters often chose their own transport over public transport in bad weather.

Nine accidents had been reported in the peak period, but none more serious than fender benders.

Meanwhile, The City of Cape Town Disaster Management spokesman Wilfred Johannes said there had been no reports yet of residential area flooding, “but as the rain persists over the weekend, the water table will be expected to rise.

“We will have inspectors out throughout the weekend, to monitor any flooding.”

The City of Cape Town’s Roads and Stormwater Department released a statement this morning stating that it had launched its winter readiness programme and had teams on standby to deal with storm damage and flooding.

“The city is geared to deal with any major emergency or crisis events which require a multidisciplinary reaction by specialised disaster response teams to safeguard the general public, property, environment and livelihoods,” said the city’s mayoral committee member, transport for Cape Town, Councillor Brett Herron.

Crews had been called out in force earlier this month when a series of cold fronts moved over the Peninsula.

Henry du Plessis, director of roads and stormwater, said informal settlements posed the biggest challenge for the department, as they were mostly in high water table areas and had poor drainage, meaning they were prone to flooding.

* To report a blocked drain or flooding call 0860 103 089. Alternatively, call the Disaster Risk Management Centre at 080 911 4357.

The SA Weather Service issued warnings about conditions today, including:

* Very rough seas with wave heights 4m to 6m were expected to develop between Table Bay and Plettenberg Bay last night, subsiding during the course of tomorrow.

* Very cold conditions were expected over the southern high-ground of the Northern Cape and western high-ground areas of Western Cape Provinces on Friday.

* A gale force west-north-westerly wind of 35 knots (65-70km/h) was expected in the deep-sea areas between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas overnight last night and into Friday morning.

Cape Argus

Durban mayor James Nxumalo has challenged a recent survey, naming Cape Town as the city with the fittest people in SA.

Durban -

EThekwini Municipality mayor James Nxumalo has challenged a recent survey, naming Cape Town as the city with the fittest people in the country.

A shocked Nxumalo questioned the criteria used to rank the cities, which placed Durban fourth after Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. Joburg was fifth and sixth, according to an index by Discovery Vitality.

“Us, fourth? No ways,” said the mayor on Friday.

“Durban has the fittest people in the country, and possibly in the world.”

Nxumalo questioned what the results were based on, saying the city had the most number of fitness-driven activities and events.

“We just had the ECR Big Walk that saw more than 33 000 people participating. Two weeks ago we hosted the Comrades and next weekend we will have the Spar Ladies Walk, where we are expecting more than 15 000 ladies.

“How then do these people place Durban so far down the pecking order when our people are active all year round and we are the only city that has two seasons all year - summer and summer, which allows a lot of outdoors activities,” Nxumalo protested.

The study found that the Cape Town’s urban infrastructure gave Capetonians the edge when it came to facilities and an environment that encouraged and facilitated exercise.

The city also had the greatest number of sports clubs, gyms, fitness facilities, and parks per 100 000 people.

Jill Borresen, a clinical wellness manager - who was part of the advisory board, which consisted of University of Cape Town academics - conceded that Durban had made a number of significant strides.

Borresen, however, said while the city was not without facilities, it ranked low because of the lack of public participation.

She suggested that Durban produce and promote a citywide map of parks, trails, cycling and walking routes and facilities that offered sports and physical activity programmes, to educate people about the outdoor facilities the city offered.

“The city can increase visibility of traffic officials along the Suncoast cycle routes to ensure that motorists are not using it during the designated ‘cyclists only’ times to encourage cyclists to make use of this route.

“In addition to this, the city can increase, improve and promote park safety and implement free outdoor gym and sport facilities,” said Borresen. - Independent on Saturday

One of the boys at the centre of the violent scuffle that paralysed Andrew Merryweather has been ordered to pay R10.29m in damages.

Cape Town - One of the former Reddam House pupils at the centre of the violent scuffle that paralysed Camps Bay restaurant manager Andrew Merryweather in 2006 has been ordered to pay Merryweather a whopping R10.29 million in damages.

The order was made by Western Cape High Court Acting Judge Boet Smit on Friday. The former pupil, Oliver Scholtz, who was in matric at the time of the incident, was not in court on Friday.

However, while the substantial damages award brings the court process related to Merryweather’s saga to an end, it could be a much longer time before he actually receives any money.

Scholtz relocated to the UK after the civil action was instituted, although he is now believed to be back in Stellenbosch. Merryweather’s legal team at law firm Minde Shapiro and Smith said they would now hire tracing agents to find him, then enforce the order.

Merryweather said on Friday he was “elated” at the outcome.

“It’s a chapter that is closed. It’s a true moral victory,” he said.

He was, however, acutely aware of the difficulties that still lay ahead: “I suppose now the hard stuff starts.”

His attorney, Samantha Solomons, said the tracing agents would first have to find Scholtz.

If he was still in the UK, they would have to go through a court process there to have the order enforced. But the process would be faster if he was in fact in South Africa.

Commenting on the effects of the case, Merryweather said “it can get quite depressing at times”.

But the finality that came with yesterday’s order was a “weight off my shoulders”.

“I’ve got great things happening in my life now,” he said, adding that he went to Joburg two weeks ago to try out a walking suit, which helps him to stand and walk.

In July he is expected to jet off to the UK to try a similar suit which can also help him climb stairs.

In addition, he has attended various programmes as part of his rehabilitation.

“It’s amazing what I can do now. I’m a tetraplegic (paralysis below the neck) but people now assume that I am a paraplegic (paralysis below the waist),” he said.

Merryweather added that the amount awarded to him would enable him to pay for modifications to his home in Rondebosch to accommodate his disability. The ad hoc modifications done with the help of a relative could be significantly improved now.

The order also opened up therapy options, which were costly, with some of the best forms of therapy available only in the US and Europe, he said.

Merryweather was thankful for the support he received throughout the criminal and civil cases, particularly from his fiancée, Robyn Siebers, who he is due to marry in 2015. “She has been with me through all of this,” he said.

He advised others in similar positions to remain positive and to be proactive. “Things always get better. In your darkest moments, take comfort in the fact that it won’t get any worse than it is in that moment,” he said.

During the attack Merryweather sustained a severe injury to his spinal cord, for which he was admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital. He underwent a vertebral corpectomy (an operation to remove a portion of the vertebra and intervertebral discs).

Two days later a titanium plate was inserted into his neck.

After an 18-month trial, the Wynberg Regional Court acquitted Scholtz of the attempted murder of Merryweather.

Five others - Joel Thackwray, Liam Hechter, Michael Enslin, Justin Maxwell and Samuel Davidson - were also acquitted.

Thackwray was convicted of assaulting (with the intent to commit grievous bodily harm) Merryweather’s brother Nicholas, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for four years.

The conviction was set aside in November 2010.

Charges against a seventh person, Shane Wolendorp, were withdrawn in 2007 after he turned State witness. The court acquitted Dane Killian in December 2007, at the end of the State’s case.

At the time, the men were pupils at Reddam House and Wynberg Boys’ High School.

Merryweather instituted the civil action against Scholtz, Hechter and Thackwray in 2009.

He abandoned his case against Hechter and Thackwray, but Scholtz could not be traced and Merryweather’s attorneys obtained a court order allowing them to serve notice of the action on him via publication in a UK newspaper.

The following year Scholtz was found liable for Merryweather’s injuries in a default judgment.

The case returned to court yesterday for the amount of damages to be decided.

Neither Scholtz nor his legal representatives were present.

Acting Judge Smit ordered Scholtz to pay the R10.29m, as well as the qualifying expenses of 10 of Merryweather’s expert witnesses. - Saturday Argus

fatima.schroeder@inl.co.za

Bredasdorp residents have given police an ultimatum, demanding that “all those responsible for the senseless killing be brought to book”.

Cape Town - Bredasdorp residents have given police an ultimatum, demanding that “all those responsible for the senseless killing of Anene (Booysen) be brought to book”.

Booysen, 17, was raped, disembowelled and left for dead. She died from her injuries in Tygerberg Hospital on February 2.

The events leading to Anene’s death remain a hot topic and subject of dispute in the town; some suggest only one person attacked her, while others support the initial reports that she was gang-raped.

The exact details of the attack remain unknown.

Residents are also angry at the lack of developments following the recent release of a suspect, Jonathan Davids, better known as “Zwai”, whom Booysen allegedly identified on her deathbed.

David’s co-accused, Johannes Kana is in custody.

On Sunday residents took to the streets under the banner of the Cape Agulhas Churches Forum, handing over a memorandum in which they gave police 21 days to replace the Hermanus investigators with local detectives.

“It is our belief that the local police have officers available that are more familiar with the local community and the culture. We trust our own, and people are hesitant to speak to the new investigators,” forum spokesman Pastor Sam van Staden said.

“We are standing up because we are concerned that the community is not giving thorough information because the new investigators are not known or trusted by the community,” he said, adding that the case had taken a severe toll on the community.

Davids’s uncle, Nico September, said this nephew was finding it difficult to show his face in public.

“There’s a lot of support, but there are also those who still give him the evil eye. Jonathan started his old job again, but even at work there are those, mostly women, who are still treating him suspiciously,” he said.

Van Staden said the community wanted justice. They did not want a situation where one man should take the fall “to save the nation any further embarrassment”.

Bredasdorp station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Marie Louw said the case was being investigated by the Family Child and Sexual Offences unit in Hermanus, and the provincial team.

She was aware the community wanted local detectives to take charge.

Louw said after Davids had been released police had held a community meeting to explain the situation.

“Kana is the only suspect standing trial and the police are still investigating the possibility of linking other suspects to the crime,” she said.

Kana will be back in the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court on July 9. Saturday Argus

A Western Cape High Court judge sentenced a handyman to life imprisonment for murdering his employer.

Western Cape -

A Western Cape High Court judge yesterday sentenced a 31-year-old handyman to life imprisonment for murdering his employer, describing accused Moegamat Armien Salie’s crime as “a despicable and cowardly violation”.

Acting Judge Diane Davis jailed him for an additional 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

The judge told Salie he had inflicted a life sentence of anguish and grief on Anzunette du Plessis’s family, and that it was “only fitting” that he be sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, she advised him to use his time in prison positively and to honour Du Plessis’s memory by changing his life for the better.

“You still have life and, while you have life, you have choices,” she said, adding that while he could do nothing to undo his actions, he could remember the effect the murder had on the family, and how they were “trapped in a prison of grief and anguish”.

In October, Salie of Mitchells Plain, butchered Du Plessis in her Buchanan Street, Claremont home, where he had worked months before.

According to the evidence of a pathologist, Du Plessis was stabbed 10 times in the back. The knife was also drawn across her throat three times during the attack.

After the murder, he filled a wheelie bin with stolen goods, leaving the premises with the intention of selling them.

He met two men pushing a trolley in Lansdowne Road and loaded the items into it.

Police patrolling the area thought this was odd, and stopped him.

Earlier this month, Judge Davis convicted Salie of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.

In passing sentence yesterday, the judge said the offences were “undoubtedly ranked among the most serious crimes”, and that crime scene photographs revealed “an act of appalling brutality”.

She added that Salie abused his position as a workman, and was “driven by greed and not need”.

A victim impact report before the court showed the effects that Du Plessis’s murder had on her family and included that fact that her fiancé, Claude Kruger, suffered from insomnia and struggled as a single parent to their three-year-old daughter while carrying the weight of his grief.

Turning to Salie’s personal circumstances, the judge said he had had an unhappy childhood, which included difficult financial circumstances and fighting parents, and had started using tik to escape from his problems.

He told the court he felt terrible about what he had done, and wished he could make it up to the family.

However, Judge Davis said that while the court had no doubt Salie regretted what he had done and the predicament it had got him into, his remorse was not genuine but rather self-pity.

“One cannot help but wonder if it was not a desperate attempt to secure a more lenient sentence in circumstances where he was caught red-handed,” she said, adding that he had not made a full and frank disclosure to the court.

She added that there was nothing remarkable in Salie’s personal circumstances which served to diminish his moral culpability.

There were no substantial and compelling circumstances to justify a departure from the prescribed minimum sentences of life imprisonment for murder, and 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances. Salie was also declared unfit to possess a firearm. - Saturday Argus

Several residents of the Bonnytoun informal settlement in Wynberg were left homeless after the city evicted them and demolished their structures.

Wynberg -

Several residents of the Bonnytoun informal settlement in Wynberg were left homeless on Friday after the city evicted them and demolished their structures in what the shack dwellers claim is harassment by law enforcement officers.

They are also furious that the demolition went ahead “without any court order or letter”, and despite a court interdict which says the city should leave them where they are.

Residents on the scene, sitting looking desperate among the remains of their homes, told Weekend Argus

that authorities first arrived last Saturday, “ransacked” their structures, and even set alight one resident’s clothing.

Yesterday, they returned.

Melikhaya Mangqasane, who has lived there for three years, said he heard voices and doors being kicked in.

“We’ve lost our valuables. My ID is gone with some of the stuff they took. They burnt my TV and some of my winter clothes,” he said, alleging that R150 he was given on Friday had also been taken.

“Law enforcers were sharing (out the contents of) my wallet in front of me (yesterday),” he said.

Now he has nowhere to go.

“It’s winter. You try living without a home,” Mangqasane said.

Long-time resident and former community chairman, Willa Esmando, blamed the escalating anger among the residents on lack of communication between community and forum chairwoman Mona Allie.

“Whenever the leader meets the councillor, who never comes by, we never get any feedback over what transpired from the meetings.

“We’re in the dark as to why the process of registering the evicted people has taken so long, because some of them have been here for longer than the chairwoman has been,” he said.

“Law enforcement waltzed in here with bad attitudes towards the people,” he added.

Esmando urged the city to investigate properly.

Community members said they had been living at the site, alongside the Wynberg fire station, for nearly a decade.

“The way they go about things when they take them out of the houses is wrong,” said Nokuthula Gaqavu, another long-time resident.

“The people are not dogs, and should be told to move out in a decent way before the destruction processes take place.”

After remonstrating with Esmando, Allie said the evictions were inevitable.

“The city told us further settling was illegal, so it was bound to happen. This is council’s ground,” she said, adding the city was just doing its job.

Allie said some of the shacks were protected by a court interdict dating back eight years, but that many more structures had since been built, prompting the evictions.

The city said it continually found additional structures being erected there illegally.

Tandeka Gqada, mayco member for Human Settlements, said: “It must be borne in mind that these are not structures in the true sense of the word, but more wood and cardboard-type structures.

“The city does not remove any personal belongings, but only the material used for the construction of the illegal structure.”

Gqada said anyone with complaints about possessions being removed should lay charges with the police. - Saturday Argus

soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za

Mogammad Imaad Majiet looks just likes any other child – except for a tiny bump on his forehead which could have cost him his life.

Cape Town - Seventeen-month-old Mogammad Imaad Majiet looks just likes any other child – except perhaps for a tiny bump on his forehead which may appear insignificant, but which could have cost the toddler his life if it had not been addressed.

Born with trigonocephaly – the premature closure of the metopic, or forehead, suture between the frontal bones – Mogammad is among about one in every 10 000 children born annually with the condition. Red Cross Children’s Hospital performs surgery on about 30 affected children annually.

The surgery took place last week at Red Cross as part of Smile Foundation/Adcock Ingram Smile Week. The foundation arranges operations for children with facial anomalies, including cleft lips and palates, and ear and nose reconstruction.

About 19 children from the Western Cape, aged one to 12, benefited from operations at Red Cross last week.

Paediatric neurosurgeon

Dr Llewellyn Padayachy explained that in children born with trigonocephaly, as they grew the deformity became more prominent, increasing the risk of pressure on the brain.

Symptoms include headaches, nausea, vomiting and drowsiness, and can result in death if untreated.

Mogammad, of Manenberg, had already suffered three seizures confined to the left side of his body by the time of his surgery, his mother Roshaan Booley explained.

“When Mogammad was born they noticed the condition and asked me if I knew about a family history of the condition. I didn’t know what to think until the doctors explained it to me,” she said.

“I thought it would be fine, but then he had a fit in the middle of the night, followed by two more. He spent days in hospitals so the doctors could monitor him. I was terrified when they said he needed urgent surgery because he was so young, but I knew his life would be in danger if nothing was done.”

Although Mogammad was booked for surgery in March last year, the expense and his good health saw it delayed – until last week when he was in the operating room for five hours, treated by a six-strong medical team which included Padayachy and plastic surgeon Reinhardt Lechtape-Gruter.

Padayachy said the surgery was difficult, but what helped was that the child was in that ideal surgery window period of between 14 and 18 months old.

“Luckily, the surgery was successful and we were able to reconstruct the skull. He spent a day in ICU and was then moved to a general ward,” he said.

Booley said although her son was in a bit of pain, she was relieved he was doing well.

“He’s talking and seems fine, but he doesn’t want me to leave his side. They haven’t told me when the bandages will come off, but I will take him home this week.

“I’m so grateful to everyone who helped my son and my family,” she said.

Weekend Argus

The R1.8 million bill the cash-strapped Western Cape ANC has owed the CTICC since February 2011 has still not been settled.

Cape Town - The R1.8 million bill the cash-strapped Western Cape ANC has owed the Cape Town International Convention Centre since it used the venue for its regional conference in February 2011 has still not been settled.

And now the party has to dig even deeper into its pockets after the Western Cape High Court granted default judgment against it for failing to pay Golden Arrow for the use of 77 buses to transport supporters to an event in Paarl, which took place a month after the CTICC event.

The provincial ANC now has to pay Golden Arrow R305 730, plus interest calculated from March 2011, and legal costs.

According to court papers, the party hired 77 single-decker buses to transport its passengers “to various locations in the Paarl area” on March 13, 2011. The papers did not specify details of the event in Paarl.

The party had its provincial manifesto launch in the Boland town, where President Jacob Zuma presented a keynote address at Dal Josaphat Stadium.

Golden Arrow’s action was instituted in January this year, and was postponed several times until last Wednesday, when default judgment was granted.

Provincial treasurer Fezile Calana told Weekend Argus this week that he was not aware of the court order. He added that the fact that the Western Cape branch had debt was no secret. The party had told the media on previous occasions about its financial woes.

Calana declined to answer questions related to previous cases involving arrears amounts, including the CTICC matter, saying that the media saw fit to highlight the ANC’s financial troubles over that of other parties.

Early last year the CTICC told the media that the matter was settled, and that it was agreed that the provincial ANC would pay the amount in monthly instalments of R100 000.

CTICC chief executive Rashid Toefy said an amount was paid four months ago. But a sum of more than R1.5m was still outstanding. The amount would not be written off, and he intended to write to the national ANC about the issue.

Weekend Argus

The embattled Oudtshoorn municipality has received an unqualified audit report from the Auditor General.

Cape Town -

The embattled Oudtshoorn municipality has received an unqualified audit report from the auditor general for the 2011/12 financial year, in spite of a deluge of claims of poor governance, maladministration and failure to approve its budget.

The Klein Karoo local government authority has been besieged since 2007 by problems relating to poor governance, crippling political infighting, hostile take-over attempts, and an ongoing Special Investigating Unit probe into claims of maladministration and fraud.

And now the auditor general’s findings have irked opposition party members, who claim the town’s sordid history of corruption and maladministration shows clearly that all is not well there.

“So what if you have an unqualified report, when you’re sitting with an SIU report that shows millions of rands worth of fraud being committed in the municipality?” local DA spokesman Chris MacPherson said.

He stressed that the auditor general merely looked at whether the necessary financial systems were adhered to.

The municipality last week proudly announced that its unqualified audit report indicated it was living up to the municipality’s institutional values, which included integrity and transparency.

“Solid financial reporting allows the administration to provide a better service, improve the lives of people, eradicate extreme poverty, and create a conducive environment for sustainable economic and social development,” mayor Gordon April said.

The municipality did, however, concede that it would have to improve in some areas, such as supply chain management.

“The unqualified audit report indicates that Oudtshoorn’s accounting standards and practices are in robust health, and that the financial statements provide a true and fair representation of the municipality’s actual financial state of affairs,” April said.

The same week the municipality released the audit findings, two attempts by its council to approve its budget and integrated development plan during a special council meeting failed.

The first meeting on Tuesday ended in chaos with the DA and Cope councillors walking out, refusing to return even after the municipal manager and the speaker granted them 30 minutes to reconsider.

A second meeting set down for Friday also failed to produce positive results after the DA and Cope councillors voted against the budget and plan.

The majority councillors, 11 DA councillors and one from Cope, rejected the budget and the plan, claiming these were a farce since the council had never approved an organogram for the municipality.

MacPherson said even senior ANC members at Luthuli House last week publicly confirmed the more than 40 percent over-expenditure on staff.

He added that the financial year report and statements for the previous year had also not been approved by the council, making it even more impossible for the DA to support the budget.

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

The Cape Town police have admitted that areas with the highest crime rates have the lowest police coverage.

Cape Town - Thousands of Cape Town’s most vulnerable citizens are having to fend for themselves against rampant crime because of a dire shortage of police, the police themselves have admitted.

The national South African average for policing is one policeman for every 330 people.

But in many of Cape Town’s worst crime-ridden suburbs, there is just one policeman per 1 000 people, essentially leaving those residents three times as vulnerable, when they should be more closely protected. In Mitchells Plain the ratio is one to 3 200.

These figures have been officially obtained by Community Safety MEC Dan Plato from the SAPS Provincial Commissioner’s Office, and Plato is dismayed by the results.

The official statistics point to a police to population ratio of one police officer for every 245 citizens in the Western Cape - one of South Africa’s best ratios, only beaten by the Northern Cape with a ratio of 1:170.

Plato said: “This may look good on paper, however, in my numerous visits to police stations, I often experience a lack of police officers and my office receives many complaints of a lack of personnel resources.

“In April this year I wrote to the Provincial Commissioner’s Office to request the police to population ratios for every SAPS station in the province. The reply I received was most concerning.

“If one compares the 10 stations in the province that experience the highest number of murders… at the majority of these stations, each officer is instead serving at least five times more citizens than the provincial norm,” Plato reported.

“The 20 police stations with the worst police:population ratios are, without fail, the stations which are notorious for high levels of crime.

“This leads me to believe that the poor numbers of operational police officers at these stations has a negative impact on the crime levels in these areas and is something which needs to be addressed urgently,” Plato said.

Plato said he had on May 13, and again subsequently, requested an urgent response from the Provincial Police Commissioner on how he planned to remedy the situation at the Cape’s crime hot spots, and specifically address the critical lack of policemen. He had not had a response yet, he said. The matter had now been reported to the provincial Standing Committee on Community Safety, Cultural Affairs and Sport.

The Provincial Police Commissioner and his senior management would be asked to explain to the provincial parliament “why the police to population ratio has fallen to such disastrous levels”, he said.

The numbers of Police coverage:

* Nyanga: 233 murders (2011/12), 1 policeman per 1418 people

* Khayelitsha: 161 murders, 1 per 1675

* Harare: 154 murders, 1 per 1702

* Gugulethu: 120 murders, 1 per 1273

* Kraaifontein: 94 murders, 1 per 1630

* Delft: 87 murders, 1 per 1166

* Mfuleni: 67 murders, 1 per 1095

* Mitchell’s Plain: 66 murders, 1 per 3239

* Bishop Lavis: 54 murders, 1 per 1064

Cape Argus

A Uitenhage car dealer is suspected of being the kingpin of a nation-wide vehicle theft syndicate that made millions of rands.

Cape Town - A Uitenhage car dealer, suspected of being the kingpin of a nationwide vehicle theft syndicate that made millions of rand, may become the centre of a case in the Western Cape.

Simon van Vuuren, 65, owner of Monte Carlo Motors, which had branches in the Eastern and Western Cape, faces a number of charges relating to car theft.

In an article in the police’s online journal this year, it said Van Vuuren, who previously appeared in a Uitenhage court, was expected to appear in a Cape Town court, and “a key member” of the province’s Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) office was assisting the investigating team.

On Tuesday police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said, “The investigation is currently at a very sensitive stage.”

The police online article said a team of 11 officers based in Cape Town arrested Van Vuuren, who it described as the suspected “kingpin linked to vehicle thefts across the country”.

It said the detectives investigation had led them to Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth.

The article said during three operations in the Eastern Cape, the detectives confiscated 57 vehicles worth more than R3 million.

Of the 57 vehicles, 38 were stolen in the Western Cape and 17 in the Eastern Cape.

The origin of the remaining two vehicles could not be established as the identification had been severely tampered with.

“According to the detectives’ investigation, the vehicles’ identification numbers were tampered with and replaced by identification numbers of vehicles which had been written off…

“All these vehicles were sold to bona fide buyers,” the police article said.

Van Vuuren previously appeared in a Uitenhage court and was released on R20 000 bail.

Meanwhile, a number of Cape Town residents are concerned about a spate of car thefts.

On the Facebook forum, “Traffic fines, cameras & updates in Western Cape”, a number of users commented on the crimes, with one saying: “the amount of cars stolen on a daily basis is really getting out of hand now!!!?# hectic”.

Another user said: “seems like car theft is in fashion now; almost every second post on the page today is about cars stolen.”

Based on the number of people using the forum to alert others that their cars were stolen between Friday evening and Saturday morning, eight vehicles were stolen around the city.

On Tuesday Van Wyk said during that time one vehicle theft case had been opened in the city centre.

To try and avoid falling victim to a car thief, Van Wyk advised motorists to avoid parking their vehicles in places with no security guards

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A liquor store owner is under investigation for allegedly keeping the IDs of farmworkers until their debts were settled.

Cape Town - A Worcester liquor store owner is under investigation for allegedly keeping personal documents of farmworkers as security until their debts were settled.

The Western Cape government said on Tuesday SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) cards, IDs and bank cards had been found during a search of the premises by the Liquor Authority and police on Friday.

The owner has not been arrested.

If found guilty under the new Liquor Act, he could be fined R500 000 or face two years’ imprisonment.

Organisations working with farmworkers have said the practice is widespread because of poverty.

The Liquor Authority alerted police after receiving a tip-off from a resident about a trader selling alcohol to local farmworkers and keeping their Sassa cards, IDs and bank cards as payment security.

Authorities on would not disclose details of the bottlestore owner or where the incidents occurred as the case is still being investigated.

Finance, Economic Development and Tourism MEC Alan Winde said a number of items had been confiscated during the raid.

“Liquor Authority inspectors and police found 58 identity documents, 14 Sassa cards and bank cards with the relevant pin numbers.

“During the search, a farmworker came to collect her Sassa card and police obtained an affidavit from her. Her card was returned,” he said.

Winde urged authorities to “exercise the full might of the law” against the trader if he was found guilty.

“This is one example of how unscrupulous traders are taking advantage of vulnerable communities. We are sending out a clear warning to irresponsible traders that their behaviour won’t be tolerated” he said.

The Liquor Authority’s chief executive, Thys Giliomee, said the matter had been reported to Sassa.

The public should report “this kind of irresponsible trading” to the Liquor Authority and the police, Giliomee said.

Advocating for the rights of farmworkers, Women on Farms spokeswoman Colette Solomon said most farmworkers lived in debt as they were forced to live and work in poor economic conditions.

“We’ve heard of this practice many times. (It is perpetrated) Not only for alcohol, but for daily necessities like vegetables as well. These workers are often reluctant to give us the names of these people keeping their papers so these cases fall through the cracks,” she said.

Food and Allied Workers Union general secretary Katishi Masemola condemned the common practice “which is used to enslave vulnerable workers”.

Cape Times

Pupils' eardrums were ruptured, a pupil was blinded, and one pupil died due to corporal punishment, says the SA Human Rights Commission.

Cape Town - The South African Human Rights Commission says it has dealt with cases in which pupils’ eardrums were ruptured, a pupil was blinded, and one in which a pupil was beaten and died from his injuries.

Isaac Mangena, the commission’s spokesman, said these were recent corporal punishment cases, many of which were ongoing investigations.

Lindiwe Mokate, the commissioner responsible for basic education, said the commission was aware of corporal punishment cases in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, although there could be cases in other provinces.

“In many of the cases the parents come back to us and say they don’t want to proceed with the case,” Mokate said.

The commission’s children and basic education portfolio recently held a meeting on corporal punishment in schools, which was attended by the SA Principals’ Association, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union, the Department of Basic Education and others.

Western Cape Education Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said 125 allegations of corporal punishment had been received by the department during the 2012/13 financial year.

A total of 117 cases were reported during the previous financial year.

ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

There is a shortage of police officers in Western Cape areas with a high murder rate, community safety MEC Dan Plato said.

Cape Town - There is a shortage of police officers in Western Cape areas with a high murder rate, community safety MEC Dan Plato said on Wednesday.

“The SA Police Service (SAPS) in the Western Cape often prides itself on claiming to have one of South Africa’s best (police to citizen) ratios, which, according to SAPS, is 1:245,” he said.

The national ratio was one officer for every 303 citizens.

Plato said the 10 police stations with the highest number of reported murders, all in Cape Town, had “concerning” ratios.

“At the majority of these stations, each officer is instead serving at least five times more citizens than the provincial norm.”

He said it could be assumed that the low number of police officers affected crime levels in the area and needed to be addressed urgently.

Nyanga, which recorded the highest number of reported murders in 2011/2012, had one officer for every 1418 citizens.

Khayelitsha and Harare, which had the next highest number of murders in the province, had police/population ratios of 1:1675 and 1:1702 respectively.

Mitchells Plain police station on the Cape Flats had one officer for every 3239 citizens.

Plato said the ratios for every police station were provided by provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer on May 7.

Lamoer had allegedly failed to respond to two official requests regarding the plan to address the ratios.

The MEC had since referred the matter to the provincial standing committee on community safety, cultural affairs, and sport.

“(Lamoer) will now have to explain to Parliament and the people of the Western Cape what measures will be taken to fix this,” he said.

Committee chairman Mark Wiley recently said a meeting would be scheduled with national police commissioner Riah Phiyega in the third quarter on various policing issues which needed clarification.

Provincial police spokesman Lt-Col Andre Traut said they had taken note of the figures but would not comment. - Sapa

Two sisters and a friend appeared in the Bellville Commercial Crime Court in connection with running an illegal loan business.

Cape Town - Two sisters and a friend appeared in the Bellville Commercial Crime Court on Wednesday in connection with running an illegal loan business.

The three, Nomendu and Sellina Ndube, and their friend Nomonde Dyasi, allegedly gave short-term loans to people without a license to do so and stipulated unlawful conditions.

Prosecutor Tracey Bellelie told the court the women would plead on Friday to 72 counts of violating the National Credit Act, and one contravention of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.

The 72 counts involved two individual loans of R2000, and 70 loans ranging between R100 and R300.

According to the charge sheet, Sellina was the mastermind in the venture, and got her sister and Dyasi to assist in the day-to-day running of the loan business.

It was alleged that loans were advanced to loan-seekers on condition that they repaid the loan in full, together with interest dictated by Sellina.

The loan-seekers had to also allegedly give the women their identity documents, or bank credit cars, debit cards, or ATM access cards, in order to obtain their loans.

They also had to provide them with their bank card pin numbers.

The loans were given in 2010 and 2011.

The case was postponed to Friday. - Sapa

A Western Cape police officer was arrested for allegedly repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl in Paarl.

Cape Town - A Western Cape police officer was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl in Paarl, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) said.

The 41-year-old warrant officer from Mbekweni is accused of raping the teenager on numerous occasions, IPID spokesman Moses Dlamini said.

In April this year he allegedly went to the girl's home and raped her twice without a condom.

On another day, it was alleged that he took her to his house and raped her there. Afterwards he dropped the teenager off at school and told the teacher he needed to take a statement from her for a case he was investigating.

On another occasion the officer allegedly picked the girl up in a police vehicle and took her to a field where he raped her.

Dlamini said the girl was allegedly raped on numerous other occasions.

“The mother of the victim found a message from the suspect when she used her daughter's cell phone.

“The victim had reported the rapes to her cousin but was she was afraid to inform her parents,” he said.

The rapes were reported on Tuesday and a case was opened.

The officer is expected to appear in the Paarl Magistrate's Court on Friday. - Sapa