A Lotus River shopkeeper who was evicted from his store by the building’s owners, has won his case in court.

Cape Town - A Lotus River shopkeeper who was evicted from his store by the building’s owners, who included Justice Department regional head Hishaam Mohamed, has won his case in the Western Cape High Court.

Judge Thandazwa Ndita found that the version of events presented by Mohamed, his brother Salim and sister Shenaaz, was “farfetched and untenable”.

Shopkeeper Dilawar Parker says he has been vindicated by the ruling, but that “he would have preferred for it not to have come to this”.

Judge Thandazwa Ndita heard the matter on July 1 and handed down her judgment on July 4.

The court accepted that Parker had had a verbal lease agreement with Mohamed’s father, Abdullah Mohamed, for 13 years. When Abdullah Mohamed died two years ago, his children, including Hishaam, inherited the building housing the shop on the corner of First Avenue and Zeekoei Road.

In early June, Parker was approached by three people interested in buying his business, but after thinking about the offer, he decided it was not suitable. A few days later, on June 11, said the judge, he was informed by Liquat Ismail, his shop assistant, that Hishaam Mohamed had closed the store.

Parker went to the store and found it locked up, and the Mohamed brothers as well as the three potential buyers outside. Parker was then informed he should remove his goods from the premises. According to Parker, an argument ensued, and he then did remove some goods. The Mohameds left with the keys. But later that night, Parker returned to the shop and had the locks changed.

The following day, while Ismail ran the store, Parker went to the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court to lodge an order in terms of the Protection from Harassment Act. While still in Wynberg, Parker received a call from Ismail saying Salim Mohamed and the station commander of Grassy Park police station had gone to the store and demanded the keys from Ismail, which he handed over.

Parker then approached the high court for an order “to compel the Mohameds to restore to him possession and control of the shop”, saying that he had “neither consented to or intended to relinquish his rights to occupy the premises”.

In his case, Salim Mohamed acknowledged the existence of a lease agreement with Parker. But he said Parker had been having difficulty running the business, had asked to be released from the lease because the business was too costly, and he was also not paying his electricity bill.

Salim Mohamed said that on June 9, he’d phoned Parker and said he had found a new tenant, who wanted to have his business up and running on June 12. On June 11, Parker and the Mohamed brothers met and agreed to immediately terminate the lease. Parker then handed over the keys.

But the next day, the new tenant found the locks broken and Ismail in the store. Salim Mohamed then laid a charge of housebreaking and malicious damge to property against Parker at Grassy Park police station.

In her judgment, Judge Ndita found it difficult to accept that Parker had agreed to leave. Her reasons included the fact he had just paid the rent for June; it was unlikely that Parker would have agreed to leave premises he had occuped for 13 years on just two or three days’ notice; and the laying of a harassment complaint “does not accord with consent”.

The judge ordered the Mohameds to return vacant occupation of the store to Parker, and to pay costs.

Hishaam Mohamed said that he and his brother had intended to appeal against the ruling.

“But an out-of-court settlement has been reached.”

Parker said yesterday: “The judgment has given me freedom of mind.”

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A Zimbabwe government-owned property in the Cape will finally be sold to compensate farmers whose land was seized.

Cape Town - A Zimbabwean government-owned property in the city will finally go under the hammer to compensate farmers whose land was seized, five years after it was attached by a court.

The property in Salisbury Road in Kenilworth was bought by the Zimbabwean government in 1994 and was used by the Zimbabwe Consulate in Cape Town.

In 2011, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled that the property could be auctioned off but the Zimbabwean government blocked the sale when it went to the Supreme Court of Appeal. It finally went to the Constitutional Court, which upheld the previous judgments and dismissed the case last month.

Willie Spies, a lawyer representing the farmers, said they wanted the auction to be held immediately. “There has been nothing arranged yet. But the sale will go ahead within the next four to six weeks,” he said.

Spies said that property could fetch anything between R1 million and R3m, which would be proportionally paid out to the three farmers and a German bank. He said the property had been occupied by a Cape Town family since 2002, but they had vacated it because of the court action.

The farmers are Louis Fick, Michael Campbell and Richard Etheredge, whose farms were among about 4 000 seized during the violent land occupation that took place in Zimbabwe.

German banking group KFW Bank Gruppe and AfriForum, which has supported and represented the farmers, had initially attached two other properties in Zonnebloem and Wynberg. KFW Bank Gruppe had been owed more than e40 million by Zimbabwe.

All three properties were to go on auction in 2011, but this was halted by court action by the Zimbabwean government.

The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled that the properties in Wynberg and Zonnebloem enjoyed diplomatic protection.

The Kenilworth property could be auctioned off because it was being rented out to a third party, which showed that it was being used commercially, and so no longer enjoyed diplomatic protection.

AfriForum said the property was attached by the Southern African Development Community Tribunal against the Zimbabwe government in 2008.

“The dismissal of the appeal by the Zimbabwean government means that, for the first time in international legal history, it will be possible to proceed with the legal sale of a property belonging to a state found guilty of gross human rights violations,” the organisation said.

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

Cape Times

On June 15, ‘Khoi activists’ occupied a District Six complex. Ttheir spokeswoman gave the Cape Times their points of view.

Cape Town - On June 15, 40 ‘Khoi activists’ occupied 11 units in a District Six apartment complex. The complex was built in 2011 for returnees. On Tuesday, the Western Cape High Court granted a final eviction order against the group. The group had been evicted earlier following an interim eviction order. Their spokeswoman, Tania Kleinhans, head of the Institute for Restoration of the Aborigines of South Africa, spoke to Jan Cronje.

Q: Why did the group occupy the apartments?

Our right to the land is entrenched in history. It is undisputed.

We have ancestral rights to the land because it was not granted or sold to anybody.

The land belonged to aborigines who were there long before Europeans settled.

We have, for example, a treaty from 1670 between the Cochoqua and the Dutch.

But colonialists took the aborigines and classified them as coloured.

Then these “coloureds” had to go through a restitution process. But this process only further alienated them from their land, as it required property rights and title deeds.

Even the Land Restitution Act alienated the aborigines, because its cut-off date was 1913.

Did you submit a claim for restitution?

My father submitted a claim in 1995.

Our family lived in Smart Street 11a and b, and 13a and b. We were removed in 1970.

My father was offered R40 000 in financial compensation for these four apartments by the current government. But once you take the financial compensation, you give up your right to return to the land.

And there has always been a longing to come back to District Six.I now see my father aged. He will never be able to come back; he doesn’t have the R200 000 (for a unit in the complex the group occupied). My father has given me proxy to represent his claim.

Did you welcome the fact that government re-opened the land restitution process for people who missed the 1998 deadline?

No. We first need constitutional recognition of the aborigines.

You first have to acknowledge their identity and include them as the “first people” in the preamble of the constitution.

What do you think about pre-1913 land claims possibly being opened for the Khoi?

To open claims preceding 1913, the process needs to go to the Constitutional Court. But this won’t help unless you first change the constitution, to get legal recognition of aborigines.

Why did your group occupy the units, when the period for lodging new claims had been reopened?

Of the people who applied in 1995 to 1998, most have not been justly restituted.

Currently they are busy with the claims list of 1995, but we are in 2013.

Calculate the number of years it has taken for only some to get restitution, and there are thousands still waiting for financial compensation.

If they can’t settle people with claims from 1995, when will they settle all the claims from 2013?

They just don’t have administrative will or capacity.

The process has been reopened, so that administrators, who earn huge salaries, get jobs and employment for another five to 10 years.

It is clear that restitution is a failure.

So will any of your group lodge new claims?

No, they don’t have to.

The people who moved in (occupied the flats) all applied in the official process.

You have frequently spoken out against the District Six Redevelopment and Beneficiary Trust, that manages the complex. Why do you not trust them?

They are not legitimate.

They formed in 2001 and only had their first annual general meeting in 2008.

From 2008 to 2013 they have never had another annual general meeting.

Nobody has since seen their audit reports.

They don’t have the mandate to speak on behalf of everybody.

Anwar Nagia (the trust’s head) is not even a District Six claimant.

Do you feel guilty, as one of the groups leaders, for the fact that members were evicted?

When we decided on this action, we all knew there was a probability of us being evicted.

What we wanted to achieve was not people looking for homes, it was about the whole process.

The responsibility was on all of us.

It was a collective decision we made.

* The group said on Thursday they would submit a motion for leave to appeal against their eviction today at the Western Cape High Court.

jan.cronje@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Police are investigating after a former world champion paddler almost drowned in the Berg River Canoe Marathon.

Cape Town - A police investigation is under way after a former world champion paddler almost drowned on Thursday in the Berg River Canoe Marathon when he was trapped under a newly felled tree lying in the river.

 The route had been checked ahead of the race and the river had been clear at that time.

The paddler, Ben Brown, won the first stage of the race on Wednesday and was third in the field when the incident happened.

Race organiser Andre Collins said shortly before the halfway mark at Gouda bridge, veteran champion Graeme Solomon rounded a corner to find a huge gum tree in the river, its branches in the path of the paddlers.

“He managed to back-paddle, and Lance King behind him managed to turn and paddle to the far left, but when Ben came round the corner he capsized and was washed under the tree,” Collins said.

“The water was fast-flowing and very dangerous. Ben was trapped under there for a long time. He was in trouble - it was touch-and-go.”

Eventually, a young farmer on the river bank raced to Brown’s aid, and extricated him and his canoe from the underwater tangle.

Brown decided to continue with the race once he found his paddle, even though he had lost a crucial pin holding his seat in place, preventing him him from paddling at top speed to try to catch the leaders.

Collins has asked police to look into the incident and has launched his own urgent investigation into who cut the tree down in the lead-up to the race. Police have confirmed they are looking into the incident.

“We checked the river for obstacles on Monday and it was clear,” said Collins. “Before the race, we post specialist police divers at all potentially hazardous obstacles.

“We have approached Nature Conservation to see if it was there Working on Water teams, or someone else. But who the hell expects massive trees to suddenly be chopped down in the lead-up to this world-famous race?”

Brown, 27 was Great Britain’s first male junior marathon world champion and in 2010 was crowned senior marathon world champion by the International Canoeing Federation.

On day one of the Berg, he became the first British paddler to claim a stage of the Western Cape’s premier canoe marathon since John Fowler in 1979.

Brown told Die Burger the ordeal had been “a nightmare” and the most dangerous of his paddling career - describing how he had tried to swim under the branches but had been trapped by his canoe.

“When you are trapped between a canoe full of water and a river full of branches, there is nowhere to go,” he said.

He lost around 15 minutes, leaving his title bid in tatters.

“It’s obviously hugely disappointing. After I lost 10 or 15 minutes in that tree block I thought that’s it, but I managed to pick myself back up and then I really enjoyed paddling on this beautiful river here in the Western Cape,” Brown told the race organisers.

Cape Argus

A police officer accused of raping a 14-year-old girl will appear in the Paarl Magistrate's Court next week.

Paarl, Western Cape - A police officer accused of raping a 14-year-old girl will appear in the Paarl Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said.

The officer made his first court appearance on Friday and the case was postponed for a formal bail application, 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 he allegedly took her to his house and raped her. 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, he picked her up in a police vehicle, took her to a field and allegedly raped her.

The rapes were reported on Tuesday, and the officer was arrested the following day. - Sapa

A Western Cape bookkeeper convicted of fraud must clean the Kuils River police station as part of his punishment.

Cape Town - A Western Cape bookkeeper convicted of fraud must clean the Kuils River police station as part of his punishment, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court ruled on Friday.

Wayne du Toit was also sentenced to three years' house arrest for devising a complex system involving the SA Revenue Service (Sars) to defraud his two employers.

In addition, he received a five-year prison sentence, which was suspended for five years on condition he repays the defrauded money within a stipulated period.

He was ordered to report to the prison authorities immediately after the proceedings to start his house arrest.

He had pleaded guilty to 53 counts of fraud and one of money-laundering, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, and was sentenced under a plea bargain agreement with prosecutor Tracey Bellelie.

Du Toit was in the employ of Craig Scott, trading as Cybertrack Radio Frequency, and his sister Tracey, who owned the business Cyberfibre.

His duties involved the calculation of payroll and taxation for both concerns.

He also had to load approved payments of VAT and other taxes into the e-filing system at Sars, on behalf of the two concerns, but only Craig Scott himself was authorised to release payments to Sars.

According to the plea-bargain document, Du Toit manipulated his employers’ system to make unauthorised payments from the bank accounts of both concerns into his own personal income tax account at Sars.

He did this to settle his own debt with Sars, but often made overpayments into his Sars account, which were then refunded to his private bank account.

His fraud caused Cybertrack a R124 523 loss, and Cyberfibre a R521 906 loss between August 2011 and March 2012.

Among the aggravating factors listed were that he abused a position of trust, and that the frauds were greed-driven. - Sapa

The fraud case against a paralegal accused of pretending to be an attorney was delayed because of a shortage of beds for patients sent by courts for psychiatric observation.

Cape Town - The fraud case against a paralegal accused of pretending to be an attorney was delayed on Friday because of a shortage of beds for patients sent by courts for psychiatric observation.

Chris Lodewyk, 46, appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Friday before magistrate Sabrina

Sonnenberg.

Prosecutor Xolile Jonas told the court there were no beds available for psychiatric observation at the Valkenberg psychiatric hospital.

Jonas said Lodewyk was number 180 on the waiting list.

Lodewyk was referred for psychiatric assessment after psychiatrist Wayne Sanders told the court he suffered from severe depression.

Sanders said Lodewyk had not suffered from depression at the time he allegedly committed the offences, and that the depression was the result of an abusive and manipulative relationship in which he was caught.

Lodewyk faces two counts of illegally practising as an attorney, one of practising as an attorney without the required Fidelity Fund Certificate, two of fraud and three of theft.

According to the charge sheet, he practised as a paralegal under the name Legal Max, and advertised himself in Gumtree, on the internet.

Among others, he allegedly received R50 280 from Richard Watkins between 2008 and 2011, and R79 600 from Werner Schreuder between 2010 and 2012, for legal work he did not do.

Lodewyk allegedly falsely informed Watkins that his dispute with a motor dealership had gone to court and that a ruling had been made in his favour, with costs.

It is alleged that Schreuder engaged Lodewyk to defend him in a high court litigation, which Lodewyk failed to do.

As a result, a civil judgment was granted against Schreuder, but the first he knew of it “and Lodewyk's alleged failure to act for him” was a visit from the sheriff to attach his car.

Lodewyk also allegedly obtained R216 000 for investment from Richard and Elizabeth Dickenson in 2008, after falsely informing them that he was a registered investment broker.

Lodewyk was to invest the money with First Stage Holdings Ltd, at between 16 and 18 percent interest a year, but allegedly kept the money for himself.

The three theft charges are based on the fraud charges involving Watkins, Schreuder and the Dickenson couple.

The remaining three charges involve alleged violations of the Attorneys' Act.

Lodewyk was warned to appear on August 12 and is out on R25 000 bail. - Sapa

A woman who ran an illegal money-lending business was found guilty of 72 counts of violating the National Credit Act (NCA).

Cape Town - A woman who ran an illegal money-lending business was found guilty of 72 counts of violating the National Credit Act (NCA) by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Friday.

Sellina Ndube used bank credit and debit cards, and ATM access cards, to recover money owed to her.

Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg also found Ndube guilty of providing financial services without a licence - a contravention of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.

Prosecutor Tracey Bellelie withdrew similar charges against Ndube's sister Nomendu and a third accused, Nomonde Dyasi.

Prior to the promulgation of the NCA in 2005, it was common practice for short-term money lenders to retain bank cards and ATM access cards as security for loans.

Borrowers were also obliged to surrender their bank card pin numbers, in order to obtain the money.

Ndube pleaded guilty on Friday.

Sabelo Noxaka, for Ndube, read her plea explanation to the court.

The illegal loans were made in 2010 and 2011. They involved two amounts of R2000 and 70 ranging between R100 and R300.

Ndube, who was out on warning, was ordered to return to court on July 17 for the start of sentencing proceedings. - Sapa

Pagad has turned to fear and scare tactics, with members racing through the streets of Belgravia Estate and Rondebosch East with hooters blasting and fireworks thrown.

Cape Town - Anti-gangsterism and drug group Pagad has turned to fear and scare tactics, with members racing through the streets of Belgravia Estate and Rondebosch East with hooters blasting and fireworks thrown, in a bid to single out alleged drug dealers in the area.

And they say they’ll continue their efforts throughout Ramadaan in the wake of a deluge of calls from frantic parents worried about their children’s safety during the school holidays.

During their first motorcade this week, they left a huge buzz in their wake as they passed several alleged drug outlets.

The police kept a close watch as two suspected drug dealers, one in Belgravia Estate and another in Rondebosch East, were warned verbally to stop their illegal activities.

A petrol bomb was thrown at a Rondebosch East house. While police on the scene said minimal damage was done, a big black burn mark was visible on the paving in front of the house.

Curious neighbours ran from their homes after reportedly hearing loud hooters, several loud bangs and people shouting warnings such as “we know you are smuggling”.

Residents were unable to pinpoint whether the incident occurred before the convoy passed, but several people said they saw fireworks being thrown. “

We’ve never had anything like this in our area. The only noise we hear is the council truck making its rounds,” one resident complained.

Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said a case of arson was opened for investigation, but no arrests had been made.

He said the incident occurred a few minutes before the motorcade arrived, “therefore the individuals in the motorcade could not have been responsible for the attack”.

He added that the motorcade had been monitored by the police.

Pagad national chairman Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim denied any involvement in the attack, saying only that the organisation was stepping up its campaign during the fast.

“Drug dealing and gangsterism do not stop because it’s Ramadaan. Bad things are still happening – children as young as 12 are still doing drugs, teenage girls are still prostituting themselves to sustain their drug addiction, and our streets are stained with the tears of the mothers who are battling to free their children from the clutches of drugs,” he said.

According to Ebrahim, the idea behind the car convoy came after several parents, mostly mothers, approached Pagad to intervene and help their children.

“Pagad is showing the drug merchants that they are not afraid to go to their homes, that we know where they are doing their illegal business, and that we know what they are doing to the youth and communities on the Cape Flats,” he said.

According to the organisation, the area known as the Vlei in Belgravia had become a particular problem, with children flocking to the area to buy drugs.

The organisation also complained about the police presence during the motorcade.

“This unnecessary show of heavy police presence at Pagad’s motorcade is a clear indication that the government is not serious about eradicating the scourge of gangsterism and drugs from our communities,” the organisation said.

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

Eight arrested after house of alleged drug lord in Ocean View was attacked.

Eight people were arrested on Saturday for public violence in Ocean View, near Fishhoek, after the house of an alleged drug lord in the area was attacked, Western Cape police said.

Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said residents threw stones at the house, broke shipping boats and smashed a car and the roof of the house.

“The police were called to control the situation and to evacuate the family that was in the house at the time of the incident,” said Kinana.

“Whilst the police members were doing their work the people also attacked police vehicles. About five vehicles had their tyres damaged.”

Kinana said the attack on the house was a “revenge attack” after a 32-year-old man was shot and seriously injured on Saturday morning by an unidentified person. The man was rushed to hospital.

A case of attempted murder was opened and no arrests have been made, he said.

“The motive for his attack is being investigated by the police,” he said.

On Saturday evening, Kinana said the situation in the Ocean View was under control.

“A strong police presence will remain in the area to deal with any situation which may arise, and to maintain law and order.”

He said the eight people were expected to appear in the Simonstown Magistrate's Court soon. -Sapa

She had only about half an hour to live when the newborn was found in a plastic bag.

SHE had only about half an hour to live when the newborn was found abandoned in a plastic bag in Eerste River, but the commitment of two paramedics and the staff of Eerste River Hospital saved her life.

Now the tiny newborn, nicknamed Hope, is getting plenty of care at the hospital, where the staff have fallen in love with her, determined to make up for her unhappy entrance into the world.

Emergency Medical Services paramedic Jeffrey Jacobs said if they’d arrived 30 minutes later, it would have been too late for the baby.

His partner, paramedic Valerie Abels, said Hope was so cold when they found her on Thursday morning that they couldn’t read her temperature. With the umbilical cord still attached, they rushed her into their ambulance.

“She was ice cold, shivering and she was crying,” she said.

The child was found in the backyard of a home in Condor Park, Eerste River, by one of the occupants on his way to work.

Abels said the man told them he heard the child crying from inside the bag. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, a woman had wrapped the baby in a towel.

Jacobs said they clamped the umbilical cord, rubbed the child and gave her oxygen.

“The baby was pale. We knew she needed heat. We put the heat on full in the vehicle and wrapped her in blankets.”

On arrival at the hospital, Hope was stabilised in an incubator, from which she was removed on Friday morning.

The child weighs three kilograms.

Provincial Health Department spokeswoman Angelique Jordaan said Hope’s case had also been assessed by a social worker.

Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said a concealment of birth case has been opened for investigation, but that no arrests had yet been made.

Anyone with information about the baby’s mother should call Crime Stop on 08600 10111. -Weekend Argus

"They were everywhere… I was sure they were going to kill him and his family."

GANG violence, which exploded in various Cape Flats suburbs in recent weeks, spilt over into Ocean View yesterday with a revenge attack on the home of an alleged drug dealer and the shooting of an alleged gangster in what was apparently a battle for turf.

Battles between the Americans and Hard Livings gangs in Manenberg and Lavender Hill have dominated newspaper headlines in the past two weeks, with three people shot dead and 10 others injured.

In Ocean View yesterday, according to police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana, rivals attacked the home of an alleged drug dealer in Pluto Street.

Neighbours and witnesses, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because they said they feared for their safety, said about 20 men armed with spades and knives launched an all-out assault on the house at about 8.40am yesterday.

The group used the spades to smash the alleged dealer’s car and damage the motor of a small boat on a trailer.

A neighbour said a petrol bomb was thrown through one of the windows in a bid to lure the man and his friends out. But when that failed, the men tore down the front gate to gain access.

Some of the men reportedly used bricks to try and bash their way through the corrugated iron roof. “They were everywhere. I was sure they were going to kill him and his family. It was in full view of the entire street,” one man said. The sound of police sirens approaching finally scared the men off, and neighbours later escorted the man’s wife and young son from the house. The man the group were apparently after remained inside.

The crowds waited for more than an hour in the rain for police to escort the man, along with two others, into a Nyala and off to the police station. Kinana said when police tried to control the crowd, some residents damaged the tyres of five police vehicles. Eight people were arrested on charges of public violence.

Residents said the assault was a revenge attack after one of the alleged dealer’s guards allegedly killed another enforcer who belonged to a rival gang three weeks ago. They said this was the second attack on the man in recent weeks.

“He (the dealer) and one of his guards were both shot in the leg about two weeks ago. Another man was shot dead after he was caught in the crossfire. He wasn’t a gangster. He was just looking for a place to sleep and got too close to the house,” one woman said.

Residents say they’re now determined that the man must leave the area, where he has lived for two years, before there is another attack.

“He must go now… It’s clear these people won’t stop until they have eliminated the competition. We will not let ourselves or our children become casualties of their war,” one neighbour said.

Meanwhile, a member of the Naughty Boys gang was shot, by rivals from the Hard Livings gang in Ivy Court, across the road from the Pluto Street house.

Kinana said the 32-year-old man was rushed to a nearby hospital in a serious condition at about 9am yesterday and that a case of attempted murder had been opened.

Residents of Ivy Court say the Naughty Boys member was shot in a revenge attack after trying to shoot a member of the Hard Livings.

The Hard Livings member told Weekend Argus:

“They fired three shots at me three times this morning, but all missed. The fighting between us has been going on for more than half a year. They are trying to expand their turf by taking over ours.” -Weekend Argus

ANC's Jessie Duarte says "apartheid has seeped back, very quietly and comfortably."

The ANC’s Jessie Duarte has torn into the DA-run Western Cape and City of Cape Town, expressing her disgust at how she says “apartheid has seeped back, very quietly and comfortably, into the province”.

“What apartheid left, the DA has just taken forward... we must admit as a nation that this is an apartheid-run province...” Duarte, the ANC’s deputy secretary-general, said during a visit to Bonteheuwel on Friday.

In recent weeks, the ANC has wheeled out the big guns, including President Jacob Zuma, in its struggle to take control of the Western Cape in next year’s elections. And after her visit which also included stops last week in the southern Cape and West Coast, Duarte scored the Western Cape government a zero for service delivery to the poor.

“I’ve been to Fish Hoek, where the DA made promises they did not keep. The people do not have water there, there’s an open drain running through the area, but there’s more concern about the wetlands than there is concern for the people,” Duarte said.

She accused the provincial government of “really not doing anything here for black people; let me be blunt, because I’ve not seen white people in this city live in these conditions.

“What Helen Zille is telling us is that there’s two South Africas, one is hers for rich people, and they could also include rich black people, but not for the poor,” Duarte said. -Weekend Argus

A case of arson has been opened after a house in Delft was set alight in a domestic dispute, an official has said.

Cape Town - A case of arson has been opened after a house in Delft was set alight in a domestic dispute, a Cape Town official said on Monday.

The fire was apparently started in Orinoco Circle, Eindhoven, on Sunday afternoon, said disaster risk management centre spokesman Wilfred-Solomons Johannes.

“They (the firefighters) were able to quickly extinguish the flames, but the ceiling, walls, windows, door and floor suffered severe fire, heat, smoke and water damage,” he said.

The rest of the house and its contents were slightly damaged. - Sapa

A man’s body was burned beyond recognition when his shack caught alight in Du Noon, a Cape Town official said.

Cape Town - A man died when his shack caught alight in Du Noon on Monday morning, a Cape Town official said.

His body was burned beyond recognition when firefighters arrived on the scene in Mnandi Road around 1am, said disaster risk management centre spokesman Wilfred-Solomons Johannes.

Another person escaped the fire without injury.

The cause of the fire was being investigated. - Sapa

A Cape Town man has denied that he doused his ex-girlfriend and two others with petrol before setting them alight.

Cape Town - A Factreton man has denied that he doused his ex-girlfriend and two other people with petrol before setting them alight inside a wendy house last year.

Shaun Jacobs pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and one of arson regarding the August 11 incident.

It is the State’s case that Jacobs set the wendy house alight because his ex-girlfriend, Gasbeyah Abduragmaan, no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him.

Abduragmaan had been living in the one-room wendy house with a friend, Anne Petersen, for about three months before the incident.

Abduragmaan testified in the Cape Town Regional Court that she left Jacobs and went to live with Petersen to get away from her boyfriend.

Petersen, Abduragmaan and a man, Junane Jacobs, were in the wendy house on the day of the attack.

Shaun Jacobs arrived at the house at about 9am and demanded to speak to Abduragmaan.

She said he should leave. “I told him I wanted nothing to do with him,” Abduragmaan testified.

Two hours later, he allegedly returned holding something behind his back.

Jacobs allegedly threw a fluid - the trio believe it was petrol - into the wendy house and it caught fire.

Abduragmaan and Junane Jacobs spent seven weeks and 12 days in hospital respectively.

Abduragmaan, who had severe burns to her face and back, told the court that she ended her relationship with Jacobs because he abused her physically and emotionally and accused her of having an affair.

She denied the infidelity claims, saying that she had loved him.

“ We were together for seven years. I worked for him. I was good to him.”

The court heard that she had moved back in with him after the incident.

“I loved him and I forgave him,” Abduragmaan said when magistrate Jan van Zyl questioned her about why she returned to live with her ex-boyfriend.

The court also heard that the trio had smoked tik the night before the fire, but Abduragmaan denied that they had been smoking that morning.

The case continues.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Khoisan activists evicted for occupying a block of flats in District Six have erected a “matjieshuis” in the area.

Cape Town - Khoisan activists evicted for occupying a block of flats illegally in District Six erected a “matjieshuis” in the area on Sunday as a tribute to their aboriginal ancestors.

Tania Kleinhans, co-founder of the Institute for the Restoration of the Aborigine of South Africa (Irasa), one of the occupiers who had to vacate the flats meant for District Six land claimants, said the matjieshuis paid homage to their aboriginal roots.

It is a traditional Khoi dwelling. The houses were made of reed mats laid over a dome-shaped frame.

Kleinhans said this was their third attempt to have a matjieshuis permanently placed in the District Six vicinity. The two other the group had built were allegedly torn down by the city council land invasion unit.

“We have a right to our customs and our rights to the District Six land are deep-rooted in our indigenous roots,” said Kleinhans.

“The matjieshuis is a symbolic gesture that links us to the land before the development took place. It’s a place where we can talk to our ancestors.

“Other people are allowed to honour their ancestors around the country, why can’t we be left in peace?”

The matjieshuis is built in a field along Keizersgracht, just before Zonnebloem Road, overlooking the new District Six flats.

“It’s a great location for it, our ancestors can look over us and their land,” said Kleinhans.

When the Cape Argus visited the site on Sunday, the group had finished building the matjieshuis, which has five white flags around it as “a sign of peace”.

The group of about seven were planning to hold an overnight vigil in the house before attending court this morning. They had camping chairs and blankets with them.

Rene Hussain, of Athlone, whose father-in-law is an original claimant, said: “We will be here tonight guarding the matjieshuis. If they destroy it, we will build it again.”

On Tuesday, the Western Cape High Court served a final eviction order to Kleinhans and about six other families who had illegally occupied the block of flats.

The exceptions were the Soffels family, with two children, who were given until Monday to find alternative accommodation after they refused an offer to go to Blikkiesdorp.

Cape Argus

Gang violence across the Cape Flats has claimed more lives, after two men were shot dead in Manenberg and Lavender Hill.

Cape Town - Gang violence across the Cape Flats continues to claim lives with the latest victim a 23-year-old man shot dead in Manenberg over the weekend - the fourth murder in the area in the past month.

The 23-year-old was shot in the neck in a suspected gang attack in Dina Court on Saturday. He died shortly after arriving at GF Jooste Hospital.

Provincial police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said: “Witnesses said they heard gunshots and then saw the 23-year-old victim run and collapse in the Dina Court flats’ yard.” A murder docket had been opened.

Another Manenberg resident is recovering in hospital after he was shot on Sunday.

Deon Titus, 47, was in Scheldt Walk when he was approached by three men who shot at him. A relative, who did not want to be named, said Titus gone to a shop to buy a cigarette.

Kinana said the men approached as Titus was entering the shop’s front gate. “He then asked what they wanted. Without any warning one of the three males pulled out a firearm and fired several shots at him, hitting him in the left shoulder and grazing his forehead.”

The men fled on foot. A case of attempted murder has been opened.

In Lavender Hill

, father of two Edmund Booysen, 29, was shot dead on Friday as he left for work from his St Montague Village home.

His mother, Ansoline Syce, said he left home at about 5am. Minutes later, a neighbour rushed over to tell her that Booysen had been shot.

Nazley Solomons, Booysen’s partner of nine years, was devastated by his death. His aunt, Wilma Heynes, said Booysen was a no-nonsense person who wasn’t intimidated by anyone. “The sad part is that he has two boys aged two and four.”

Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said the shooting was being investigated.

The murder followed a shooting in Lavender Hill on Wednesday night. A 29-year-old man died after being shot eight times in the neck and face.

Meanwhile, eight people are to appear in the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with an attack on an alleged drug dealer’s house in Ocean View.

The group were arrested on Saturday night and charged with public violence after they allegedly burnt boats, smashed a car and damaged the roof of a house believed to belong to an alleged drug lord in Pluto Street. Police evacuated the family.

The tyres of five police vans were also damaged.

Police said it was apparently a revenge attack for the shooting of a 32-year-old man that morning.

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said most of the gang battles were over drug turf or the initiation of gangsters.

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said most of the gang battles over drug turf or the initiation of gangsters behind the shootings.

Cape Argus

Two children set their house alight while playing with matches in Macassar, a Cape Town official said.

Cape Town - Two children set their house alight while playing with matches in Macassar, a Cape Town official said on Monday.

Disaster risk management centre spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the two-year-old girl and her 17-year-old mentally disabled sister started the fire on Sunday morning.

Parts of the house were gutted and parts were seriously damaged.

The siblings escaped without injury.

Solomons-Johannes said the two were apparently locked in the house while their mother went to a shebeen.

“Social workers will conduct an investigation today (on Monday) and the mother could face possible charges of child negligence in terms of the Children's Act,” he said. - Sapa

The Basic Education Minister admitted that a matric exams task team announced nine months ago had not started work.

Cape Town - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga admitted on Monday that a task team probing matric exams that she announced nine months ago had not started its work because her department had been unable to finalise who would sit on it.

Interviewed on 567 Cape Talkon Monday morning, the minister said there had been “delays” in finalising the names, but vowed that the first meeting would be held this month.

“I can certainly tell you that the first meeting is going to be in July and you can expect a report in the next six months. There have been delays in terms of finalising the names. But it is also the process because we have so many other committees running and I had to say which one comes first,” she said.

She told talk show host Kieno Kammies that her department had spent the past six months finalising the names, doing groundwork and retrieving files needed for the investigation.

The committee was widely welcomed when it was announced last October, amid concern about the quality of the matric exams.

In 2012 a record 73.9 percent of candidates passed the exam, the highest pass rate since the current National Senior Certificate was introduced in 2006. But only 26.6 of these obtained university passes – and they were only required to obtain a pass mark of 30 percent in some subjects.

Brad Brockman,

general secretary of education NGO Equal Education, said the department had set itself the task of evaluating the qualification.

“They should be held accountable,” he said. “When we look at the pass requirements, we should ask whether our matrics are able to access tertiary education opportunities, or are they sitting at home, looking for low-paying work?”

Motshekga said Equal Education had not asked her how far the process was. “They should have checked and I would have told them.”

The minister told the radio station the matric exams had not changed and suggested critics did not like it when the government succeeded.

“They didn’t write anything new in 2012 (compared to 2006, 2008 and 2010). The only difference now is that we are going up and there’s a discomfort with that.”

Cape Argus