The man who is responsible for the "Madiba monument" says the idea struck him while he was in the Cape for the World Cup.

Cape Town - Blame Fifa boss Sepp Blatter if you’re concerned about the proposed “Madiba monument” on Table Mountain - because the man who is responsible for it says the idea struck him while he was in Cape Town for the 2010 World Cup.

Dutchman Aad Bak, a one-time physical education teacher and “reasonably successful” businessman who is currently a writer, said he had been on the City Sightseeing Red Bus during the World Cup when he had “somehow” alighted in District Six.

“Took myself a nice seat on a rock and watched around. (Then) I got the idea to make some monument like Mount Rushmore for Nelson Mandela.”

But he also said that more research was needed to select the most suitable site for such a monument.

Initial concept drawings show a 60x30m structure attached to the cliffs on the north-western side of Table Mountain below the cableway - because “we don’t want to spoil the nature park of the mountain range”.

And he conceded the project team should have approached the local authorities, including the Nelson Mandela Foundation, before announcing their proposal, but said they had not wanted to miss Madiba’s birthday on July 18.

Bak explained his friends had responded positively to his monument idea.

“So it became time to get some things on paper and start working on it.”

He had found architect Ramon Knoester from the design company WHIM through Facebook - he didn’t know him - and had asked for an appointment. “He was also enthusiastic and made a concept of the design like it is now.”

Approaching the various authorities would be their next step, Bak said.

He estimated initial costs would probably be between R6.57 million and R13.15m.

john.yeld@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

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The plight of Cape Town’s homeless has been pushed into the spotlight by the city’s construction of a barrier under the unfinished elevated freeway in the CBD.

Cape Town - A prudent step to remove street people from a risky environment, or an undertaking that would simply make their lives more difficult.

These are some of the responses in reaction to Thursday’s article on the city’s construction of a field of vertical rocks under the unfinished elevated freeway, which forced the street people who had been living there to move.

Head of the Haven Night Shelter Welfare Organisation Hassan Khan agreed people had to move, saying the area was dangerous.

“That particular area has fast-flowing traffic. No pedestrians should be there, as people are likely to be victims of an accident,” he said.

The organisation runs nine homeless shelters in Cape Town and six more in other Western Cape towns.

“My priority is to encourage people to get off the street,” said Khan, adding “a homeless person is disconnected from family, has lost contact with friends and lost a sense of connectedness with society”.

Khan said the longer people lived on the street, the harder it became for them to reintegrate into society, so measures that encouraged them to get off the street should be praised.

But urban development analyst and Cape Times columnist Rory Williams said the city should be looking at ways to make life easier for the homeless, rather than more difficult.

“Using rocks embedded in concrete is a creative way to stop people from using a space without putting up fences, but a really meaningful innovation would be to find a way to attract the homeless to safer locations. People complain about how the freeway creates a wasteland, yet when a group of people figure out a way to occupy that space, we chase them away,” said Williams.

“We should be learning how to use this space more effectively rather than arguing about knocking down the freeway.”

According to mayco member for transport Brett Herron, the city has built two preventative rock fields.

The area under the footbridge across Nelson Mandela Boulevard near the “Boulevard” office block also has rocks in concrete to prevent street people from sleeping there. Herron has previously said the city had no policy to make it difficult for street people to sleep under bridges, but fires made against the bridge’s concrete could weaken it.

Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said on Tuesday the city had received “hundreds” of complaints that the area had become dangerous for pedestrians and cars due to the conduct of the group living under the bridge.

Asked for comment, Priscilla Urquhart, the media manager for Cape Town World Design Capital 2014, said they were not involved in the project.

The city said street people could phone 0800 872 201 for assistance.

* Our article on Thursday, “Struggling between a road and a hard place”, quoted a homeless resident identified as Tyrone as saying he and others had been moved from underneath the unfinished freeway by the Central City Improvement District (CCID). The CCID has pointed out that the area does not fall under its jurisdiction.

Cape Times

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The families of Richard Bloom and Brett Goldin are to be asked to come face to face with men linked to their deaths.

Cape Town - The families of murdered fashion designer Richard Bloom and budding actor Brett Goldin are to be asked to come face-to-face with men linked to their deaths.

Convicts Jade Wyngaard and Nurshad Davids have served six and a half years of their 12-year sentences and this week they launched fresh bids to be set free.

This came a year after parole was denied last July.

The Department of Correctional Services’ Simphiwe Xako said on Thursday parole had again been denied on Wednesday, but this time the parole board had ruled that the “victim-offender mediation” process should begin.

“The objective of this process is that victims do not feel aggrieved if offenders are granted parole,” he explained.

“The ruling means the department must try to facilitate dialogue - hopefully successfully - between the victim and the offenders.

“The pair will then appear again on December 2 to hear if the parole board is happy with how this process has gone.”

But Goldin’s mother, Denise, said of the news: “I’m very distressed. I’ve got to the stage that I’m so absolutely shattered. I haven’t stopped crying since last night. I can’t continue like this. I’m falling apart at the moment.

“Professor Robert Peacock, a past parole board chairman and a professor of criminology, and the vice-president of the World Society of Victimology... he’s going to take it all on for all of us family members.

“For them to put pressure on us to meet them in the next four months is undue pressure. We need to have time to get our thoughts together. It will help the offenders, but who says it will help us?

“The only thing that could help us is to have their assurance that they will give us the absolute truth about what happened that night.

“And we want an assurance from the parole board that they’ve been fully rehabilitated and that they can go back to their communities and go back to be productive members of society. Only then would we agree to possible dialogue.

“Otherwise it’s only going to lead to more heartache for all of us,” Goldin said.

Davids and Wyngaard were initially sentenced to 15 years each for robbery, kidnapping and possession of an unlicensed firearm, but three years were taken off because they agreed to testify for the State - which they never did because a plea bargain was struck.

Cape Argus

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A man was shot outside the gates of a primary school in Mannenberg, causing the school to close and pupils sent home.

A man was shot outside the gates of a primary school on Friday, and pupils at the school have been sent home.

Nine shots were fired outside Sonderend Primary School in Manenberg following a night of gang shootings, and the victim, allegedly a gangster, was taken to hospital in a critical condition, witnesses said.

The shooting comes a little over a week after caretaker Graham Jaftha was shot outside the school. News that Jaftha had died at about midnight started circulating a few hours before the latest incident.

“We are not doing well. It’s very emotional and traumatising for the pupils, the staff and myself.

“Only the MEC can close a school officially, but we only have five pupils left today (those who could not arrange transport to their homes at such short notice),” said principal Leon Beukes.

Jaftha was shot last week while cycling to the school to lock up and set the alarm, Beukes said.

The shooting this morning happened just as pupils were arriving at the gates.

Bystanders told the Cape Argus that the shooting was the latest attack in the ongoing turf war between the Americans and the Hard Livings gangs. The shooters were allegedly members of the Americans gang, and the victim was a member of the Hard Livings gang.

“This has been going on a long time. We know that when these gangsters shoot, they sometimes just shoot at random. We are scared for our children’s lives, because two shootings have now happened right outside the school,” said Louise Sisher, the mother of three girls.

Manenberg Community Police Forum’s spokesman Kader Jacobs said: “The shooting began at around 11pm last night, and only ended at about 5.45am this morning.

“(It’s) a low-level war situation… ”

He believed the warring gangs were the Ugly Americans and the Hard Livings, defending turf at the south and north ends of Renoster Street.

Cape Argus

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A man forced his way into a class at a school in Crossroads and pulled a gun on a teacher in front of her pupils.

Cape Town - A man forced his way into a classroom at Dr Nelson R Mandela High School in Crossroads and pulled a gun on teacher Maureen Gcantsana in front of her Grade 9 class.

The man was accompanied by one of Gcantsana’s pupils.

Gcantsana, who has worked at the school for 21 years, said chaos erupted: “All the pupils started screaming, I did too. With the gun right to my face, I pushed the man until he stumbled through the door.”

She said Thursday’s drama began when someone started banging on the door. The banging persisted and she opened the door, but blocked it from swinging open with her foot.

A man asked for her name, and when she confirmed who she was, he forced open the door, pulled a gun out of a togbag and pointed it at her forehead. Gcantsana pushed him out of the classroom, and then realised he had left his bag behind.

“But we have been too afraid to open it. We want to hand it to police.”

Surrounded by fellow teachers, a tearful Gcantsana spoke to the Cape Argus in the school’s locked staff room, while hundreds of pupils milled about outside. The pupils who had been in the classroom were waiting for trauma counsellors from the Department of Education in a separate room.

Staff said classes had been informally suspended in the wake of the incident.

Gcantsana said: “I will not come back until my safety is assured. I want the department to make this assurance to me.”

Both the principal, Linda Mnotoza, and Bronagh Casey, spokeswoman for Education MEC Donald Grant, said Thursday’s incident appeared to be an attempted robbery, but Gcantsana contested this.

“They asked for me by name. Only then did the man attack me. I don’t feel as though this was a robbery, I think that the man wanted to scare me. He wanted to send me a message. For what reason, I don’t know,” she said.

Other teachers accused the principal of threatening them with disciplinary action if they did not perform the “duties of security guards” such as patrolling the campus and checking pupils for weapons. Casey accused the teachers of drawing on a history of personal grievances against Mnotoza.

At the beginning of the school year, the Cape Argus reported that teachers at the school were protesting against Mnotoza’s return as principal. Grant rebuked the teachers, saying accusations that Mnotoza was extorting money from parents were unfounded.

Casey said the claim that the department was not supporting the school was false. “There are two security guards at the school, which have been arranged by the department. The department has also provided the school with a fence - damaged in certain areas but not torn down.”

In addition, funding for an alarm system had been approved.

Mnotoza said while the fence was sufficient, they needed more than two security guards: “We need more human resources in security so that they can deal with these breaches when they happen, instead of just having someone manning the gate.”

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

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A woman who embezzled R1.4 million while in the employ of Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town, was jailed for six years.

Cape Town - A woman who embezzled R1.4 million while in the employ of Bishops Diocesan College in Rondebosch, Cape Town, was jailed on Friday for six years on 65 counts of fraud.

Marlene Dirks-Connally, 45, daughter of a priest, sobbed as she embraced her husband in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, before being led out of the court room to the holding cells.

She appeared before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who told her that there was “no excuse for what she had done”.

She said Dirks-Connally could have approached her father for counselling, but had failed to do so.

Dirks-Connally was a credit clerk at Bishops, and was responsible for ensuring that the school's service providers were paid.

Sonnenberg said Dirks-Connally had created fictitious invoices, and had channelled the payments into her own bank account over a period of three years.

Dirks-Connally had heard “via the grapevine” how electronic systems could be manipulated, and financial pressures had led her to experiment with manipulation.

Sonnenberg added: “Why did she do this? Because she heard that it can be done. She then tried it, it worked and she became greedy.”

She said Bishops only became aware of the embezzlement when a service provider refunded an amount that had been overpaid.

The service provider informed the school of the repayment, and the school then launched an investigation to establish how and why the overpayment had occurred in the first instance.

At that stage, an amount of R1 416 410 had already been embezzled, she said.

Sonnenberg said Dirks-Connally had executed her carefully planned scheme over a period of three years.

Prosecutor Derek Vogel told the court that Bishops was a famous private school, and that the staff and financial management were shocked and appalled that such a huge sum of money had been stolen “from under their noses”.

He said the school aimed at excellence in education, music and sport, not only for the rich but boasting 40 pupils from poorer communities who were talented in music and sport.

Because the embezzlement exceeded R500 000, Dirks-Connally qualified for the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for a first-time offender.

However, he listed circumstances that justified a less severe sentence, including that she had pleaded guilty and was a first-time offender.

Sonnenberg rejected as “too lenient” defence counsel Christie Casner's suggestion of correctional supervision, involving a 10-month period of imprisonment, to then be released into house arrest.

She said a fine was also out of the question, as it would give would-be offenders the idea that they could buy themselves out of a prison sentence.

Sapa

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A man who allegedly bought liquor using counterfeit R200 notes appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.

Cape Town - A man who allegedly bought liquor using counterfeit R200 notes appeared briefly in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Cape Town, on Friday.

Colin Diergaardt, 38, allegedly gave some of the notes to three friends to buy liquor in Lamberts Bay in September 2004.

One of the friends, Koos Links, allegedly bought a case of beer while Anthony van Zyl, another friend, bought three five-litre containers of wine.

All four men were arrested soon afterwards, after R22 800 in counterfeit notes was allegedly found in their possession.

The men face charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, possession of counterfeit money and purchasing goods with counterfeit money.

Only Diergaardt appeared in court on Friday with magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg postponing the matter to Thursday.

Sapa

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Two men were arrested between Stanford and Gansbaai after being found in possession of 1 963 perlemoen.

Cape Town - Two men were arrested on Friday after being found in possession of perlemoen, Western Cape police said.

Police were patrolling the R43 road around 1.15pm when they spotted a white Isuzu bakkie going towards Stanford from Gansbaai, said Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana.

“The vehicle was pulled off the road. According to the reports, one of the occupants in the vehicle jumped off and ran away.”

Police searched the bakkie and confiscated 10 bags containing around 1963 perlemoen.

Police arrested the two remaining men, aged between 27 and 29.

They are expected to appear in the Hermanus Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Sapa

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A Khayelitsha speedster killed two men after losing control of her vehicle and crashing into a shack.

Cape Town - A Khayelitsha speedster killed two men after losing control of her vehicle and crashing into a shack, paramedics said on Friday.

The accident happened on Thursday night at the corner of Oscar Mpetha Drive and Mew Way in Harare, Khayelitsha.

“According to eyewitness accounts, the female was speeding and lost control of the vehicle. She attempted to bring the vehicle to a standstill by braking,” said spokesman for the Cape Town disaster risk management centre, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

The car hit one of the shacks where two men were inside.

Upon the arrival of paramedics it was found that the female driver and the two men had sustained multiple injuries. The two men died at the scene.

Sapa

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The Directorate of Public Prosecutions is pursuing its case against the alleged ringleaders of Cape Town’s so-called “poo protests”.

The Directorate of Public Prosecutions is pursuing its case against the alleged ringleaders of Cape Town’s so-called “poo protests”, along with a third man, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Friday.

The two alleged ringleaders are former ANC councillor Andile Lili, and ANC proportional councillor Loyiso Nkohla. The third man is Thembela Mbanjwa.

Appearing in the same court on Friday were about 160 of a total 183 people who were arrested at the Woodstock station in June, while on their way to the provincial legislature in Cape Town to dump human waste outside Western Cape Premier Helen Zille’s offices.

Arrest warrants were issued for the rest of the accused, who failed to appear on Friday.

Many of the accused and their supporters toyi-toyied, blew whistles and sang protest songs in front of the court for hours. Some carried placards saying “Portable toilets tender belongs to DA and Helen Zille”, and “We reject portable toilets”.

They also shouted slogans denouncing Zille and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille.

Both cases were postponed to October 25.

The charge sheet in the case against Lili, Nkohla and Mbanjwa also accused them of contravening the National Environmental Management Waste Act 59 of 2008 on June 3 at the provincial legislature in Wale Street through pollution and endangering health.

According to the indictment, the accuseds’ housing estate homes

“are provided with portable lavatories by the city.

A dispute and a grievance has arisen between the accused and other residents of the informal housing estates and the city over the perceived neglect of the sanitation in these estates. This perceived neglect included infrequent and irregular removal of human waste”. - Saturday Argus

henriette.geldenhuys@inl.co.za

R50 000 has been offered for information that will result in the arrest and prosecution of the killers of Western Cape cops.

Cape Town - A R50 000 reward has been offered for information that will result in the arrest and prosecution of the killers of Western Cape police officers, the provincial community safety department said on Sunday.

“No amount of money can make up for the loss of a life, and no amount of money will provide comfort to the family, friends and colleagues of the police officers killed in recent weeks,” MEC Dan Plato said in a statement.

“But it is my hope that by offering a reward that someone, somewhere, will come forward and help the police catch the cowardly criminals responsible for these terrible acts.”

Plato said the awarding of the money would be at the police's discretion. The Western Cape police supported the department's initiative.

Three policemen had been killed in Cape Town since last Sunday. - Sapa

SA's high crime rate is going viral, with footage from CCTV and private security making its way on to YouTube.

Cape Town - South Africa’s high incidence of crime is going viral, with footage from CCTV and private security, reflecting some of the country’s most shocking and brutal crimes, making its way on to YouTube.

And experts are torn on whether the footage, detailing everything from break-ins and hijackings to assault and murders, is being used as warnings to others or simply for its shock value.

 In one of the most shocking incidents, Durban man Ryan Sutherland and a friend are ambushed by two men with a panga and knife, hidden in bushes outside Sutherland’s home. A third man joins in the attack, which sees them stab Sutherland twice, then enter his home through the kitchen, terrifying a woman inside.

 One of the men grabs a cellphone before exiting the home – and the entire ordeal is captured in less than two minutes of video.

In another clip, four men break into what appears to be the business premises of a Cape Town fabric company. Within less than two minutes they steal two laptops and two computer towers, and flee the scene.

Gus Silber, journalist and social media expert, said security footage of crimes had always been around, but that there had been an upsurge in the number of these videos being posted online.

“These videos are just like news on any other form of social media. There has definitely been an increase, but it’s hard to say why. It could be just for the sake of putting something sensational on the internet, or people sharing their own experiences with crime,” he said.

Comments made on the videos seem to suggest the latter; on a video clip highlighting gang shootings in Manenberg, some commented on their frustration with crime and the perceived inefficiency of the police. About 21 gunshots can be heard during the 71-second clip.

Sakuta Yaya comments that people who don’t live in such areas shouldn’t try to quell “the Pagad uprising”.

 Silber said the videos might also be posted as a warning to others, or even to help identify culprits caught on film. But while they could be used for a range of purposes, he pointed to a negative element.

“By manipulating the footage you can easily make it look like someone is committing a crime when they aren’t,” he warned.

 Gareth Newham, head of governance, crime and justice at the Institute for Security Studies, believes however that the majority of the videos are being posted for pure shock value. “There is definitely a voyeuristic element in these videos. It’s about seeing or experiencing things out of the ordinary, and the shock of entertainment.

“If you really wanted to warn people on how to avoid becoming a victim of crime, you could simply make a video on it without the violence,” he said, adding that such content could also make people unduly paranoid.

“With the vast amount of footage it can seem like these incidents are a normal occurrence, but we know they’re not. Unless people exercise self-awareness this can lead to serious misconceptions.

“An international tourist may see footage and decide that South Africa is far too dangerous to visit. Most people will know that every country has issues with violence and crime, and that these are often the worst and most sensational examples, but not everyone will consider that before passing judgment,” he said.

Silber was adamant that the positives outweighed these negatives.

“Whether these video clips are put on as warnings or for shock value, they can still help solve crimes. The case of the petrol jockey killed in Cape Town a while ago proved that it can, by identifying the suspect’s vehicle.”

He suggested a specialised unit to examine footage posted on YouTube to identify perpetrators may be useful.

 Nyanga cluster commander Major-General Robbie Roberts said he would welcome any sort of footage during a criminal investigation. “As long as we can identify the face of a suspect, it is enough to give us a lead. And we welcome any such footage. We have used such methods in the past, and will use them again in the future,” he added.

 kowthar.solomons@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille is standing by MEC Dan Plato, despite the furore over an explosive affidavit.

Cape Town - Western Cape Premier Helen Zille is standing by her Community Safety MEC Dan Plato, despite the furore that erupted over an explosive affidavit by a self-confessed gangster who revealed he was “guided by angels” and had a colourful past as a “top spy”.

This comes after Weekend Argus spoke to Pierre Wyngaardt, the man behind the affidavit

which implicated senior ANC members and top police officials in drug trafficking, money laundering, ATM bombings and corruption, on Friday.

Wyngaardt said he was a “prophet” with “special spiritual abilities”, who was guided by angels to go to an international NGO to draw up his controversial affidavit.

In it, he claimed that police Major General Jeremy Vearey, ANC provincial chairman and Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Marius Fransman, and ANC MPL Max Ozinsky were involved in criminal activities with Western Cape gangs.

But on Saturday night Zille came out in support of Plato’s decision to pass on Wyngaardt’s information to the Public Protector.

“Dan received the allegations and passed them on to the Public Protector, who passed them on to the Provincial Director of Public Prosecutions. Dan could not ignore the submission. He referred it, and it was investigated,” Zille said.

Defending Plato further, the premier added that the kind of investigation sparked by the affidavit was not part of the MEC’s job description, or mandate, which was why he had passed it on. “

It was up to the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide what to do, and he decided to drop the case.”

Questioned about Wyngaardt specifically, Zille said she had no knowledge of him personally visiting her office, but that her office had a detailed tracking system for every arrival.

According to

Wyngaardt, he first took his affidavit to Zille’s office, but did not meet her.

Meanwhile, Vearey has struck back at Plato over what he called “wildly preposterous allegations” contained in the affidavit.

An outraged Vearey accused the MEC of not only believing, but also circulating an “Alice in Wonderland fairytale” concocted by a “seemingly mad man”.

Vearey said it was not surprising NPA head Rodney de Kock found the source of the allegations was a witness who lacked credibility, and whose version could not be corroborated in any respect.

He also warned the “political village idiots involved in this attack on my reputation”, which he claimed was personal.

“I don’t see any other rational reason for this, besides political prejudice around my (ANC) past. I make no apologies for my past.

“This nonsense has been well-orchestrated. I’ve had a sense of humour about this idiocy for a long time, but I’ve lost my sense of humour now.”

Vearey also said he was aware that others had provided “similar manufactured affidavits to the MEC”. Wyngaardt, he added, was “no innocent who walked into a place by accident to make a statement”.

“There were no angels who accompanied him. I… can assure you that they do not fit the description of angels,” he said.

Weekedn Argus

The group behind the Medupi plant and several top businesswomen are among the partners in one of the biggest government contracts yet.

Cape Town - The group under pressure to deliver the Medupi power plant, several of South Africa’s top businesswomen, and groups representing the disabled and autistic are among the partners in one of the biggest government contracts yet – the first of two multibillion-rand contracts to replace South Africa’s ageing rail stock for the Passenger Rail Association of South Africa’ (Prasa).

The R123 billion programme has been split into two 10-year contracts.

The first contract, valued at R51bn, was awarded last year to the Gibela Consortium, made up of French company Alstom and local company Actom.

More than 60 percent of all the train components will be locally produced, creating up to 33 000 direct and indirect jobs.

The 30 percent BEE stake will be held by three consortiums which together will hold 17 percent of the deal, an educational trust (3 percent) and an employee trust (10 percent).

The three consortiums are:

* Community Rail Services, which is made up of “a number of people with disabilities”, black female youths, Parmtro Investments and Kaelo Investments.

The directors include Anna Mokgokong, a businesswoman who is founder of Community Investment Holdings, a multibillion-rand company with interests in mining, pharmaceuticals, technology and logistics, and Mokganyetsi Sithole, a director at NKWE Platinum, a resources company which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

She is married to the ANC chief whip in the City of Johannesburg, Bafana Sithole.

The third director is Esther Letlape, an award-winning businesswoman who has worked in human resources at major South African companies such as Sappi and Sasol and is a director at PetroSA.

* Khipunyawo Rail, a black-owned enterprise already involved in the rail sector and made up of SA Freight Logistics, and Autism South Africa.

The directors of the consortium could not be found through a deed search.

SA Freight Logistics is headed by businessman Thami Gwala, who is also a majority shareholder in the company.

He is the president of the Railroad Association of South Africa and SA Freight Logistics was one of the first BEE companies to obtain a Train Operator Railway Safety Permit from the Railway Safety Regulator.

* Elgin-Identity is a black investor enterprise. The consortium includes the Durban-based Elgin Engineering, Identity Capital Partners, which is a women-headed investment firm, and the Disability Empowerment Concerns Trust.

No directors of the consortium could be found through a deed search.

Elgin’s active directors are listed as chief executive Lee Donjeany, chief operating officer Ian Donjeany and managing director Vincent Chetty.

Identity lists its shareholders as well-known businesswomen Sonja Sebotsa, Polo Radebe (the former chief director of BEE at the Department of Trade and Industry) and Nedbank chief financial officer Raisibe Morathi.

Prasa group chief executive Lucky Montana told Parliament this week that the average age of South Africa’s trains was about 40 years, and they were currently coming to the end of their design life, with many due for retirement in 2015/16.

“The last new train sets were bought in the mid-1980s,” he said, adding that the technology was “old and inherently obsolete”.

A comparison of 22 of the features of the trains used by Metrorail and modern trains revealed that the Metrorail trains only passed in one area – they had heating.

They were deemed “adequate” in another two areas and failed in the remaining 19, including areas of speed, crashworthiness, signalling, ventilation and air-conditioning.

The fleet renewal programme will see the construction of a new facility in Gauteng’s East Rand, where 360 trains will be produced each year for a 20-year period.

The East Rand facility will take about 18 months to complete, and Montana said they had already made a contingency plan to buy the first 20 train sets from overseas, in case of any delays.

After Thursday’s announcement of the BEE partners all that now remains is for the Treasury to release more funding, according to Montana.

He said the Treasury had allocated R40bn for the R51bn contract and Prasa would need to approach them for the remaining funding.

“After that we will sign the contracts and we expect financial close by September 15,” he said.

bianca.capazorio@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

The Robben Island Museum has spent R10m on ferry repairs and private boat hire, after being left high and dry by ferry woes.

Cape Town - The Robben Island Museum has spent a hefty R10 million on repairs and private boat hire in the past two years after being left high and dry by ferry woes – in spite of spending R26m on a new state-of-the-art craft just five years ago.

For years the embattled World Heritage Site has made news for all the wrong reasons. And now it has emerged that in the past financial year the museum forked out nearly R3.3m on repairs to the newest ferry,

Sikhululekile.

And that comes on top of repairs of nearly R2m in the 2011/12 financial year, according to Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile, who was responding to a parliamentary question by the IFP’s Hilda Msweli.

The ferry, bought in 2008, is designed to carry 800 to 1 200 visitors a day but has experienced several breakdowns and other problems that have put it out of action periodically since it arrived.

The Dias, an older ferry, has also racked up its own hefty repair costs – R858 573.95 in 2011/12 and R775 726.72 in 2012/13 financial year.

These costs exclude repairs to both ferries this year.

Robben Island spokesman Shoni Khangala confirmed that only the Sikhululekile is operational. But he said the ferry was big enough to meet demand.

The craft has, however, been out of the water for several weeks between April and last month. Khangala said the repair costs this year totalled R401 803.03. But this figure excluded outstanding invoices.

The Dias, meanwhile, has been out of the water for most of this year. In June, it emerged the Dias had not been operational since January. At the time, it was reported that it would be ready again by last month.

For that ferry, Khangala said, the repair costs have come to R158 898.48.

Repair costs for the third ferry, the Susan Kruger, an old and slow vessel dating back to 1959 and named after apartheid minister Jimmy Kruger’s wife, were not requested by Msweli in Parliament.

Mashatile also revealed that the museum had spent almost R2.6m on private boat hire when the ferries were out of commission.

Khangala said this amount encompassed both the 2011/12 and 2012/13 financial years.

The museum has previously said that the cost of hiring private boats came to R7 980 to R22 000 per trip, with ticket sales covering the cost.

According to the museum’s 2011/12 annual report, 352 229 people visited the island that year, just slightly more than the previous year.

The report noted that “numbers are not growing significantly”.

It also noted that the museum’s income had increased because of an increase in fare prices, and the fact that they had not been forced to hire any private boats that year.

December tourism statistics, released by Economic Development MEC Alan Winde, have shown that the number of tourists visiting the island is declining.

In December 2011, the island saw 7.5 percent fewer tourists than during the same month the previous year.

Last December saw a further drop of 4.7 percent, apparently due to three “bad weather days” which cost the island 5 000 visitors.

Winde has previously called the island “a blemish on our tourism industry”.

Last week he said the ferry breakdowns left foreign visitors disappointed, especially when they had “come to our country to stand at the site of Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment”.

“This not only has an economic impact, but is potentially brand damaging.”

But Winde conceded that the situation had improved “since 2010, when ferry breakdowns were causing massive travel disruptions”, largely because management was now calling on private vessel owners to provide services when the ferry was not operational.

“This has gone some way to mitigate the inconvenience caused by the vessel’s mechanical problems,” he said.

Winde reiterated his previous suggestions that a full maintenance plan be put in place for the ferry, that the national departments of Arts and Culture and Tourism work more closely on the issue of Robben Island, and that visitors be allowed more freedom to explore, through a “hop on, hop off” bus system, so they were not limited to the existing tightly controlled, closed-top buses.

The Sikhululekile has been bedevilled with problems from its arrival. Initially set to launch in 2007, it ran a year behind schedule, and was only launched in February 2008. A few weeks later, it broke down for the first time.

In August that same year, the boat manufacturers attached the vessel because the museum still owed money.

It suffered seven major breakdowns between 2008 and 2010 – including during the busy 2009 December season. It was also out of action for the first few days of the World Cup in June 2010.

That same year it emerged that police were investigating possible sabotage of the ferry, and there were reports of fuel being stolen off it.

A forensic audit also found irregularities around the purchase of the boat, with the contract obviously favouring the boat builders.

Earlier this year, Robben Island Museum officials briefed Parliament on the museum’s turn-around strategy.

Following several years of adverse audit opinions, the museum has for the past two years received unqualified audits.

However, officials told Parliament’s arts and culture portfolio committee they believed a “more reliable ferry” and conference facilities could help boost tourist numbers.

Reviews of the Robben Island tour on the international tourist website TripAdvisor range from glowing to terrible. Many complained that the ferry was either late or cancelled, and some also said it was difficult to get a refund after a cancellation.

“The arrangements, the information, the transporting systems arrangements, were all catastrophic,” one person wrote after visiting in April.

Another wrote that they had to be picked up from the island after their tour by the Jolly Roger, a “novelty pirate ship”, after the boat arrived late to pick up passengers and did not have the capacity to take them all back at once.

Weekend Argus

President Jacob Zuma has called for “extraordinary action” in fighting gang violence in Cape Town.

Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma has called for “extraordinary action” in fighting gang violence, but has not elaborated on exactly what form it should take.

This comes after many calls from the DA for the deployment of the army to gang-ridden areas.

While campaigning for the 2014 election in Bloemfontein over the weekend, Zuma said extraordinary action should be taken in the fight against gangsterism.

ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said the president was addressing issues of justice and how repeat offenders should serve longer sentences.

He said: “The president was responding to complaints about repeat offenders who have been arrested but return to society and commit the same crimes.

“We need to take a closer look at justice and ensure that these people don’t get bail and are kept in prison much longer.”

Khoza added that Zuma would be taking all the complaints back to the government, which would need to come up with a strategic way of combating drugs and gangs.

Khoza said the spate of shootings and the rise in gang violence in Manenberg were not political issues and therefore the police needed to come up with their own way of dealing with them.

The past two months have seen the death toll rise as rivalry between the two major gangs in the area - the Hard Livings and the Americans - has intensified. Thirteen people have been killed and 17 wounded.

Residents voiced their frustration last week when they marched to gang hot spots pleading to the gangs to stop killing innocent people and make peace with each other.

Manenberg resident Valentia van der Berg, who took part in the march, said: “It’s stressful. You can’t go to work like you used to because you have to keep your children indoors all day.”

Police confirmed that two policemen were attacked while responding to a shooting in Sonderend Street on Saturday.

A man shot at the pair, who escaped unharmed. A suspect has been arrested.

* Last week, metro police seized more than R110 000 worth of drugs such as tik, heroin, mandrax and dagga at a flat in Nellie Court, Manenberg Avenue.

Six men aged between 30 and 47 were arrested and will appear in court soon.

zodidi.dano@inl.co.za

Cadet News Agency

Cape Argus

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s leadership style has again come under scrutiny following several controversial decisions.

Cape Town - Disciplinary action for having a different opinion, the muzzling of councillors and the squashing of public engagement – these are the hallmarks of a mayor with a “do as I say” approach, say disgruntled councillors and concerned civic organisations.

Mayor Patricia de Lille’s leadership style has again come under scrutiny following several controversial decisions and proposals by the City of Cape Town – mostly pertaining to development proposals.

In May, the Cape Argus reported growing tensions within her mayoral committee, the top political structure in the council. It was also alleged that top officials with special expertise were no longer able to speak freely about critical issues.

The mayor has alluded to her zero-tolerance management style, saying it was this that helped the city achieve capital expenditure of 92.9 percent of its budget for the previous year.

“I know I was tough and hard at times. We had to fight and I had to shout and swear, but it was worth it,” she told a news conference recently.

But punitive action against dissenting councillors has raised eyebrows.

It is understood that a DA sub-council chairperson was hauled before a disciplinary committee for speaking to the media. The Cape Argus has also seen correspondence from DA councillors who say they have been forced to support certain issues, contrary to their own views.

ANC councillor Tony Ehrenreich said councillors were afraid to voice opinions that differed from the city’s top leadership. Two ANC councillors may have to explain to a disciplinary committee why they said they did not believe the city had achieved the capital expenditure it announced.

Mayoral spokesman Solly Malatsi said all councillors were bound by the code of conduct that required them not to do anything that brought the city into disrepute. “(These councillors) undertook to provide evidence of their claims within a week. They have not done so, because it simply does not exist.”

However, several council recommendations and proposals have sounded alarm bells about De Lille’s way of getting things done. There is a sense that officials are being sidelined or ignored and decisions are being pushed through regardless of their advice.

These include the change to the urban edge, despite a decision taken less than a year ago to protect the city’s agricultural land.

A recommendation to repeal a decision last year to freeze further development in the Philippi Horticultural Area pending the outcomes of a food study was approved by the council last week despite a public outcry.

“Public participation has always been a huge part of getting it right and making decisions which would positively impact on communities,” said Demetrius Dudley of the ACDP.

“However, recently it seems the ‘do as I say’ policy of our mayor… seems to be the management style of the day.”

Rashiq Fataar, director of think-tank Future Cape Town, said: “We remain puzzled by the constant contradiction between decisions taken and the city’s own policies. Not the least of these is the Cape Town spatial development framework – drawn up after five years of extensive engagement – as well as the development edges policy.

“Food security and water security remain two of the major threats facing cities around the world, and while the demands of urbanisation place an increasing strain on Cape Town, sufficient land exists elsewhere to develop housing if the relevant parties are willing to make an effort.”

Insiders in the planning department have told the Cape Argus there was huge unhappiness about the recommendation, which was discussed in the mayoral committee before going to the council.

De Lille said in her council speech that there was public input, as the matter had been discussed at an open mayoral committee meeting. However, the parties affected by the recommendation were not at this meeting, and only found out about the city’s intentions via the media.

Another contentious issue is proposed amendments to the city’s system of delegations for planning matters. If approved, sub-councils will no longer be able to decide on land-use rights, departures, rezoning and sub- divisions. These will be handed to the executive mayor and a dedicated executive director for final determination.

Chris Willemse, of the Camps Bay Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, said the consequences of a council proposal to centralise planning decisions meant “long-term sustainability, the environment and constitutional rights will be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency”.

The Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association said the shift of delegated authority from the political realm to the executive realm cut the public “out of the loop”.

Furthermore, in an environment in which “the city repeatedly and substantially disregards its own policy and planning guidelines – we cite Wescape and Philippi developments that run contrary to the principle of densification and the carefully planned urban edge – there is absolutely no reason to believe that decisions will be more predictable and uniform when taken by the executive director”.

Willemse said the city’s environmental planning committee had already been stripped of its powers to decide on policy issues. By changing the delegations for planning matters, decision-making at local level would be compromised.

“The mayor is quietly attempting to push this amendment through a full sitting of council… while the DA caucus has effectively gagged dissenting councillors.”

Malatsi said this was “simply not true and was based on a fundamental lack of understanding of the legislation and various legal mandates of the structures of council”. He said the mayor would always engage with all interested parties on planning issues.

The delegations matter was only under consideration and no final decision had been taken.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A Cape Town man serving 13 years in jail for armed robbery wants a laptop in his prison cell to finish his studies.

Cape Town - A Green Point man serving 13 years in jail for armed robbery has been told he cannot use his laptop in his prison cell to finish his studies.

Ernest Pule Chambisso, 29, originally from Welkom, was sentenced in December 2010 for six counts including attempted aggravated robbery, discharging a firearm at a police officer, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and illegal possession of a firearm and stolen property.

Chambisso told the court that he and a former co-accused had been driving around Green Point looking for houses to burgle.

He said a man named Sheldon Thomas confronted him. Chambisso pointed a firearm at Thomas and fled. Thomas called the police.

As Chambisso was trying to get away he saw that the back door of a house was open, and ran inside.

Michelle le Roux, who was asleep in the house, woke and started screaming. Chambisso hit her over the head with the gun and stole her laptop and camera.

Police arrived but Chambisso escaped. A shoot-out ensued and Chambisso was arrested.

While incarcerated, Chambisso decided to study sound engineering. But he said his studies came to a halt this year when authorities at Goodwood prison removed his laptop.

“How can you spend the whole year not studying? What kind of rehabilitation is that?” Chambisso said.

Correctional Services spokesman Simphiwe Xako said sentenced prisoners were not entitled to have laptops in their cells but could use prison computer rooms.

“We said to him we have a computer room, if you want, you can use it, he doesn’t want to. We can’t allow it (a laptop in a single cell) for security reasons,” Xako said.

Prisoners also had to be under constant supervision to ensure they were not doing anything unlawful.

Chambisso asked why permission was granted to him before, while he was in Beaufort West Prison.

“While I’m studying, in the middle of nowhere, they took it away. I’m in a single cell,” he said. “They used to give us a study area with no supervision and scanned the laptop for pornography, for example.”

Xako explained that Chambisso had changed his course to customer relations when he could not have his laptop with him, and when he heard that prisoners could use their laptops in Beaufort West he reapplied to study sound engineering.

But Chambisso was transferred to Goodwood on April 10 this year, and that privilege was reviewed. Chambisso had to reapply for access to his laptop.

Xako said authorities had decided against reinstating this privilege.

“On June 21 (2013) he was informed that he was not allowed to use it. The only way to help him is if he is transferred back to Beaufort West,” Xako said.

Chambisso is expected to be released on parole in 2016.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Flippie Engelbrecht, who lost his hands after he fell into a fire during an epileptic fit, is to receive prosthetic hands.

Cape Town - Amputee Flippie Engelbrecht, 19, who lost his hands after he fell into a fire during an epileptic fit, is soon to receive prosthetic hands.

In 2008 a wine farmer and a farm manager allegedly beat Flippie, then 15, and his father Flip Engelbrecht, a farm labourer.

Last week, the farmer and manager appeared in

Ashton Magistrate’s Court on two charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

A third man has turned State witness and may receive indemnity from prosecution.

Carina Papenfus, Flippie’s legal adviser, told the Cape Argus on Sunday that the youth would be getting prosthetic hands made by Richard van As.

Van As is a Joburg carpenter who lost four fingers in a circular saw accident in 2011 and now makes prosthetic “Robohands” with the aid of a 3D printer.

Papenfus said Engelbrecht had started practising with two sticks attached to his arms in preparation for his new hands.

She said Van As had volunteered to help after reading about Engelbrecht in a newspaper.

“We are arranging flights for him to come to Cape Town.”

If the hands were to be paid for, each would cost between R20 000 and R25 000, Papenfus said.

On Sunday, Papenfus went to measure Engelbrecht’s brother’s arms.

“We are measuring his brother, because his arms are similar in length to Flippie’s. Today we also tied sticks to his wrists so that Flippie can get used to the extra length once he receives his Robohands.”

Flippie was also receiving counselling, Papenfus added.

“We are taking him for counselling and we have found an occupational therapist who offered her services.”

His father, Flip, said the family was delighted by the development.

“We are very happy that he will receive hands… it will help us a lot.

“At the moment we have to do everything, such as feed him and bath him.

“But once he has hands he just needs to get used to it and then will be able to do things for himself.”

Van As and his US design partner, Ivan Owen, make hands for people unable to afford prosthetic limbs.

natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The inquiry into the efficiency of policing in Khayelitsha will not oppose an application into its legality, secretary Amanda Dissel said.

Cape Town - The commission of inquiry into the efficiency of policing in Khayelitsha will not oppose an application questioning its legality, secretary Amanda Dissel said on Monday.

“The commission is not opposing the application in the Constitutional Court and will abide by whatever decision is handed down by the court,” she said.

“The commission has assisted the Constitutional Court by placing information before it regarding the subpoenas that were served by the commission on the police,” she said.

Western Cape premier Helen Zille established the inquiry last August to investigate alleged police inefficiency in the Cape Flats area.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa opposed the inquiry in the Western Cape High Court. His application for interim relief was dismissed in January.

Mthethwa decided to appeal the Western Cape High Court's decision, which is to be heard in the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.

Dissel said the commission's office in Khayelitsha remained open to members of the public who wanted to make statements regarding policing.

She said it also continued to gather information on policing activities in the area.

Sapa