A Cape Town man is recovering in hospital after trying to save his partner and their young son from a raging shack fire.

Cape Town - A mother and her four-year-old son have died in a shack fire in Parkwood, while the child’s father is in hospital after he tried to rescue them.

The fire broke out just before 4am in Parkwood on Sunday.

Veronica Abrahams and Riedewaan Slingers died in the blaze. Abrahams’ boyfriend and the boy’s father, Ebrahim Slingers, is recovering at Tygerberg Hospital.

Disaster Risk Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said four emergency vehicles responded to the fire in Parkwood Avenue. The cause of the blaze had not been determined.

Ebrahim’s sister, Zulfa Gense, said they were playing cards when someone came to tell them there was a fire in their backyard.

“We didn’t hear, smell or see anything until someone came to tell us there was a fire, then my brother went and tried to save them and when he came out all he said was ‘Zulfa, they’re dead’, and then he collapsed.”

Gense said her brother sustained burns to his face, head, feet and hands.

“When we came out we just saw the whole place was burning. I couldn’t believe it and when my brother went inside I just screamed at him to come out, it all happened so fast.”

Gense said they were waiting for an official report on what started the fire. “(Veronica) and my brother were very close. They were always together and they were friendly people. They were soulmates.”

The couple were planning to get married, according to family friend and community leader Sandra Phillips. “They came to me about three days ago and told me that they wanted to get married... I was happy for them.”

The couple have two other children - one aged 2 and another who is four months old. Gense said she would take care of the two-year-old while the infant would be taken care of by her aunt.

In another fire, five people were left homeless after a blaze in Khayelitsha. No injuries were reported.

Cape Argus

National Freedom Party leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi has vowed to replace Helen Zille as the leader of the opposition.

Johannesburg - National Freedom Party leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi has vowed to replace the DA’s Helen Zille as the leader of the opposition.

The NFP leader also accused the ANC of being criminals and thieves surviving on looted public funds.

KaMagwaza-Msibi made the remarks on Sunday while kickstarting her national elections campaign in Gauteng at George Goch Stadium – the heartland of the rival IFP.

She introduced her first batch of 5 280 volunteers out of a targeted 13 200 volunteers for Gauteng to the public. KaMagwaza-Msibi will be contesting national elections next year as a party political leader for the first time.

She and her lieutenants in Gauteng have vowed to change sitting arrangements in the Gauteng legislature.

“I was rated number 114… among parties in the country. My support base continued to grow and now I am (in) the fourth spot. I am now gunning for the second spot,” said KaMagwaza-Msibi.

NFP Gauteng chairman Bheki Gumbi said his party was determined to secure a significant number of seats in the legislature.

He said the NFP was aiming to collect more than 1.8 million voters in next year’s poll – compared to their 1.2 million in the 2011 national local government elections.

Gumbi said they hoped to sign up more than 350 000 voters in Gauteng to meet the national voter target.

While their rival IFP has lost significantly and is now reduced to one person in the Gauteng legislature, Gumbi has set himself the goal of securing between five and eight seats in his first try in the legislature.

He hopes for a minimum of 420 000 voters in Gauteng.

KaMagwaza-Msibi accused the ANC of using people as election pawns, saying the voters continued to live in poverty after every election.

“We are tired of being ruled by criminals; thieves who are looting your money and do nothing for you.

“They only look after themselves, their families and immediate relatives.

“The poor continue to remain poor even 20 years since the ANC came to power,” she said.

KaMagwaza-Msibi – who has been mayor of the Zululand District Council – said that if she was voted into power, she would continue to serve the people, particularly the poor.

“My first priority will be to improve our standard of education. Our education does not provide skills. Most of the pupils who pass matric can’t read or write.

“I am also going to ensure that computer literacy must begin in Grade 1. All the pupils must have computer literacy when they complete matric so as to become employable.”

Her supporters ululated and clapped hands when she said the government under NFP rule would be obliged in law to pay for the driving lessons of pupils.

“I am doing it in my municipality of Zululand. I take 50 pupils from all the 275 high schools in the district and I pay for them to get their driving licences. This will happen in Gauteng and other parts of the country if the NFP takes control,” KaMagwaza-Msibi promised.

She challenged other political parties to contribute to a Marikana fund to help the families of the 44 people killed last August.

The NFP donated R50 000 in a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the massacre.

baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za

The Star

Almost R70m worth of rice was on board the Kiani Satu when it sank off Knysna - and now the cargo’s owners want answers.

Cape Town - The owners of a R70-million cargo of rice have gone to court to find out what happened aboard the Kiani Satu, which sank off Knysna.

The ship ran aground between Buffels Bay and Sedgefield on August 8.

It was later towed to deep waters and sank in the early hours of Wednesday.

On board was 15 000 metric tons of rice - worth just over $6.9-million, or about R70m - which was being transported from Vietnam to Ghana. The cargo went down with it.

In the Western Cape High Court on Friday, Judge Willem Louw heard an application by the owners of the cargo in which they seek to preserve and obtain documents, as well as the evidence of the ship’s master and crew.

This information, they claim, was “vital” in determining how the vessel’s engine broke down, why it could not be towed and the circumstances around its subsequent sinking. They are to use the information in arbitration proceedings in London to claim for their lost cargo.

The owner of the ship, meanwhile, has filed for insolvency in Germany.

Advocate Michael Wragge, SC, acting for the cargo owners, told the court that his clients feared that if the evidence was not preserved, it would be lost. He argued that there were exceptional circumstances that warranted a court order in their favour.

Among them was that there had been no explanation of the circumstances in which R70m in cargo had sunk, that there was little evidence that would determine what had caused the engine breakdown and subsequent events, that the master and crew were all from foreign countries - including Montenegro, Venezuela, the Ukraine and the Philippines - which meant their attendance at the arbitration proceedings in order to give their evidence was not guaranteed and that there had been a “lack of co-operation” on the part of the respondents.

The respondents who were represented in court on Friday were the owner of the Kiani Satu, the vessel’s insurers and a local representative of one of the insurers.

Wragge contended that representatives of the cargo owners, wanting to investigate for themselves, were prevented from boarding the vessel from the initial engine breakdown up until her sinking.

But advocate Michael Fitzgerald, SC, for the respondents, argued that no exceptional circumstances existed because it had to relate to the actual evidence the applicants were seeking to preserve, not the circumstances that gave rise to the alleged claim, such as the sinking and the insolvency.

He also denied that there had been “obstructive” behaviour on the respondents’ part, or that the fact that the crew was foreign constituted an exceptional circumstance as the crews in shipping cases were often foreign.

Fitzgerald further contended that the documents the cargo owners wanted weren’t material, saying that even if they were admissible at the arbitration proceedings, they would have “very little probative value”.

Judge Louw is yet to give judgment.

Cape Times

The men accused of killing Bruno Bronn have been instructed by Judge President John Hlophe to be back in court on September 16.

Cape Town - Three men accused of killing gay night-club owner Bruno Bronn appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

Johan Frederick Coetzer, Fareez Allie and Achmat Toffa appeared before Judge President John Hlophe, who instructed them to be back in court on September 16.

The postponement was to allow Coetzer's new lawyer time to prepare for trial. A legal aid lawyer was also being appointed for Allie.

Their trial was scheduled to start on October 7 if no further delays occurred.

The men are accused of killing Bronn, 50, in his Green Point home on February 7 last year.

According to the indictment, he was strangled and died of suffocation.

He owned the popular night-clubs Bronx and Navigaytion in Somerset Road, Green Point.

The men face charges of premeditated murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. Both charges carry life sentences.

Coetzer is out on bail of R20 000 and Allie of R5 000.

Toffa was granted bail in the matter, but remained in custody at Pollsmoor Prison on unrelated charges.

The court heard that the prison refused to release Toffa despite him recently being acquitted on an unrelated charge and out on warning for another.

Hlophe said he would sign an order confirming Toffa was out on bail for the Bronn case. - Sapa

Former ANC councillor Andile Lili wants disciplinary charges against him and Loyiso Nkohla for poo dumping withdrawn.

Cape Town - Former ANC councillor Andile Lili wants disciplinary charges against him and councillor Loyiso Nkohla withdrawn by the party because he believes it will prejudice their criminal case.

Lili and Nkohla appeared before the party’s provincial disciplinary committee on Saturday at the Ritz Hotel in Sea Point for their role in the so-called poo protests. The hearing was postponed to next month.

The pair are charged with bringing the party into disrepute by dumping human faeces at the Provincial Legislature and at Cape Town International Airport. Lili and Nkohla, members of the ANC’s Dullah Omar region, allegedly led the group which dumped human faeces at the steps of the legislature on June 3 and at Cape Town International Airport on June 25.

Dullah Omar secretary Vuyiso Tyhalisisu said the hearing had to be postponed because their representative was not a member of the ANC.

“Rules of the party clearly state that a representative has to be a member of the ANC and in good standing,” he said. Tyhalisisu said Lili and Nkohla, through their representative, had applied for the charges to be withdrawn.

He said the postponement was also to give the committee an opportunity to respond to the application. The disciplinary committee would sit again in two weeks’ time but a date would be determined on Monday, he said.

“The evidence we will have to provide at the hearing is the same as we would produce for our criminal case. I believe that will leak our evidence. It will prejudice our (criminal) case. We were hoping they would wait for the criminal case to be finalised before proceeding,” Lili said.

He claims that some ANC leaders in the province were “pushing” for them to be disciplined to make a “political statement”.

“Even with President Jacob Zuma, I don’t remember him facing the ANC disciplinary committee while he had a criminal case against him (pending). The other thing I don’t get is why we are the only people facing charges when there are many ANC members involved in the protests.”

But Lili is hopeful that the hearing will be handled fairly.

At the time of taking part in the protests, Lili was suspended by the ANC for bringing the party into disrepute. This followed his expulsion from the City of Cape Town for breaching the code of conduct for councillors. He is challenging that decision at the Western Cape High Court.

Nkohla was given a three-year suspended sentence last year after he and a group of ANC Youth League members disrupted President Jacob Zuma’s centenary speech at the Good Hope Centre.

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Pagad plans to sue the police for “wrongful arrest” once murder charges against its leader Abdus Salaam Ebrahim are withdrawn.

Cape Town - Pagad says it plans to sue the police for “wrongful arrest” once murder charges against its leader, Abdus Salaam Ebrahim, are withdrawn.

Ebrahim was released on Thursday after the Athlone Magistrate’s Court heard that the State had provisionally withdrawn three charges of murder and one of attempted murder against him. He spent 10 days in custody.

His arrest followed a shooting in Athlone in which three Tanzanian men were killed.

Ebrahim met his attorney Tashriq Ahmed on Monday morning. Ahmed confirmed that his client claimed to have been at home with his wife at the time of the shooting – 11pm on August 13.

Ebrahim was not asked for an official alibi at the time of his arrest or during his incarceration, Ahmed said.

Also at the meeting was Zakariyah Albertyn, another Pagad leader who was taken in for questioning last week over the triple murder. Albertyn was released without charge and alleged police asked him to “name his price” to provide evidence to link Ebrahim to the murders.

Pagad spokesman Cassiem Parker has maintained from the start that the arrest was unwarranted.

“The fact that the State is not currently pursuing the charges against Ebrahim proves he, as an individual, and the organisation as a whole are vindicated. First, our attorney needs to ensure the police will not continue its persecution of Ebrahim. After that has been achieved, we will seek civil action.”

Ahmed said, should civil action follow, he would seek compensation from the police for legal expenses, as well as damages for each night in custody.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Internationally acclaimed artist Zwelethu Mthethwa appeared briefly in a Cape Town court on a murder charge.

Cape Town - Internationally acclaimed artist Zwelethu Mthethwa appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on a charge of murder on Monday morning.

Mthethwa was making his second appearance in connection with the murder of a sex worker earlier this year.

The State alleges that Mthethwa fatally assaulted 23-year-old Nokuphila Kumalo on April 14. He is alleged to have repeatedly beaten and kicked her in the Tollgate Industrial Centre in Woodstock at about 2am that morning.

Mthethwa, 52, has been linked to the crime via video footage that allegedly showed his car at the murder scene.

Mthethwa, a photographer, is well-known for his large-scale portraits of impoverished shack-dwellers and KZN cane workers.

 According to the charge sheet, Mthethwa has no previous convictions, no pending cases and no warrants for his arrest.

While he had said he could afford R50 000 bail during an earlier appearance, the court found it was in the interest of justice to release him on bail of R100 000.

On Monday morning, prosecutor Mbulelo Koti said the police investigation was complete and the case was ready to be transferred to the regional court.

It is, however, unclear whether Mthethwa will go on trial in the Cape Town Regional Court or the Western Cape High Court.

His lawyer William Booth asked that the prosecution supply copies of the case docket to the defence before his client’s next court appearance.

Magistrate Alfrieda Lewis postponed the case to October 10 to obtain a regional court date. Mthethwa was released and warned to return to court at 8.30am on the next appearance.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Cape Town kids as young as 14 were being arrested on charges of murder in the city's gang hot spots.

Cape Town - Children as young as 14, 15 and 16 were being arrested on charges of murder, attempted murder and the unlawful possession of firearms in the city’s gang hot spots.

Police have expressed concern at the growing number of children becoming involved in gang violence.

Since the beginning of the year, police have arrested three 16-year-olds on charges of murder.

Three 17-year-olds and one 15-year-old have been arrested for attempted murder

A 14-year-old, a 15-year-old, two 16-year-olds, four of the age of 17 and one aged 18 were arrested for the unlawful possession of firearms, said police spokesman Tembinkosi Kinana.

Mitchells Plain police station commander Brigadier Johan Brand called for the community, the police and the state to address the root causes of crime. “We cannot allow more of our 15 and 16-year-old sons to be arrested on murder charges. What future do children like these have?” he said.

Brand said there should be a concerted effort to address crime and its root causes.

“A start should be a change in the socio-economic conditions of the youth in Mitchells Plain,” he said.

“After all, they are not aliens from space but were created by mothers and fathers staying in Mitchells Plain who need to educate their children in the right norms and values of society.”

The announcement by Police Minister Nathi Mtethwa that a multi-faceted approach in dealing with gang violence was needed would help the police tremendously, Kinana said.

“The Child Justice Act puts in place a criminal justice system which caters for children under the age of 18 years,” he said.

“One of the aspects in the Child Justice Act is the issue of the criminal capacity of children.”

According to the act, children up to the age of 10 lack criminal capacity and may not be arrested for committing an offence. In these cases, children will be referred to children’s courts or to the Department of Social Development.

Children from 11 years of age and up to 14 have criminal capacity, but the onus rests with the State to prove criminal capacity on the part of the child accused of having committed a crime.

Children above 14 years of age have criminal capacity unless otherwise proven.

Cape Argus

A Johannesburg woman was sentenced to three years of community service for three counts of fraud totalling R690 000.

Cape Town - A Johannesburg woman was sentenced to three years of community service for three counts of fraud by the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, Cape Town, on Monday.

Nkensani Mabunda, 32, who fraudulently obtained loans totalling R690 000 from a bridging finance company between May and July 2008, will have to clean her local police station and other state-owned buildings for three years.

Although Mabunda qualified for the prescribed minimum prison sentence of 15 years, magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg concluded that there were reasons to impose a less severe sentence.

Wynand du Plessis, for Mabunda, had asked for a suspended prison sentence for the mother of three.

Prosecutor Derek Vogel told the court Mabunda had already repaid R440 134, which was a compelling reason for the court to be lenient.

He said the case had taken five years to reach a conclusion, which was “another substantial reason to deviate from the prescribed prison sentence”.

Vogel said the charge was at one stage withdrawn because of the “status” of the investigation.

“The police docket had been destroyed in a car smash, and the original investigating police officer had resigned,” Vogel said.

He said the charge was reinstituted, but that the inordinate delay in finalising the matter had to count in Mabunda's favour.

Mabunda was a first-time offender, and in the circumstances, a suspended jail sentence, coupled with a period of house arrest, would meet the interests of justice, Vogel said.

Sonnenberg said Mabunda had been driven by greed.

The delay in finalising the case was a compelling reason for not imposing the prescribed minimum sentence.

Sapa

His family hoped he would show up at home - but Ilan Blecher's body was found at the bottom of a gorge.

Cape Town - His family hoped he would show up at home, but on Monday night the body of missing UCT student Ilan Blecher was found at the bottom of a deep gorge.

It had started as a casual hike for the 19-year-old, as he and his older brother, Mischa, set off up Newlands Forest on Sunday afternoon.

But when Mischa, who is also studying at UCT, had to head to the university to finish some work at 4.30pm, Ilan decided to continue his walk.

It was the last time the student’s family saw him.

By the time of going to press on Monday night, rescuers had been unable to retrieve his body.

On Monday, gathered in the forest with rescue workers and friends who were searching for Ilan, Mischa, 21, said: “When I got back home, he wasn’t there. I just thought he had gone out or something, so I went to bed.”

But when Mischa woke up on Monday morning, Ilan still had not returned to the family home in Rondebosch.

“My parents were worried and started calling his friends. Some of his friends went to Newlands Forest and when they couldn’t find him they alerted the authorities.”

On Monday afternoon, a group of rescuers, including members of Wilderness Search and Rescue, Metro Emergency Medical Services, SANParks and the police’s K9 unit gathered at the entrance to the forest on the M3 near the forest station.

Cold winds swept through the crowd as they were briefed on the extensive search operation. Earlier, a helicopter had been dispatched to survey the area, but there had been no sightings of the first-year biology student.

At first Mischa was still optimistic.

“I’m calm, I’m sure we will find him,” he said.

Blecher’s father, Mark, said his son was an experienced hiker and had gone walking on the mountain countless times before.

“The problem is we just don’t know whether he went missing in the forest or outside on the way home. We just don’t know.”

Blecher’s mother, Salma Ismail, said: “We are looking everywhere for him. I hope he is somewhere safe.”

But with the light fading at 5.30pm, rescue teams found Ilan’s body at the bottom of the forest’s Dark Gorge above the contour path.

Wilderness Search and Rescue commander Anwaaz Bent told the Cape Argus that it would difficult for rescue teams to recover the body on Monday night because of the gorge’s depth.

Cape Argus

After a sunny weekend, Cape residents are again having to brace themselves for another cold front.

Cape Town - After clear skies and sunshine over the weekend Western Cape residents are again having to brace themselves for another cold front expected to bring more rain over the next few days.

Forecaster at the Cape Town weather office, Henning Grobler, said the rain predicted for Tuesday would not be too heavy but it would “intensify by Wednesday and Thursday”.

“There will be some cloud cover and a 60 percent chance of rain; it won’t be too bad, but the rain will continue until Thursday and Friday.”

Grobler said temperatures were expected be in the mid-teens and the weather was expected to clear up by the weekend.

The rain has left many residents living in informal settlements in the Cape anxious and residents in Kosovo in Philippi are to have a meeting a representative from the City of Cape Town to discuss a contingency plan.

Community leader Khaya Ncapayi said residents would meet before the meeting with the city.

“A person from the city will come here today and sit down and talk to us about our needs and what we can do for our people that are affected by the rain.

“We are hoping he can give us an idea of what we can do with those that have water in their homes.”

The heavy rains over the past few weeks have left at least 160 000 people across Cape Town needing assistance from the city.

A resident from the Siqalo informal settlement in Khayelitsha, Anetta Baloyi, said she had been living at a friend’s home in another part of the informal settlement for about two weeks, since her home was flooded.

“I go to check on my place every now and then but it doesn’t look like I will be going back anytime soon. Maybe I will go back in summer.”

yoilsa.tswanya@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

He is only 13 years old, but a young Manenberg boy already dreams of becoming a Hard Livings hitman.

Cape Town - He is only 13 years old, but a young Manenberg boy already dreams of becoming a Hard Livings hitman. Since he joined the notorious gang three months ago, he has stopped going to school, spending every day on the streets sniffing glue and protecting his turf.

He is just one of many children across Cape Town who have joined gangs in search of money, respect and power. The police revealed on Monday that children as young as 14 were being arrested on charges of murder, attempted murder and unlawful possession of firearms.

Police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said that since the beginning of the year the police had arrested three 16-year-olds on charges of murder. Three 17-year-olds and one 15-year-old had been arrested for attempted murder.

The 13-year-old Manenberg boy told the Cape Argus on Monday that he had not killed anyone yet. Recently, the child gangster was given orders to kill two members of the Americans gang.

“I was told to shoot them because they had shot one of (us), but I haven’t done it yet. (The bosses) said they would give us money for killing them, but they didn’t say how much.”

He said he joined the gang in May after he was “jumped” by a gangster on the field near his home.

The attacker put a knife to his neck and robbed him of his new shoes.

“I got home and no one did anything about it, so I chose to get in the gangs. I kept looking for the attacker because I want revenge.”

The young gangster said the Hard Livings gang offered him the protection and gave him an identity.

“I know it’s not right, but I want respect. I haven’t got it yet, but I’m going to work harder until I get it.”

The boy said leaving the gang was no longer an option: “I don’t want to get out of it, when you become an HL you can’t change, they will hit me and take back their tattoo.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Desmond Lane at Hanover Park police station said that since May three children had been arrested for murder, four for attempted murder and eight for the possession of illegal firearms. Another 28 children had been arrested for drug possession.

Delft has also been experiencing a rise in child gangsterism and violence.

Captain FC van Wyk said the most problematic area was Voorbrug.

“The groups identified are mostly at Voorbrug High School and they call themselves the Terrible Josters, Young Terribles, Timber Barbies and Sexy Bitches.”

Van Wyk said the gangs recruited new members by offering them money, luxuries and protection.

In Bishop Lavis, community policing forum member Walton Absalon said the big gangs in the area had started recruiting children into their ranks since the beginning of last year.

According to Absalon, child gangsters had become more brazen as time went by, even conducting drive-by shootings from their bicycles.

“We need to steer these kids away from the gangs, and I believe we could do this if the government put a concerted effort into providing families with social workers and properly monitoring the situation.”

kieran.legg@inl.co.za and zodidi.dano@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The brother of Anton Fransch, killed by security police, says the government has failed to support the families of apartheid victims.

Cape Town - The brother of Anton Fransch, killed by security police, will always remember the young Umkhonto we Sizwe member as a “determined fighter for human rights”, but says the government has failed to support the families of apartheid victims.

Speaking to the Cape Times at his Bonteheuwel home, Mark Fransch said he felt “deeply hurt” by the outcome of the South Africa Apartheid Lawsuit which was dismissed by a US appeal court after a 10 year battle.

Fransch said: “It’s been a very long struggle and I don’t feel satisfied. There has been nothing to help the families of the fallen heroes. I blame our president and ministers for not supporting the class action. They are sitting on their high horses and the reality is that the people who fought the struggle for this country got no support from this government.”

Human rights support group Khulumani lodged the class action more than 10 years ago on behalf of 85 000 families of apartheid victims.

The lawsuit charged companies with aiding and abetting the perpetration of extrajudicial killings, torture, prolonged and arbitrary detention, indiscriminate shooting and rape.

The companies did business with the apartheid government by providing bullets, vehicles and technology.

The court ruled last week that US companies could no longer be held liable for human rights violations that took place outside US borders.

For the past 10 years he was confident that the victims’ families would get some reparation from the companies, but 24 years after his brother was killed in an explosion in Athlone, his family had no closure, Fransch said.

“I thought we were on the verge of winning, and this case could’ve been so different if the government supported us,” he said.

“(Anton) was a very gentle person and he always used to tell our mother that he was fighting the struggle for her and for a better life for all of us. I used to beat him up because he made my mother worry but he was determined to fight apartheid.”

Anton Fransch was 20 when he was killed in a seven hour battle with security police at a Church Street home in November 1989.

As a teenager Anton was away from home for long periods and was often sought by security police. Mark Fransch said he had last seen his brother four years before he was killed.

He described the scene at the Church Street home as “horrific”, with his brother’s blood and some body parts splattered over the walls.

The Khulumani group described the dismissal of their case as a “major blow” to victims of oppression all over the world and said it highlighted the weaknesses in international law that did not hold transnational corporations accountable for their role in human rights violations. - Cape Times

“The police didn’t even tell me that he had burnt in the police van; they just said he had passed (away).”

Cape Town - A man killed while detained in a police van which caught alight in an accident had earlier been arrested in a road-rage incident and had allegedly been assaulted by two men while his nine-year-old son watched.

Takalani Nethavhakone, 40, Sergeant Jeremy Hoop and Constable Monique Portland were killed when the police van collided head on with a bakery truck on Sunday.

Nethavhakone’s widow, Noluthando Nethavhakone, who remains in the dark about the details of his death, said she would be demanding answers from the police.

She told the Cape Times on Monday her husband had been driving in Highbury, Kuils River with their nine-year-old son on Saturday evening when they came across a car blocking the road and bumped into it.

She said her son had told her that her husband had not stopped because he feared the men were trying to rob them and it was late at night.

The men followed him and pulled him out of his car.

Noluthando said the two then assaulted her husband before the police intervened and Nethavhakone was put in the back of the police van.

“They drove off saying they were going to the Kuils River police station and I could bail him out the next day,” Noluthando said.

But at around at 5am on Sunday, she received news that her husband had been killed in a collision between the police van and a bakery truck on Old Faure Road near Mfuleni on Sunday morning. The vehicle caught alight and the three were trapped in the wreckage.

“They (the police) didn’t even tell me that he had burnt in the police van; they just said he had passed (away). He was helpless in the back of that van.”

She wanted to know what the police van had been doing hours later on Old Faure Road, some distance away, when the police station was a few minutes from their home.

Nethavhakone, 40, served in the SA Navy for more than 10 years before he joined the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council, where he worked as a designated agent, his wife said.

He had been married to Noluthando for 10 years and they have two boys.

Police spokesman Tembinkosi Kinana would not provide further details about the accident or why the police officers had been driving on Old Faure Road hours after Nethavhakone had been arrested. He said: “The investigation is still at a sensitive stage… it is premature to discuss the details of the case…”

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

Cape Times

The Western Cape has seen a spike in the number of people freed from the clutches of human traffickers.

Cape Town - The Western Cape has seen a spike in the number of people freed from the clutches of human traffickers over the past few months.

The introduction of specialised units focusing on human trafficking syndicates in the Western Cape has seen at least 13 cases being investigated, eight of which are in court. And nine women or girls have been rescued in the past two and a half years, according to police.

But despite these strides, there have been no convictions to date.

At the end of last month, the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill was signed into law, giving the country for the first time a statute dealing specifically with human trafficking. It carries a maximum penalty of R100 million or life imprisonment, or both, if convicted.

Until now, the law dealing with trafficking has been fragmented.

Richard Bosman executive director of safety and security, said the criteria that separated a human trafficking case from other sexual offences included recruitment, transportation, and harbouring and exploitation. Elite units like the city’s vice squad and the Hawk’s human trafficking investigation team, established in 2010, have been instrumental in tracking down traffickers.

Bosman said that over the past few months, there had been an increase in the number of human trafficking victims rescued owing to “integrated operations” and good intelligence. The number of victims rescued from the sex trade had opened doors for others to approach officers, he said.

Captain Paul Ramaloko, the national spokesman for the Hawks, said initially the police had not focused on trafficking cases as these crimes were investigated by various detective branches at different police stations.

Now they had dedicated detectives, he said, adding that they not only reacted to reported cases but were also involved in operations to combat trafficking. “The team conducts regular undercover operations at brothels and massage parlours,” he said.

But he said that some women had been abusing the system. Some women reported being trafficked “just to get a free ride back to their country, or province of origin”, he said.

Others who were rescued were often dependent on drugs, and once they were booked into a place of safety to get clean, they sometimes escaped and went back to their traffickers to satisfy their addictions. Some were scared of their captors, fearing for the safety of their families.

Cases on the court roll include:

* Four Nigerian men accused of being involved in a syndicate that trafficked at least three women from Joburg, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, allegedly for prostitution.

Francis Chidiebane Nweke, 31, Nwafor Emmanuel Jideoffer, 24, Billy Emeka Amune, 37, and Ogechukwu Kingsley Mmaduekwe, 32, are facing charges in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court related to trafficking and the exploitation of women.

* A 27-year-old man, Ikechi Cyprian Anyawu, is accused of kidnapping, trafficking, raping and prostituting women in Brooklyn. He was arrested in July and has appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.

* In Atlantis, four women and a man have been accused of selling a 13-year-old girl for sex for as little as R20 a time. One is the girl’s mother and the male accused is her stepfather. It is alleged that the other three women, Maranatha Lotriet and Evelina Fortuin and Denise Muller, both of Philadelphia, sold the girl for sexual exploitation to a doctor.

Before the bill was passed, the perpetrators were charged with kidnapping. Now, charges range from prostitution and sexual exploitation to pornography.

natasha.prince@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A robbery was foiled in Cape Town after the owner of a diamond retailer overpowered an armed man.

Cape Town - A robbery was foiled in the CBD on Monday when the owner of a diamond retailer overpowered an armed man.

Daniel Geddes, 22, an assistant at Piero Verde Diamond Wholesaler on Greenmarket Square, told the Cape Argus how his boss wrestled the assailant to the ground as he (Geddes) went for the robber’s gun. The gun turned out to be an air-pump pellet pistol.

“I worked as a paramedic before, so I know the feeling of acting on instinct and just putting everything else out of your mind. It was spontaneous, I jumped on him without really thinking,” Geddes said on Tuesday morning.

Police confirmed that a 25-year-old suspect had been arrested.

Nothing was stolen from the shop and the man was due to appear in Cape Town Magistrate’s Court once he had been charged, said police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk.

Geddes said a man had walked into the shop on Monday afternoon and handed him a note.

“The note read that this was a robbery and that he would shoot me if I didn’t co-operate. Next, he directed me up the stairs at the back of the shop.”

They went to an office at the top of the stairs, where owner Peter von Palace was speaking to two clients. The robber asked the clients to hand over their wallets and valuables and asked Von Palace to open a safe where diamonds are kept.

It was then that Von Palace pounced on the suspect and the two of them went “head first” down the stairs, Geddes said. With the help of one of the clients, the suspect was subdued.

A security guard was alerted, and the suspect was handcuffed. Police arrived a short while later.

“We have to add our congratulations to the police. They were quick in their response and very professional,” Geddes said.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The Arch at St George's Cathedral, one of Cape Town's oldest and largest soup kitchens, will serve its last meal on Thursday.

Cape Town- The Arch at St George’s Cathedral, one of Cape Town’s oldest and largest soup kitchens, will serve its last meal on Thursday.

The Arch’s co-ordinator, Mary van Blerk, said the soup kitchen, started by two parishioners in the mid-1970s, served meals to about 300 people every weekday, but had run out of funds. The director of The Homestead, Paul Hooper, said the Arch had provided for those on the margins of society, from street children and prostitutes, to refugees and people just released from prison.

“The Arch soup kitchen... played a key role for so many years in reducing the vulnerability of our weakest members of society by providing a warm meal and a safe space when there is nowhere else to turn,” he wrote on Monday in a letter to church leadership.

Van Blerk said the project had relied on donations from parishioners and supporters, and had no choice but to close once these dried up and volunteers became more difficult to find.

“It cost quite a lot to run,” said Van Blerk. “We have three employees and we had to pay for the soup mix, bread and ingredients.”

Until the beginning of this year it also received a donation from the Community Chest, but Van Blerk

said this ended because the project wasn’t a registered non-profit organisation.

On weekdays between 9am and lunchtime the project provided a meal of a mug of soup – usually beef and onion – and three slices of bread, for R1, or a simple mug of soup for 40c. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there was a special meal of soya mince and vegetable stew with rice which cost R1.50 in addition to the soup and bread.

Van Blerk said businesses also donated food to the project, which they gave away for free. She said people without money would be asked to perform “small tasks”, such as sweeping the floor or collecting mugs, in return for a meal.

The soup kitchen has been operating from St George’s Cathedral since the mid-1970s.

The project continued to be run by volunteers until the early 1990s when it was taken over by the St George’s Cathedral Foundation, a charity that employed three staff to work in the Arch.

jan.cronje@inl.co.za

Cape Times

The City of Cape Town will experience cold and wet weather conditions for the next few days, a city official said.

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town will experience cold and wet weather conditions for the next few days, a city official said on Tuesday.

“The weather warning issued indicates that heavy rain is expected over the Cape Metropole overnight on 27 August and 28 August 2013,” disaster and risk management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said in a statement.

A cold front was due to set in, bringing very cold and wet conditions accompanied by gale-force north-westerly winds between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas.

“We urge residents to exercise caution,” he said.

Sapa

Two men have been arrested while stripping a car they allegedly hijacked in Motherwell in the Eastern Cape.

Motherwell - Two men have been arrested while stripping a car they allegedly hijacked in Motherwell in the Eastern Cape, police said on Tuesday.

The car was hijacked in Maku Street, NU5, on Monday afternoon, said Captain Andre Beetge.

“The vehicle was used as a taxi at the time when the two males hijacked the vehicle from the complainant at gun point.”

Police found the hijacked car around 5.30pm in an open field in NU29, Motherwell, where it was being stripped by two men.

“One of them pointed a firearm at the police who then fired a warning shot,” said Beetge.

“The suspects were arrested and a .38 special revolver and ammunition were confiscated.”

Police also found the cellphone of the hijacked driver and a CD radio that was taken out of the car.

The two men would appear in the Motherwell Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Sapa