The Cape has been in the grip of icy temperatures and heavy rain since which have taken three lives and left thousands homeless.

Cape Town - Mopping up operations are continuing in the province as Capetonians look forward to a brief respite from the rain, snow and icy conditions which have had disaster management officials on high alert.

Despite provincial disaster management and fire brigade services reporting that water levels had dropped in dams across the Western Cape, more than 100 people in the Drakenstein and Rawsonville areas still found themselves homeless on Saturday.

Colin Deiner, chief director of Western Cape disaster management and fire brigade services, said 95 people, including children, had been affected by flooding in the Drakenstein area.

In Rawsonville, 24 people were being accommodated in the Rawsonville church hall after being forced from their homes by flooding. “The people in Drakenstein have been put up in a community hall where they have been helped with food and blankets, and the city will provide hot meals for the weekend. Shoprite has also made donations to assist,” said Deiner.

On the West Coast in Beukeskraal and Nuwe Plaas, roads were still not easily accessible, he said.

Closer to home in Lavender Hill, the Community Chest delivered about 1 000 emergency packs, with blankets and non-perishable food to those in need. Community Chest spokesman Abdul Ryklief said they were preparing to make more deliveries.

“(Tomorrow) we will deliver packs with raincoats and boots to a Lavender Hill crèche with over 100 children. This weekend we were unable to get to everyone. We will deliver to those people.”

Cape Town’s disaster management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said on Saturday there were no new incidents of flooding in the city.

City of Cape Town traffic department spokeswoman Maxine Jordaan said no roads were closed. “There were a few bumper bashings (on Saturday) morning,” she said.

Deiner said the situation had improved in the Overberg area, where the Breede River levels had dropped by 250mm overnight.

On Friday, the Department of Water Affairs warned that the average capacity of dams in the province was at 102.35 percent, increasing the risk of flooding.

The province has been in the grip of icy temperatures and heavy rain since early last week, which have taken three lives and left thousands homeless. On Saturday, the mercury dropped to a chilly maximum of 13ºC, and maximum temperatures for Sunday are expected to creep up only slightly to 15ºC.

Besides another cold front set to hit on Monday, the SA Weather Service has issued no new weather warnings.

Weekend Argus

A cash van security guard was shot dead and another injured during a cash-in-transit heist at Liberty Promenade Shopping Centre.

Cape Town - A cash van security guard was shot dead and another injured during a cash-in-transit heist on Saturday at Liberty Promenade Shopping Centre in Mitchells Plain.

The pair were about to refill an ATM with cash early on Saturday when two suspects held them up at gunpoint, according to police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk.

“Both security guards were shot. One is deceased and one was taken to a nearby hospital,” he said.

The attackers fled the scene in a white Audi with cash bags containing an undisclosed sum of cash, according to Van Wyk.

Unconfirmed reports later on Saturday were that the car and the empty cash bags had been found abandoned in Browns Farm.

Ambulance services said the injured man had been taken to the Netcare N1 City Hospital.

Fuzlin Sinclair, operational services manager for the shopping centre, confirmed the cash heist. She said the injured security guard was in a stable condition in hospital.

Sinclair said the shooting occurred at entrance three of the shopping centre at about 8.06am, as the security guards were about to restock the ATMs with cash. The centre had not yet officially opened for trading for the day.

Shopping centre security responded immediately, and evacuated the centre. With trading hours beginning at 9am on Saturdays, most of the shops were still closed and empty at the time of the shooting.

Jerome Voegt, spokesman for Mitchells Plain police, said his officials were first on the scene, but the case was then handed over to the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) for further investigation.

Wimpy branch manager Anton Putter was on his way to work when the shooting occurred.

“The ATMs are right in front of our restaurant, just opposite us,” Putter said on Saturday morning. He said the shooting happened directly in front of them.

“The whole centre is shut down. All the doors are closed down. There’s a huge crowd gathered.

“We’re losing thousands and thousands of rands here.”

One of Putter’s staff members at Wimpy had been busy opening the door to the restaurant when she heard three gunshots. She ran to the back of the restaurant and hid among the freezers.

The centre was opened to the public by midday, with entrance three and surrounding shops remaining closed for the day while forensics and law enforcement continued with their investigations. Businesses closed for the day included Wimpy, Mr Price Home, Shoe City and Standard Bank.

Liberty Promenade centre management sent condolences to the family of the security guard killed in the heist.

The management also assured the public that the centre followed a strict security protocol and that the matter would be assessed by security experts to reduce the risk of similar incidents happening in the future.

chelsea.geach@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

A man died and another was injured when their car crashed into a lamp post in Cape Town, paramedics said.

Cape Town - A man died and another was injured when their car crashed into a lamp post in Cape Town on Sunday, paramedics said.

The accident happened on the M5 near the Ottery road turn off, said ER24 spokeswoman Vanessa Jackson.

The two were still trapped in the wreckage when paramedics arrived.

The driver of the VW Beetle was declared dead on the scene.

“The passenger was trying to get out of the wreckage by himself but was unable due to the damage of the vehicle.”

He was treated on the scene before he was transported to hospital. - Sapa

A guard at an air force base shot dead a colleague and wounded two others allegedly after a row about a woman.

Bloemfontein - A guard at a Free State air force base killed a colleague and wounded two others on Sunday in a shooting the SANDF Union says was linked to an argument over a woman.

The shooting happened at the Air Force Base Bloemspruit, in Bloemfontein, in the early hours of Sunday.

Pikkie Greeff, national secretary of the union, said the shooter was a guard at the base.

 “There was some argument between him and two men about a lady,” Greeff said.

 Greeff said in 20 years there had been four shootings at SANDF bases.

Free State police spokesman Harry Nagel said officers were probing the incident.

He said after the shooting, in which one SANDF member was critically wounded and another sustained less serious wounds, the suspect had handed himself over to guards and he was then detained by the police.

“His service pistol was confiscated,” Nagel said.

The suspect, who faces a murder charge and two attempted murder charges, is expected to appear in court by Tuesday.

On Sunday, SANDF spokesman Xolani Mabanga said he could not comment on what had led to the shooting, but could confirm a shooting had occurred at the base.

He said more details would be released once the police had completed their preliminary investigation and the families of those involved had been told what had happened. The name of the member who had been killed could not be released yet.

Despite the shooting, he said, it was “work as usual” at the base.

On the Defence Department’s website, Air Force Base Bloemspruit was described as a “respected helicopter centre of excellence”.

Under a profile, it said it did not have “troops”, but a “very small percentage of short-term personnel”.

“High-risk, high-cost business – very controlled environment where safety, discipline, competencies and continuous training is a way of life,” it said.

Under the heading “core training”, it listed “gunnery training” and “all air-to-ground weapons training for the fighter fraternity”.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A Cape Town woman will serve an effective 10 months in jail after stabbing her husband to death during an argument.

Cape Argus - A Dunoon woman will serve an effective 10 months in jail for causing her husband’s death during an argument last year.

Sanah Booysen was sentenced in the Cape Town Regional Court to five years in terms of a section of the Criminal Procedure Act.

This means Booysen will have to complete several programmes in jail before, at the discretion of the correctional officer, part of her sentence can be converted to house arrest.

In a strange twist, after the sentence was handed down, Booysen asked magistrate Wilma van der Merwe to sentence her to 10 years in jail for the December 2012 crime that claimed the life of her husband, July Skiti.

Booysen’s lawyer, Nawaal Abdurhman, told the court she felt guilty for what she had done and would be satisfied with any sentence imposed on her.

When she testified earlier, Booysen asked that the court sentence her to life imprisonment.

But Van der Merwe would not hear Booysen further and ordered the case should stand down.

While delivering the sentence, Van der Merwe said a lengthy custodial sentence was not appropriate as Booysen’s life appeared to be unstable.

The probation officer’s report showed Booysen suffered from epilepsy and did not take her medication regularly. She also often disappeared from home for weeks.

Booysen was initially charged with murder, but the court found her guilty of culpable homicide based on her version that she stabbed her husband to get away from him during an argument.

The couple had been drinking that day and often stabbed one another during fights, Booysen testified earlier.

“It seems to me what happened that day was a culmination of years of violence between you and your partner,” Van der Merwe said.

“But what I must add is that although it boils down to a woman finding herself in an abusive relationship, you said on many occasions you dished out as good as you got,” Van der Merwe said.

Van der Merwe said Booysen’s case was an indication of what was happening in society.

She said of the 80 new cases before her, 62 were for violent crimes.

“It’s the court’s duty in a civilised society to bring a message that violence isn’t the answer in any situation and that it’s also not the way out,” Van der Merwe said.

Booysen has one previous conviction from than a decade ago for negligently causing her son’s death.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The V&A Waterfront says there are no plans to remove existing developments from Granger Bay when it expands its residential footprint.

Cape Town - The V&A Waterfront says there are no plans to remove existing developments from Granger Bay when it reclaims two hectares of ocean and expands its residential footprint.

The Oceana Power Boat Club and the Grand restaurant fall within the Granger Bay precinct that has been earmarked for residential, retail and hotel development.

But Waterfront chief executive officer David Green said: “The proposed development retains the existing small-craft harbour and all existing users will still be able to make use of the facility. There are no plans to remove the Oceana Power Boat Club from the site.”

The possibility of improving the slipway in Granger Bay is mentioned in the draft scoping report. “A building in this area may be used as a club facility for all users of the slipway.”

Management would be co-ordinated by “the landowner in conjunction with residents in the area”.

Commodore Colin Wolfsohn said he was “exceptionally pleased” that there were no plans to move the club and that it could continue providing access to the sea. But he was concerned that the report said boat launching would be managed by the Waterfront, as the landowner. “Where does that put us as a club?”

The boat club had a rocky relationship with the previous owners of the Waterfront, Dubai World, and in 2002 the club was given notice to vacate its premises. The notice was withdrawn after widespread objections. Growthpoint and the Public Investment Corporation bought the Waterfront from Dubai World in 2011. The boat club has a monthly lease.

Meanwhile, the trendy The Grand Café and Beach’s lease expires in 2016, but Green said that if it could not be accommodated in the new development at its current site, the Waterfront would “seek to find an alternative”.

The Waterfront has development rights for a portion of the erf located landward of the 100m setback line. But Green said plans were still at the conceptual stage and development was not expected to start here “for some time”. The draft scoping report released last week was the first of “many steps required in the process of formalising the rights to the site”, he said.

Plans include a coastal sea park of up to 30m wide with leisure activities taking place along a 1km route. This will complete the pedestrian circuit from Green Point through the Waterfront and into the city centre.

This Granger Bay project, which involves sea work and land reclamation, requires a full scoping and environmental impact assessment process.

The development forms part of the V&A’s long-term plans for the property. Green said there was still about 180 000m2 of bulk land available for further development.

Other projects include the Silo District and refurbishment of Workshop 17. The completion of Pick n Pay’s new generation store, sunk below ground level to allow for park-and-enter shopping, is scheduled for later this year.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A Rastafarian group is taking the DA's Mark Wiley to court for criticising a policeman who displayed a dagga emblem on his shirt.

Cape Town - Citing flawed proceedings at the Equality Court, a Rastafarian group is taking the DA’s Mark Wiley to the Western Cape High Court this week.

Around six weeks ago, the group Rasta Beat lodged a complaint against Wiley, the province’s standing committee chairman for Community Safety, over his criticism of a top Cape Town policeman for publicly displaying a dagga emblem on his shirt.

Mitchells Plain cluster commander General Jeremy Veary was photographed wearing the shirt, with the word “Rastafarian” and a picture of a dagga leaf, at a public rally in June. After the publication of these photos, Wiley called for Veary to be disciplined by provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer.

In a subsequent press statement, Wiley said Veary’s lack of remorse for the gesture represented an “utter disregard for the devastating effect that drugs have on communities such as Mitchells Plain”.

Invoking the Bill of Rights’ protection of religious beliefs, Rasta Beat’s Dieter Walbrugh argues that Wiley’s criticism of Veary was discriminatory, offensive to the Rastafarian religion and unconstitutional.

“We request that Mr Wiley respects (the Rastafarian religion) and Rastas, just as he would respect Islam and Muslims.

“He will not call General Veary to order if he was wearing a Christian T-shirt,” Walbrugh wrote to the court, further demanding that Wiley apologise to all Rastafarians. Rasta Beat argues it is a holy duty to protect the “image” of the religion and of “the herb that was created by the most high God”.

Walbrugh took the matter to the Equality Court after not receiving a response to a complaint lodged at the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission in July.

Court papers were lodged on July 17. Since then, Walbrugh says he has not heard back from the court. The Equality Court has five steps which need to be completed before a matter goes to a hearing. One of these steps requires a respondent, Wiley in this case, to be asked to state his case in an affidavit.

Walbrugh asked a court clerk last week at which step the process was.

“The clerk could not answer. He said that he would revert back to us on Friday (last week), but nothing has been communicated to us since. The proceedings are flawed and we will therefore take this matter to a higher level, and lodge it with the high court,” Walbrugh said.

Wiley told the Cape Argus that the complaint from the Rastafarians had been nonsensical, so the DA’s lawyers had asked for more clarity.

Since then they had not heard anything from the Equality Court.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union in the Cape says it rejects competency tests for matric exam markers.

Cape Town - The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) in the province says it rejects competency tests for matric exam markers and urges the Western Cape Education Department to adhere to a national directive on the matter.

The tests were to have been implemented at national level this year but last month it was revealed that this would not happen.

A reply to a parliamentary question to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga stated that policy relating to administering the tests had not yet been approved by the minister due to the need for further consultation with one of the teacher unions, which had opposed the tests.

Motshekga would meet the union.

In the Western Cape, however, the tests have been written since 2011, with tests already finished this year.

But Sadtu provincial secretary Jonavon Rustin said the tests “tampered” with the professionalism of teachers.

“They are good enough to mark throughout the year so why are they not good enough to mark the National Senior Certificate.”

Rustin said the Western Cape was not an island and the provincial department should call a meeting with unions to discuss the matter.

The department’s spokesman Paddy Attwell said the tests were working well and helped ensure the integrity of the exams.

He said the department would watch and see how the matter developed at national level in terms of testing for 2014.

Bronagh Casey, spokeswoman for Education MEC Donald Grant, said the tests assessed the content knowledge of the subject, application of knowledge and skills and marking abilities.

“The tests also test the ability of the applicant to interpret the Grade 12 candidate responses.”

Markers were generally required to obtain a mark of 60 percent and above and this year 58 percent of applicants met this requirement.

She said the results were valid for three years, so that teachers who passed in 2011 didn’t have to write again this year.

ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

What was meant to be a routine stop at a mall in Mitchells Plain ended in death for a young security guard.

Cape Town - He was just 23 years old, a fresh-faced member of the SBV Services security team. School and college were behind him, and a promising career lay ahead.

But on Saturday, Jody van Harte’s life was cut short when the security guard was shot and killed while restocking an ATM at the Liberty Promenade Shopping Centre in Mitchells Plain.

On Sunday was a day of heartache as the former Oude Molen Technical High pupil’s family and friends found out about his death.

It was meant to be a routine stop for the security guard and his colleague when they went to restock an ATM at the mall.

However, the pair were held up by two unidentified gunmen as they were about to restock the machine.

Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said both security guards had been shot.

The attackers took the bags, containing an undisclosed amount of cash, and fled from the mall in a white Audi.

Van Harte was declared dead at the scene, and his colleague was taken to hospital. Details of the second security guard’s condition could not be established on Sunday night.

On Sunday, the young security guard’s family, friends and colleagues took to Facebook to voice their shock and sadness over his death.

“To see your car still parked outside the office just breaks my heart knowing we will never see you in it, no more hugs and smiles,” wrote Charnel Hendricks.

“Jody my friend, you will surely be missed. It’s sad when a parent should bury their child because of other people’s greed. You are in a better place now, may your soul rest in peace bro,” wrote Denero Nayger.

“Woke up this morning and it’s not a dream, you are really not here,” wrote his sister Tamryn van Harte.

At the time of going to print, Van Wyk said there had been no developments in the case.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A commission of inquiry will begin to probe the circumstances around the grounding of the cargo ship Kiani Satu off Buffels Bay.

Cape Town - A commission of inquiry will begin on Monday to probe the circumstances around the grounding of a cargo ship off Buffels Bay near Knysna.

The 168-metre bulk carrier Kiani Satu sank almost two weeks ago after numerous salvage efforts managed to refloat her.

According to the SA Maritime Safety Authority, the Kiani Satu sank in 1000 metres of water 110 nautical miles south of Buffels Bay.

She ran aground at the beginning of last month, forcing the captain and his 19-member crew to abandon ship.

The ship was believed to have suffered an engine breakdown in heavy seas while carrying 330 tons of fuel oil and 15,000 tons of rice.

The cargo was later lost in the sinking.

The owners and insurers of the cargo approached the Western Cape High Court to order the ship's owner to make relevant documents and its crew available for evidence purposes.

Judge Willem Louw granted the order on Wednesday and appointed commissioner David Melunsky to take the evidence concerned in terms of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act.

The respondents were ordered to remain in the vicinity until the commissioner had taken their evidence or excused them from proceedings.

The respondents are the cargo ship owner, the ship's master and crew, the hull and machinery insurers, the protection and indemnity insurers, P & I associates, and Esmeralda (Antigua) Shipping Limited.

Gavin Fitzmaurice, the instructing attorney for the owners and insurers of the ship's cargo, said the commission would be held in Cape Town and take between five and seven days.

Proceedings were closed to the media.

“The respondent has objected to the presence at the commission of the media. The applicant has no objection,” Fitzmaurice said.

Sapa

An award-winning, government-backed agricultural project for disadvantaged Beaufort West locals, has gone belly-up.

Cape Town - An award-winning, government-backed agricultural project for disadvantaged Beaufort West locals showed great promise in helping to reduce unemployment and poverty in the economically depressed Karoo town.

But after a promising start and despite millions of rand seeding funding, from both provincial and national government, the project - a hi-tech hydroponics scheme producing top quality herbs and vegetables for the high-end consumer market - went belly-up.

For more than three years the municipal-owned project site in the industrial area on the southern boundary of the town has lain derelict, with its infrastructure crumbling.

But the situation should improve soon: the municipality expects to issue a tender call for the site within the next few months, although bidders will not be restricted to projects that involve hydroponics cultivation.

It is widely acknowledged that Beaufort West is severely challenged economically and has a chronic unemployment problem, although figures differ. One source from 2005 put the unemployment rate at 50 percent, and said almost 45 percent of residents received some form of government grant and another 43 percent earned less than R1 000 a month.

According to the 2008/9 Beaufort West Municipal Integrated Development Plan Review, the population of the town in 2007 was 37 598 and the unemployment rate was 35 percent. The majority of households (65.8 percent) had an annual income of between R4 801 and R38 400, while 7.1 percent of households had no income, and 6.2 percent earned between nothing and R400 a month.

As an initiative to provide employment and promote skills - specifically for single heads of households - the municipality launched a pilot hydroponics scheme with research assistance from the CSIR just after the turn of the millennium.

Initially, 14 people were employed, one of whom was then 41-year-old Dina Rose, a single mother of three who had been unemployed for years and who scraped by on government social grants.

“I was very lucky (to be selected) because I am the only breadwinner in the family. I have my children and my sister’s children to take care of,” she said at the time. “But I can see the project is growing, and I know that it will enable me to bring my dreams into being some day.”

Despite scepticism in some quarters, the 18-month pilot project proved successful and did indeed grow, to the extent that the municipality decided to create the section 21 (not for gain) Beaufort West Hydroponics Company in 2002.

Major start-up funding was provided by the then provincial Department of Economic Development and Social Services, which put in R1 million in the financial year 2003/4 to help start the project and further funding of R2.25m in 2004/5. The national Department of Science and Technology put in a total of R1.88m, also over those two financial years.

The project was formally launched in June 2003 with a cost estimate of R5m, and was greatly expanded to include five greenhouses covering an area of about 8 500m2.

It focused on herbs - mostly basil, coriander, rocket and mint - and a small range of vegetables. The project staff ranged between 50 and 60 people, trained at Stellenbosch University, making the project one of the biggest single employers in the region.

It produced such high-quality products that Woolworths - acknowledged for its exacting standards - came in as the major buyer, also providing some financial support.

Annual sales increased from R24 000 in 2003 to R600 000 in 2007.

The project was deemed so successful that in 2005 it won a gold award as the best project in the Western Cape from the Impumelelo Innovations Award Trust, one of the country’s major awards programmes, sponsored by the Open Society Foundation.

Impumelelo reported at the time of the award that “the project (has) increased in size and production, and although it is still government-funded, it will soon be self-sufficient…”

Impumelelo’s optimism was misplaced - the project was unable to sustain itself.

After four years, the project had cost R6.8m, and in 2007/8 the provincial government had to provide rescue funding of R1m to save the 24 jobs that remained. The company went into negative cash flow and was in severe difficulties by the end of 2008. Beaufort West municipal manager Jafta Booysen says the project closed about three-and-a-half years ago - early 2010.

One of the major problems was the unsustainable transport costs involved in taking most of the produce to the major buyer in Cape Town, Booysen explains.

While it was state funded, the project managers never calculated their overhead costs properly, so the cost of transporting the products just over 500km to the market far exceeded the income they generated.

The municipality initially subsidised the project through the provision of services such as making the land available and providing water and insurance.

“That’s how we supported the project, and they were never in a position to pay for those services that were close to R600 000 (a year),” he said.

Another problem was the maintenance costs of the “quite sophisticated” infrastructure that is valued at close to R6 million

Part of the lengthy delay in trying to resurrect the project and/or have the land properly utilised had been caused by problems with the liquidation process of the section 21 company, Booysen said.

But at its July meeting, the council resolved to put the property out to tender, and Booysen said he hoped this would happen in the next two to three months.

“Council resolved to advertise it for business proposals, and whoever gets it - whether it’s for (hydroponics) or something else - is going to happen soon.”

How it works:

Hydroponics involves producing plants in an artificial environment without the use of soil - nutrients are provided through water - and by manipulating growing conditions to maximise production.

Hydroponically cultivated plants typically have a growth rate that is 30 percent to 50 percent faster than that of plants grown in soil. Because they are cultivated in contained areas, it is usually easier to control pests and diseases.

Finding sustainable financial solutions:

Alan Winde, MEC for finance, economic development and tourism, says the DA-led provincial administration believes the role of the government is to create an environment that enables the private sector, operating within an open market, to create growth and jobs.

“That is why, since coming to government in 2009, we have redirected funding away from small-scale interventions such as the Beaufort West Hydroponics Farm, which was a direct intervention and which sought to create a false economy in the region,” said Winde, pictured.

“Instead, we have channelled funding toward initiatives which create a more conducive climate for investment… These initiatives have a far higher impact on stimulating economic growth and more significant and sustainable benefits in terms of creating jobs.”

Winde pointed out that foreign direct investment (FDI) had resulted in the creation of 6 900 jobs in the Western Cape since 2009, and last year FDI projects worth R4 billion landed in the province.

john.yeld@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Persistent rains across the Western Cape over the weekend meant relief teams had to put mopping up operations on hold.

Cape Town - Persistent rains across the Western Cape over the weekend meant relief teams had to put mopping up operations on hold.

The City of Cape Town said the coming week’s minimal rain forecast would be an opportune time to tackle the aftermath of last week’s storm.

Disaster risk management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said there were still bodies of stagnant water dotted around Cape Town.

He said that while rain was forecast for Tuesday, it would be minimal and largely isolated to the coastal regions.

On Friday, the city reported that almost 16 000 people had been affected by flooding. While the city continues to supply affected residents with blankets and hot meals, the Community Chest is also joining the relief efforts.

The organisation said it had prepared 1 000 emergency packs, containing blankets and non-perishable foods, to be distributed among needy residents on the Cape Flats.

In addition to the emergency packs, the Community Chest’s relief teams will also distribute Wellington boots and raincoats.

It is the second time the non-profit organisation has been involved in relief efforts in the past two weeks. It previously distributing more than 1 000 blankets, 1 400 items of winter clothing, 300 food parcels and 520 hygiene packs to families in Klipheuwel, north of Durbanville, when the informal settlement was flooded after a river burst its banks.

At Mikpunt, north of Klipheuwel, residents said they had been trapped indoors over the weekend due to the heavy rains.

The community of about 400 said the Mosselbank River had flooded and when the city’s Disaster Risk Management officials came they had to turn back because they could not get through.

Resident Mike Gregan said the city should raise the height of the existing bridge over the river. “Why on Earth are we paying rates if we are going to be trapped indoors like this?” he said.

Gregan said a friend had lost his bakkie in the river after he had returned home late from work and had misjudged the level of the river.

“We had to get a crane truck and tractor to get that bakkie out. This is very dangerous and can happen to anyone,” said Gregan.

He said residents had spent Friday and Saturday trapped in their homes and could only come out yesterday.

Pupils were also unable to go to school because Klipheuwel Primary had been closed due to the floods.

“No one could cross that river, it was a nightmare,’ said the frustrated resident.

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

Cape Argus

Thirty people were injured when the bakkie they were in rolled off the R44 near Worcester.

Cape town - Thirty people were injured when the bakkie they were in rolled off the R44 near Worcester on Sunday.

A canopy on the back of the vehicle broke as the vehicle rolled down an embankment. Passengers were scattered and several motorists stopped to assist.

Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa said four people sustained critical injuries, seven were seriously injured and 19 sustained minor injuries.

The cause of the crash is believed to have been a blow-out on the back left tyre.

Western Cape Emergency Medical Services’ Angelique Jordaan said she could not confirm the condition of the injured passengers and driver at the time of publication.

The crash happened 13km away from Worcester, on the road towards Hermon.

This is the second crash this year in the Wellington area in which more than two dozen people have been injured.

In March, one person died and 24 were injured when they were flung from a truck which overturned on a gravel road near the town.

In that instance a faulty hand brake and shock absorbers, combined with the poor road, led to the incident.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Cape Town - Entrepreneur Lufefe Nomjana is on a mission to raise money for 10 eco-friendly bicycles that will take his business to a new level and help achieve his dream of getting people in Khayelitsha to eat more healthily.

Cape Town - Entrepreneur Lufefe Nomjana is on a mission to raise money for 10 eco-friendly bicycles that will take his business to a new level and help achieve his dream of getting people in Khayelitsha to eat more healthily.

Through his baking business, named Espinaca (spinach in Spanish) Innovations, Lufefe bakes nutritious bread and muffins with spinach as a key ingredient.

“I’ve always had this need to be healthy by eating nutritious food.

“After 23 years of living an unhealthy lifestyle I turned it around and became a vegetarian in 2011,” he said.

“I wanted to come up with something that would change the way people eat in the townships and help them realise healthy food can be filling and delicious,” he said.

Explaining why he chose the leafy green vegetable, he said spinach was a versatile, fast-growing plant that flourished in all seasons.

“It does not require much to grow, so it’s accessible and affordable for low-income people,” said the 25-year-old.

With his healthy brown loaf selling for R12.50 and his muffins for R3.50, Nomjana believes the people of Khayelitsha will benefit from choosing his products over things that might be cheaper but are full of artificial preservatives and lack vital nutrients.

Nomjana is a 2012 graduate of the UCT’s Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development, a post-matric level academy that offers a programme in entrepreneurial development.

Four young people are employed in his business to help him distribute his products to crèches and orphanages.

Nomjana learnt his baking skills at the Pick n Pay school of cooking. He grows the spinach in his back yard and donates seeds to the orphanages and crèches.

Staff at the institutions grow the spinach in exchange for his baked goods.

But his deliveries involve walking about 25km a day.

“It is quite time-consuming and we can use the time to expand to retail stores or to do more baking,” he said. “That is why we are in a race to raise R5 000 for bicycles.”

Through his partnership with a crowd-funding platform, Thundafund, Nomjana has managed to raise R1 300 in the past month and is confident of raising the rest.

nontando.mposo@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Ball sports on Clifton’s fourth beach have been banned after numerous complaints from locals.

Cape Town - Ball sports on Clifton’s fourth beach have been banned after numerous complaints that volleyball matches, especially, were taking up substantial space on the beach.

Subcouncil 16, which includes Camps Bay, has agreed to erect clear signs on Clifton Fourth prohibiting all ball-playing sports.

Ward councillor Beverley Schafer said there had been “ongoing problems” of formalised volleyball and other games being played on the beach, during and outside its blue flag status, with big corporate competitions monopolising much of the space.

Also, the city was getting more requests for sporting events to be hosted on Camps Bay beach.

Schafer said the city would demarcate a formal ball playing area on Camps Bay, below the pump house, for volleyball and touch rugby.

All future event applications for sport and recreation competitions would be directed to this area.

The move to provide clearer signs about restricted activities at Clifton has been welcomed by the Clifton Bungalows’ Association.

Association spokeswoman Emma Fonzari said there had also been some restrictions on water and beach activities, but that these by-laws were not always enforced by the city’s law enforcement officials, who tended to use their discretion.

“An informal touch rugby game by a family on a quiet day has less impact than two five-a-side teams rampaging over toddlers and churning sand in the face of other beach users.”

She said complaints to the association had been mounting about the organised beach volleyball courts.

“At times, this organised activity extended to three beach volleyball courts, uniformed teams and referees with whistles.”

Touch rugby has also fallen foul of some beachgoers. Fonzari said when confronted by law enforcement, many of the offending ball players used the lack of signs as an excuse to carry on playing.

“The principle that the beach is for the use of all is key. Activities which set aside portions of the beach for any closed group are discouraged by policy.”

Meanwhile, buskers may soon be housed at Camps Bay’s pump house, as part of the City of Cape Town’s broader plan to upgrade the beach.

Schafer said the pump house was the most under-used space in Camps Bay so would be an ideal location for buskers to perform in a safe and controlled space. There would also be a lookout area for spectators of sports events.

Although these plans were still “in the beginning stages”, Schafer said she was in discussions with the city’s department of water about ways to use the area more effectively.

This was an ideal opportunity to combine the creation of a formalised playing area with an upgrade of the beach, she said.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The City of Cape Town has found that the awarding of a R700m tender for the expansion of the CTICC was irregular.

Cape Town - The city has found that the awarding of a R700 million architectural tender for the expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) was irregular.

The City of Cape Town has handed a forensic report recommending that the CTICC board bring disciplinary action against three of the centre’s staff who were involved with awarding the tender to the Public Protector.

The Public Protector requested the investigation last year after unsuccessful bidders alleged the awarding of the tender to Architectural Design was illegal.

Report copies have been handed to the board for consideration, as well as to mayor Patricia de Lille and MEC for Economic Affairs Alan Winde.

Priya Reddy, spokeswoman for deputy mayor Ian Neilson, said the report recommended that the board consider cancelling the contract.

Unsuccessful bidders voiced complaints over the awarding of the tender in March last year. CTICC chief executive Rashid Toefy, however, said the tender “was awarded following a strict two-stage bidding process complying with the Municipal Finance Management Act”.

Greg Truen, a director at Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects - which entered an unsuccessful bid for the tender - was one of the main voices of dissent.

At the time, he complained the company which had scored the lowest points according to the CTICC’s own criteria, had got the tender.

It emerged that Architectural Design had been involved in producing drawings for the tender specifications, a practice which was “very irregular”, Truen said.

“It is now around 18 months since those complaints were raised,” he said.

“The findings report means the tender needs to be cancelled and advertised again, meaning the completion of the building project will be delayed by a year or a year and a half.

“The cost to Cape Town’s economy due to this delay is going to be in the range of R100 million.”

Zeenat Parker, spokesman for the CTICC, said the board welcomed the report and noted it had not found any instances of “fraud and corruption”.

“The board of Convenco takes findings of irregular procedures seriously and have established a process to evaluate the findings and consider the recommendations.

Parker said the board would comment once it had completed an internal process of evaluating the report.

Cape Argus

The SA Human Rights Commission is investigating a church for its teaching that parents may hit their children.

Cape Town - The SA Human Rights Commission is investigating a Table View church for its teaching that parents may use corporal punishment to discipline children.

The complaint relates to the church’s doctrine of “spare the rod and spoil the child”, Andrew Selley, senior pastor of Joshua Generation Church in Sunningdale, said.

While commission spokesman Vincent Moaga could not be reached for comment, the Cape Times obtained copies of correspondence which the commission’s Western Cape office had sent to the church.

In it, SAHRC provincial manager Melanie Lue Dugmore and senior legal adviser Tammy Carter stated that the complainant, whom they did not identify, had alleged the church’s conduct amounted to the violation of the child’s right to be protected from neglect, abuse and maltreatment.

“In terms of the complaint, the complainant alleges the church accepts and requires the use of corporal punishment by means of the rod, implies corporal punishment does not negatively affect the child, and the church’s purposeful promotion of corporal punishment of children is also published in its teaching materials,” their letter, dated July 3, read.

Carter also stated that the commission regarded corporal punishment as falling within the definition of abuse, maltreatment and neglect of children. Selley said the church, which has congregations in Durbanville, Edgemead and Milnerton, would never encourage child abuse.

“There is a big difference between assaulting a child and disciplining a child… We must have the freedom to preach from the Bible,” he said.

Selley said other religions, like Islam, which also allowed corporal punishment as a form of discipline, could also face being accused of abuse if the SAHRC had its way. “If it goes ahead, it could outlaw every church in the country as well as religions like (Islam) and (Judaism),” he said.

Selley said while it was up to parents how their children were disciplined, the authorities should intervene where there was clear evidence of abuse. His church was given until September 17 to submit its response to the SAHRC, and in the meantime was appealing to other churches to sign a letter of support.

In July, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said the Children’s Act would be amended to outlaw spanking of children at home.

Dlamini’s spokeswoman, Lumka Oliphant, said: “We need to acknowledge there is a lot of child abuse around. It is for us to come with a clear understanding and definition of what is appropriate and inappropriate discipline. The rights of religious groups are part of the discussion.”

Oliphant said because the abuse of children was so widespread, the issue of corporal punishment as a form of discipline needed to be discussed.

aziz.hartley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A four-month-old baby who was raped last month has been discharged, the Red Cross Children’s Hospital said.

Cape Town - A four-month-old baby who was raped last month has been discharged, the Red Cross Children’s Hospital said on Monday.

“She was admitted to theatre five times for wound repair and cleaning. The doctors are generally satisfied with the baby's progress,” said hospital spokeswoman Lauren O'Connor-May.

“She will still be booked for follow-up appointments at the hospital, but the number and nature of these will depend on how the healing process goes.”

The baby was discharged on Friday. She was admitted on August 3, O'Connor-May said.

The baby was sleeping in bed with her parents when a man snatched and raped her last month, provincial police said at the time. A boy in the house was also raped.

A 25-year-old man was arrested and charged with abduction and rape.

The case was postponed to September 11 to give officials time to obtain DNA test results and gather statements from witnesses. - Sapa

Helen Zille has accused police of just standing by while protesters blocked the N2, the airport and government buildings.

Cape Town - Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has accused the police of standing on the sidelines while protesters blocked the N2, government buildings and the airport by throwing faeces.

She said police officers had been slow to act against these protesters because Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and national commissioner General Riah Phiyega didn’t show leadership.

“Some of the police ‘non-response’ scenes belong in a Monty Python movie,” she wrote in her online SA Today letter on Monday.

She asked where, in any democracy, a handful of protesters could close down a major urban highway, day after day, without facing arrest.

“On the ground, apart from the POPs (Public Order Policing) special unit, it is primarily the metro police, under the control of the City of Cape Town, that are containing the “ungovernability” brigade, she said.

Zille said it could be that police officers were following the “official line” from Phiyega and Mthethwa.

Mthethwa’s spokesman, Zweli Mnisi, said Zille was selective with facts in her analysis of police actions.

He said her open-letter mentality was becoming boring and that the Western Cape deserved exemplary leadership, not politicking.

He was referring to a letter Zille wrote last month to Mthethwa about gang violence in Manenberg, calling on him to support the deployment of the army.

“During the N2 protests police arrested 182 suspects who appeared in court.

“We have also arrested some of the poo protesters at the Cape Town International Airport,” Mnisi said.

He said police had arrested over 200 suspects and had not ignored any of the protests.

Mnisi said the Western Cape should address concerns raised by protesters.

“Police are not trained to provide portable toilets, they are not plumbers.

“To begin to apportion blame on some of these non-policing deliverables is bizarre, to say the least,” he said.

Zille said Mthethwa and Phiyega displayed complete ignorance of their policing mandate.

“Both argued (during meetings with her in the last two weeks) that if violent protesters had genuine grievances, there was no point arresting them because they would simply return the next day,” she said.

“What hope is there for our young democracy when the very people responsible for defending the rule of law resort to such arguments.”

Zille said arrests of protesters hurling faeces had been few and far between since it started in May.

“Such arrests are a rare exception and are often carried out by the special Public Order Policing unit that has done its best to contain public violence.

“Often, however, the SAPS are actually on the scene, as bystanders, watching the proceedings unfold,” Zille said.

Zille has accused ANCYL members of co-ordinating the 12 faeces protests, which the ANCYL has denied.

She said it was hard to deliver services in a state of anarchy.

“It is especially difficult when much of the criminality is directed at destroying existing infrastructure,” she said.

Mnisi said the police had increased the training of officers since they saw an increase in incidents involving the use of force in public order policing since 2011.

So far, 1 761 POP officers had undergone refresher training, while 2 340 officers are currently undergoing training.

“The increasing and on-going violent protest actions throughout the country have led to the malicious damage and wanton destruction of property, injuries to both participants and police, and even in some cases, the loss of life,” he said.

He said police had to act within the law against violent, armed protesters.

cobus.coetzee@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A Cape Town policeman could be stripped of his badge for allegedly snatching a bottle of whiskey from an undercover police agent.

Cape Town -

A Cape Town police officer could be stripped of his badge for allegedly snatching a bottle of whiskey from an undercover police agent, The Times reported on Tuesday.

Henrico Adendorff is also alleged to have demanded and taken a R150 bribe from the agent.

He allegedly took the open bottle of Jack Daniel's from the agent's car.

Next week Adendorff is due to take the stand in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, where he will be asked to explain his behaviour.

He has appeared in court several times since January on a charge of corruption, and was arrested in 2011.

According to the prosecution, “The accused, who was a member of the South African Police Service and on duty at the time of the incident, was arrested during a successful...operation by the police.” - Sapa