Flippie Engelbrecht’s self-styled spokeswoman has denied claims that he suffered from epilepsy two years before his assault.

Cape Town - Flippie Engelbrecht’s self-styled spokeswoman has denied claims that the 20-year-old suffered from epilepsy at least two years before he was allegedly assaulted.

These claims came to light last week, just hours after farmer Johnny Burger committed suicide at his home on the Rietvallei Wine Estate last Tuesday.

Mariette Addelaar, the packing manager on the nearby Saratoga farm, told the Cape Argus that she used to live next to the Engelbrechts in 2006.

She claimed that Flippie had suffered from frequent epileptic fits then.

“My child did not even want to play with him because of his fits.” She said Flippie’s condition was widely known.

It is the State’s case that in 2008, Burger and his farm manager Wilhelm Treurnicht beat Flippie, who was 15 at the time.

According to the Freedom Trust’s secretary, Carina Papenfus, who has championed Flippie’s cause, the assault left the 20-year-old epileptic and blind.

He later fell into a fire during a seizure and lost both hands.

Papenfus, who has come under scrutiny for her media campaigns on Twitter and Facebook, said Addelaar’s claims would not upset proceedings. “The prosecution obviously has a solid case. Why else would they go ahead with it?”

She did not doubt that Flippie’s epilepsy and blindness were linked to the assault. “Medical reports with the prosecutor prove that he never suffered from epilepsy before the attack.”

She maintained that Addelaar’s claims were born out of fear. She said the Engelbrechts were shunned by the farming community after they lodged a case against Burger and Treurnicht.

“We’ve seen this in the past. People will do and say anything not to lose their jobs.”

Treurnicht is due back in the Ashton Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

After Burger’s and Treurnicht’s most recent court appearance, police used a stun grenade to disperse angry protesters outside the court building.

Papenfus said she almost felt sorry for Treurnicht because he now had to “face the music alone”.

“But Burger robbed Flippie of his justice. Treurnicht is all he has left.”

Burger’s family have remained silent since the farmer’s suicide. Nearby farmers said the family had been under a lot of strain since the case hit the headlines, with many retailers blacklisting the estate’s wines.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A Rastafarian rights group has taken the DA’s Mark Wiley to court, saying he unlawfully associated their religion with drug abuse.

Cape Town - The Rastafarians’ rights group Rasta Beat has taken the DA’s Mark Wiley to the Western Cape High Court, saying he unlawfully associated their religion with drug abuse.

On Friday, Gareth Prince, for Rasta Beat, filed high court papers after an unsuccessful attempt at the Equality Court.

This comes after Wiley called on provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer to act against Mitchells Plain police commander Major-General Jeremy Veary for wearing a T-shirt with a dagga emblem and the word “Rastafarian”.

“(Veary) needs to understand that public behaviour must set an example for others, given that he is responsible for policing drug abuse in one of the most drug-affected communities in the metro,” Wiley said in an open letter to Lamoer.

Rasta Beat lodged a complaint against Wiley at the Equality Court in July. After Wiley failed to make a statement to the Equality Court, as it had requested, Rasta Beat took the matter to the high court.

Wiley told the Cape Argus he had no issue with the Rastafarian community and their use of dagga for religious purposes.

“It is my job as standing committee chairman for community safety to help fulfil an oversight role with regard to police conduct in the province. I stick to my criticism of Veary, and question why the police have not responded to my calls for action to be taken against Veary,” he said.

DA lawyers had not responded to Rasta Beat’s complaint to the court because it was “nonsensical”. A request to the Equality Court for clarity had gone unanswered.

Prince said he had not received a request from the Equality Court for the complaint to be clarified, and accused the DA of using delaying tactics.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Amnesty has demanded the release of a South African who remains in an Afghan jail despite having qualified to leave.

Cape Town - Amnesty International has demanded the release from Afghanistan of a South African who remains behind bars two-and-a-half years after he should have been released.

Bevan Campbell, from Johannesburg, had been working in the security industry when he was arrested at Kabul airport on August 3, 2007, and was jailed for possession of drugs.

Two-and-a-half years ago, while still serving his sentence mostly at the Pul-e-Charki prison in Kabul, he qualified for a reduction of his sentence under a presidential pardon. Excitedly, he prepared to return home to South Africa in mid-August last year.

What followed he has now described as “mental torture”. On about 100 occasions from then until May 28 this year, prison authorities went through the motions of being about to release him, only to return him to his cell.

A litany of supposed reasons have been offered to him, but he suspects authorities are awaiting a bribe.

In a letter to the Afghan authorities he wrote, exasperated: “I am tired of the Afghan government’s ‘incompetence’ at best, or ‘barbarism’ at worst.”

Members of his family and legal team have all sent a string of letters to the Afghan authorities, but to no avail.

His cause has been taken up by a member of Amnesty International, Thinus Coetzee, who wrote to the Afghan authorities on July 31: “On quite a few occasions now he has been led to believe that he was to be freed, not only as his sentence has been completed, but also because he had been pardoned the debt of the monetary fine imposed by the courts.

“On these occasions, he was shown letters of release, of which we have copies, and then transported to be released, only to be told that the prosecutor was still waiting for a letter from you, before he can be released. This over and above the fact that various decrees have been issued that pardons these debts and various others have been released on this basis.

“On the last occasion, he was even told that if he paid a certain amount of money to the prosecutors personally, he will be released. He refused this, as he is of the opinion that he will not be making himself guilty of bribery and corruption.”

Coetzee wrote to the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention in Geneva, Switzerland, in which he stated: “We wish to, in terms of Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Commission Resolution No 1991/42, as clarified by Commission Resolution No 1997/50, request urgent intervention by the working group as to the deprivation of Mr Campbell’s liberty by the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

“As per Category 1A, the continued incarceration of Mr Campbell, after having effectively completed his sentence more than 2.5 years ago, taking into account amnesty granted by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, constitutes a deprivation of his liberty and as thus falls within the scope of the working committee to intervene.”

Cape Argus

Less than a week before gang boss Rashied Staggie is expected to be released on day parole, his son will fight for his own freedom.

Cape Town - Less than a week before Hard Livings gang boss Rashied Staggie is expected to be released on day parole, his son will fight for his own freedom.

Staggie’s son, Abdul Taliep Boonzaaier, 24, has been in custody for about 10 days. It is alleged that Boonzaaier was found in possession of a 9mm calibre pistol, ammunition and counterfeit banknotes with a face value of more than R100 000.

Police were allegedly on his trail on August 17, but he managed to get away.

“Boonzaaier had disappeared until now,” prosecutor Charlean Olivier-Manuel said during his first court appearance on August 30.

Boonzaaier, who according to the charge sheet is a member of the Hard Livings gang, had handed himself over to police two days earlier.

His lawyer, Marcello Stevens, had asked the court that the case be postponed for a bail application, but it was instead postponed to ascertain Boonzaaier’s criminal profile.

This included whether he had previous convictions, pending cases, outstanding warrants for his arrest and whether he was a flight risk.

The State is opposing bail for Boonzaaier.

The provisional charges against Boonzaaier include fraud, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

On Friday, advocate Piet Steyn, from the offices of the director of public prosecutions, said he would represent the State in the bail application and trial.

Stevens said the defence would appoint advocate Pete Mihalik to represent Boonzaaier during his formal bail application on September 19.

Meanwhile, Staggie is due to be released on day parole on September 23. In May, the Department of Correctional Services announced that the Breede River parole board had decided to release Staggie on day parole.

Last week, prison authorities said they were investigating the circumstances surrounding unauthorised items, which could include cellphones and drugs, found in Staggie’s communal jail cell.

Last Tuesday James Smalberger, of the Correctional Services Department, said a case management committee and parole board would look into the unauthorised items matter, but as it stood, Staggie was set to be released on day parole on September 23.

He is serving a 15-year jail sentence for the kidnapping and rape of a 17-year-old girl, which runs concurrently with a 13-year sentence he received in 2004 for stealing weapons from the Faure police armoury.

Earlier Simphiwe Xako, spokesman for the department, said the parole board had considered a number of factors, including Staggie’s positive support system, the fact that he behaved well inside prison and had no disciplinary offences.

Staggie also completed a number of required programmes in prison, had served more than two-thirds of his sentence, and his accomplices had already been released.

Staggie will have to return to prison at night until his release on full parole on March 25.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus and IOL

Western Cape MEC Dan Plato has urged unions and the police to educate themselves about the new Dangerous Weapons Act.

Cape Town - Western Cape MEC for Community Safety Dan Plato has called on unions and the police to educate themselves on the new Dangerous Weapons Act.

This comes after a number of violent attacks by striking construction workers on people and labourers deemed to be undermining their strike by going to work.

Plato said he had received many phone calls and SMSes about assaults with knobkieries and batons, all associated with the strike.

Last week the Cape Argus published stills from CCTV footage showing a man being hit with a knobkierie outside a petrol station near the R300.

“I have been informed by members of the public that in some cases those participating in strike action have been brandishing items considered to be dangerous weapons,” Plato said on Sunday.

“This is now against the law. I strongly urge citizens to be aware that carrying dangerous weapons in public is illegal and any person found doing so is liable to a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment.”

The legislation was signed into force by President Jacob Zuma in July. It defines a “dangerous weapon” as “any object, other than a firearm, capable of causing death or inflicting serious bodily harm, if it were used for an unlawful purpose”.

Last week police issued a statement asking people not to join illegal gatherings. Failing this, police warned people against carrying dangerous weapons during illegal marches.

Plato said some police officers were ignorant about the new law. On numerous occasions last week, Cape Argus reporters saw striking National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members brandishing sticks, knobkieries and batons, without police arresting them.

NUM national spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said there was ignorance of the law among strikers and police. “We do not endorse our members carrying weapons.”

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut said circumstances were taken into consideration when police enforced the act.

“People are not merely arrested for being armed in some way. Discretion is applied. People engaged in a violent protest and armed with knives, for example, will be subjected to the act, and also someone who is armed and found late at night in an area known for high violent crime levels.”

The strike continues on Monday. There has been no agreement between the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors and the NUM.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Marius Fransman has accused "racist lobby groups" of using the media to discredit those helping Flippie Engelbrecht.

Cape Town - ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman has accused “certain racist lobby groups” of using the media to discredit the organisation that has helped 18-year-old double amputee Flippie Engelbrecht with mechanical hands and his two court cases.

He said on Sunday that these groups were trying to “dig dirt on” The Freedom Trust and its secretary, Carina Papenfus.

Fransman wrote on the Facebook page of the trust that they were trying to break Papenfus because she came from a white community, but had decided to work for a non-racial society where especially farmworkers and their children were treated fairly.

This follows a Cape Times report on Friday that raised questions about how Engelbrecht went blind and when he sustained his subsequent injuries.

While Papenfus claimed Engelbrecht was assaulted by Johnny Burger and Wilhelm Treurnicht on January 25, 2008, and had an “emergency operation” three days later that left him blind, hospital documents show that he was treated at Tygerberg Hospital in August 2009 for a suspected brain abscess.

Burger died in an apparent suicide last week.

Fransman pledged his support to Papenfus and said like Nosey Pieterse, a leader in the farm strikes earlier this year, she too had to stand up against “white extremism, racism, fascism and narrow stupidity”. The trust’s four leaders are ANC members.

ANC provincial deputy secretary Maurencia Gillion and Sanette Smit serve on the party’s provincial executive committee, while Cathy Booysen-Nefdt and Papenfus are members. Gillion said they created the trust, but it wasn’t an ANC organisation.

She is the trust’s chairwoman and a councillor in the Overstrand Municipality. The trust is a registered non-profit organisation.

Smit, the trust’s deputy treasurer, is a councillor in Berg River and was the mayor of the municipality before she resigned in 2006.

Trust treasurer Booysen-Nefdt has also been an ANC councillor but joined the DA in 2011 as councillor in the Theewaterskloof Municipality before rejoining the ANC.

Papenfus said she joined the ANC in the 1990s but never held a leadership position.

She said it wasn’t strange that all four leaders of the trust were ANC members.

“This is what ANC members do; before we are a political party, we help people,” she said.

Papenfus, previously a lawyer, confirmed to the Cape Times that she was struck from the roll in 2010.

She said this related to complaints laid at the Law Society by creditors of a property deal she was involved with.

The trust had called for donations of up to R100 000 on its website to help Engelbrecht, but Papenfus said they had scrapped this from the website and all donations were now dealt with by Engelbrecht’s lawyers, Smit Tabata Buchanan Boyes.

“Everyone was saying we must be making money off Flippie, and that is why we decided we would not be dealing with the money,” she said.

Cape Times

The fear of violence was one of the biggest concerns for service station owners as attendants embarked on a strike.

Cape Town - As petrol attendants joined fellow National Union of Metalworkers members (Numsa) on a national strike on Monday, some city service stations closed shop after workers failed to turn up for the morning shift.

A service station owner in Mfuleni, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s not so much fear of being assaulted at work, but people know that they may be attacked at taxi ranks before commuting.

“After what happened last week, people are scared. I don’t really blame them, but our business is suffering hugely as a result.”

Mfuleni and Delft were hotbeds of strike-related violence last week as strikers in the construction industry attacked workers waiting for transport.

With the memory of violent intimidation during a 2010 strike in the sector, Hyder Ebrahim, owner of a Caltex garage in Spine Road, Khayelitsha, said he had given his 32 petrol attendants the day off.

“It happens every three years. In 2010 one of my guys was badly beaten with sticks right here on the forecourt in broad daylight. I am losing a lot – R10 000 a day in fact – but the safety of my staff is more important than any of that.”

Another service station manager in Mitchells Plain, who asked for anonymity, said only 20 percent of his staff had come to work.

“We are trying our best to keep the pumps open. I don’t want to fall foul of the strikers and I do want to show solidarity, but I also have a business to run.”

The manager said he would pay the remaining staff a “little bonus” in appreciation for their coming to work when their colleagues stayed away.

In other instances, such as at the Caltex garage near the V&A Waterfront, managers said they had been caught off-guard by the stayaway. In one case a manager said he had “literally had to pull people in from the street” to work the pumps.

Casual workers or staff who did report for work wore casual clothing as they filled up cars.

A casual attendant at a Shell filling station in the Bo-Kaap said: “These guys don’t mess about – they will beat you, they will kill you. I am working because I need the money, but I will be out of here when I see trouble coming.”

Wage negotiations between Numsa and employer representatives, the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI) and the Fuel Retailers Association, deadlocked in July.

Numsa, which claims to represent 70 000 workers in motor services, has demanded, among other things, a double-digit increase in wages. It issued a strike notice last Thursday.

About 800 Numsa members marched on the RMI offices in Parow on Monday to hand over a memorandum of demands.

Vuyo Lufele, Numsa’s Western Cape regional secretary, said other workers should be “peacefully convinced” to join their “comrades” in the strike.

Members of the Fuel Retailers Association have reverted to a seven-percent offer after their offer of 9.5 percent was rejected last week. The RMI has offered a five-percent increase.

Dumisa Ncetani, 27, says he has been working at a petrol station in Cape Town for three years without promotion. He earns a little over R750 for a 44-hour week, or about R17 an hour.

“It is very difficult to survive in this city with so little money. That is why we are asking for a bigger increase – that is why I am striking,” he said.

Numsa members also marched in Randburg on Monday.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Shaskia Michaels is still missing - but two schoolgirls believe they saw the child on Monday afternoon.

Cape Town - The mother of four-year-old Shaskia Michaels is hoping her daughter is alive as two pupils have said they spotted her on Monday afternoon.

Anthea Michaels, 26, said two Grade 6 pupils from Tafelsig Primary School thought they had seen the little girl being pushed in a trolley by a man. She said the children called Shaskia’s name twice and she turned back to look at them, but the man sped off with her in the trolley.

Aqueellah Lewis, caretaker at Tafelsig Primary, said the girls had been in the school grounds at about 1pm during the lunch break when they saw a child who looked like the missing toddler. They followed the man to the back of the school and said he walked down AZ Berman Drive.

They said the little girl was dressed in a purple tracksuit with pink sleeves, her head was covered by a hoodie and she was wearing black pumps.

Lynn Phillips, from the Mitchells Plain Community Police Forum (CPF), said the forum had been informed by the family of the incident and had gone with a detective to the area, but there were no leads.

Police said there were no developments and no arrests.

Police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana said the two men who had been taken in for questioning remained in custody.

CPF volunteers are continuing the search. “We need constant supervision in the area where the child disappeared. Our experience in the past proved to us that the child is most often found within the same road where they lived,” said Phillips.

The last confirmed sighting of Shaskia was on Thursday morning, playing outside under the care of her grandfather William Faroa, 46. He had been looking after her during the day while her grandmother, Roselyn Faroa, 47, was at work.

She was dressed in a pink polo neck T-shirt and black pump slippers.

On Monday, volunteers returned to search Freedom Park, Shaskia’s home, and surrounding areas.

Earlier in the day, MEC for Social Development Albert Fritz visited Shaskia’s family to offer support. He said he was visiting the family in his personal capacity.

Anyone with information should contact Warrant officer Charles Julies or Mitchells Plain police at 021 370 1600 or Crime Stop at 08600 10 111.

Cadet News Agency

Cape Argus

Some Cape universities are reviewing their guidelines for relationships between students and staff members.

Cape Town - In the fallout of a Wits University sexual harassment scandal, some Western Cape institutions are reviewing guidelines for staff/student relationships while others do not see the need for regulating these affairs at all.

A report said the university’s “vague” policies made it difficult for people to come forward with information.

Stellenbosch University and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) have no policy governing staff/student affairs.

CPUT’s judicial officer Mandlakazi Sifumba said only one incident of a relationship between a student and a staff member had resulted in a sexual harassment accusation. For this reason CPUT did not see the need for one.

Stellenbosch is updating its policy. “Power relations make it very difficult to know when relationships between staff and students are truly consensual,” said senior director of communications Mohamed Shaikh.

The University of the Western Cape is overhauling its sexual harassment policies. Communications officer Luthando Tyhalibongo said UWC had dealt with one formal accusation of sexual harassment against a staff member this year.

Last year CPUT had three cases against staff members, and two were laid by staff members.

UCT would not say how many reports of sexual harassment it had received. UCT has a policy that governs romantic, sexual, familial and conflict-ridden relationships between staff and students.

Students at the university launched the “kNOw it’s NOT OKAY” campaign to stamp out sexual harassment.

Cadet News Agency

Cape Argus

The DA has launched a voter education drive to counter the "falsehoods" it says are being spread by the ANC.

Cape Town - The DA has launched a second campaign to convince voters that it supports social grants, land redistribution and BEE.

The DA launched its Know Your DA campaign earlier this year which it said was “correcting another falsehood peddled by our political opponents: the lie that we want to bring apartheid back”.

Now the party wants to counter more “falsehoods” it says are spread by the ANC.

“Our opponents say that we will do this (“bring back apartheid”) by taking away people’s social grants, by stopping the redistribution of land and by abolishing Black Economic Empowerment,” said the DA’s Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane.

“Anybody who has read our policies knows that none of this is true. In fact, the opposite is true.

“The DA supports social grants… because they are vital to protect the poor from the impact of extreme poverty.

“The DA supports land reform… because we must correct the evils of the apartheid system that reserved the best land for whites only.

“The DA supports broad-based Black Economic Empowerment because we want to build an inclusive economy in which everybody has a fair chance of getting ahead in life.

“Our frustration is that, up until now, BEE has focused on the transfer of lucrative shares to a small number of politically connected individuals who have become very rich without starting new enterprises, adding new value or creating new jobs.”

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said: “It’s good that the ANC is giving leadership to the DA… If, all of a sudden, they are now adopting these important pro-poor positions - which are ANC policies - then they are very welcome to the club! It’s good that even the DA has seen the light…”

Cape Argus

Agang leader Dr Mamphela Ramphele’s campaign event in Khayelitsha has been disrupted by an ANC councillor.

Cape Town - An ANC councillor disrupted a meeting at which Agang leader Dr Mamphela Ramphele addressed elderly Khayelitsha residents on Monday.

Ramphele hit the campaign trail on Monday, first visiting residents of gang-ridden Lavender Hill, then going to Khayelitsha at the invitation of the non-profit Uthando South Africa project. She ended her day at Manenberg police station for talks with the police.

But the Khayelitsha event was marred by what many residents called political intolerance.

During a heated exchange between ward councillor Mavis Mafoko, her supporters, organisers of the event and elders, Mafoko said she had been approached to help with an event for the elderly only to discover it was an Agang political meeting.

Mafoko shouted outside the venue, demanding to know why Ramphele’s entourage were wearing Agang T-shirts. “This is electioneering… This is an ANC ward and this is our hall.”

An unfazed Ramphele continued a speech criticising President Jacob Zuma, service delivery, and the “horror” of the police service.

James Fernie of the Uthando project said Mafoko’s behaviour was disgusting. They had invited Ramphele “as the leader of Agang”.

“Of course there will be people wearing T-shirts. They are turning this into something ugly and political.”

ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile said Mafoko had told him the elderly were under the impression food parcels would be handed out.

She had got a call from people at the meeting saying “the woman (Ramphele) was insulting Zuma”.

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The V&A Waterfront has contributed almost R200 billion to the national economy in the past decade.

The V&A Waterfront has contributed almost R200 billion to the national economy in the past decade, outperforming both the Western Cape and the country in that time in terms of economic growth.

It is also a top tourist attraction, with 61 percent of all visits to the city including a stop at the Waterfront; more than 23 million people visit the Waterfront each year.

Economic Information Services economist Barry Standish said the magnitude of the numbers associated with the Waterfront’s social and economic contribution since 2002 were “quite startling”.

Early last year, V&A Waterfront Holdings commissioned Economic Information Services to research and quantify the development’s social and economic contribution over the past 10 years.

Speaking at the announcement of the study’s findings yesterday, Waterfront chief executive David Green said they showed the Waterfront was “more than a shopping centre and more than a tourist destination”.

On average, the Waterfront’s contribution to the economy increased by 5.1 percent since 2002, while the overall provincial economy grew by 4.1 percent and the country’s overall economic growth was 3.5 percent. The contribution in 2012 was almost R29bn.

Its contribution to the gross geographic product, or provincial income, has increased from R9bn in 2002 to R25.5bn. Since 2002, it has added over R173bn to the province’s coffers.

A development boom is under way at the Waterfront, with construction taking place at 14 sites throughout the precinct. It is projected that these developments plus others in the planning pipeline will contribute a combined additional R188bn to the economy by 2023.

More than 16 700 people work at the Waterfront – almost 1 percent of all the jobs in the Western Cape. Using a 1:5 household ratio, this meant that 100 000 people benefited from these jobs, said Standish.

In total, the precinct provides for 48 000 direct and indirect job opportunities. Future development plans, expected to unfold over the next decade, will create an additional 15 708 jobs.

Green said: “What we are particularly proud of is that our estimated contribution to indirect household income increased from R2.7bn in 2002 to R7.2bn in 2012. Thanks to the economic ripple effect, this contribution was spread further than simply our surrounding community.

“Our tenants placed orders with companies outside our location and province, while income earned from working at the V&A finds its way to other areas of the city.”

Standish said the Waterfront’s work on enterprise development was among its most significant achievements. This involved providing support and space for small-scale craft industries to evolve into sustainable businesses.

The Waterfront has also had a knock-on effect for property values within a 1.5km radius, adding an aggregate of R2.8 billion to the surrounding property values.

This means that property values are 23 percent higher than they would have been if the Waterfront did not exist.

The total potential annual rates generated by these properties was estimated at R245 million for 2012. - The Argus

Manenberg’s gangsterism stems from the devastating economic circumstances there, says Dr Mamphela Ramphele.

Cape Town - Sending the army into Manenberg won’t bring an end to gang violence, says Agang leader Mamphela Ramphele, who visited the area on Monday.

Ramphele said the solution lay in resolving socio-economic problems.

Ramphele was in Manenberg on Monday to meet the police station commander and community leaders on a “fact-finding mission”.

She also went to Lavender Hill and Khayelitsha, noting that residents had not realised the “promise of freedom”.

The root cause of this, she said, was a corrupt government which had forgotten its people for 20 years. “What is needed in this country is a clean, competent government. A government that listens to its people and cares.”

Agang policy director and interim provincial leader Mills Soko said the situation in Manenberg was a product of abuse by political parties who discarded people after getting their votes. “It is completely unacceptable, what we saw.”

Ramphele was briefed in a closed meeting about the gang situation in Manenberg, the challenges the police station faced and its plan to tackle crime. After the meeting, she drove through Manenberg streets in a motorcade accompanied by the police and former provincial Community Policing Forum chairman Hanif Loonat.

Ramphele witnessed rows of people sitting on the side of the road, seemingly unemployed, and was told of dilapidated school infrastructure. She also saw people in wheelchairs. Loonat said 80 percent of them were victims of gang violence.

Asked about Premier Helen Zille’s call for the army to be deployed to fight gangsterism, Ramphele said: “I’ve never believed in the army solving social problems. These are social problems of inequality, of trauma, of humiliation. They need to be addressed at source.”

She said there was a need for an integrated approach to gang violence, including social development, health and education. “If people don’t have jobs, it doesn’t matter how closely you police. The problems will remain.” She said it was a concern that many people lived in the “middle of filth” and were unemployed. She said those people could be employed to clean up, and to refurbish their housing.

“We need South Africans to know that it is unacceptable to have such degrees of inequality, because this level of inequality breeds its own dynamic of social problems… Camps Bay is not safe when this is happening here, Bishopscourt is not safe. So, we have a responsibility as citizens to deal with these root causes and close the gap.”

This could be done through putting pressure on the government. Ramphele, who lived in Gugulethu in the late 1980s, said she had not been aware of the depth of the problems in Manenberg until Monday.

Cape Times

Fabianus Fillipus - the man accused of killing two Hout Bay police officers - has denied telling a close friend that he was responsible.

Cape Town - The man on trial for murdering two Hout Bay police officers has denied calling a close friend to tell him that he was responsible.

Namibian-born Fabianus Fillipus denied in the Western Cape High Court on Monday that he shot constables Phindiwe Nikani, 26, and Mandisi Nduku, 27, in Mandela Park on October 12.

The officers, who were patrolling in the area at about 11pm, had asked Fillipus to move his car parked close to a shebeen. The State alleges he later returned and opened fire on the officers.

During cross-examination by prosecutor Samantha Raphels, the court heard that Fillipus had allegedly confessed to his friend, Simeon Mangeni, a day after the murders.

Fillipus responded: “No, that’s his own story, I never told him that.”

He also denied Mangeni’s evidence that Fillipus wanted to borrow R1 000 to go to Namibia urgently.

Another witness, Israel Shipingana, said Fillipus had asked him for R500, but Fillipus told the court he had called Shipingana to inquire about his house that had been ransacked the night before.

Raphels told Fillipus that a third witness, Xoliswa Mayipheli, had allegedly seen him running from the police vehicle that night.

“She said you looked back three times and that’s how she saw your face, and she knows you because you are the one who drives a BMW in the area.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Fillipus responded.

Referring to the testimony of Immanual Paulus, Raphels asked Fillipus to comment on the fact that he was allegedly seen running with a gun in hand after the shots were fired.

“It’s not me because I don’t possess a firearm,” Fillipus said.

Police never recovered the murder weapon.

Closing arguments are expected on Tuesday.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The motor service industry strike has entered its second day amid claims of intimidation from both sides.

Cape Town - Tension between employer and worker representatives is rising on the second day of the motor service industry strike, with both sides claiming incidents of intimidation.

With no date set for negotiations, mutual accusations of intimidation are being exchanged by employers and the National Union of Metalworkers in South Africa (Numsa).

Vuyo Lufele, regional secretary for Numsa in the Western Cape, has lashed out at employers for spreading “cheap propaganda” about workers being intimidated.

Lufele contends that where workers are working, they are doing so because of “serious intimidation” by employers.

This comes after Reggie Sibiya, chief executive of the Fuel Retailers Association, accused the union’s members of employing intimidation tactics to keep “willing workers” away.

Said Lufele: “Most of these workers are not willing at all. They want to join their comrades in the strike, but they have been told that they will be fired. We are now in the process of making a list of the employers who are making these threats and we will report them.”

Sibiya warned Numsa on Tuesday morning to stick to picketing rules or face a court interdict. The rules, agreed upon between Numsa and employers on Friday, call for peaceful picketing and non-violent protest.

“Most of the service stations nationally are operational, but we have had reports of assault and intimidation of workers by striking Numsa members. We have reported these breaches of the rules to Numsa and expect them to control their members and to take action against those who break the rules,” Sibiya said.

At the head office of Beekman Canopies in Stikland, 50 picketing Numsa members on Tuesday morning reportedly prevented two staff members from re-entering the premises after they had stepped out for refreshments at an adjacent shop.

On Monday, petrol attendants joined fellow Numsa members on a national strike. Some city service stations closed shop after workers failed to turn up for the morning shift.

With the memory of violent intimidation during a 2010 strike in the sector, Hyder Ebrahim, owner of a Caltex garage in Spine Road, Khayelitsha, said he had given his 32 petrol attendants the day off.

“It happens every three years. In 2010 one of my guys was badly beaten with sticks right here on the forecourt in broad daylight. I am losing a lot - R10 000 a day in fact - but the safety of my staff is more important than any of that.”

At the Caltex garage near the V&A Waterfront, managers said they had been caught off-guard by the stayaway. In one case a manager said he had “literally had to pull people in from the street” to work the pumps.

Wage negotiations between Numsa and employer representatives, the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI) and the Fuel Retailers Association, deadlocked in July.

Demands by Numsa, which represents 70 000 workers at petrol stations and in motor services, include a double-digit increase in wages. It issued a strike notice last Thursday.

About 800 Numsa members marched on the RMI offices in Parow on Monday to hand over a memorandum of demands.

Lufele said other workers should be “peacefully convinced” to join their “comrades” in the strike.

Members of the Fuel Retailers Association have reverted to a seven-percent offer after their offer of 9.5 percent was rejected. The RMI offer is five percent.

Cape Argus

The two men arrested over the disappearance of Shaskia Michaels have been released without being charged.

Cape Town - The two men held by police for questioning about the disappearance of four-year-old Shaskia Michaels have been released without being charged.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said this morning that the men, who were detained on Sunday, could not be linked to the little girl’s disappearance.

After nearly 48 hours of being held for questioning they were released.

Police did not say if there were any new leads following the questioning.

The search effort continued on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Shaskia’s mother, Anthea Michaels, 26, is hoping her daughter is alive as two school children said they spotted her on Monday afternoon.

Shaskia’s mother said two Grade 6 pupils from Tafelsig Primary School thought they had seen a little girl being pushed in a trolley by a man. She said the children called Shaskia’s name twice and she turned back to look at them, but the man sped off with her in the trolley.

Aqueellah Lewis, caretaker at Tafelsig Primary, said the girls had been in the school grounds at about 1pm during the lunch break when they saw a child who resembled the missing toddler.

They followed the man to the back of the school and said he walked down AZ Berman Drive. They said the little girl was wearing a purple tracksuit with pink sleeves, a hoodie on her head, and black pumps.

Abie Isaacs, chairman of the Community Police Forum (CPF) in the area said volunteers were handing out flyers with Shaskia’s picture at transport hubs in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday.

“We accept that not everyone has access to a phone, so the more contacts we make - the more people we speak to personally – the better our chances of finding Shaskia are,” he said.

Volunteers are also continuing their search efforts.

Lynn Phillips, also of the CPF, said the forum had been told by the family of the incident and had gone with a detective to the area, but there were no leads.

“We need constant supervision in the area where the child disappeared. Our experience in the past has proved to us that the child is most often found within the same road where they live,” said Phillips.

The last time Shaskia was seen was on Thursday morning, when she was in the care of her grandfather William Faroa, 46. He had been looking after her while her grandmother, Roselyn Faroa, 47, was at work.

She had been wearing a pink polo neck T-shirt and black pump-style slippers.

MEC for Social Development Albert Fritz on Monday visited Shaskia’s family to offer support. He said he was visiting the family in his personal capacity.

A reward of R50 000 has been offered for an arrest in connection with the disappearance of Shaskia, and Kauthar Bobbs, by mayor Patricia de Lille.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Warrant Officer Charles Julies or Mitchells Plain police at 021 370 1600 or Crime Stop at 08600 10 111. - Cape Argus

An English court has jailed a SA doctor who sexually assaulted and photographed patients as young as 18 months.

London - A South African doctor who sexually assaulted and photographed patients as young as 18 months was jailed for six years by an English court on Tuesday.

Barend Delport, 55, a general practitioner and Baptist preacher, took 800 photographs of women and children at his surgery for his own sexual gratification.

He told his victims – who ranged from a toddler to a woman in her sixties – a raft of lies, even claiming he needed the images for training purposes.

Sentencing Delport on Tuesday at Maidstone Crown Court, Judge Philip Statman said it was difficult to imagine “a graver breach of trust”.

The doctor carried out the abuse between 2003 and last year, and was said to have assaulted numerous victims.

The court was given details of only six – three women and three girls aged 14, four and 18 months – whom he sexually assaulted at his surgery in Swanley, Kent in south-east England. The doctor was caught only after a mother asked why her young daughter had been intimately examined and photographed by Delport when she had complained of a stomach ache.

When police received the complaint in March, a letter was sent to every patient at The Oaks surgery urging them to get in touch if they had concerns. It provoked a string of similar allegations.

A teenage victim of Delport described her horror at learning he had touched and photographed her for sexual gratification.

Up to 100 intimate pictures of the girl were found on the GP’s computer following a police raid. Delport photographed her six times from the age of 10 to 15.

The 17-year-old, from Swanley in Kent, said: “I thought he was nice and kind. He would sometimes give me sweets and money when I went to see him. My mom was always in the room, so I never felt weird.

“I was a bit embarrassed when he first asked if he could take photographs, but I never questioned it. I was too young and he was a doctor.

“When I found out he had pleaded guilty, I felt sick. I put all my trust in him and he wasn’t trustworthy. Now I’m scared to go to the doctor’s.”

She said Delport would also tell her he was going to say prayers for her.

Shortly after his arrest, Delport resigned from the surgery and left the £500 000 (about R7.8 million) three-bedroom home he shared with his wife Sally in the village of Eynsford.

Mrs Delport, 54, a jewellery maker, is said to “remain committed” to her husband, although they have separated.

Delport qualified at the University of Pretoria in 1981 and did his internship at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg the following year.

In 1984 he qualified as a dental assistant. He was registered as a doctor in South Africa with the Health Professions Council of South Africa for 17 years, deregistering only when he emigrated to the UK in June 1998.

In 1989 he was given a caution and a reprimand after being found guilty of improper conduct by the council for not identifying a patient before administering anaesthetic.

In court, prosecutor Anthony Haycroft said Delport had concocted a string of excuses to justify taking pictures of his victims.

He claimed to be a dermatologist when taking intimate pictures of a child suffering from a skin complaint, the prosecutor said.

When he was arrested police found 500 000 images on his computer.

Of those, more than 5 500 were pornographic and 842 were of patients he had taken himself. Photographic consent forms were also seized.

“The mothers of the child victims all feel totally and understandably abused,” said Haycroft. “They have feelings of guilt and they have lost trust in doctors completely.”

Delport admitted 26 offences, including four indecent assaults on adults and three indecent assaults on children.

He also admitted two counts of possessing indecent images of children, five of making indecent images of children and 12 of taking indecent images.

Delport accepted two further charges of indecent assault on Tuesday – against a victim who came forward following his last court hearing – and asked for them to be taken into consideration.

Michael Haynes, for Delport, said the general practitioner’s shame was “overwhelming” and that he had let down his wife, friends, patients and church. Since his arrest Delport had sought treatment for his “addiction to pornography”.

At the time of his arrest, he was presiding over a Sunday service at Eynsford Baptist Church following the departure of the minister.

Friends said Delport earned more than £100 000 (about R1.5m) a year and enjoyed spending his money on golfing holidays, clothes and gadgets.

Daily Mail – Additional reporting by Sipokazi Fokazi

The strike by petrol attendants has prompted some big oil companies to consider installing self-service pumps.

Cape Town - The nationwide petrol attendant strike has seen calls for big oil companies to consider installing self-service pumps at their petrol stations.

But while the move would put South Africa in line with First World economies such as the US and UK, industry experts have warned that adoption of the pumps locally could result in widespread unemployment.

Self-service pumps were first introduced in the 1970s. Initially the system was built on trust, with motorists filling up before paying at the station's shop.

But this quickly made way for the credit card-based system which has been proposed for South Africa. According to the Cape Chamber of Commerce's Michael Bagraim, the “swipe system” would be best for the country. This would see pumps activated by the swipe of a credit, debit or dedicated petrol card before motorists could manually refuel their cars.

The US has almost unilaterally adopted the same system, and over the past three years, stations in developing countries such as India, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates have begun rolling it out.

But the “swipe system” is not the only option. In the UK, many petrol stations still allow motorists to fill up before paying at a shop inside.

However, motorists are constantly monitored by CCTV cameras and the footage is later reviewed, with companies taking note of drivers who speed off before paying.

Stations in the south of France have their own “cagey” approach. Motorists are essentially locked in once they enter the forecourt.

Bagraim said the technology behind the “swipe system” meant there were no safety concerns at all.

“You can link your car to your credit card.”

He said Israel had already implemented the technology. But despite the positives of adopting the system, Bagraim said he was still opposed to it, stating that it would see countless workers lose their jobs and only add to growing unemployment.

A manager at a city petrol station, who did not want to be named, told the Cape Argus: “I don't think our country can afford self service. Our mindset isn't ready for it.”

But he said the system would put an end to “drive-offs”, a common occurrence which saw motorists speed away without paying for their petrol.

Temporary petrol attendant Craig Felix, who has been filling in during the strike, said self service was a massive safety concern.

“I wouldn't like to have to get out of my car to put petrol in. It's not safe in some areas.”

Avhapfani Tshifularo, executive director of the South African Petroleum Industry Association, said self service would simply not work in the country. “Nobody is allowed to fill up his own tank at a petrol station according to the law which protects 70 000 jobs at a retail level.”

For Mxolisi Ratsibe, head of employee relations at the National Petroleum Employee Association, the debate boiled down to one glaring downside. “Jobs, jobs, jobs.”

Cape Argus

When a limping Alan Bissolati approached the police after an attack by strikers, he was allegedly told to "f*** off".

Cape Town - Limping and bleeding after being attacked by striking construction workers in Mitchells Plain, Alan Bissolati says two police officers told him to “f*** off” when he asked them for help on Tuesday.

This is the latest in a series of reports of violent intimidation by striking workers in the city.

Bissolati, who owns a tiling business in Table View, and eight of his workers were assaulted on their way to work at the AZ Berman-R300 intersection soon after 6am.

“My bakkie was stopped at a red light... Next thing these guys just start hitting the vehicle, trying to smash the windscreen with bricks. I got out and they beat one of my workers and me with golf clubs,” said Bissolati.

“I was injured and ran up to two officers sitting in a police car nearby. They told me to ‘f*** off’ because they didn’t want to get involved and risk being attacked.”

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato, who complained about similar reports of police indifference over the weekend, is now calling on the police to bring criminal charges against members who refuse to act against armed and violent strikers.

“I understand that police are sometimes outnumbered, but there is always a recourse for them. It may be as simple as radioing for back-up. Reports of them doing nothing sends a wrong message.”

Members of the two major unions are on a national strike over deadlocked wage talks. Construction workers from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have been on strike for about two weeks. On Monday, motor industry workers and petrol attendants under the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) went on strike.

Many strikers consider people who continue to report for work in their industries as traitors who should be forced into supporting the strike if they do not take part willingly.

Both unions have been quick to distance themselves from the violence. Happiness Holiday, the NUM’s Western Cape general secretary, conceded that preventing workers from reporting for work was part of the union’s strategy.

“But this must always be done peacefully, through persuasion rather than through intimidation,” he said.

Early on Tuesday, striking Numsa members outside the head office of Beekman Canopies in Stikland physically blocked staff from entering the premises and offered them Numsa T-shirts.

Incidents such as this proved that Numsa was breaking the “picketing rules” to which all parties agreed before the strike, said employer representatives Reggie Sibiya, chief executive of the Fuel Retailers Association, and Jakkie Olivier, chief executive of the Retail Motor Industry. The rules say workers cannot be physically blocked from entering their place of work. Employers called on Numsa to discipline their members.

Vuyo Lufele, Numsa’s regional secretary, responded by drawing attention to employers who forced their workers to boycott the strike under threat of dismissal. This is where “the real intimidation” was to be found.

Numsa and employer bodies are to meet for negotiations in Joburg on Wednesday.

NUM negotiator Bhekani Ngcobo said they were waiting for the employers to return with a revised offer before negotiations could resume.

Police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana said they had not received any complaints about the incident, but added the police “are guided by rules and a professional conduct that guides all our members, and we condemn such comments. Once we hear of such incidents we don’t hesitate to take action”.

Kinana added it may be difficult to trace the officers because they could be from any police station in the province.

Cape Argus

A Cape Town petrol attendant who has defied the strike says he cannot afford to go without tips for even a day.

Cape Town - A Phillipi petrol attendant was at work filling tanks as usual on Tuesday - in plain clothes. With his two children to feed and send to school, and his two sisters relying on his income to survive, he can’t afford to go without tips for even a day.

“We don’t even make R700 per week in wages,” he said.

The man doesn’t like to think about the possibility of self-service pumps being introduced. “It will affect not only my life, but my family. All of our families,” he said, waving at his fellow petrol attendants. “It will cost us a lot - our lives.”

He works 11-hour shifts at a petrol station in Cape Town, where he’s been employed for nearly four years. Before filling tanks, he was a forklift driver, but when his licence expired he had no money to renew it.

“Because of the life we are living, we can’t complain about this job,” he said. “I just try to provide for my family.”

They live in Philippi. His taxi to work costs R30, and he relies on tips to cover the cost.

“On a busy day, you can make up to R200,” he said. “But if it’s bad, you just go home with a return ticket (R60).”

He said that even though he earned very little, he took care to budget all his money.

“My kids are the priority of my budget,” he said. His children, 12 and five years old, go to school in Cape Town and Athlone. The cost of their transport uses up half of their father’s wages.

“I have to sacrifice and forget about food sometimes,” he said. “I come last on my budget.”

Cadet News Agency

Cape Argus