One of the men accused of murdering four Pakistanis in the Cape made an announcement that caught his lawyer off-guard.

Cape Town - One of the men accused of murdering four Pakistani men at a bakery distribution point, run from a house in Mitchells Plain, made an unexpected announcement in court that caught his lawyer off-guard.

On Thursday, self-confessed 26s prison gang member Mogamat Nasief de Villiers, 43, fidgeted about in the dock as he attempted to get Mitchells Plain magistrate David Lackey’s attention.

Lackey warned De Villiers that he could not have his “bread buttered on both sides”, suggesting that he either speak through his lawyer, advocate Omar Arend, or relieve him of his duties.

De Villiers said that what he had to say would “come as a surprise” to Arend, and said he wanted to address the court because he would be able to “put it more clearly”.

After a brief consultation, Arend read a few lines into the record on behalf of De Villiers, who said he had been at the scene on the day of the incident and that his co-accused, Yazeed Hendricks, “was never at the scene”.

De Villiers, Hendricks and Lehano Jasen, 28, are charged with murder, attempted murder, robbery and the possession of illegal firearms and live ammunition.

The three men were arrested in connection with the murders of Shafique Muhammad, 42, Adnan Haider, 23, Ghulam Baqar, 23, and Shahzad Ahmad, 39, who were gunned down by masked men on March 19.

De Villiers spoke shortly after Hendricks’ testimony. Hendricks is attempting to get bail. Hendricks also has a fragment of a bullet lodged in his thigh the State claims connects him to the crime scene. The State alleges Hendricks had shot himself in the pelvis during the attack.

Hendricks however, claims the bullet has been lodged in his thigh for 18 years, and that he had been shot through the shoulder and torso, and in his thigh in 1994.

The three are expected back in court on December 19 for the continuation of their bail applications.

natasha.prince@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Western Cape MEC Anton Bredell has emerged victorious in his department’s legal battle with the Oudtshoorn municipal Speaker.

Cape Town - Local Government MEC Anton Bredell has emerged victorious in his department’s legal battle with the Oudtshoorn municipal Speaker, who is seen as the main stumbling block in the DA’s attempts to take control of the town’s council.

At issue is a decision by the Speaker, John Stoffels, to bar two DA councillors from voting during a council meeting. The Western Cape High Court declared this decision illegal, prompting Stoffels to apply for leave to appeal. But, on Thursday, Judge Ashton Schippers refused his application.

The council is run by an ANC-led coalition, but thanks to a successful by-election the DA has the balance of councillors.

However, Stoffels has contrived to avoid a vote of no-confidence.

Oudtshoorn’s legal drama appears to be far from over.

Stoffels’s lawyer, Hardy Mills, on Thursday confirmed he had received instructions to proceed with a petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Two weeks ago, Judge Schippers dismissed Bredell’s request to exclude the Speaker from chairing a council meeting, which would have see the ANC lose power to the DA. But at the same time he also ruled that Stoffels’s actions when depriving two DA councillors of their voting rights were unlawful and in bad faith.

In recent months, the DA has failed five times in a row in its bid to regain control of the embattled municipality, despite winning a crucial by-election in August that gave the DA/Cope alliance a voting majority.

In a statement, Stoffels said the effect of his planned appeal to the Supreme Court would be to suspend Judge Schippers’s judgment “until the appeals process is exhausted, or until the court rules differently”.

Oudtshoorn municipal manager Ron Lottering said last night the municipality would issue a statement later on Friday.

Welcoming the judgment, Bredell said that by dismissing Stoffels’s leave for appeal the court had reinforced the principle that all Speakers should perform their responsibilities “impartially and in good faith or face the consequences”.

Bredell said his office would monitor the situation in Oudtshoorn to ensure that democracy triumphed.

And he urged the ANC to act against its councillors and demand that they respect the wishes of the town’s voters.

“If the Speaker takes any further legal action we will have no option but to request security of cost, as the speaker already has three cost orders made against him by the high court,” Bredell warned.

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Andile Lili intends appealing against a decision to dismiss his application challenging his expulsion from the City of Cape Town.

Cape Town - Axed ANC councillor Andile Lili intends appealing against a Western Cape High Court decision to dismiss his application challenging his expulsion from the City of Cape Town.

Lili briefed the media on the steps of the high court on Thursday after Judge Andre le Grange found that Local Government MEC Anton Bredell’s decision to expel Lili was justified. He confirmed that he would be appealing against the court’s decision on Thursday.

In his ruling, Judge Le Grange said: “There was nothing in (Lili’s) representations to persuade the MEC that any other sanction was appropriate.

“Moreover, (Lili) does not contest the validity of the sanction imposed by the MEC in his heads of argument. In fact, the National Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and a member of the same political party as (Lili), went so far as to state in his affidavit that (Lili) was properly removed from office as a result of the transgression he was found guilty of.”

Lili was expelled from the City of Cape Town in March after a multiparty disciplinary committee found him guilty of taking part in the illegal demolition of houses in Khayelitsha and of making derogatory remarks to Khayelitsha residents.

The committee agreed unanimously on Lili’s expulsion and his fate was sealed when Bredell rubberstamped the committee’s decision. The former councillor approached the court claiming his expulsion was not merited but was used to settle a political score.

He also challenged the constitutionality of the section of the Municipal Systems Act which gives Bredell the power to expel city councillors.

But Judge Le Grange did not find in his favour. “I find the challenge cannot succeed and dismiss it with costs,” Judge le Grange said. In welcoming the verdict, Bredell said the decision sent out a strong message that, if proper processes were followed, discipline would be enforced in municipal councils. The MEC also welcomed the fact that Judge le Grange had dismissed the application with costs.

Bredell’s office earlier this month, during a reply to questions in the provincial legislature about legal cost incurred by the department in recent years, revealed that the Lili application, which cited the MEC as a respondent, was already standing at just over R433 000.

City of Cape Town Speaker Dirk Smit said the city had anticipated that the court would rule against Lili and was happy with the findings.

jade.otto@inl.co.za and warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Although parking marshals are back at their jobs in the CBD, about 80 of the city’s longest-serving marshals are still on strike.

Cape Town - Although parking marshals are back at their jobs in the CBD, about 80 of the city’s longest-serving marshals are still on strike.

They still maintain that they were exploited and short-changed by Street Parking Solutions (SPS), the company contracted by the City of Cape Town to manage street parking in town. After being on strike for several weeks, many of the employees went back to work.

On Thursday, a group of die-hard strikers marched on the Civic Centre to petition mayor Patricia de Lille to intervene and to suspend SPS’s contract with the city. After a picket they handed a memorandum to a representative of De Lille’s office.

The memorandum accused SPS of “treating its employees like slaves”, saying the company did not pay holiday and maternity leave, intimidated employees, and kept trainees in training for three years without the offer of a contract.

The marshals’ central demand is, however, the back payment of a 23.5 percent commission that was promised to them in their original contract with SPS in 2009.

They said their only income came from tips for most of the time they were employed.

Brett Herron, the mayoral committee member for transport, said that he remained “very concerned” over the allegations.

“If proven to be true, it would constitute a contravention of employment law and the city would be entitled and obliged to take action,” he said.

A formal demand had been sent to SPS for documents and information.

“If there is in fact evidence of unlawful employment practices the city will act,” he said.

SPS owner Zunade Loghdey has refused to comment to the Cape Argus about the labour dispute.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Loyiso Nkohla and Andile Lili are to join another organisation that allegedly has a permit to march in the CBD.

Cape Town - It was almost a normal Friday morning in Cape Town , despite fears that protesters from informal settlements would defy a High Court interdict and go ahead with an illegal march on the CBD.

March organisers Loyiso Nkohla and Andile Lili have announced that they and their supporters will join Seskona People’s Rights, an organisation which apparently has a permit to march on Monday, in a “peaceful” march on the CBD.

At publication time a forum called “The Golden Triangle” - comprising the SA Police Service, the City of Cape Town and the applicant - where the adjudication of all applications to march is held - was still deliberating. But any decision could still be challenged in the courts, if any of the parties were unhappy.

Richard Bosman, the City’s Safety and Security director, said the traffic volume and commuter influx into town on Friday morning was normal.

“There were a few gatherings in the early hours, in Gugulethu and Khayelitsha. These were however, met with a strong police presence and the groups had dispersed by around 4am,” he said.

Police spokesman FC van Wyk said police were deployed in large numbers across the city, but there had been no action by the marchers.

Instead, police had used their presence in key areas to conduct additional anti-crime operations, including searching vehicles.

A particularly large contingent of law enforcement agencies’ members remained stationed at the Mew Way/N2 intersection on Friday and Bosman said their officers would remain in place all day.

However, after days of threats by the march’s leadership, most of the CBD’s informal traders did not open their stalls. St George’s Mall was eerily devoid of informal stalls and the bustle of tourists that accompanies the trading on a typical spring morning.

At Greenmarket Square on Friday morning, only three of the normal 200 stalls had opened shop.

Instead, police had transformed the square into a base for their tactical response team which was monitoring the CBD. Some of the officers and vehicles had come from as far afield as East London.

On the fringes of the square a group of frustrated traders gathered. They told the Cape Argus that they could not trade because their communal merchandise storerooms had been locked because of the strike threats.

“They have messed with us, saying that the march is on and next minute saying that the march is off. It’s a Friday, its the end of the month, it’s summer. I am going to lose more than a thousand rand because of this,” a trader, who asked not to be named, told the Cape Argus.

Michael Bagraim, of the Cape Chamber of Commerce, said most shops and restaurants in the city centre had opened.

“Yet, I have received reports of a slow start to business because many of the buying public - who usually make Friday a shopping day and who have recently received their month-end salaries - have stayed away from the CBD. These are losses to income that can never be regained,” he said.

He accused the march organisers of “treason” and “terrorism” for the successful fear-mongering they had indulged in over the past few days.

“It is a classic case of undermining democracy via empty threats. Unfortunately, the public and the municipality bought into this hysteria,” he said.

March organisers Loyiso Nkohla and Andile Lili held a joint press conference with Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the steps of St George’s cathedral on Friday morning.

Tutu congratulated the pair for having called off the march and said that church leaders would like to meet with the informal settlements leadership to discuss their grievances and to facilitate dialogues with government. The grievances relate to land and housing for informal settlement residents.

Tutu asked the march leaders Nkohla and Lili to apologise for the carnage and looting associated with another march earlier this month. The pair reluctantly agreed and apologised publicly.

Cape Argus

Graeme Eadie, who beat a motorist to death with a hockey stick in 1999, has again been accused of attacking a motorist.

Cape Town - Road rage killer Graeme Eadie, who beat a motorist to death with a hockey stick in 1999, has again been accused of attacking a motorist.

Eadie was 35 years old when he was convicted in 2000 of murdering 54-year-old Kevin Duncan near Fish Hoek after a fit of road rage. He was released from prison in 2006.

In the latest attack, Eadie, allegedly assaulted a 67-year-old man in Plumstead on November 22.

After a “heated argument” between Eadie and the elderly man, Eadie allegedly punched him and damaged a video camera, according to police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana.

In 2000, Eadie was sentenced to 15 years for murdering Duncan, but five years were conditionally suspended.

In April 2006, he was released on parole, which ended in September 2009, according to Correctional Services spokesman Simphiwe Xako.

Eadie’s attorney in the 2000 case, Mushtak Parker, said the suspended sentence had already fallen away.

Evidence in the 2000 case was that Eadie, who has two previous convictions for drunken driving and negligent driving, had lost his temper and killed Duncan after Duncan overtook him repeatedly.

In the latest case, Eadie appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of assault and malicious damage to property, said Kinana.

The case was postponed to December 13, he said.

henriette.geldenhuys@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

Kreefgat, near Bishop Lavis, is a "failed state" all on its own where police have become the enemy

Cape Town - A large scorch mark in the middle of Oude Hout Street is all that remains, but as a sign of bad blood, it is a searing testament. This is Kreefgat near Bishop Lavis, where the police are not welcome and where residents last week stoned and shot at police and set fire to a patrol vehicle in a explosion of fury and resentment.

Kreefgat makes headlines occasionally, but only to remind the outside world that it exists. A small pocket of poverty, grime, crime and related social ills surrounded by key arterial roads heaving with traffic, it is a failed state all on its own.

Kreefgat basically consists of five streets: Oude Hout, Oliehout, Onderbos, Oleander – which forms a loop at the heart of the community – and Netreg Road, which is the primary and only road into and out of the area. The N2 highway buzzes by right alongside.

Bishop Lavis police station and the provincial police training college are situated a stone’s throw away on the other side of Valhalla Drive. But for residents here it may as well not exist. They have declared their area a no-go zone for the police.

The police maintain their officers came under fire from local gang members and that they have a healthy relationship with the Kreefgat community. But residents insist it was they who were responsible for last week’s attack on the police and justify it with stories of beatings, false arrests and abandonment by the police.

Before the Weekend Argus team visited the area, the Bishop Lavis police warned of previous attacks on police and an attack on an ambulance which took place after emergency services were lured out with false emergency calls.

Kreefgat was quiet but the air was thick with mistrust. Residents would speak but only if their names were withheld. The fear of police retaliation, real or imagined, clung heavily.

Jessica Khan (not her real name) claimed police had assaulted residents for years and were the real gangsters. The ones to be feared. Avoided.

“They attack and beat us whenever they feel like it. I know we have gang members in the area but they target any youth they see in the streets. Sometimes they will just grab someone, beat and arrest them, only to let them go the next day without any charges. When we see the police patrolling, we grab our children and run inside our homes,” she said. “We fear and hate the police.”

Khan added that when they needed the police they were never around.

“We are the forgotten people. Nobody comes here. If we want help with social services we have to travel to Elsies River. We don’t even have money for taxi fare. When my son was burnt during an accident in the kitchen we had to get a lift to the hospital because no ambulance is willing to come in here without the police and the police don’t care about us so they won’t bother coming in.

“They have no problem pushing us around and beating us but when we need them they don’t show. Last year a group of 50 guys attacked three houses and they were there for two hours. The police never showed up until they were gone. We’re better off protecting ourselves. They are not welcome here.”

For once it seems the police are the ones caught in the middle. Last Sunday morning, three police vehicles arrived in Oude Hout Street in search of a stolen car. They reportedly asked for a community member to accompany them in the search for the vehicle.

Achmat Jordaan (not his real name), a self-confessed 28s gang member, said everyone refused, wary of previous police beatings.

“We’ve all seen it before. They lure you in, beat and arrest you for no reason and just release you the next day without a charge. When no one wanted to get into the car, they drew their weapons on us. That’s when someone in the street started firing shots at police and everything went out of control.”

This orgy of violence has played out in Kreefgat many times before. On December 9 last year, Jerome Brown was shot and killed just metres away from Sunday’s violent epicentre when police responded to a shooting. Residents claim Brown was simply a bystander. It further eroded Kreefgat’s dwindling faith in the police.

“They had that same mentality, that same arrogance that they could do anything they wanted and get away with it and that’s when people really lost it,” said Jordaan of last Sunday’s chaos.

“I didn’t see exactly what happened but everyone was throwing stones at the police cars. And they started firing wildly into the street where children were playing… they didn’t think twice that innocent people could be hit. Some people tried to help the police with buckets of water to put out the fire, but if they got too close they were shot at too.”

Police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana said the events were still under investigation and that complaints and allegations against police were noted.

He added that the relationship with the police and the community “has always been healthy”, despite evidence and claims to the contrary.

Albert Fritz, Social Development MEC, admitted that Kreefgat lacked any real form of infrastructure to help address issues like crime or poverty.

“We have a programme running at a local primary school, but more definitely needs to be done. We ask that the people not simply wait on government to provide aid, but submit suggestions and plans to turn the area around because no one knows the challenges they face better than they themselves.”

Fritz added that he would visit the area soon to assess the situation and look at ways to develop it.

In the meantime, life in Kreefgat goes on. And all around Kreefgat, a city goes about its daily business.

kowthar.solomons@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

The Patriotic Alliance, which has Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene at the helm, has been accused of featuring gangsters.

Cape Town - Controversy surrounds a new political party, the Patriotic Alliance, which not only has convicted fraudsters-turned-businessmen Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene at the helm, but is accused of featuring prominent gangsters in its ranks and is even engaged in an unseemly spat over the recruitment of convicted gang leader Rashied Staggie to its ranks.

McKenzie and Kunene launched the party in Paarl on Saturday, just days after respected gang-busting cop Major-General Jeremy Vearey publicly claimed the alliance was led by members of the notorious 26s numbers prison gang.

McKenzie is the party’s president, and Kunene, who resigned from a leadership position in Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in August, is the secretary-general.

Hitting back at Vearey’s claims on Saturday, McKenzie charged that he’d long outgrown “those numbers”. And while he did still speak to what he termed “so-called gangsters”, he claimed he was only doing so in a bid to promote peace in violence-wracked communities.

“The truth must be spoken… I went to every so-called gang leader and said ‘gentlemen make peace’. We didn’t go to the leaders and say ‘vote for us’,” he said at the launch.

However, several sources believe the highly secretive numbers gangs which dominate South Africa’s prison system are using the Patriotic Alliance and a breakaway faction called the Progressive Alliance to reinvent themselves.

At the Patriotic Alliance launch, all members wore green golf shirts bearing the PA logo, and McKenzie declared: “Today I am very proud to be part of these so-called gangsters.”

On the focus of their new party, McKenzie and Kunene said their attention would be on the Western Cape, specifically its coloured community, which they said had been failed by both the DA and the ANC.

McKenzie had harsh words for the DA: “A coloured person that still votes for the DA has an indescribable love of kissing white a***.”

But neither McKenzie nor Kunene intended running for elected office, they said, and they put up Shirley-Ann Mouton as their candidate for premier.

Vearey, meanwhile, also took a swipe this week at the Progressive Alliance.

This, he said, was led by the 28s prison gang. But its leader Ivan Waldeck, one of known gangster Rashied Staggie’s closest confidantes, was adamant he was a “born-again, reformed gangster”.

Waldeck and Staggie appear to be mounting their own challenge through the Progressive Alliance.

Like Staggie, Waldeck is a convicted criminal, but now presides over the Holy Nation of God International Church, where he is the senior pastor, using the church premises as a gang and drug rehabilitation centre.

Waldeck also alluded to some controversy between the two groupings, claiming that Staggie was the brains behind McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance.

Staggie had been involved in the earliest plans of the political party, with discussions starting when the Hard Livings gang boss was still incarcerated in the Breede River prison.

McKenzie had kind words for Staggie on Saturday, calling him “a changed man”, and he had “kept every word he told us”.

Waldeck claimed he met McKenzie for the first time in September, and discussed their political plans on a drive to a visit to Staggie in prison.

After a pre-launch of the Patriotic Alliance in Cape Town in October, Western Cape police sources said the event was attended by about 250 prominent gangsters, businessmen with underworld links, and even members of the clergy.

Although Waldeck was cagey on Saturday about the political plans for his Progressive Alliance, he said he thought he could play a “major (political) role”.

“It’s our time. They have been abusing us. We are so left behind by those in power. If you look at the prisons, 80 percent of the people there are coloured.

“And Julius Malema said it clearly that his party is for the blacks,” he said.

Sunday Independent

A night before the DA's policy conference, the "black caucus" plotted its strategies at the house of the Lindiwe Mazibuko.

Johannesburg - A night before the DA’s crucial policy conference, the so-called “black caucus” plotted its strategies at the house of the party’s parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, signalling a breakdown in her relationship with her mentor and leader Helen Zille.

It is understood that some senior leaders in the party were uncomfortable about the dinner, questioning why white colleagues had not been invited.

In what could be construed as a realignment of factions within the party,

fiery DA MP Masizole Mnqasela – who has been openly critical of Mazibuko and is believed to be central to a campaign to remove her – was also present at the meeting in Bo Kaap, Cape Town, last Friday.

As the rift between Mazibuko and Zille grows, some of the DA’s black leaders are forming up around the parliamentary leader.

Also present at Mazibuko’s house were DA deputy federal chairman Makashule Gana and Khume Ramulifho, leader of Gauteng South, the party’s biggest region. A source said the DA’s candidate for premier, Mmusi Maimane, was also invited to the meeting.

The Sunday Independent could not confirm whether he attended the dinner. He could not be reached for comment.

Ramulifho said there had been nothing untoward about the meeting at Mazibuko’s place; the gathering had been a platform to get to know one another, not to tell people what to say at the policy conference.

“Before any major meeting we get together as a colleagues and friends. It is a normal thing.” he said. “I am only surprised now, that people are calling it a black caucus because we met Lindiwe. When we meet with other people, we are not called a black caucus.”

Ramulifho said he also happened to attend meetings where there were people from all walks of life.

“What we don’t want is to see our colleagues fighting. We felt embarrassed when Masi (Mnqasela) and Lindiwe were fighting in public. We had observed that we don’t have a platform where we network,”

Gana said there was nothing sinister about Mazibuko’s meeting – it was simply “the politics of the stomach”. “So we as black people are not suppose to have dinner? When black people meet, it is a black caucus. The black caucus is the figment of their imagination,” he said.

Mnqasela confirmed the meeting but said it was a social event and not a caucus for the policy conference.

“There was nothing new about getting together. We meet all the time. Here we had a braai because we wanted to get together as people who share the same values,” he said. Mnqasela said he and Mazibuko had buried the hatchet.

“We were never enemies,” he said, adding that he had friends of all races.

His comments came after a major fallout between the two when Mnqasela penned a document in which he said Mazibuko was too inexperienced and not black enough to lead the DA in Parliament.

The comments raised Zille’s ire, as she accused Mnqasela of thinking like Hendrik Verwoed, the architect of apartheid.

The DA’s policy conference and meeting of the black caucus came after weeks of public bashing of the party’s lack of clarity on policies that were meant to empower black people and redress past imbalances, including affirmative action and black economic empowerment.

The “black caucus” is a group of senior black DA leaders who were unhappy with the party’s vacillation on these policies.

Zille had to apologise for the party’s flip-flopping on employment equity. Zille said Mnqasela told her that he would be having supper at Lindiwe’s. “He said, jokingly, that the media would probably refer to them as the black caucus and we had a good laugh.

“There was a (picture) of about five people, Lindiwe’s dinner guests, on social media. No-one would have made such a post if there was any underhanded motive. It so happened that her dinner guests that night were black, but so what? If five white people get together to have dinner, do we call it a white caucus? We believe in freedom of association,” she said. Mazibuko refused to comment.

Sunday Independent

Tragedy has struck again for the winner of the South African version of So You Think You Can Dance, Sibahle Tshibika.

Cape Town - Tragedy has struck again for the winner of the South African version of So You Think You Can Dance, Sibahle Tshibika, whose aunt died and mother was injured when they were involved in a crash while travelling to the Eastern Cape.

Although details of the crash were still sketchy at the time of going to press, it appears 23-year-old Khayelitsha dancer Sibahle, her mother, Noluthando Tshibika, and her unnamed aunt were travelling from Cape Town to attend the funeral of Sibahle’s grandmother.

It was reported at the time of the dancer’s victory that her triumph had been bittersweet. Soon after her win, she learned that her grandmother had died.

Beatrice Thsibika reportedly collapsed and died while watching the show.

“I was doing this for her,” Sibahle said at the time. “I know she would’ve been proud of me.”

Then, about three weeks ago, the family faced a new trauma when they were said to have gone into hiding.

The family had been warned by three people that they had heard that kidnappers had targeted Sibahle, and that she would be held to ransom for her R250 000 prize money.

Sibahle said at that time that the threats would likely mean she wouldn’t be able to attend her grandmother’s funeral.

“I’m supposed to be at home… but I can’t even pay my respects to my grandmother. I am scared of attending prayer meetings at my own home,” she was quoted as saying.

Efforts to contact Sibahle proved fruitless on Saturday night, but it is understood that she was not hurt in the crash.

Weekend Argus

'There is a lot of work, skill and expertise that goes into achieving a clean audit. It is not merely about accounting. It is about accountability.”

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has received a clean audit finding from the Auditor General, deputy mayor Ian Neilson said on Sunday.

'There is a lot of work, skill and expertise that goes into achieving a clean audit. It is not merely about accounting. It is about accountability.”

He said a clean audit meant that the AG believed that the city's books were impressive and that every cent that had been spent could be accounted for, that the performance report was credible, and that the city had complied with laws and regulations.

“This administration understands that it is public money we are entrusted with, which must be used for the benefit of the people who live in this city.”

Neilson said in his audit findings for the 2012/13 financial year, the Auditor General found that the city's financial statements presented fairly, in all material respects, the financial position and the financial performance of the City of Cape Town as at June 30.

The AG also had no material findings on the city's performance report or compliance with laws and regulations.

“The Auditor General did not identify any significant deficiencies in the City's internal controls,” Neilson said. - Sapa

A man’s alleged bid to steal a bottle of wine almost cost him his life after he fled into the sea to escape security guards.

Cape Town - A man’s alleged bid to steal a bottle of wine in Sea Point on Saturday almost cost him his life, after he fled into the sea at Mouille Point to escape security guards, then had to be rescued by the NSRI.

He could hardly speak when NSRI staff pulled him out, shivering, exhausted and disoriented in front of the putt putt golf course on Beach Road.

He told his rescuers that he was 39, and homeless.

Although police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said he could find no record of the theft, a staffer at Woolworths in Sea Point confirmed that the man had allegedly stolen a bottle of wine, then had been chased towards the Promenade by security guards.

When the fugitive reached the edge of the Promenade, he jumped over the barrier and into the sea.

Patrick van Eyssen, NSRI Rescue Three station commander, said the man, who gave his name as Horn, could easily have drowned.

People at the scene said

the man tried to swim out to sea, but started to turn back when someone shouted to him that it was dangerous.

Another member of the public notified the NSRI and the rescue team arrived and were in the sea to rescue him within 10 minutes.

Van Eyssen said that Horn was suffering from mild hypothermia, but would need to be checked properly.

“He kept going underneath. He would have taken in a fair amount of water,” Van Eyssen said.

He said if Horn had fallen asleep from the cold he could have drowned from water in his lungs.

Horn sat in the NSRI car, shivering under a blanket, until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.

Weekend Argus

A man was beaten to death in a mob killing in Nyanga after he was caught trying to steal copper cables.

Cape Town- A man was beaten to death in a mob killing in Nyanga after he was caught trying to steal copper cables.

At least 19 people have been killed in mob killings over the past year in Khayelitsha alone.

Police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana said on Saturday that a case of murder was opened after the body of the man, 29, was found on the corner of Sinqolamthi Street and Lansdowne Road Saturday.

“Upon arrival, members found bricks and various debris on scene. The victim is from Zwelitsha Drive, Nyanga. Suspects and motive are unknown,” Kinana said.

Police were investigating the murder, but no arrests had been made.

The man was reportedly beaten to death after community members caught him trying to steal copper cables.

A commission of inquiry into the Khayelitsha police station heard earlier this month that at least 18 alleged criminals had been killed by mobs this year.

A 20-year-old became the 19th victim earlier this month when he was beaten to death after he attempted to rob a woman on her way to the train station.

Nearby commuters heard the woman’s screams for help and attacked the alleged robber with sticks and rocks.

In another incident this month, serial housebreaking suspect Siyabulela Ndzunga, 28, was strangled with an electric cable in a mob killing in Driftsands.

Weekend Argus

A DA councillor faces expulsion after telling a black security guard: "Darkies belong in the Eastern Cape."

Cape Town - A DA councillor in the City of Cape Town told a black security guard: “Darkies do not belong in Robertson but in the Eastern Cape.”

Junade Hoosain, councillor for ward 46, which includes parts of Manenberg, Penlyn Estate and New Fields, has been found guilty of racism by a city disciplinary committee and faces expulsion from the council.

The disciplinary committee said: “After 20 years of democracy, a community leader cannot be excused for uttering such terms in whatever context.”

Hoosain is a member of the city’s health portfolio committee.

According to the city’s legal department, Mzoxolo Gqowa of Security SA, the company that provides VIP protection to councillors, complained to his employer last year that Hoosain had made the remark to him.

Gqowa also alleged that Hoosain used the k-word.

Juliana Roux, of the city’s legal department, said in a report submitted to the council last week that Hoosain had apologised to Gqowa, who had then withdrawn his grievance.

However, the grievance and Gqowa’s letter of withdrawal “came to the Speaker’s attention” and Dirk Smit asked Hoosain to respond to the allegations, which contravene the council’s code of conduct.

Roux said a three-day disciplinary hearing was held and the disciplinary committee found Hoosain guilty of using the term “darkies” but could not, “on a balance of probabilities”, find him guilty of using the k-word.

Roux said the committee decided that the use of the term “darkie” was “an act of racism” and as such should be regarded in a serious light. As a councillor who was expected to uphold the constitution, Hoosain should have known such a remark would cause offence, even if used generally.

“The committee found that his clean disciplinary record cannot be considered as a mitigating factor in this instance.

“In the circumstances, he was found unfit to continue serving as a councillor,” Roux said.

The council will vote on the committee’s recommendation on Wednesday. The final decision on Hoosain’s expulsion from office rests with Local Government MEC Anton Bredell.

Hoosain did not respond to requests for comment.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

For the second time in less than a week informal settlement leaders have called off a march to the Cape Town CBD.

Cape Town - For the second time in less than a week informal settlement leaders have called off a major march to the centre of Cape Town.

On Sunday, Sesikhona Peoples’ Rights cancelled Monday’s march after interfaith leaders intervened and pledged to help mediate discussions between the group and the city.

An illegal march planned for Friday was called off last week, and also banned in terms of a Western Cape High Court interdict won by the city.

Former ANC councillor Andile Lili said: “Monday’s march has been cancelled; we have agreed with interfaith leaders to engage in talks with the city and the premier.”

Lili, who said he was the chairman of the organisation with Loyiso Nkohla as secretary, said they had planned not only to hand a memorandum to the provincial legislature but also to “target” banks.

“Sesikhona is a community-based organisation that does not only look at the government. Banks are also not assisting us, they are just benefiting with all their bond loans.

“We call upon poor people to close their accounts in other banks and use only Capitec and African Bank.”

On Friday, Lili and Nkohla met Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Western Cape Religious Forum leaders to discuss their relationship with the city. The meeting came in the wake of the cancellation of what had been expected to be a disruptive march of thousands of people through the city centre in support of demands for housing and services.

One of the religious leaders was the Reverend Rommel Roberts, who said:

“This is a twofold case - first, it’s the consultative process where we are going to meet the provincial government independently and hear their side of the story. The second part will be getting both the informal settlement leaders and provincial government to discuss a solution.”

Roberts said the matter of access to land was a problem for both the provincial and national government.

Mayor Patricia de Lille said Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela had already met the informal settlements leaders. She welcomed, in principle, the opportunity to engage with the religious leaders.

Meanwhile, Braam Hanekom of People Against Suppression Suffering Oppression and Poverty (Passop) has offered to help organise another protest, should informal settlement leaders decide to hold one.

“Passop is offering to assist in marshalling, mobilisation and organisation of the protest,” he said. Referring to a march at the end of October, when a group of protesters ran amok and looted shops and stalls, he added: “Informal settlement leaders should not be denied their right to protest because of one incident. It’s their constitutional and democratic right. Sanitation and housing is a cause.”

Lili said the march would be on hold until the end of January, pending the outcome of the talks with the city.

zodidi.dano@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Rashied Staggie has signed up as a member of the Patriotic Alliance, Kenny Kunene and Gayton McKenzie's party.

Cape Town -

Former Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie has signed up as a member of the just-launched party, the Patriotic Alliance, says its president and ex-convict Gayton McKenzie.

McKenzie, who heads the party with fellow ex-convict Kenny Kunene, said he went to Staggie’s home in Salt River on Sunday where Staggie signed a membership form.

Staggie, who a decade ago was convicted of kidnapping and ordering the gang-rape of a Manenberg woman, was released on parole in September and was at home on Sunday as part of these conditions.

Another planned political party, the Progressive Alliance, headed by gangster-turned-pastor Ivan Waldeck and formed as a result of an apparent dispute between Waldeck and McKenzie, was keen to have had Staggie on board as a member.

But Staggie chose the Patriotic Alliance over Waldeck, his employer. McKenzie backed Staggie as a member of his party, which he said focused on “the coloured vote in the Western Cape”.

“For me, Rashied Staggie is a leader. There are many people he can save. I’ve been personally responsible for Rashied since he’s been out of jail. I’ve been talking to him… I’ve been learning from him,” McKenzie said.

He named another former gang leader as being a member of the party, but the Cape Times was unable to reach the person for comment. McKenzie brushed off the fact the party was linked to gangsters.

“They can call me a gangster. They can call us the gangster party. But they’ll see me at the polls,” he said.

The Patriotic Alliance was officially launched in Paarl at the weekend. Kunene, previously aligned to Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters, is the party’s secretary general. McKenzie told the Cape Times the party had 339 000 members nationally.

Its policies included:

* Focusing on fishermen and removing “all the big companies from the water” thereby making these companies rely on local fishermen to get fish and seafood.

* Scrapping the current form of Black Economic Empowerment and creating an empowerment fund that would cater to previously disadvantaged residents for 20 years.

McKenzie said he and fellow party leaders had been working on it for months going into various communities around the province to campaign and garner support.

Often associated with Johannesburg, McKenzie said his links to the Western Cape included that his children went to school in the province and he had houses registered here.

McKenzie said the party planned to at a later stage gain “allies” in black and white residents. When it came to Waldeck, who accused McKenzie and Kunene of making empty promises, McKenzie said he had no ill feelings.

“He’s a man of God. Pastor Ivan, he’s not an enemy for me. An enemy is poverty,” McKenzie said.

In May, Waldeck was shot 10 times in Bellville South about 10 weeks after his friend Albern Martins, also a gangster-turned-pastor, was murdered in Bishop Lavis.

Waldeck told the Cape Times that Staggie had set up a meeting between McKenzie, Kunene and Waldeck so that Waldeck could help the duo familiarise themselves with the Western Cape. Waldeck said he was a founding member of the Patriotic Alliance.

McKenzie denied all of this.

Waldeck said after attending three Patriotic Alliance meetings, he became disillusioned with McKenzie and Kunene.

“I said, you can’t promise people stuff and break your word,” Waldeck said.

He had therefore decided to form his own party, the Progressive Party, which he was in the process of trying to register. The party would focus on prisoners, gangsters and communities where gangsterism was rife.

Cape Times

Tina Joemat-Pettersson has accused a fishing company of plotting to “destroy” her.

Johannesburg - Under-fire Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson has accused an unnamed fishing company of plotting to “destroy” her and threatening her children.

The Sunday Times said on Sunday that details from the public protector’s report on the controversial R800 million fisheries patrol fleet management contract showed the minister had wasted taxpayers’ money and tried to interfere in an investigation into her department.

In an interview posted on YouTube, Joemat-Pettersson accuses an unnamed fishing company of instituting a “beautifully orchestrated” smear campaign when she tried to blow the whistle on massive corruption and theft in the fisheries department.

The Sunday Times said the public protector’s provisional report recommended that disciplinary action be taken against Joemat-Pettersson.

The report, titled “My Way or No Sea Patrols”, looked into the awarding of the R800m contract to Sekunjalo Marine Services Consortium. The contract is to manage the department’s fleet of research and patrol ships.

In the 23-minute interview, Joemat-Pettersson speaks about how she found herself in a “very peculiar situation” when she tried to uncover corruption in her department.

“I started investigating broad theft and corruption in the fisheries unit of my department and the more I said there’s corruption, the more the media tried to portray me as corrupt.

“This fishing company made it clear that they’re going to destroy me. They made it in no uncertain terms; they made it clear that they will destroy me.”

Asked if the company made physical threats, Joemat-Pettersson said “yes, and to my children”.

“They first tried to bribe me and then they threatened me.

“When they couldn’t get that right, they then started a beautifully orchestrated smear campaign.”

Joemat-Pettersson said when she started investigating a particular company “all hell broke lose”.

“This is when I realised that you are expected to be the corrupt one, you’re not expected to be the whistle-blower. So if you’re an ANC politician, the stereotype of who is corrupt fits the ANC politician.”

The minister’s spokeswoman, Palesa Mokomele, would not comment on the death threats and could not name the fishing company.

Asked about the findings in the public protector’s provisional report, Mokomele said “ministers don’t give tenders”.

“We must first study the report when it comes out,” she said.

The Star

The 75 fishermen who have been stranded in Table Bay Harbour for the past three months now face deportation.

Cape Town - The 75 fishermen who have been stranded in Table Bay Harbour for the past three months now face deportation after being arrested and taken to the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp.

The fishermen, mostly from Indonesia, were marooned in the harbour aboard seven vessels, all of which had been impounded by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department for illegal fishing. Their cargoes were confiscated.

After it was discovered that the men were living in terrible conditions and had run out of food and other supplies, Brooklyn resident Mariam Augustus started cooking for them. Together with her husband Cassiem, a shipping agent for the International Transport Workers Federation and feeding scheme Nakhlistan, they continued to provide food and cleaning supplies, and sought medical care for some of the men who had started falling ill.

The federation appointed maritime attorney Alan Goldberg to arrest the vessels in a process whereby the court takes physical control of the ships.

Three of the vessels had already been taken charge of by the courts, Goldberg told Weekend Argus last weekend, and he would negotiate control of the remaining four in order to “force the owners to pay”.

Early on Sunday, the Immigration Inspectorate Unit arrested the fishermen and took them to the Lindela Repatriation Centre, a Home Affairs Department detention centre for undocumented immigrants.

When one of the fishermen called Augustus to tell her that they were being arrested she was “shocked”, but said they had been expecting the move.

“Around 3am, one of them called me, crying over the phone, saying the police were there and were taking them away. When we got there the police were already loading them into the vans,” she said.

She added that immigration officials had blamed her and her husband for the situation, saying they had alerted the media about the stranded crewmen’s dire situation.

“I was screaming at them to leave the men. The case is in court, but the department comes in the middle of the night, sneaking in to steal them away,” she said.

According to Augustus, the men had hired a shipping agent and for the first six months had to pay half their salaries to him as a recruitment fee.

Many of the crewmen had feared being deported without being paid. One even said returning home was “so unacceptable that he might as well hang himself”.

Concerned about their welfare, Augustus said she would travel to Krugersdorp to continue supporting the men and ensure they were fed properly and helped if they needed medical attention.

Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa confirmed the fishermen’s arrest, saying the men were “illegal immigrants”. “They were not in compliance with immigration laws and therefore we are compelled to detain them and follow due procedure to have them deported,” Mamoepa said.

janis.kinnear@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The last time Thabiet Samodien spoke to his wife, she said she was going to Sars - and that was almost a week ago.

Cape Town - The husband of a missing Salt River woman is frantically searching for any information about his wife Lameez Carroll’s whereabouts after she disappeared en route to the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

Thabiet Samodien is terrified something may have happened to the 27-year old mother of two, who was last seen leaving their home in Tennyson Street early on Wednesday.

Samodien said the last time he spoke to his wife was around 5am that day and he had not been able to contact her since.

“She told me that she was going to Sars and then to her sisters’, but she was nowhere to be found (later that day),” he said.

Samodien tried calling her several times, but received no response.

“It kept saying that the number was not available. When I asked her sisters whether they had seen her they said no.”

He added that she had gone to Sars to get a tax number because she was looking for a new job.

“If anyone knows anything or has seen anything, please let me know,” he said on Sunday.

Carroll was last seen wearing a grey jersey, a long sleeveless black sweater, black jeans and pumps. She has brown eyes, long dark brown hair, weighs 55kg and is 1.5m tall.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts should call Sergeant Malila on 082 499 3871 or Woodstock police on 021 442 3100.

Meanwhile, Bothasig police are looking for a 31-year-old Chinese man,

Xiao Huiwei, who went missing a week ago in Hout Bay.

At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing blue jeans and a blue checked shirt. He is about 1.7m tall, wears glasses and weighs 68kg.

Anyone who can assist the police with information can contact Warrant Officer DC Newman on 021 559 9400 or 084 968 4860.

natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The City of Cape Town has defended its housing allocation policy, in response to a disabled man’s plea.

Cape Town -

The City of Cape Town has defended its housing allocation policy, in response to a disabled man’s plea for housing for the vulnerable.

Last week, Green Park resident Raymond Mtati led a group of his neighbours on a 30km overnight march from the informal settlement near Driftsands to the Civic Centre.

Mtati used crutches because of his lame left leg, a result of being shot in the 1980s. It took the group about 18 hours to reach the CBD.

At the Civic Centre they received a heroes’ welcome from residents who had travelled in to picket for housing and relocation.

Mtati said the gesture showed how frustrated Green Park residents were with their living conditions, including regular winter floods.

In a petition to mayor Patricia de Lille, Mtati called on the City of Cape Town to relocate the settlement’s disabled, elderly and young children.

Tandeka Gqada, mayoral committee member for human settlements, said the city was under pressure from land and resource shortages but acknowledged the frustration of people who had been on the housing waiting list for years.

“Balancing the community’s desire to benefit from the housing project within their area, the desperation of those who have been on the list for sometimes as long as 20 years, and the needs of disabled and marginalised residents in Cape Town – all while dealing with a crippling land and resource shortage– is a tricky proposition, and may leave some residents feeling that their needs have been ignored.”

Gqada had little to say about Green Park in particular, adding that a record of Mtati at a Delft address did not indicate he was disabled. She encouraged him, and other disabled people who wanted to be prioritised on the waiting list, to provide proof of their disability to their local housing office.

Mtati dismissed Gqada’s response as “box thinking”.

“It is the usual policy talk which actually bears no fruit. We are going to compel them to account, even if we have to go to court to force the city to act on our grievances,” he said.

He added that Gqada’s reference to him as an individual indicated that she did not understand the point of his “awareness march”.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus