Family members of two men who died at the hands of vigilantes told the Khayelitsha commission of inquiry how unhelpful police had been in assisting them.

Cape Town - Family members of two men who died at the hands of vigilantes told the Khayelitsha commission of inquiry on Friday how unhelpful police had been in assisting them.

Nomakhuma Bontshi, aunt of 30-year-old Andile Ntsholo, who was necklaced in May 2012, broke down and dabbed away tears with a blue handkerchief after telling commissioners her story.

The night before Andile was found dead in B-section, angry community members had gathered at her sister's house and told them they would be packing his bags and forcing him out of the area because he was accused of stealing cellphones from residents.

Andile's charred body was found in Khayelitsha the next morning.

“The police arrived at our house the next morning and asked us who could have done this and we said we don't know,” Bontshi said.

She said it was the first and last time they heard from police.

“We never got around to find out everything from the police. All I know is God will reveal who did this.”

Norman Arendse, for the police, asked her why she never contacted the police when Andile's neighbours threatened to eject him.

“Because the residents were so angry... we thought even the police wouldn't be able to do anything about it,” she answered.

Harare resident Mzoxolo Tame was the next to take the stand.

Tame's cousin Xolisile was killed in January last year after allegedly being caught breaking into a house.

Tame told the commission of his encounter with the investigating officer, shortly before Xolisile's body was identified.

He described the officer as rude, dismissive and disrespectful.

When asked what the detective told him, he quoted the officer.

“He said, I quote, the laaitie was caught with his body halfway through the window of a house and he was moered,” said Tame.

A woman, her son, and another adult man were arrested and later released on bail.

Tame said he had yet to hear from Harare police how far the case had progressed, telling commissioners Justice Kate O'Regan and Vusi Pikoli how he felt about the attitude of police officers in Harare in general.

“They don't understand their fundamental responsibility... they think they are doing the community a favour,” Tame said.

“Their attitude is not that of public servants.”

The commission was set up to probe allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha, following several mob justice killings, allegedly as a result of residents' frustrations with police inaction.

Sapa

Tens of thousands of students may not be able to register due to huge shortfall in government funding for bursaries.

Cape Town - A huge shortfall in government funding for bursaries is threatening to prevent tens of thousands of “academically deserving” young South Africans from furthering their studies or entering a university this year.

The R8.2 billion allocated to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which dispenses bursaries, is inadequate because of the massive demand for funding in 2014.

This is according to Chief Mbizela, the Department of Education’s chief director of higher education policy. He was quoted in the Sunday Independent in response to news that 3 000 poor University of Johannesburg students were in danger of being “financially excluded”. The NSFAS admits it needs at least double that amount to accommodate all deserving applicants.

At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) a new policy aimed at curbing student debt, which the university largely attributes to the NSFAS shortfalls, has added insult to injury for poorer students. Over a number of years the university has run up a debt of nearly R300 million in outstanding fees. The new policy demands that students pay registration fees up front and settle debt before being allowed to register for the new year.

On Wednesday, frustrations boiled over at the Bellville campus where a group of students, some of whom were turned away at registration, picketed. Supported by the student representative council (SRC), they disrupted the registration process by blockading the campus’s main entrance.

“We want our institution to be sustainable, so that our children can come here, too,” SRC president Mbongiseni Mbatha said. “But it is not fair to threaten the exclusion of around 10 000 underprivileged students just like that. In many cases, the students were not even aware that they would be shown the door when they came to register this week.”

One of the issues is that students were told only in December of the policy change. Another issue, Mbatha explains, is that the university was late in billing students for residence fees last year. The NSFAS confirms that these bills came through after it had settled its account with the university.

An eleventh-hour meeting between university management and the SRC on Wednesday has seen agreements to give respite to “deserving students”.

CPUT spokesman Thamsanqa Nkwanyane listed the agreements:

* All returning and new students who have no outstanding debt and have NSFAS awards for tuition and residence will be allowed to register without paying up front.

* Students who are in “excellent” academic standing, will be allowed to register with “any contribution they can afford”. This is, however, applicable only if they have no outstanding debt and are willing to sign a debt arrangement for settling of their 2014 fees.

* Students who do not have any outstanding debt will be allowed to register and pay the upfront payment according to the agreed formula, up until the end of March. Failure to pay the upfront payment will lead to deregistration.

Yet, news of these amendments has not filtered down to many students faced with the crisis of being denied registration.

Siphahle Nomngangam, 22, is from Dutywa in the Eastern Cape. After a few weeks back home, he travelled to Cape Town alone to continue with his second year in multimedia technology at CPUT. He is the first person in his family to be afforded the chance of going to university, and passed all his first-year courses.

When he tried to register, he was told he needed to pay a R5 400 fee. Failing this, he would have to vacate his temporary residence accommodation this morning.

“I am seeing my dreams slip away before my eyes. How must I phone my parents and tell them this? I will have to go back to the Eastern Cape because I have no money to live in Cape Town and look for a job. Maybe one day I will be able to come back, but who knows.”

But, CPUT vice-chancellor Prins Nevhutalu said that students such as Nomngangam were not the intended victims of the new policy: “We wanted to weed out those undesirable students – the ones who had not paid for three years, the ones who fail time and again.”

He admitted to an administrative glitch where the university had thrown students into debt by billing them late for residence fees. Pressed on this point, Nevhutalu conceded that these students would be allowed to register and pay back their “debts” later.

“But the fundamental issue is that the Treasury has systematically, for years, reduced the amount of support for tertiary institutions. Nor is there enough money being made available for supporting capable students from underprivileged backgrounds,” he said.

“This has resulted in a greater burden being placed on students via fees, fees which we have seen increase at a rate which is well above inflation.”

Yet, apart from being under-resourced, the NSFAS mismanaged the funds at its disposal by not having proper mechanisms to identify the most indigent and needy students, Nechutalu said.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla have again threatened to bring chaos and “ungovernability” to the Cape Town city centre.

Cape Town - Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla have again threatened to bring chaos and “ungovernability” to the city centre, apparently because Premier Helen Zille would not meet with them in person.

The duo pioneered Cape Town’s poo protests last year and led a march of informal settlement dwellers on the city centre. The march descended into chaos when a group of marchers broke away from a picket in front of the provincial parliament and looted traders’ stalls in the city centre.

After this, a group of religious and community leaders formed the Concerned Citizens Group (CCG) to mediate with the informal settlement leaders. Yesterday, Lili and Nkohla met with a CCG delegation to discuss the agenda for a planned meeting with city and provincial officials to discuss grievances over poor sanitation services in many of the city’s informal settlements.

“Our engagements are always cordial, but there was obvious frustration from their side because we could not give a guarantee that the premier would be present at the meeting,” said the Rev Gordon Oliver, a CCG representative.

Oliver was however, shocked to see statements, published in the media this morning, in which Lili and Nkohla threatened violence and another march on the CBD. He then issued a call for calm and a continuation of “peaceful discussion”.

Meanwhile, the group have approached Zille’s office to inquire about the possibility of her attending the meeting, on February 5, in person. However, Zille’s spokesman Zak Mbhele this morning said that the premier would not attend the meeting.

“Lili and Nkohla’s statements reveal very clearly the political nature of their agenda,” he said.

“Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela already met with them in a lengthy meeting on November 27 where he explained what the Western Cape Government was doing to deliver on all the programmes of the provincial Department of Human Settlements.

“That they ignore this and continue to threaten ungovernability simply shows bad faith.”

The cellphones of Lili and Nkohla were switched off this morning.

Cape Argus

An allegedly corrupt cop has been bust red-handed with a range of tools of his crooked trade.

Cape Town - An allegedly corrupt Delft policeman has been arrested on charges of dealing in drugs in a police sting that yielded 15 suspects.

Metro police and SAPS officers executed a search warrant at a house in the Hague, Delft, yesterday and arrested nine suspects on charges of possession of and dealing in illegal narcotics, the City of Cape Town said today.

“It was later found that one of the suspects is a detective. He was charged for possession and dealing in illegal narcotics, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, being in possession of forensic bags with narcotics, possession of an unlicensed vehicle, corruption, and defeating the ends of justice,” the city said.

“Officers confiscated 121 packets of tik, 51 forensic bags containing narcotics, a 9mm Z88 firearm, and a box of documentation relating to forensic investigations,” the city said.

The same metro police officers assisted SAPS officers in the arrest of a wanted suspect in Harare.

“The 32-year-old woman is also linked to a syndicate involved in theft and property-related crimes. During the operation, officers found more than a dozen mandrax tablets.

“The woman and five other suspects were arrested and charged with dealing in illegal narcotics,” the city said.

The Saps provincial communications office confirmed the arrest of the 46-year-old police constable, stationed at Delft. The matter is under investigation.

Dan Plato, Western Cape MEC of community safety, said it was “highly disturbing” that a SAPS detective had been arrested.

“In the fight against drugs and gangs that are ripping our communities apart we simply cannot have police members involved in keeping this cycle of destruction alive.”

Cape Argus

Better sanitation for informal settlements could reduce Khayelitsha's crime problems, an activist told the Khayelitsha commission.

Cape Town - Better sanitation for informal settlement dwellers could reduce Khayelitsha's crime problems, a local activist told the Khayelitsha commission of inquiry on Friday.

Social Justice Coalition (SJC) activist Phumeza Mlungwana was the last person to take the stand in week one of the commission's hearings on claims of police inefficiency in the area, in Cape Town.

“People would be less vulnerable to crime... if sanitation is sorted and the relationship between sanitation and crime is addressed,” Mlungwana said.

Many people were robbed while walking to communal toilets or to the bushes at night to relieve themselves, she told the commissioners, retired judge Kate O'Regan and advocate Vusi Pikoli.

Mlungwana told the packed hall in Khayelitsha, where the hearings are being held, about her own experiences with crime.

“I've been robbed a couple of time going to school... to the Sanlam Centre,” she said.

Reporting the robberies was futile, as she did not expect the criminals to be arrested or her belongings to be recovered.

Earlier, the commission heard from the relatives of two men killed by vigilantes.

Nomakhuma Bontshi, the aunt of 30-year-old Andile Ntsholo, who was necklaced in May 2012, broke down and dabbed away tears with a blue handkerchief after telling commissioners her story. Necklacing involves placing a car tyre over someone's head and setting it alight.

The night before her nephew was found dead in B-section, residents gathered at her sister's house and told them they would be packing his bags and forcing him out of the area because he was accused of stealing cellphones from residents, Bontshi said. His charred body was found in Khayelitsha the next morning.

“The police arrived at our house the next morning and asked us who could have done this and we said we don't know.”

She said it was the first and last time they heard from police.

“We never got around to find out everything from the police. All I know is God will reveal who did this.”

Norman Arendse, for the police, asked her why she had not contacted the police when her nephew's neighbours threatened to evict him.

“Because the residents were so angry.... We thought even the police wouldn't be able to do anything about it,” she answered.

Harare resident Mzoxolo Tame was the next to take the stand. Tame's cousin Xolisile was killed in January last year after allegedly being caught breaking into a house.

Tame told the commission of his encounter with the investigating officer, shortly before his cousin's body was identified. He described the officer as rude, dismissive and disrespectful.

When asked what the detective told him, he quoted the officer.

“He said, I quote: 'The laaitie (youth) was caught with his body halfway through the window of a house and he was moered (beaten up)',” said Tame.

A woman, her son, and another man were arrested and later released on bail. Tame said he had yet to hear from Harare police how far the case had progressed.

He told O'Regan and Pikoli how he felt about the attitude of police officers in Harare in general.

“They don't understand their fundamental responsibility... They think they are doing the community a favour,” Tame said.

“Their attitude is not that of public servants.”

The commission was set up to probe allegations of police inefficiency in Khayelitsha following several mob justice killings, allegedly as a result of residents' frustrations with police inaction.

Sapa

The DA is keeping mum on the identity of six “confidential candidates” that appear on the lists.

DA Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane secured number three on the party’s Gauteng province to national list, in the strongest indication yet he will mount a national political career this year.

This emerged on Saturday at the party’s list and premier candidates announcement in Gauteng, but Maimane claimed his high ranking on the national list was only because it was required of him in his role as national spokesman.

It emerged last year, however, that moves were afoot in the DA’s caucus to parachute Maimane to Parliament in a bid to replace unpopular parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, who is disliked by the party’s old liberal guard.

Diminishing Maimane’s chances of success, however, should he make it to the fifth democratic Parliament, is the fact that the DA’s latest lists are notable in their lack of “old guard” MPs who have pushed for Mazibuko’s deposition.

Maimane’s propulsion to the national list also casts doubt on the party’s chances of winning Gauteng in this year’s general elections.

Notable losses from the DA caucus this coming election include Dene Smuts, who served with distinction on the National Assembly’s justice committee, earning respect from MPs across the floor.

While it’s unclear if Smuts chose not to apply, has decided to retire or simply did not make the cut, she was well known for her opposition to Mazibuko’s candidacy and for her closeness to former caucus leader Athol Trollip, who will be the DA’s premier candidate in the Eastern Cape.

Other DA MPs who don’t feature on the national lists include current chief whip Watty Watson, former whip Mike Waters, Manie van Dyk, who faced internal party disciplinary processes, and land and agriculture guru Lourie Bosman.

The party also appears to have drawn extensively on its young staff complement in an attempt to bring new blood into the caucus, a dynamic likely to boost Mazibuko’s chances of remaining at the helm.

These include current head of the DA’s parliamentary research unit, Phumzile van Damme, who is also the former spokeswoman for Western Cape finance MEC Alan Winde; Solly Malatsi, former spokesman for Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille; Zak Mbhele, spokesman for Zille in her capacity as premier, and DA youth leader Mbali Ntuli. DA parliamentary staff member Christian Steyl and party Gauteng legislature communications staffer Marius Redelinghuys, who is a former Cope youth spindoctor, are also relatively young parliamentary hopefuls.

A surprise new addition on the list was that of former Wits deputy vice-chancellor Belinda Bozzoli who ranks 24th on the party’s Gauteng to national list, along with former Rapport journalist Zelda Jongbloed.

Meanwhile, the party is keeping mum on the identity of six “confidential candidates” that appear on the lists.

On Saturday Zille said the candidates may be from other political parties and still needed to inform their leaders, or were from professions where they needed time to resign and serve notice.

This comes in the wake of the suspension of Business Report’s Cape Town bureau chief Donwald Pressly, after it emerged that he had applied to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the DA.

There have also been reports of a number of journalists who had applied to be on the party’s candidate lists, with Business Day reporting that Sunday Times journalist Brendan Boyle was fired from the newspaper for applying to stand as a candidate for the party. Boyle has denied being a DA member.

Zille, herself a former journalist, was critical of journalists joining political parties while they were still in the profession, but claimed many journalists in South Africa were affiliated to political parties.

“I agree that you can’t be a member of a political party and a journalist. I believe that being a member of a political party is incompatible with some professions.

“Some of you (journalists) are affiliated to some political parties, and even though you don’t pronounce it, I can see it through your writing,” Zille said.

Among some of the candidates announced on Saturday were a former administrative official in The Presidency during Thabo Mbeki’s tenure, Ricardo McKenzie, who is a former private secretary of Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula. An SAPS member, Brigadier Pule Thole, also appears on the party list.

According to Zille, the party did not consider race and gender quotas in its selection of candidates to send to Parliament and provincial legislatures after this year’s elections.

While many of the premier candidates are already leaders of the party in their provinces, there were new faces in the various lists for candidates to send to Parliament.

According to Zille, all the leaders in the party had to apply, regardless of their seniority or length of service to the party, as they were looking for diversity in leadership.

“The DA does not believe in quotas. In any event, a recent high court judgment ruled that quotas are unconstitutional, so we don’t have quotas. What we do consider strongly, though, is diversity.

“If you look at our candidates, all you see is diversity, and that is our point of departure,” Zille said.

Maimane downplayed the significance of his placement on the national list for his premier campaign. “It is because of my role as the national spokesperson. It has nothing to do with me wanting to go to Parliament. “My primary focus is Gauteng, and the voters and residents of Gauteng know that. It is really not an issue,” Maimane said.

According to Maimane, there were many other leaders who appeared on both lists.

Some of the provincial lists saw leaders like Gauteng North chairman, Solly Msimanga, and DA Joburg councillor Vasco da Gama nominated to the provincial legislature in Gauteng.

Former Cope Youth leader Malusi Booi also appears on the list for the Gauteng legislature and Parliament. Another notable nomination is that of DA MP Masizole Mnqasela, who appears to have been demoted, with only a nomination for the Western Cape legislature.

Premier candidates

Western Cape: Helen Zille

Gauteng: Mmusi Maimane

Northern Cape: Andrew Louw

Free State: Patricia Kopane

North West: Chris Hattingh

KwaZulu-Natal: Sizwe Mchunu

Eastern Cape: Athol Trollip

Limpopo: Langa Bodlani

Mpumalanga: Anthony Benadie - Sunday Independent

Fan walks similar to the one linking the Cape Town city centre to Green Point should be established all over Cape Town.

Fan walks similar to the one linking the Cape Town city centre to Green Point should be established all over Cape Town, especially in suburbs such as Philippi, Athlone and Mitchells Plain.

That’s the view of Rashiq Fataar, director of Future Cape Town, a non-profit think tank that aims to inspire a more liveable and progressive Cape Town.

On Saturday Fataar led a walking tour in the city centre that forms part of Cape Town’s programme for the 2014 World Design Capital.

The walking tour, attended by 33 people, started on the pedestrian bridge across Buitengragt, which is part of the 2.6km long fan walk.

Fataar said the fan walk, one of a series of developments before the soccer World Cup, created a safe pedestrian route from the city centre to the Cape Town Stadium.

He questioned why suburbs such as Philippi, Athlone and Mitchells Plain were not given the same preference, saying every suburb should have a fan walk.

“Why can’t every community have a safe route from their train stations to their homes?” Fataar asked.

A consultant for Future Cape Town, Brett Petzer, said the fan walk was “beautiful”, and showed “the city invites you and understands you”, whether you’re on bicycle or on foot.

The fan walk was an example of how “traffic yields to the more vulnerable”, with pedestrians feeling protected, he added.

One of the participants in the two-and-a-half-hour long walking tour, Dudu Luthuli, said she’d never heard of the fan walk.

If she had, she would have used the fan walk to get to the start of the walking tour, instead of taking a taxi, she said.

Fataar said a reason for this might be because “when we do things well, we don’t talk about it. The fan walk is a World Cup success and it’s time we talk about our successes once they’re here”.

At the Grand Parade, Fataar said it was a “harsh and uncovered” space with “prison-like lighting and weird pine trees that are not indigenous”.

It was also “disconnected” from the buildings opposite it, the City Hall and the Castle, he said.

“The Grand Parade ambles along, and it’s not sure if it’s a market or a parking space. It’s designed for control of civil unrest.”

Fataar said there should be more buildings around it, and it needed more greenery.

At the Portside building, bordered by Bree, Buitengragt, Hans Strijdom and Mechau streets, Fataar said although it was 139m tall, the tallest building in Cape Town, it should have contributed to making the city “more liveable” by including a housing component.

The building offers office and parking space.

Fataar also criticised the area around the building, saying it was too industrial.

On weekends and at night, it was quiet and unsafe, he added.

The walking tour also included the Thibault Square MyCiti bus station, the Naspers building on the Foreshore, the Cape Town International Convention Centre and the Cape Town station.

henriette.geldenhuys@inl.co.za

- Sunday Argus

The SACP in the Western Cape has threatened to march on the residence of Premier Helen Zille and other DA leaders.

Cape Town -

The South African Communist Party in the Western Cape has threatened to march on the residence of Premier Helen Zille and other DA leaders if the DA goes ahead with a march to the ANC headquarters on February 4.

The DA is awaiting permission for 6 000 members to march through the Johannesburg city centre to Luthuli House.

SACP provincial secretary Khaya Magaxa described the DA’s planned march as a “cheap and desperate election gimmick”.

Magaxa held a press conference at the end of the SACP’s two-day provincial executive meeting, which was aimed at outlining the party’s plan ahead of this year’s elections.

“The proposed march to Luthuli House will be contested and countered by the SACP in the province.

“We aim to mobilise progressive forces against the anti-majoritarian DA by embarking on a march to Helen Zille’s lush residence,” Magaxa said.

“We call on the DA to reconsider its plans to march to the ANC headquarters. As soon as they go with such a dirty march, they will get a response from us,” he said. His party regarded the DA’s march as a declaration of war against the ANC, he added.

“If the DA continues with that kind of a declaration of war to the ANC, we, as the Communist Party in the province, will march to all other DA members and leaders’ homes in the Western Cape and we are ready to face any consequence.

“That’s why we’re calling on them to respect the nature of democracy,” said Magaxa.

He claimed the DA was undermining ANC’s policies.

“The DA plan to march on Luthuli House was a serious provocation and threatens another party’s right to exist.”

According to the party, the SACP has about 10 000 members in the Western Cape.

“The party will mobilise communities across racial lines in all regions of the province in demonstrations of mass democratic participation. As the party, we once again declare that the DA-lead administration in the province has collapsed the Department of Human Settlements due to negligence and its narrow monopoly capital interest. The party will lead this struggle for decent housing and sanitation,” he said.

He said the SACP also aimed to aggressively strengthen the relationship with trade unions.

Zille described the SACP’s statement as a joke and said the DA was exercising its constitutional right to march to the ANC headquarters.

“If the SACP gets permission to march they can do that,” she said.

Zille said the DA’s march to Luthuli House was not declaration of war, but a party exercising democratic rights.

siyavuya.mzantsi@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Abducted, forced into marriage and raped - this is what happened to a 14-year-old girl at the hands of a Cape man.

Cape Town - Abducted and forced into marriage before being raped several times – this is what happened to a 14-year-old girl at the hands of a Philippi man.

On Monday morning – more than two years after the girl’s ordeal – Mvuleni Jezile, who was convicted for sexually assaulting the Eastern Cape teenager, is due to be sentenced in the Western Cape’s first case of ukuthwala: the traditional practice of kidnapping a young woman in an attempt to force marriage negotiations.

During earlier court proceedings, it emerged that the 30-year-old man had married the pupil in the Eastern Cape without her or her mother’s consent.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said the marriage had been arranged between the girl’s uncle, grandmother and her rapist’s family in 2011.

The court was told Jezile had tried to have sex with the girl, but she refused. He beat her with sticks then threw her into a taxi bound for the Western Cape.

Once there, he held her hostage at his home in Brown’s Farm where he raped her several times.

During his first court appearance in the Wynberg Regional Court in February 2012, Jezile pleaded not guilty before magistrate Delena Grewenstein.

But he was convicted in November, after he was found guilty on six counts including three cases of rape, human trafficking and assault.

Not only will the sentencing be the first of its kind in the Western Cape, but it will also be the second successful prosecution in a human trafficking case in the province, Ntabazalila said.

He is expected to receive a life sentence.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A task force is to be set up by the City of Cape Town to combat gangs, effectively going over the heads of the SAPS.

Cape Town - A new task force is to be set up by the City of Cape Town to combat gangs and drugs, effectively going over the heads of the police in an effort to help tackle the scourge.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said the new task force was set to “ramp up” the existing drug unit to focus on the gang and drug problem in a more “targeted way”.

“It’s a less shotgun, more sniper rifle approach,” he said.

The provincial police department said it had noted the city’s intention to set up a local gang task force, but added that it had been making strides in the attempt to eradicate gangs.

The city’s existing drug and gang units were drawn from internal resources, said Smith.

The units had “achieved a certain level of results but not enough to make an impact”.

There would be new players – including a senior official to run the task force and senior investigators to analyse information and data to home in on major players in the gang and drug industry.

The specialist members would be “pulling on data and knitting it together” as a means to use intelligence to fight crime. The information gathered would be captured as required in order to ensure it was “prosecutable”.

Information would be handed to police, but where city officials could act on information they would.

Smith said he had reached out to provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer two years ago about the matter, but had been constantly told to back off as it was not the city’s role.

Lamoer however, said it had always been the police’s contention that fighting violence in a sustainable manner required an integrated approach.

Lamoer added that through provincial joint intelligence and security, the police had ensured the engagement and participation of “all role-players in fighting crime”.

The issue of gang violence is exclusively a police competency and not within the city’s mandate to handle.

“Unfortunately, statistics acquired from the SAPS and the Ministry of Justice point to a conviction rate for gang violence that is 12 percent or lower and between just 2 to 5 percent in some areas,” said Smith.

Smith said the city’s and provincial government’s attempts to discuss the recent spate of gang violence with the national police office had “come to naught”.

“If the SAPS does have any planned interventions, the city is not aware of them.”

Lamoer shot back saying Operation Combat under the leadership of Major-General Jeremy Vearey, tackled gang violence in the province.

He said numerous operations were held which resulted in the arrest of gang leaders and members and the seizure of drugs and firearms in areas such as Manenberg and Lavender Hill.

He noted that 16 gang members in Atlantis were recently found guilty in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

“It’s worth noting that the provincial SAPS’ approach to the gang problem targets both prison and youth gangs operating in townships such as Nyanga, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha,” Lamoer said.

Smith said that while the 700-strong metro police force would continue its duties it could not “continue to compensate for SAPS apparent shortcomings”.

Cape Argus

An ANC poster depicting a young man returning from initiation school has sparked controversy in Khayelitsha.

Cape Town - An ANC poster depicting a young man returning from initiation school has sparked controversy in Khayelitsha.

The poster, which shows the young man in initiation gear, his body covered with a blanket and his face smeared with cream, was put up on Spine Road in Khayelitsha.

Residents said it was disrespectful of the ANC to exploit Xhosa culture.

Nyosini Sebezo: “As an elderly man we do not talk or show photos of initiation because it is the best-kept secret in our culture, but now the ANC is making a public spectacle out of it. We will not accept it.

“Initiation in our culture is the most highly and most respected tradition, but now we are made a joke of.”

Horacious Dani said the poster make a mockery of IsiXhosa culture: “You can’t campaign with people’s culture. The ANC is using this opportunity to canvas votes from young men who have just returned from initiation school.“

Leesa Mathebula: “This is disgusting for us Xhosa women to see. There is a reason we know nothing about initiation and there is a reason we do not ask about it, because we don’t need to know about it. If you want to campaign why not use posters with houses, schools, hospitals?… that is what they constantly promise people... ”

ANC spokesman Xolani Sotashe said: “We as the ANC embrace all customs and cultures. That poster is not offensive at all. The ANC… is saying we need to stand up for our culture.”

Cape Argus

A security guard was shot dead and a police officer wounded during a liquor store robbery in Nyanga, Western Cape police said.

Cape Town -

A security guard was shot dead and a police officer wounded during an armed robbery in Nyanga on Monday, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said four men robbed a liquor store at Philippi Plaza, on the corner of Stock and Govan Mbeki roads in Cape Town, around 9.40am.

The men shot dead the security guard and wounded a 32-year-old constable who arrived at the scene.

The officer was transported to hospital in a critical condition.

Van Wyk said the gang fled in a silver Chevrolet Aveo which they had hijacked.

“They are regarded as armed and dangerous and they are yet to be arrested.” - Sapa

Tax consultant Linda Addison-Adams defrauded Sars and several of her clients - but she won’t spend any time behind bars.

Cape Town -

A Cape Town woman convicted of defrauding the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and several clients, including mayor Patricia de Lille, says she is grateful the court has shown her mercy by not sending her to jail.

On Friday, the Wynberg Regional Court handed down a suspended sentence to tax consultant Linda Addison-Adams. In June, the 54-year-old was found guilty of 72 counts of fraud, 13 counts of theft and eight counts of failing to submit income tax returns.

Magistrate Jackie Redelinghuys said the court would show mercy. Redelinghuys said the crimes committed by Adams were planned by an intelligent businesswoman over a period of several years.

He added that most South Africans were sick and tired of the fact that crime was not only prevalent, but that crimes of dishonesty were on the increase.

Redelinghuys said Adams would not be getting away scot-free because she had already lost everything, including her home and marriage.

During the lengthy trial, Adams was diagnosed with breast cancer and received chemotherapy. She has since recovered and is in remission.

“She lost everything. If she did not commit these crimes she would have been able to have a wealthy retirement. But she will die a pauper,” Redelinghuys said.

“The court finds that the accused has paid a lot for her crimes.”

Adams sat wiping away tears as the court read out her sentence.

For fraud and theft she was sentenced to seven years in jail, suspended for five years, and strict conditions to adhere to correctional supervision. She also received six months in jail, suspended for five, for failing to submit tax returns.

natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

As the plight of the Delft girl raped and set alight remains in the spotlight, the blame game has started in the community.

Cape Town - As the plight of the 9-year-old Delft girl raped and set alight remains in the spotlight, the blame game has started in the community.

Delft Suburban, a community neighbourhood watch programme, detained Wanda Oliphant on suspicion he had raped the girl and set her alight.

Oliphant, 27, will reappear in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges of rape, sexual assault, abduction and attempted murder.

Priscilla Mcentee, chairwoman of Delft Suburban, apprehended Oliphant after seeing him walking along the R300 in Delft where the child had been left for dead.

Mcentee and neighbourhood watch members kept Oliphant in the garage of a watch member and waited for police while angry community members trying to get to the man nearly broke down the iron structure.

Now, the man whose garage Olpihant was kept in has received harassing messages from some people in the community. He said he did not want to be named and had lodged a complaint at the Delft police station for his own safety.

“Some people do not understand that we cannot take the law into our own hands,” he said.

“I am now being held hostage in my own community because people blame me for keeping him (Oliphant) away from them.”

He said some were rallying support against him. “There are some who are telling people to be against me. It’s not right. I am working with police to clear my name,” he said.

A criminology lecturer at Unisa, Merlyn Barkhuizen, said communities became sensitised when they were exposed to high levels of sexual violence.

“People go into a frenzy when they hear who the perpetrator could be,” she said.

“Acting without evidence, people start to take the law into their own hands and that’s what they wanted to do in this case.”

Barkhuizen said sometimes a lack of trust in police persuaded people to take justice into their own hands.

“Men have wives, daughters, mothers they want to protect. Although it is wrong, they will take the law into their own hands in order to protect their family,” she said.

The alienation of the man from his community was not a direct reflection of hatred towards the man, but hatred of what he had allegedly done.

“Once justice takes its course, the community will understand,” she said.

Crime statistics from the SAPS show that from April 2012 to March last year, 253 cases of sexual assault were reported in Delft.

The communications co-ordinator at Rape Crisis, Sarah Strydon, said for years the greatest number of rape victims at its Thuthuzela rape care centre had come from Delft.

“It’s not new to call it a crisis. Delft experiences some of the highest numbers in woman and child abuse in the province,” said Strydon.

Thuthuzela, at Karl Bremer Hospital, offers counselling, medical treatment, forensic examinations, an interview with the police and follow-up medical care for walk-in rape survivors.

Strydon said the Thuthuzela Centre saw 30 rape survivors from Delft a month.

“The anxiety women and children experience as they come through our doors is unbelievable,” she said

“So often they feel like it is their fault that they’ve been raped. It’s not. We need to educate females about their rights as women.”

* Rape Crisis 24-hour line: 021 447 9763

francesca.villette@inl.co.za

Cape Times

The police and five minstrel troupes had a tense stand-off after their weekend march continued beyond the agreed cut-off time.

Cape Town - The police and five minstrel troupes had a tense stand-off in the Bo-Kaap over the weekend after their march through the area had continued beyond the agreed cut-off time of midnight.

The City of Cape Town instituted the cut-off after some residents complained of unruly behaviour and noise till the early hours during previous marches.

On Saturday night, five troupes headed to the Bo-Kaap after a “trophy night” at the Athlone and Vygieskraal stadiums. After midnight police asked them to disperse.

Yusuf Safudien, who handles the events for the Bo-Kaap Civic Association, said there was no altercation and that the troupes had dispersed peacefully when the police intervened at around 1am.

He said police officers had asked about logistics – whether the correct routes were followed before asking them to disperse.

The troupes were initially reluctant to go but members from the local civic association addressed them.

“On our instructions they stopped,” he said.

Safudien said that by implementing the cut-off time they would cater to both those residents who were in favour of the night marches and those who were not.

“We’re still trying to get the control (implementing of the cut off). In that way it eliminates the problem,” Safudien said.

Not all troupes are happy about the cut-off time.

Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Associations’ (CTMCA)

chairman Richard Stemmet said the event at the Athlone Stadium, where thousands of minstrels participated, went off smoothly. He said that sometimes events would finish at around 11pm and the troupes then headed into town.

Stemmet said they had been complaining to the city about the cut-off.

“It’s the same issues every year – but it’s a cultural event that happens once a year and we are a cultural organisation and it’s not fair.”

He said he had complained to the City of Cape Town that troupes were allowed to walk elsewhere with no problem but had to comply with a cut-off time in the city.

“It’s one of the oldest cultures and still we must fight to have a permit here,” he said.

Last week, two employees who were sub-contracted to do work for Bharooch Event Styling and Management complained that they were not paid on time, but the city’s mayoral committee member for tourism, events and marketing, Grant Pascoe, said one payment had already been made. The two other invoices “did not equate to the balance of the fees/funds due to Bharooch”. But he said the matter had been resolved and the accounts were reconciled. The correct invoices have been issued to the city.

Bharooch Event Styling and Management was initially meant to manage the entire event, but its role was scaled down to one of “facilitation” after some of the minstrel associations complained that they were being sidelined.

The DA and ANC had also been at loggerheads over the event, with the DA accusing the ANC of trying to score cheap political points after Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile told thousands of Capetonians and visitors at the Grand Parade that it was the ANC that “saved” this year’s minstrels’ event.

natasha.prince@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The Gift of the Givers Foundation’s representative in Yemen will continue to negotiate with al-Qaeda kidnappers.

Cape Town - The Gift of the Givers Foundation’s representative in Yemen will continue to negotiate with al-Qaeda kidnappers for the release of Bloemfontein teacher Pierre Korkie – but from outside the country.

Founder of the South African charity Imtiaz Sooliman has told negotiator Anas al-Hamati to leave Yemen after the kidnappers accused him of stealing the ransom for Korkie’s release, which they believe the South African government delivered to him in Yemen last week.

Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Ebrahim Ebrahim visited Yemen last week, meeting top government officials to discuss Korkie’s case, and issuing an appeal to the kidnappers on national television to release Korkie.

He also met al-Hamati but this meeting seems to have been misconstrued by the kidnappers. They told al-Hamati they believed Ebrahim had arrived with the $3 million (R32m) ransom they are demanding and he had stolen it.

The deputy minister emphasised while in Yemen that the government did not pay ransoms as a matter of policy. “(The captors’) perception is the problem here. They don’t believe that a government official could arrive in the country without paying over the ransom… They claim that they say they won’t negotiate with terrorists but pay under the table,” said Sooliman.

He said this weekend that as a result of the accusation against al-Hamati, he was pulling him out the country.

Last week the al-Qaeda captors sent a picture of a bomb belt as a threat to the negotiator.

But this is not the end of negotiations – the plan is for al-Hamati to continue the ransom talks over the phone.

“Yes, I’m pulling him out but he will still be talking to (them). It just means he won’t be speaking to them from Yemen,” Sooliman said.

Sooliman landed in the Middle East today and will sit down with al-Hamati to try to work out a way for them to regain the captors’ trust.

“They are still going to talk to us, because they know there is no money if there is no talk.”

The clock is ticking for Korkie. It has been almost two weeks since the deadline for his execution was extended by 21 days. The new deadline is February 8. But there is another ticking clock, and that is Korkie’s health.

His wife Yolande, who was kidnapped with him, said when she was released he was suffering from a hernia and his kidneys were damaged.

Business people in Bloemfontein are desperately trying to raise money for the ransom.

“The reality is that R32m is still too much,” said Sooliman.

Meanwhile, an Iranian diplomat who was taken hostage in Yemen has been executed by his captors. Sooliman said his head had been found in Marweh province.

“In spite of this new challenge, we still have two weeks to find alternatives,” he said.

Cape Argus

Campaigners for the Philippi Horticultural Area have accused the Western Cape government of double standards.

Cape Town - Activists campaigning to protect the Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) from developers have accused the provincial government of double standards.

They demand the 2011 decision to grant a private company – Rapicorp – the right to develop land on the farming area’s edge, be reversed.

Two weeks ago, farmers in Philippi welcomed a decision by Planning MEC Anton Bredell to reject a similar application for housing development by a company called MSP.

The area is known as “Cape Town’s bread basket” and, according to farmers, produces more than 50 percent of the vegetables consumed in Cape Town. In recent years the area has been threatened by speculators who have applied for the urban edge to be moved so housing units can be built.

Such proposals have received political support from provincial and city leaders due to the city’s housing backlog. Farmers, however, argue that they need the land for expansion due to increased demand for their crops.

Bredell’s decision to reject MSP’s bid was scrutinised by Abubakr Salie, lawyer for the Schaapkraal Civic and Environmental Association (Scea).

Salie says the same reasons Bredell cited in denying MSP should have prevented him from granting Rapicorp permission to infringe on the horticultural land with a proposed housing development. Salie cited Bredell’s concern over agricultural productivity and the integrity of the underground aquifer (given as reasons for denying MSP’s application).

“Why has MSP been rejected and Rapicorp allowed? Scea wants him to overturn the decision and more emphasis to be placed on illegal dumping and an infrastructure in the PHA.”

Salie added that the Rapicorp development infringed on farmers and Philippi resident’s constitutional rights to “environmental health, well-being… food security and water”.

Bredell defended his decision to allow the Rapicorp development.

He explained that any decision he took in public planning for provincial government would only leave “50 percent” of the people concerned happy.

“We have to look at the competing needs in our city. There is the need for housing, because the urban population has grown at an incredible rate since the 1990s. There is the need for protecting the food security that the horticultural area helps ensure,” he said.

“I stick to the Rapicorp decision and the MSP decision. The reasoning for these decisions is legally sound and can be viewed and studied by anyone.”

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The family of a man killed in an apparent vigilante attack still don’t know who his attackers were.

Cape Town - Andile Mtsholo was beaten, stabbed and necklaced, allegedly by Khayelitsha residents, in a vigilante attack in 2012.

Two years later, Mtsholo’s family still don’t know who his attackers were and say the police have not been much help.

In testimony before the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, which is investigating police inefficiencies, Mtsholo’s aunt Nomakhuma Bontshi said police had spoken to the family only once and had not informed them of any developments in the case.

“As far as I know Andile’s murder has never been solved by the police. I do not know what evidence the police collected, but judging from the various accounts we heard from locals, there would have been people who witnessed the killing,” Bontshi said.

“As his family we would like to know who killed him and why. We feel strongly that despite his misbehaviour he did not deserve this – and especially not the way he was killed.”

An emotional Bontshi, who lives in Gugulethu, gave an account of what happened on May 2012.

She said that on May 19 she been summoned to a meeting by residents of Khayelitsha’s B Section, where Mtsholo lived.

At the meeting, residents told her they were “fed up” with her nephew, who robbed people and smoked drugs in his late parents’ home.

“The voices of those who spoke were noisy and threatening, with one person suggesting that they search for him around the area and that they wanted to teach him a lesson,” Bontshi said.

She said it had been decided the family would remove Mtsholo from the community and take him to the Eastern Cape.

But the next morning, Bontshi received news that her nephew had been killed.

His charred remains had been found in a field not far from Mtsholo’s home. He had been stabbed and burnt to death by necklacing.

A case was opened at the Lingelethu West police station.

Bontshi told the commission that shortly after the murder, police interviewed the family about possible suspects.

That was the last time the family had heard anything about the matter.

Another resident, Mzoxolo Thame, spoke of the ill treatment he received when he enquired about his cousin’s murder.

Xolisile Thame was killed after he was allegedly caught with his body “halfway through a window of a house, breaking in”, in January last year.

Thame said the investigating officer in the case had been harsh and uncaring.

“He told me: ‘The laaitie (little boy) was caught with his body halfway through the window of a house, and he was moered’,” Thame said.

He said when he asked the investigating officer about the suspects, who had been caught, as the family wanted to get legal advice, the detective told him he would be wasting his money and suggested Xolisile was guilty.

He took up the matter with the officer’s superior, who told him the detective was the right person to investigate the case.

Thame said that was the last time he heard anything about the case.

“I personally feel they don’t understand their fundamental responsibility, which is to service the community,” Thame said.

“They feel they are doing the community a favour.”

The commission is to continue on Monday with more testimonies.

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Cosatu has blasted JP Smith for targeting motorists using cellphones while Cape Town is besieged by gang violence.

Cape Town - The Cosatu leader in the Western Cape, Tony Ehrenreich, has blasted the City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for safety and security for targeting motorists using cellphones while the city is besieged by gang violence.

Hours after JP Smith conducted an operation with traffic officers on various highways last week to confiscate cellphones from motorists who were using them while driving, Ehrenreich released a statement accusing Smith of “blatant dereliction of duty”, adding that he continued to ignore more pressing issues.

Ehrenreich, who is also the ANC leader in the city council, said: “Cosatu is astounded that JP Smith focuses on cellphones, when the city is facing an unprecedented attack on its citizens by criminal elements.

“The people of the city are desperate for help to secure their communities from gang attacks.”

Smith responded that while it was not within the City of Cape Town’s mandate to handle crime prevention and gang-related violence, it had nevertheless set up a task force to help curb gang violence.

“The city will continue to do what we can to improve the lives of our residents, but with a 700-strong metro police staff complement we cannot continue to compensate for the SAPS’s apparent shortcomings and the lack of criminal convictions that allows gangsters and drug dealers to continue their evil business,” he said.

Ehrenreich accused Smith of prioritising “dogs barking and people talking on cellphones”, adding: “This is a blatant dereliction of duty in respect of the most urgent challenges facing this city, all so that he can put out media statements about cellphone anti-crime gimmicks.

“Some things are just more urgent than others, but JP Smith seems intent on deploying resources to the issues that the communities of Sea Point are concerned about, rather than the issues that the communities of Mitchells Plain and Langa are concerned about.”

Smith said the fact that Ehrenreich had criticised him for the cellphone blitz “points to a fundamental misunderstanding of the functions of local government and justifies calling for Mr Ehrenreich’s resignation or dismissal”.

Smith said Ehrenreich knew that crime prevention and fighting gangs was the responsibility of the national government.

“Every component of the criminal justice system is under their control – the SAPS, who have an exclusive investigative focus (metro police are not allowed to investigate crime and murder), the National Prosecuting Authority, the Department of Justice and the Department of Correctional Services,” Smith said.

In spite of this, the city had gone beyond its mandate to dedicate resources to fighting crime by establishing a gang unit and a drug unit to assist the police.

He said that the city also piloted a project last year to deploy school resource officers to six high-risk schools across the metro and was finalising a plan for more such officers.

The city council was spending R28 million annually to combat gangs and prevent gang violence.

While gang violence was at “unacceptable levels”, it was a fact that more people died on the roads from preventable accidents, he said.

Road safety and traffic enforcement was a local government responsibility, and road accidents had decreased each year since 2006.

Last Wednesday, the Cape Times reported that at least 17 people had been shot dead in the city this month.

zara.nicholson@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A witness broke down at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry while testimony about “mob justice” was being heard.

Cape Town - A witness broke down at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry in Cape Town on Monday.

Zolani Magadla, who sells liquor in the area, hid his tear-streaked face from commissioners and sobbed when asked to relate an event from New Year's eve in 2012.

Commissioners Kate O'Regan and Vusi Pikoli, who are heading the probe into alleged police inefficiency in Khayelitsha, agreed his evidence could stand over.

Just minutes before, an emotional woman testified about her arrest last year on charges of kidnapping, assaulting and murdering two teenagers who robbed her.

Nomamerika Simelela told the commission she and her uncle, Mayedwa Simelela, were locked up by police last year after the two youths who robbed them were beaten and stabbed to death.

Simelela said several community members had apprehended two boys, who were part of a gang who robbed her of money and cellphones as she was preparing to leave for her grandmother's funeral in the Eastern Cape.

Her uncle drove the men to their parents' homes in an attempt to recover the money.

At one of the homes, the uncle said he was confronted by an angry mob who wanted the boys handed over to them so they could be punished.

“One of them grabbed me by the chest. One had a firearm,” Mayedwa Simelela said.

The angry group told him that if the suspects were not handed over, they would set his car alight with the boys inside.

Feeling threatened, he stepped aside before the boys were dragged from the car.

The two boys were later beaten and stabbed to death, but he denied witnessing this, insisting he had left the scene and travelled to the Eastern Cape for his mother's funeral.

When he arrived back in Cape Town, he was arrested.

The case was later withdrawn.

Both the uncle and his niece told the commission they did not initially report the matter to police because they just wanted their stolen items back.

They did not report the kidnapping of the boys, as they needed to go to the Eastern Cape.

They said they did not think the police would have assisted them to get their stolen items back.

If they knew what the community was planning to do with the two suspected robbers, they would have called the police, they said.

The commission completed its third day of public hearings on Monday.

It was set up by Western Cape premier Helen Zille after an NGO, the Social Justice Coalition, complained that police inaction was leading to Khayelitsha residents taking the law into their own hands.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa opposed the decision to set up the inquiry, but this was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in October 2013.

Sapa