A Cape man who tried to pay for groceries worth thousands of rands with a cloned bank card was jailed for six years.

Cape Town - A Western Cape man who tried to pay for groceries worth thousands of rands with a cloned bank card was jailed for six years on Thursday.

Moegamat Farouk Martin, 42, has pleaded guilty in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Cape Town.

Under a plea-bargain deal he was convicted of fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and violating the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.

When Martin committed his latest crime, he had two suspended prison sentences hanging over his head for bank card fraud.

During sentencing, Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg activated Martin's suspended sentences totalling three years and nine months.

At the request of defence counsel Nigel Jaftha, she ordered that the two suspended sentences would run concurrently with the six years.

This means Martin would only serve the six years imposed for the grocery fraud.

Prosecutor Denzyl Combrink told the court that he had agreed to the suspended sentences running concurrently, as part of the plea negotiations.

Jaftha told the court that the prison authorities had moved Martin from Pollsmoor Prison to Goodwood Prison, whilst awaiting trial.

The court also heard that Martin had received threats at the Goodwood Prison, and Sonnenberg ordered that he be moved back to Pollsmoor.

Martin was arrested on August 12 last year, when he tried to pay for groceries worth R13 811 at the Pick n Pay outlet in Kenilworth, Cape Town.

Staff alerted store manager John Lendoor to the fact that Martin's bank card payment had been declined.

Store managers had been warned that fraudulent bank cards were in circulation, and Lendoor recognised the card as counterfeit, and alerted the police.

An investigation revealed that the card was issued by Europay Belgium SCRL.

Martin was also found in possession of a grey-coloured Master Card, supposedly issued by the Bank of America.

Sapa

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa defended his officers as being well-trained, in the wake of recent clashes between communities and the police in Limpopo.

Cape Town - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Thursday defended his officers as being well-trained, in the wake of recent clashes between communities and the police in Limpopo.

“Some segments of our society have questioned our training curriculum, particularly when it comes to some of the violent public protests as recently noted,” he said.

“Our training has been benchmarked with some of the developed nations of the world. We can say without fear of contradiction that we are compared fairly with all the other (police) forces...”

Mthethwa noted, however, that the road to success was “always under construction”.

He was speaking at the opening of the SA Police Service (SAPS) Academy Paarl in the Western Cape.

Mthethwa's comments followed protests that started in Relela near Tzaneen, Limpopo, on Saturday morning when community members protested against apparent police delays in a gruesome murder case.

Three villagers were killed.

Tshepo Baloyi, 15, was killed on Saturday morning.

Clearance Molele and Stanley Selowa, 26, were killed on Tuesday morning after being shot, allegedly by police officers.

Provincial police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said 15

police officers were injured while 19 police vehicles were damaged when community members went to the Relela satellite police station on Tuesday night.

Mthethwa said the police service was not violent.

“We want to utilise this occasion to reiterate that the majority of our officers are not brutal as has been said out here,” he said.

“We find the behaviour of certain individuals in this regard unacceptable. We need to point out that this should not be a reflection of the entire institution.”

He appealed to the media to educate citizens about the law of the land such as the Gatherings Act and the Dangerous Weapons Act.

Citizens should be responsible and in a fair dialogue with police.

“I think we should be fair to say that in a society of 52 million people, having 200 000 police officers, it can't be humanly possible to reach all the parts all the time.”

Mthethwa said brutality against police was often ignored.

“When people attack police, burn police stations, attack officers, attack the very vehicles which are supposed to protect society, that is not an issue. It's never highlighted anywhere,” he said.

In October, SAPS partnered with the University of SA to re-skill the service and make it more professional.

The institution was expected to equip officers with proper theoretical and practical training.

One-hundred and twenty-five officers were the first to enrol for a bachelor's degree in policing.

The institution would also offer honours and masters degrees in policing It first opened up as the SA Police College for Advanced Training in 1990.

It had since undergone many name changes and was best known as the SAPS Academy Paarl.

Enrolment was aimed at those between the Constable and Warrant Officer ranks, looking to gain executive management and leadership skills.

Students were required to be between the ages of 20 and 30, have three years' police experience, a national senior certificate and no criminal or departmental cases against them.

They were also required to undergo fitness and psychometric tests.

Sapa

On Sunday it will be a year since 17-year-old Anene Booysen was raped, disembowelled and died in Bredasdorp.

Cape Town - On Sunday it will be a year since 17-year-old Anene Booysen was raped, disembowelled and died in Bredasdorp.

Her death shocked South Africans and the international community.

 Anene was found, with her intestines protruding from her genitals, on a construction site early on February 2.

This weekend memorial services are expected to take place in her home town, Bredasdorp.

Sam van Staden, spokesman for the Cape Agulhas Churches Forum, said the murder remained fresh in residents’ minds.

“It is still fresh in our minds and it will never go away,” he said.

Van Staden said church leaders planned to hold a memorial service each year on the anniversary of Anene’s death.

“We are doing this to show that we haven’t forgotten Anene or her family.”

Family, friends, residents as well as the mayor and deputy mayor of the Cape Agulhas Municipality are expected to attend.

Van Staden said

a neighbourhood watch had been set up to monitor streets at night.

“We want to make sure that there will never be a crime in Bredasdorp such as (that of) Anene Booysen.”

Kathleen Dey, director of Rape Crisis, said the number of reported cases of rape did not accurately reflect how many occurred.

“Only a fraction of rape is reported to police. If you look at police reports, it’s not an indicator of whether it has increased or decreased.”

Dey said Rape Crisis had spent time last month in Bredasdorp, which lacked resources.

“Alcohol and substance abuse, rape and poverty continue.”

The government did not provide enough resources.

“They have resources, but cluster them in urban areas, and this does not help communities like Bredasdorp,” Dey said.

She added that programmes were not preventing rape.

“One of those mysteries of the human condition is that we don’t know why people rape,” Dey said.

Johannes Kana, 22, who was convicted of raping and murdering Anene, is petitioning for leave to appeal against his sentence of two life terms. He was sentenced in November.

His attorney, Pieter du Toit, said an application for leave to appeal had been refused.

“We have petitioned the judge president to make a decision.”

Cape Argus

A waiter who allegedly cloned bank cards of restaurant guests appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court.

Cape Town - A waiter who allegedly cloned bank cards of restaurant guests appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Thursday.

Brown Tumba made his seventh appearance in the Cape Town court before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who set down his trial for April 15.

He was expected to plead to 17 counts of fraud, four violations of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, and one of conspiracy to commit fraud involving R19 555.

According to the charge sheet, the 29-year-old Zimbabwean national was a waiter at the Haiku and the Bhukara restaurants in the Cape Town CBD.

In September 2011, Aletta Breitenbach and friends celebrated her daughter's birthday at Bhukara. Breitenbach and one of her friends, Guy Johnstone, decided to split the bill, and both paid with their credit cards. Tumba was their waiter. The next week they both realised their cards had been compromised.

As both had only used their cards at the eatery, they suspected Tumba was the culprit, according to prosecutor Denzyl Combrink.

The pair reported their losses to Absa bank, who passed the matter on to the police. Officers allegedly found two bank cards in Tumba's possession, issued in the name of Citibank South Dakota in the USA, and two reprinted credit cards.

Sapa

Two witnesses told the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry that they hoped justice would be delivered after the murder of their loved ones.

Cape Town - Two witnesses told the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry on Thursday that they hoped justice would be delivered after the murder of their loved ones.

The commission - headed by retired judge Kate O'Regan and lawyer Vusi Pikoli - is probing allegations of police inefficiency in the Cape Town township

Makaza resident Vuyiswa Mpekweni described her frustrations about being denied justice after her niece and three children, aged between nine and 17, were burnt to death.

A man known to the police had apparently locked her four relatives in their shack and set the structure alight in 2007.

He was identified and arrested, but was later released when the case docket disappeared. When the docket was subsequently found, the suspect had fled to Johannesburg.

Mpekweni said she had obtained a photograph of the man and asked a police officer to help her circulate it in the Johannesburg area.

“My heart was broken because he (officer) was making me do the work of the police,” Mpekweni said.

She had yet to hear from the police on whether they had made any headway in apprehending the killer.

“I will never forget because I feel the pain and remember those that were killed,” a sobbing Mpekweni said.

She was hoping the “truth commission”, as she described the Khayelitsha inquiry, would help her get answers.

“I'm hoping I can get some help when it comes to the police who did not care.”

O'Regan assured Mpekweni the commission would help where possible. She cautiously added that she could not promise justice for the family.

Another woman, Beauty Thosholo, testified about her son's murder in 2010. The boy was dragged from his mother's house by a group of gun wielding men.

“He was screaming mummy, mummy,” Thosholo testified.

He was later found dead in dunes near Monwabisi beach, not far from her home. He had been shot five times. Police had arrived quickly and arrested several people after linking the murder to an argument between Thosholo's son and another man over a girl.

Following the murder, the court case dragged on with several postponements. The suspects were later released.

Thosholo has yet to hear from police on the progress of the case. The frustrations had left her family very angry. She was now putting her hope on the commission.

Again, O'Regan said the commissioners felt for the family and would make inquiries, but could not promise Thosholo justice would be served.

Thursday was day six of the commission's oral hearings, which would continue for the next few weeks.

Western Cape premier Helen Zille set up the commission after complaints by NGOs that the increase in mob justice killing in Khayelitsha was as a result of police inefficiency, and a failing justice system.

The commission was initially delayed after objections by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa. In October last year Mthethwa lost his Constitutional Court bid to have the commission scrapped.

Sapa

Solidarity will take the correctional services department to the Labour Court in Cape Town for disregarding a ruling on equity targets.

Cape Town - Trade union Solidarity will take the correctional services department to the Labour Court in Cape Town on Friday for disregarding a ruling, the union said.

The department allegedly disregarded the court's ruling in October that it should not only take national demographics into consideration when implementing affirmative action policies, Solidarity executive officer Dirk Hermann said in a statement.

Hermann said the department argued that the ruling need not be implemented as it had lodged an appeal against it.

He said the union would seek interim relief in terms of which the department would be forced to adhere to the order until the case was heard by the Labour Appeal Court.

The Labour Court in October ruled that the department had to take immediate steps to take both national and regional demographics into account when setting equity targets. This was applicable at all levels of the department's work force.

Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker ruled in favour of 10 Western Cape correctional service officials who had challenged the department's employment equity plan. Initially five officials challenged the department and they were followed by another five who had been overlooked for promotion because of their race.

Solidarity, which took up the matter on behalf of the 10, said in a statement at the time that coloured employees were disadvantaged by the use of national demographics.

The judge ruled that all 10 officials were black employees in terms of the Employment Equity Act. He found they had suffered unfair discrimination in the selection process used for promotion to various posts.

Hermann said at the time that in terms of the department's affirmative action plan, the national demography had to be reflected in every workplace, even at a provincial and regional level.

“As a result, in the Western Cape, coloured employees, in particular, almost have no chance anymore to be promoted or appointed,” Hermann said.

On Thursday, Hermann said the department had advertised jobs which its members (the applicants) had applied for.

“It appears that the department is determined to use the national demography, thereby evading its obligations in terms of the court order. Although Solidarity has requested the department not to advertise the posts for which the applicants in the case had applied pending the appeal, the department has, nevertheless, indicated that it was going to advertise the posts.”

Hermann said the union would make sure the department adhered to the court order.

The department was not available for comment.

Sapa

A UK court is expected to judge on whether or not honeymoon murder accused Shrien Dewani should be extradited to SA.

Cape Town - A UK court is on Friday expected to hand down judgment on whether or not honeymoon murder accused Shrien Dewani should be extradited to South Africa.

He is accused of masterminding the murder of his wife, Anni, in Khayelitsha on November 13, 2010 and is the only one of four suspects who has not been sentenced.

In July, a British court dismissed an initial appeal by Dewani, based on mental health grounds, against an extradition order. He appealed again. The court is expected to hand down judgment on this on Friday.

Cape Times

A DA councillor was ejected from a meeting after he was alleged to have slapped an opposition councillor.

Cape Town - A DA councillor was ejected from a Stellenbosch council meeting, after he was alleged to have slapped an opposition councillor to the ground for allegedly calling him the k-word.

The Stellenbosch municipality confirmed on Thursday that the incident occurred during Wednesday’s council meeting.

Both councillors have approached the police to open cases.

Municipality spokesman, Vernon Bowers, said DA councillor Nyaniso Jindela slapped councillor André van der Walt from the Sibanye Civic Association (SCA), previously known as the Stellenbosch Civic Association.

Bowers said the incident came after Van der Walt described Jindela as “you stupid”.

Van der Walt withdrew his comments after Speaker Cyril Jooste requested him to do so.

But, moments later, while Van der Walt and Jindela were getting coffee in the council chambers, the DA councillor slapped the SCA councillor.

The municipality said Jindela had claimed he was provoked, with Van der Walt allegedly saying: “You’re a dom (stupid) k****r”.

Jindela further claimed he “instinctively reacted and slapped him (Van der Walt)”.

But Derrick Hendrickse, of the SCA, branded the attack as a cowardly act perpetrated by someone who was not fit for public office.

Hendrickse said he had written to Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, Local Government MEC Anton Bredell and Stellenbosch mayor, Conrad Sidego to raise the SCA’s concern about the alleged assault.

In an e-mail to the municipality, Hendrikse noted that none of the senior council representatives even bothered to condemn the incident.

“Not one word has been said about this barbaric and cowardly act of assault that took place. It is noted with regret that even you, Mr Mayor, have already sided with councillor Jindela,” he wrote.

And Hendrickse said he found it strange that officials within earshot of the pair did not hear the alleged racial slur, while the DA members claimed they had heard it.

“I now allege that the DA has super hearing. We as SCA will not allow that the DA use this unbecoming and cowardice (sic) act by Jindela to discredit Van der Walt as a racist,” Hendrickse said.

He added that their councillor vehemently denied using the k-word.

Hendrickse, who was present during the council meeting, said the debate in the council involved issues of financial deviations, alleged corruption and political instructions to erect fencing in the Kayamandi township.

“The association requested council recordings and the CCTV footage of the council meeting to prove the innocence of their councillor.”

But Hendrickse said he would not be surprised if the video footage was suddenly not available.

Bredell said the incident was unfortunate.

“More discipline and order is needed from public representatives.”

Bredell said the Speaker of the council, who was in charge of the code of conduct for councillors, would be investigating the matter.

Police confirmed that separate cases of crimen injuria and common assault were opened for investigation at the Stellenbosch police.

“Both cases are at this stage under investigation,” said police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk.

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A taxi driver and his tout are due to be sentenced for their 12-day spree of raping and robbing passengers in 2007.

Cape Town -

The taxi driver and his tout convicted of raping or robbing passengers seven years ago face about 150 years in jail if the minimum sentence attached to each charge is put into effect.

This was the submission by Tony Myburgh’s lawyer, Andre Kirsten, during closing arguments in the Cape Town Regional Court on Thursday.

“(But) it would be inhumane to impose anything that exceeds the life expectancy of Myburgh,” Kirsten said. “He is not a monster – he is a person who has had life experiences and hardships that made him the person he is today”.

If life imprisonment is imposed, Myburgh and his accomplice, taxi driver Peter Andrews, will have to serve 25 years before they are eligible for parole.

The two men have been in custody for seven years – longer than anyone else in the Western Cape in their situation.

Magistrate Lulumile Mdoda convicted Myburgh, 31, and Andrews, 33, of multiple counts of rape, aggravated robbery and indecent assault last November.

They were arrested on June 25, 2007 after robbing and raping passengers in a 12-day spree. Their last victim had taken down the taxi’s registration number and notified police.

The men had randomly targeted commuters who boarded their taxi between Bellville and Cape Town, and in some instances, drove off the specified routes to park at secluded areas including a cemetery, Goodwood Sports Ground and the shooting range at De Waal Drive.

Myburgh was convicted of four counts of rape, two of indecent assault, and four of aggravated robbery. Andrews was found guilty of two counts of rape, two attempted rapes and three armed robberies.

The men were acquitted of the remaining counts because in one instance the witnesses did not return to court for cross-examination, in another the witness did not want to testify and because there was doubt regarding the identity of the assailants.

Tashriq Ahmed, for Andrews, asked the court to impose a fair sentence.

Prosecutor Merle Engelbrecht argued that the men showed no remorse.

The men, who don’t have criminal records, expect to be sentenced on Friday.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Three elderly residents are the last ones holding on to their homes in the idyllic lagoon-side De Mond Caravan Park.

Western Cape -

Three elderly residents are the last ones holding on to their homes in the idyllic lagoon-side De Mond Caravan Park in Hermanus.

They own the Plettenberg-style houses they’ve lived in for years, but not the land beneath – and now the municipality wants them out to develop the park into a “public resort”.

This follows the surprise eviction of some 200 other families from the park in late 2012, after the Caravan Park Association’s lease expired.

The court ruling was made on December 10. Eleven days later everybody and their homes had to be gone.

Now, over a year later, the park looks like the site of a hurricane, the forest floor littered with crushed boards and canvas from abandoned mobile homes.

Just three residents are left, refusing to leave their homes. They were exempt from the first eviction because they don’t own any other property.

However, the municipality has obtained an order to evict them too, which will come into effect after a hearing in the high court next month.

Keith Hampshire, 63, has been coming to the park since he was a child, and bought a structure there in 2011 when injury had left him without work and divorce depleted his savings.

“These are our only properties, our only places of abode,” he said. “We can’t afford anything else; that’s why we bought here.”

Hampshire and the remaining residents receive pension incomes that are just too high to qualify for state-subsidised housing, but too low to cover rent in a flat or retirement home.

“I would be quite prepared to move if I was given somewhere else to go, or if they gave me proper compensation,” he said.

Hampshire’s neighbour, Hanna Auret, has lived in the park for 10 years and invested all her savings in her house and wooden deck which overlooks the lagoon.

She also said she would be happy to move, if only she wasn’t left with nothing. “If they give me R150 000, I’ll go,” she said.

But Desmond Lakey, senior manager of legal services for the municipality, said there was no chance of compensation.

“There was no order for compensation of members of the association, as the lease allowed them only to erect movable structures and compelled them to remove them on termination of the lease,” he said. “Also these structures did not improve the land.”

According to Lakey, the municipality obtained a court order terminating the association’s lease and instructing all its members to remove their structures by the end of last March.

“Although some have done so, others have abandoned their structures and caravans and left rubble behind. There are also three remaining residents who claim to have resided there as their home and the municipality is busy with proceedings to compel them to vacate and remove their structures.”

But Auret cannot simply remove her home.

“This is a full-on house; it’s not a tent or a caravan,” she said. “The court order said we can stay here. Now the municipality wants us out. This is my house – it’s the only place I’ve got.”

Auret said residents knew when they bought structures that the municipality could order them off, but “nobody thought it was going to happen”.

Her friend Joey Jacobs used to spend weekends and holidays in the park. Because Jacobs had another house in Hermanus, she was forced to break up her De Mond home in the first round of evictions. Now, when she returns to visit Auret, she doesn’t go near where her holiday home stood.

“I had a long table, and I can’t tell you how many people sat around that table with good food and wine, thinking what a paradise this is,” she said. “This was our place for laughing and for crying.”

Jacobs bought the structure for R165 000, and was only able to sell it for R20 000 in the desperation of the eviction. ”It’s not about the money,” she said. “It’s about the memories we had.”

chelsea.geach@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The Cape is in the grip of an epidemic of sexual assault on children, with at least four a day reported since January 1.

Cape Town - There have been at least 117 sexual assaults on children younger than 14 in Cape Town since the beginning of the year, says Rape Crisis director Kathleen Dey.

She pulled the stats from two Thuthuzela Care Centres – essentially victim-support facilities. The two centres accept referrals from 20 police stations across the city, and provide support for victims. The figure may seem large, but it is consistent with monthly sexual assault averages over the last number of years.

Police crime stats indicated that 8 776 sexual crimes, including rape, were reported in the Western Cape during the 2012/13 financial year.

This figure, also consistent with stats for preceding years, amounts to a monthly average of 731 reported sexual assaults. Police statistics do not, however, reflect the age of sexual assault victims.

Three child rapes on the Cape Flats since the beginning of the year have grabbed headlines. But Dey says that the attention given to high-profile cases often masks the wide extent of sexual assaults and rapes of children.

The Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry heard on Wednesday that the Khayelitsha police’s Child Protection Unit was failing victims because of a lack of professionalism, ill discipline and poor management. Dr Genine Josias, a medical co-ordinator for Khayelitsha’s Thuthuzela Centre, said this resulted in the delaying of DNA evidence processing, which meant rapists were being acquitted en masse.

In the most high-profile attack this year, a nine-year-old Delft girl was tied up, raped, doused in petrol and set alight. She survived the attack and is currently in hospital, where she is expected to undergo a series of major operations over the next few months.

A 27-year-old man has been arrested and charged with rape and attempted murder. He appeared in a Bellville Magistrate’s Court earlier this week and will appear again on March 27.

A week earlier, another Delft girl, aged six, was trapped in a communal toilet cubicle and raped. There has been no arrest, but police issued an identikit and a description of the rapist – 45 to 50 years old, approximately 1.65m tall, with a dark complexion and a sturdy build.

On Sunday, an 11-year-old boy was lured into an abandoned building in Bonteheuwel and raped, allegedly by a man known to residents as “Franky”. Police are searching for the suspect.

An “outraged” Social Development MEC Albert Fritz on Thursday condemned attacks on children and calling for perpetrators to be arrested.

Dey, however, noted that there was an overemphasis on arrest and conviction in public discourse on the topic of rape in South Africa. She urged that the government and society acknowledge “societal drivers” underpinning the scourge of sexual violence. These included the desperation, hopelessness and substance abuse that accompanied inequality and poverty. Those factors, especially alcohol and drug abuse, drove some to violent extremes.

“This is why, as Rape Crisis we have been very supportive of (Health Minister) Aaron Motsoaledi’s proposal to ban alcohol advertising… It is important for the government to understand the drivers of social ills and to implement policies that target these root causes,” she said.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Milnerton blocked roads in a service delivery protest, Western Cape police said.

Cape Town - Residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Milnerton blocked roads in a service delivery protest on Friday, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said people had burned tyres on Freedom Way from 7am.

At least 100 people planned to march from Joe Slovo to the municipal office behind Racecourse road to hand over a memorandum.

Van Wyk said the City of Cape Town had granted them permission to march.

“Currently everything is under control,” he said.

Roads were cleared and the public order police were on the scene with local police officers to monitor the situation.

No arrests had been made. - Sapa

A mother feels let down by the justice system after her son was killed three years ago.

Cape Town - A mother feels let down by the justice system after her son was killed three years ago and has turned to the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry for help.

The woman’s identity is being withheld for her and her daughter’s safety.

On Thursday she told the commission she was fearful after the men allegedly responsible for the murder were released on bail.

Her ordeal began on November 9, 2010 when gunmen pretending to be police officers stormed her home.

They assaulted her son in the house before they kidnapped him, allegedly over a girl. She called the police, who responded immediately and caught the suspects that same night.

The mother said that, according to a report from the investigating officer, one of suspects had confessed and implicated others.

Her son had been shot five times and his body dumped in the dunes near Monwabisi Beach.

The suspects were found with two cellphones, a DVD player and TV that had been stolen from her house. They also had blood-stained clothing, which police took as evidence.

The men were later charged with kidnapping and murder, the woman said. She and her family attended court cases at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court but there was not much progress because of countless postponements.

The investigating officer would update her on developments on the case, but then the case was transferred to another detective.

The detective had failed to report on the case and did not answer his phone. The matter was raised with the station commander but nothing was done to rectify the situation.

“The family is not taking this well. They are angry because they feel that the law does not care and if they could take revenge they would. But I have been calming them because I still believe that something could be done,” she said.

Makhaza resident Vuyiswa Mpekweni had a similar story. Her sister’s daughter and her three children were burnt to death in an alleged arson attack. She has been waiting for justice for six years.

Mpekweni said her niece’s boyfriend had handed himself over to the police. When he appeared in court, the docket could not be found and he was released. When it was eventually found the man had fled to Johannesburg and the police failed to locate him.

Mpekweni said she had tried to assist the investigation, including providing the investigating officer with a photograph of the boyfriend. But he did not circulate it.

“The investigating officer told me that I must go find out where exactly he was in Johannesburg. I left heartbroken because he was asking me to a policeman’s job. That is when I lost trust in the police because I was treated badly and the police did not care,” Mpekweni said.

She said she had approached the commission because she thought it could help her.

Commission chairwoman Justice Kate O’Regan told both women the commission could not promise them anything, but would request their case files from the police to ensure they were investigated.

“We are very sorry to hear your story. It is a terrible thing that happened to you and your family… We do hope that this kind of story doesn’t happen again,” Justice O’Regan said.

Earlier Debra Kaminer, an associate professor at UCT’s Department of Psychology and Child Guidance Clinic, spoke about the impact that exposure to violence had on children in Khayelitsha.

A survey conducted in 2008 found that 46 percent of young people had seen a stabbing, putting them at risk of post- traumatic stress disorder.

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

Cape Times

More than two weeks into the first term, about 900 pupils are still waiting to find places at Western Cape schools.

Cape Town -

More than two weeks into the first term, about 900 pupils are still waiting to find places at schools.

Most of these pupils were in the southern peninsula and Mitchells Plain. Western Cape Education Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said the number of pupils enrolled at schools for this year had been much higher than last year.

“Our provisional figures show that enrolment in Grades 1 to 12 has increased by about 13 200 in the Western Cape for 2014. Most of these learners enrolled last year, so we could plan ahead to accommodate them.

“For example, the department placed 52 mobile classrooms on 31 sites by the start of the year in ‘hot spot’ areas. The provisional figures show that 565 schools enrolled more learners for 2014 compared to 2013, while 351 schools enrolled fewer learners.”

Attwell said the Metro South Education District was making good progress in placing the pupils.

“They have brought the waiting down to 900 for the district as a whole and expect further progress by the end of the day. Metro South covers mainly the southern peninsula and Mitchells Plain.”

He said the Metro North district had the largest number of schools that enrolled more pupils (116), followed by Metro Central (89) and Cape Winelands (87).

The Metro Central district had the largest number of schools that enrolled fewer pupils for this year (55), followed by Cape Winelands (54) and Metro East (51).

“A total of 375 primary schools and 141 high schools enrolled more learners this year, while 80 primary schools and 122 high schools enrolled fewer learners,” Attwell said.

He said the department was working with parents to find places for these pupils.

“Our main challenge has been late registrations in certain areas. We have officials in every district who are working with schools full-time to place the children.

“We are also using a new online system to identify schools with vacancies – for example, those that have enrolled fewer learners this year.”

Attwell said the department was processing data captured online by schools for its snap survey, taken on Tuesday.

“Schools had to capture details on every learner on this system by this date. The department now has to verify the data before submitting it to the Department of Basic Education by February 18.”

The department had been criticised by the ANC in the Western Cape for the high numbers of pupils who had not been enrolled at schools.

ANC Western Cape education spokeswoman Millicent Tingwe said she was concerned that “parents have to fight to get their children placed in schools”.

“Overall the ANC suspect that a lot of manipulation still takes place to keep admission of learners exclusive and that the state of Western Cape education is not what it is presented to be.”

michelle.jones@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Shrien Dewani has lost his bid to block his extradition to South Africa until he is fit to stand trial, reports said.

Cape Town - Honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani has lost his bid to block his extradition to South Africa until he is fit to stand trial, reports have said.

Dewani is accused of ordering the killing of his new wife Anni, 28, who was shot as the couple travelled in a taxi on the outskirts of Cape Town in November 2010.

He is the only one of four suspects who has not been sentenced.

A British High Court ruled on Friday that Dewani must be extradited if South African authorities can give certain undertakings by February 14.

In July, a British court dismissed an initial appeal by Dewani, based on mental health grounds, against an extradition order. He then appealed again. - IOL

The Democratic Alliance and AgangSA will next week formalise the integration of the two parties.

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance and AgangSA will next week formalise the integration of the two parties following Mamphela Ramphele's decision to stand as the official opposition's presidential candidate.

Ramphele and DA leader Helen Zille said they would on Tuesday embark on a roadshow to muster support for the merger, starting with a march on employment creation in Johannesburg.

“On Tuesday, 4 February, we will embark on the 'Together for Change' roadshow to start with the 'March for Six Million Real Jobs' on that day in Johannesburg,” they said in a joint statement.

“From there, we will travel across the country to engage with South Africans in all communities, and showcase our shared vision of the future - a place where every person has the freedom and means to achieve their dreams.”

In the meanwhile, the two parties would work out the technical details of integrating the two parties.

“During this time, the technical committee will be meeting to finalise arrangements to integrate our respective parties. When their work is complete, we will be in a position to make a public announcement on the details of this historic partnership.”

A year after launching AgangSA, Ramphele announced on Tuesday that she would front the DA's 2014 election campaign in a bid to change the country's political landscape and consign race politics to “the dustbin”.

Zille conceded that the decision had not been canvassed with the parties' grassroots structures.

A press conference will be held on Monday to welcome Ramphele, a former World Bank director and prominent academic, to the DA. - Sapa

Anni Dewani’s family were in court when her husband’s bid to delay his extradition to SA to stand trial for her murder was denied.

London - British honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani lost a High Court bid on Friday to block his extradition to South Africa until he is fit to stand trial.

Lawyers for Dewani, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, argued that he should not be sent there until he is fit to plead over the murder of his Swedish wife Anni in a township outside Cape Town in November 2010.

But judges ruled it would not be “unjust and oppressive” to extradite him if the South African government agrees to return him to Britain if he never recovers sufficient health to go on trial.

The court heard that South Africa has indicated it was willing to give such a guarantee and has 14 days to do so.

A spokeswoman for the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed to AFP it was prepared to give the undertaking.

“We're required to undertake that if he becomes unfit to stand trial while he is here, the government must send him back to Britain,” said Bulelwa Makeke.

“That is obviously understandable and the state has agreed to make that undertaking.”

Dewani has been fighting extradition from Britain to face proceedings over his wife's death until he has recovered from mental health problems, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dewani, who has been committed to a mental hospital, is accused of ordering the killing of his 28-year-old wife, who was shot as the taxi the couple were travelling in was apparently carjacked.

Dewani denies any involvement in the killing.

Anni Dewani's family, who were present in the High Court, welcomed the ruling.

Amit Karia, a cousin, speaking on their behalf, told reporters afterwards: “We are happy with the judgment. We have waited for it for three years, three months.”

But he warned Dewani could still appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest court in Britain.

“We are always worried and don't take anything for granted,” he said.

He described the situation for Anni Dewani's parents as “immensely difficult - they do not have normal life any more.”

He added: “They just want the truth - that is all we have ever wanted.”

A South African man, Xolile Mngeni, was jailed for life for the murder last December. Two other local men jailed over the killing allege that Dewani ordered the hit.

AFP

The Western Cape police’s annual report says that within a year 309 people were murdered in gang-related incidents.

Cape Town -

One person is killed nearly every day in the Western Cape as a result of gang violence.

This average is based on the Western Cape police’s annual report, which says that within a year, 309 people were murdered in gang-related incidents.

In that same period, from April 1, 2012 to March 31 last year, gang activity accounted for 998 attempted murders – a third of all attempted murders in the province in that time.

The city has criticised police heavily, and is setting up its own task force to deal with gangsterism, despite this being beyond its mandate.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith did not believe what police were doing was effective.

“Every day there is another gang murder – another family destroyed, another innocent bystander shot, another child hurt, another police officer killed. So clearly, what the SAPS is currently doing is not working.”

Smith said the new task force, which could be operational within weeks, would consist of members from various other city units and services, as well as external prosecutors and investigators. The task force would help build cases so that police could take further action.

“While it is not within the City of Cape Town’s mandate to handle crime prevention and gang-related violence (this is exclusively a SAPS competency), the current conviction rate for gang violence is 12 percent or lower, and between just 2-5 percent in some areas.

“This is unacceptable and explains why gangsters carry on killing and running their destructive business with impunity year after year,” Smith said.

This year, while police have not yet released official statistics, the Cape Times has established that, based on statements from police, Emergency Medical Services and community police forums, at least 24 people have been killed in shootings. A number of those shootings were suspected to be gang-related.

The provincial police’s annual report said there were 12 main street gangs and three prison gangs which integrated with street gangs. “There are also a myriad of splinter gangs affiliated to the bigger gangs, which also fight for survival…

“The fact that ‘up and coming’ gangs have a point to prove makes the situation even more volatile and dangerous,” it said.

The report said rival gangs fought over their “interests”, which included the drug trade, prostitution and robbery.

“These ‘wars’ are waged for extended periods, ‘peaking’ when very high levels of violence are experienced. Fights practically always involve drive-by and indiscriminate shooting at rivals,” it said.

The report said gang leaders were “rarely physically” involved in committing crimes, making it difficult to apprehend them.

On Thursday, police spokesman Andre Traut said gangsterism was regarded as “a very high priority”.

“We are well aware of areas where gang violence is prevalent, and measures are in place to address these situations. Our operational tactics are, however, not made public for obvious reasons,” he said.

Asked about the conviction rate involving gang cases, regional justice department head Hishaam Mohamed told the Cape Times the department would release statistics at an “appropriate time and for appropriate reasons”.

“The City of Cape Town should not venture in unmandated terrain and play with the lives and security of innocent people, because if things go wrong it must not then blame the criminal justice system,” he said.

Mohamed said a “consultative government approach”, in which the city’s law enforcement authorities communicated with the department, was in place and needed to be used.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A British High Court ruling that murder suspect Shrien Dewani can be extradited to SA was welcomed by the justice department.

Johannesburg - A British High Court ruling on Friday that honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani can be extradited to South Africa was welcomed by the justice department.

“The Republic of South Africa (RSA) initiated the extradition application in January 2011 and has consistently expressed its desire to have Mr Dewani returned to stand trial,” spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said in a statement.

“That desire has not abated and the RSA will obviously do everything in its power to ensure compliance with the High Court's judgment.”

Dewani stands accused of ordering the killing of his wife Anni, 28, who was shot as the couple travelled in a taxi on the outskirts of Cape Town in November 2010.

He has been fighting extradition to South Africa to stand trial until he has recovered from mental health problems, said to include depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Earlier, the Press Association reported that the British court was asked to consider two legal issues. The first was whether a person, who was not at present fit to plead, could be legally regarded as “an accused”, if being extradited in circumstances where he might remain unfit to plead. On this point, the court dismissed Dewani's application, finding him to be an accused to be extradited for the purpose of prosecution.

The second legal issue was whether it was unjust or oppressive to extradite a person who was determined unfit to plead, whatever the prognosis. On this point the court found that Dewani's extradition would be acceptable provided South Africa agreed to return him to the UK if he was found unfit to stand trial.

Mhaga said South Africa had until February 14 to indicate its intention to provide this undertaking, and an authenticated copy of the undertaking needed to be received by the court by February 21.

“The High Court ruling sets out in clear terms the conditions upon which it is prepared to sanction Mr Dewani's return to the RSA to stand trial.

“The RSA, including the National Prosecuting Authority, will study the judgment and liaise with the necessary stakeholders to ensure that it complies with the directive of the court,” he said.

The British High Court held that the interests of justice required promptness and that there should be no further delay, on the proviso that Dewani was afforded proper protection.

Mhaga said Dewani still had the option to request the High Court's leave to appeal to the British Supreme Court on the two legal issues, and that he needed to do so within 14 days.

He could also appeal to the European Court for Human Rights.

Three South African men have already been sentenced for their roles in Anni Dewani's murder.

Xolile Mngeni was sentenced to life imprisonment, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and to five years for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, to run concurrently with his life term.

Zola Tongo and Mziwamadoda Qwabe are serving 18 years and 25

years respectively for their roles in the crime, under a plea and sentencing agreement.

Sapa

The Cape Town Labour Court has reserved judgment in an affirmative action case involving the correctional services department and trade union Solidarity.

Cape Town - The Cape Town Labour Court on Friday reserved judgment in an affirmative action case involving the correctional services department and trade union Solidarity.

“The judge suggested that the parties should try to reach a settlement before judgement is given on February 6,” Solidarity's executive officer Dirk Hermann said in a statement.

The department allegedly disregarded the Labour Court's ruling in October that it should not only take national demographics into consideration when implementing affirmative action policies.

The court ruled in October that the department had to take immediate steps to take both national and regional demographics into account when setting equity targets. This was applicable at all levels of the department's work force.

Hermann said the department argued that the ruling need not be implemented as it had lodged an appeal against it.

He said on Thursday that the union would seek interim relief in terms of which the department would be forced to adhere to the order until the case was heard by the Labour Appeal Court.

Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker ruled in favour of 10 Western Cape correctional service officials who had challenged the department's employment equity plan. Initially five officials challenged the department and they were followed by another five who had been overlooked for promotion because of their race.

Solidarity, which took up the matter on behalf of the 10, said in a statement at the time that coloured employees were disadvantaged by the use of national demographics.

The judge ruled that all 10 officials were black employees in terms of the Employment Equity Act. He found they had suffered unfair discrimination in the selection process used for promotion to various posts.

Hermann said at the time that in terms of the department's affirmative action plan, the national demography had to be reflected in every workplace, even at a provincial and regional level.

“As a result, in the Western Cape, coloured employees, in particular, almost have no chance anymore to be promoted or appointed,” Hermann said.

On Thursday, Hermann said the department had advertised jobs which its members, the applicants, had applied for.

“It appears that the department is determined to use the national demography, thereby evading its obligations in terms of the court order. Although Solidarity has requested the department not to advertise the posts for which the applicants in the case had applied pending the appeal, the department has, nevertheless, indicated that it was going to advertise the posts.”

Hermann said the union would make sure the department adhered to the court order.

Department spokesman Manelisi Wolela said: "It should be... noted that matters raised by the Solidarity are subject to an appeal process and therefore sub judice. Correctional services would prefer not to engage on any of the substantive matters currently before court."

Sapa