Quantcast
Channel: Western Cape Extended
Viewing all 3770 articles
Browse latest View live

Heyns co-accused objects to joint trial

0
0

One of the men charged in connection with the murder of a Stellenbosch academic has objected to being tried with the two other men.

|||

Cape Town - ONE of the men charged in connection with the murder of Stellenbosch academic Dr Louis Heyns, who has been accused of destroying Heyns’s Peugeot 308 at his Malmesbury business, has objected to being tried together with the two men accused of kidnapping and killing Heyns.

Juan Liedeman is however attempting to resolve the issue with the State, and “hopefully” reach a compromise, his attorney William Booth said yesterday.

Booth was addressing Cape Judge President John Hlophe in the Western Cape High Court during Liedeman’s pre-trail conference.

Liedeman, who has been charged with robbery as an accessory after the fact, and defeating the ends of justice, appeared together with his co-accused, brothers Marthinus and Sarel van der Walt, who have been charged with murder, kidnapping and robbery.

Heyns, an academic and Tygerberg paediatrician, was found buried in a shallow grave in Strand on May 30 last year, about a week after he went missing.

His vehicle, a Peugeot 308, was found at Liedeman’s business premises in Malmesbury. It had been cut up and the parts destroyed.

It is alleged that Liedeman tried to dismantle Heyns’s stolen vehicle – allegedly sold to him by the brothers – to destroy and conceal evidence.

In court yesterday, State advocate Samantha Raphels said the State and defence were involved in discussions in an attempt to shorten the trial.

The case was postponed to March 7 for another pre-trial conference.

Weekend Argus


Serial killer who terrorised sex workers

0
0

While one policemen faked crucial evidence another devoted himself to solving the case that 'just fizzled out'.

|||

 

Cape Town - Theresa van der Vint said goodbye to the other sex workers who worked alongside her until late in the afternoon on a tree-lined stretch of Old Faure Road near Eerste River.

 

Most of them were older and were going home to take care of their children.

But 16-year-old Van der Vint, known as “Trish”, stayed on the beat a bit longer, and as dusk fell that Saturday, a client stopped and picked her up.

But o

nce she was in his car, there was no way out.

A few hours later Van der Vint’s body was found lying half-naked in the sand, covered with branches, near a footpath close to Macassar beach.

She had become the 19th victim of the Cape prostitute serial killer.

Murdered on May 15, 1996, Van der Vint was his last victim – and also his youngest.

Her legs had been spread apart, her skirt pulled up and her jacket twisted around her neck and face.

When her jacket was removed, a thin mark around her neck suggested she may have been strangled with wire.

 

The serial killer had used a similar modus operandi to murder 15 other prostitutes and three domestic workers, mostly in their 20s and 30s, between 1992 and 1996.

Only after the body of his 12th victim, Marilyn Persent, was found in September 1995 did police connect unsolved cases from many different police stations, and realise a serial killer was at work.

Street sex workers in Cape Town, who charged R50 for sex and R30 for oral sex at that time, were caught in a spiral of terror.

The bodies of the murdered women were dumped across the Cape Peninsula and Boland, next to highways near places such as Worcester, Durbanville, Atlantis, Gordons Bay, Somerset West, Camps Bay and Brackenfell.

And even though police offered R500 000 for information leading to a conviction, the case was never solved.

A month after Van der Vint’s murder, the only suspect identified in connection with the killings, George Weir, a grey-bearded hobo and divorced father of two from Parow, was arrested.

He lived in a caravan, drove around in a blue and white bakkie, wore a bandanna and a wristband with the stars and stripes of the US flag, and often socialised with prostitutes.

He was charged with the murder of Francis Seliston, one of three domestic workers whose deaths were attributed to the prostitute serial killer, because her fingerprints were allegedly found on the windows of his bakkie.

During his bail application, task team leader Sergeant Piet Viljoen testified that Weir had described his former wife as “a whore”, and said, “it’s clear to me he’s got a grudge against women”.

During an interview before Weir’s arrest, Viljoen said he believed the killer looked like an average client – a fairly intelligent white and married male, possibly a businessman, lawyer or policeman, aged between 20 and 35 and earning an above-average income.

 

But after a year and a half in detention without trial, Weir was released thanks to lack of evidence in December 1997.

Several years later, it was revealed that a police officer had committed large-scale fingerprint fraud and had “planted” Selesten’s fingerprints on Weir’s car.

This week, Weekend Argus interviewed various people who tried at the time to help the police solve the case.

Micki Pistorius, author of Catch Me a Killer, who profiled the prostitute murderer, said the man had staged the murder scenes to make it look as if the women had been raped – even though none had been.

 

This was why their legs had been spread apart. A bottle had been found between the legs of one of the victims.

 

“He wanted us to think they had been raped. He was possibly impotent and incapable of penetrating a woman. Or he lacked the self-confidence to have sex,” Pistorius said.

Ilse Pauw, a clinical psychologist who co-founded Sweat, the Sex Workers’ Education and Advocacy Task Force, in 1996, remembered the “general panic on the streets”, with sex workers “intensely mistrusting clients”, even if they had known them for years.

“Some women definitely stopped working or became pimps because they were so scared. But for most of them, it was the only job they had and they kept on working.”

Pauw recalled how much respect police task team leader Viljoen had commanded.

“His dedication was remarkable. He absolutely went out of his way to protect sex workers. They are typically the rejected people of society and people felt they deserved almost any abuse.

“But here was a policeman who stood up for them.”

Pauw’s colleague at the time, Sweat social worker Shane Petzer, remembered how he and Pauw took statements from sex workers and handed them over to the task team instead of them having to go to a police station.

The killings reminded Petzer of the UK’s Jack the Ripper, an unidentified serial killer who murdered female prostitutes working in the slums of London in 1888 by slitting their throats.

“All over the world, there are episodes of sex workers being murdered.

“The murderers seem to despise sex workers or sexually powerful women who don’t obey the patriarchal order. Therefore they feel the need to punish them,” Petzer said.

He recalled how the case “just fizzled out into the background” after Weir’s arrest.

“Let there be a serial killer in Constantia, it would be different story,” he said this week.

Numerous attempts to secure police comment this week failed.

The women thought to have been victims

* October 28, 1992: Christene Fieltyn, 22, Atlantis.

* March 12, 1993: Elizabeth Martincich, 29, Worcester.

* March 13, 1993: Sarah Meintjies, 29, Philadelphia.

* March 31, 1993: Francina Manuel, 30, Durbanville.

* July 8, 1993: Unknown victim, Kraaifontein.

* September 8, 1993: Nolundi Mbukwana, 23, Gordons Bay.

* March 1, 1994: Elmarie Engelbrecht, 22, Worcester.

* June 12, 1994: Susan Opperman, 34, Gordons Bay.

* July 8, 1994: Margaret Phillips, 23, Somerset West.

* August 10, 1994: Bridgette Lindt, 28, Milnerton.

* September 9, 1995: Shireen Jooste, 38, Philadelphia.

* September 15, 1995: Marilyn Persent, 30, Milnerton.

* September 20, 1995: Patricia Gibson, 35, Camps Bay.

* October 13, 1995: Shahieda Abrahams, 31, Durbanville.

* January 3, 1996: Gloria Samuels, 39, Durbanville.

* March 24, 1996: Francis Seliston, age unknown, Brackenfell.

* April 7, 1996: Katrina Fredericks, age unknown, Brackenfell.

* April 14, 1996: Elizabeth Thompson, age unknown, Brackenfell.

* May 15, 1996: Theresa van der Vint, 16, Macassar.

henriette.geldenhuys@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

Zille cancels Manenberg visit

0
0

DA leader Helen Zille reportedly cancelled her election campaign drive in Manenberg due to safety concerns.

|||

Cape Town - Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille cancelled her election campaign drive in Manenberg, Cape Town in the Western Cape due to safety concerns, the Sunday Times reported.

Zille was expected to visit the Cape Flats township on Saturday to encourage DA supporters in the area to register for the upcoming elections, the newspaper reported.

The visit was cancelled as gunshots were heard in the area on Saturday, as gang violence resumed.

She was in neighbouring Langa before she was scheduled to move onto Manenberg, instead Zille later visited registration points in Capricorn, near Muizenberg.

“We pulled out all the DA activists from staffing tables at the registration point there...because of the resumption of shooting in the area, and because we did not want to put our activists at risk,” Zille was quoted as saying.

Chief of the Independent Electoral Commission in the Western Cape Courtney Sampson said that voting stations in Manenberg were under heavy police guard.

The party was targeting between 55 percent and 60 percent of the votes in the Western Cape this year, DA provincial leader Ivan Meyer told the newspaper.

The DA took 51 percent of the provincial vote in the previous general election in 2009.

Sapa

Ex-Bafana star rescues woman from beating

0
0

Former Ajax Cape Town and Bafana Bafana defender Matthew Booth defended a woman allegedly being beaten up in Long Street.

|||

Cape Town - Former Ajax Cape Town and Bafana Bafana defender Matthew Booth played the hero in the early hours of Saturday by defending a woman being beaten up in Long Street - and ended up with an injured thigh and hand for his trouble.

Booth, who with his model and businesswoman wife Sonia are hailed as South Africa’s power couple, got embroiled in the scuffle with the woman’s attacker after he joined friends for drinks on the city’s nightclub strip.

He had come fresh from playing for Bidvest Wits in the first Absa Premiership game, hosted at Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.

Booth and his wife were married in a fairytale Top Billing wedding in 2006.

The couple has two sons, Nathan and Noah, and are routinely described as unassuming, warm and sincere – and a far cry from the scandal-ridden world of spoilt soccer stars and WAGS.

On Friday, Booth’s team suffered a defeat against Ajax, who managed a 1-0 win.

But despite sports reports of a missed “opportunity” to score during the soccer match, Booth did not miss out on the opportunity to jump to the defence of the woman in Long Street.

A family friend, who did not want to be named, said the towering defender had gone to use an ATM early on Saturday.

While walking back to his friends, he saw the man hitting the woman, and rushed to her aid.

Booth, he added, had been angered when the man began assaulting the woman.

“He gashed himself on his thigh and left hand,” the friend said.

During a brief tussle, the alleged attacker shoved Booth, who toppled backwards against a vacant store’s window ledge which was lined with spikes to prevent people sitting on it.

“He crashed against the shop’s window and he was bleeding profusely because he scraped against the window sill’s spikes.

“But he was lucky because his height saved him,” recalled Sean Dalton, who witnessed the incident.

Dalton had been taking a walk when he spotted Booth and the man involved in a tussle.

“He was visibly shaken and in a state of shock. The CCID guys (Central City Improvement District) stopped and took the man away,” Dalton said.

He added that there had been about five other people in close proximity to the scene.

Booth’s friend said he had returned to his hotel where the team doctor attended to his injuries.

Provincial police spokesman Lieutenant Andrè Traut said there was no record of an arrest for the assault.

But in an SMS response to the Weekend Argus on Saturday afternoon, Booth lauded the police for being “prompt and professional”.

“Nothing taken except my pride,” he quipped of the ordeal.

Online reports later on Saturday were that Booth had already returned to Johannesburg with his teammates.

janis.kinnear@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

‘Unroadworthy’ bus crashes in Cape

0
0

A bus that was suspended by traffic authorities in January crashed near Caledon when its brakes failed.

|||

Cape Town - A bus that was suspended by traffic authorities on January 28 crashed on the R43 between Caledon and Villiersdorp on Saturday, when its brakes failed.

 All 63 passengers were treated on the scene, with 11 being transported to Caledon hospital, where most were discharged.

Two passengers were admitted to the hospital, including a boy with a femur fracture and head injury, and a woman with a possible spine fracture.

Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa on Saturday said that at the time of the accident the bus, belonging to Hanekoms Coaches, had been suspended as it was not roadworthy.

A representative of Hanekoms Coaches confirmed that one of their buses was involved in on Saturday’s crash.

* In a separate accident on Saturday afternoon, two people died when the vehicle they were travelling in along Varkensvlei Road in Mitchells Plain crashed into a tree.

The occupants of the V6 Jetta, a male driver and his female passenger, were both declared dead at the scene by medics.

Weekend Argus

Threat to kill anyone who registers to vote

0
0

A group of protesters threatened to kill anyone attempting to register in Khayamandi, Stellenbosch.

|||

Cape Town - Chaotic scenes erupted around the country as the final weekend of voter registration began on Saturday, with a group of protesters threatening to kill anyone attempting to register in the informal settlement of Khayamandi in Stellenbosch.

Two voting stations in Bekkersdal in Gauteng were also petrol-bombed.

About 50 protesters descended on Khayamandi High School on Saturday morning in a bid to prevent people from registering to vote, and threatened to burn down the school.

The stand-off came after what protesters said was a snub by Premier Helen Zille when they had demanded to meet her on Friday.

The protesters threw rocks and stones at the police, who retaliated by firing rubber bullets, eventually managing to disperse the crowd.

The protesters apparently also tried to attack two other registration points in the area, but were thwarted by the police.

Two Nyalas patrolled the area around the school, while several other police vehicles were stationed at the school for the rest of the day.

Reverend Bongani Gobodo, an Independent Electoral Commission officer at the high school, said protesters had originally planned to hand over a memorandum of demands to Stellenbosch mayor Conrad Sidego on Friday.

“They were going to give the memorandum to the mayor, but when the rumours of a visit by Zille spread, they wanted to hand the memorandum over to her. When they couldn’t, they blamed the mayor for denying them access to the premier and attacked the registration point.”

Stellenbosch Municipality spokesman Vernon Bowers said Sidego condemned the protest action.

“The premier wasn’t even in Stellenbosch. We explained as best as we could,” he said.

Zak Mbhele, Zille’s spokesman, said the premier was scheduled to be in Paarl on Friday.

“Premier Zille was not billed to receive a memorandum in Stellenbosch. Her events diary had her scheduled for campaign visits in Paarl. The premier is always happy to engage communities about their concerns, and does so regularly in various areas.”

At the school, Gobodo said people continued to trickle in despite the threats from protesters.

“Only the brave would risk the wrath of the protesters, but there were still small numbers of people registering, although some of them left through the back door to avoid being identified.”

One man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he had wanted to register, but was afraid to do so.

 

ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman, campaigning for voter registration in Nyanga, said he had heard about the protesters, but urged them to use the elections to secure a change in leadership.

 

Meanwhile, the incidents in Bekkersdal on Saturday saw two voting stations closed after they were petrol-bombed and registration staff threatened, said Kate Bapela, the IEC chief communications officer.

She said these incidents were the most serious reported on Saturday, the second-last day of voter registration at 22 263 voting stations across the country.

Bapela said the IEC was working with stakeholders to monitor the situation in Bekkersdal, and would restore registration operations “at the earliest opportunity”.

 

kowthar.solomons@inl.co.za

henriette.geldenhuys@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

Hijackers shoot metro cops in Cape Town

0
0

Two metro police officers are in hospital after being shot in Manenberg when they tried to pull over a car travelling with no lights.

|||

Cape Town - Two metro police officers are in hospital after being shot in Manenberg early on Saturday morning, when they tried to pull over a car travelling with no lights.

The officers were conducting routine patrols on Govan Mbeki Drive when they spotted the white Volkswagen Polo which, unknown to them, had been hijacked in Athlone.

After signalling the driver to pull over, one of the occupants of the stolen vehicle opened fire on the officers, according to mayor committee member for safety and security JP Smith.

Both men were shot a number of times and, despite wearing bullet-proof vests, were seriously injured. One of the officers was shot in the arm and through the shoulder, and the other in the right leg.

Smith said they were stable but would remain in hospital for further treatment and observation.

Deputy metro police chief Yolande Faro said a female officer in the car at the time was saved by her quick-thinking colleagues, who told her to take cover in the vehicle. Faro said she was shaken but unhurt.

The city is offering a R100 000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and successful conviction of those responsible.

Smith also made reference to other incidents on Friday night, which he said proved to be a “dangerous night for uniformed officers” in the city.

Officers had been attacked in various locations, including two policemen by protesters in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village, another policeman shot at in Hanover Park, while a provincial traffic officer was shot at and robbed on the N7 near Dunoon.

Smith said the traffic officer was lured to a stationary vehicle on the N7, then attacked as he approached it. He was robbed and shot at, but managed to get away and radio for help.

Cape Town

Girl, 11, found murdered in shack

0
0

Sithiwe Flephu ran towards a screaming resident near her home, looked into the woman's shack and went numb.

|||

Cape Town -

Sithiwe Flephu ran towards a screaming resident near her Delft South home, looked into the hysterical woman’s shack and went numb – her 11-year-old niece lay dead on a bed.

“I was so shocked. So angry,” Flephu told the Cape Times on Sunday, staring ahead as she spoke about the murder.

Her niece, Siphokuhle Flephu, is thought also to have been raped.

The murder on Saturday brings to at least three the number of attacks on children in Delft South in less than a month.

On January 19, a nine-year-old girl was left to die near the R300 after being raped and set alight. A week before, a six-year-old girl was raped in a communal toilet in the area.

Police spokesman Andre Traut said officers were investigating the murder of Siphokuhle and it was possible a rape charge would be added to the case.

He said police responding to a report had found on the scene a 26-year-old man who had been assaulted and injured by residents. The officers followed up allegations made at the scene and found Siphokuhle’s body in a shack.

“The injured person alleged that he had no knowledge of the incident and that he gave the dwelling’s key to another unknown male,” Traut said.

The injured man was detained for questioning.

Siphokuhle’s family were sitting in their home, mourning, on Sunday. The girl’s stepmother, Zameka, was too traumatised to speak to the Cape Times.

Flephu said her daughters had been playing with Siphokuhle near her home on Saturday. Her home is about 500m from Siphokuhle’s.

Flephu said a resident’s boyfriend, who was staying in the woman’s shack, had approached Siphokuhle as she was playing. “He asked that she go buy him cigarettes.”

It was not clear what happened next, but Siphokuhle disappeared and the shack in which the woman’s boyfriend was staying was locked.

Flephu, appearing dazed, tried to recall what followed.

“The owner of the house came home and opened the door… She was screaming. I ran there and I saw (Siphokuhle) on the bed. I walked out crying.”

Residents had then seen a friend of the woman’s boyfriend and assaulted him.

 

On Sunday, when a Cape Times team visited the shack where Siphokuhle was found dead, police tape was attached to an open gate.

There was an overturned mattress in the shack, and an empty beer bottle and cigarette stubs outside.

Neighbours said they had told the woman who owned the shack she would have to demolish it and rebuild somewhere else. They said the woman had left to find someone to dismantle the shack.

Outside, about four children stood quietly. Neighbours said they had played with Siphokuhle.

Nearby, a precast concrete wall was spattered with blood that residents said was from when the man was assaulted.

Roughly 20m from the shack was further evidence of the assault. A bloodied white shirt lay in the middle of the road next to a box containing chunks of concrete spattered with blood. Broken sticks lay scattered around.

Barely 5m away, children played in the street. Community workers said they were trying to get parents to watch over their children more closely.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times


Five killed in Cape fire

0
0

Five family members including two young boys burned to death at Lotus River, Western Cape Fire and Rescue Services said.

|||

Cape Town - Five family members including two young boys burned to death at Lotus River in Cape Town on Monday, Western Cape Fire and Rescue Services said.

The family - a man, two women and two boys, - died just before 1am, said spokesman Theo Layne.

The fire started in the outside rooms of a house.

“At the moment the cause of the fire is unknown and the incident was handed over to the police.”

Layne urged the public to be cautious when dealing with heating and cooking devices. - Sapa

ANC, DA officials come to blows

0
0

A DA councillor alleged she was attacked by ANC officials outside a voting station, while the officials insist she assaulted them.

|||

Cape Town - Rivalry between political parties got physical on Saturday: a DA councillor alleged she was attacked by ANC officials outside a voting station, while the officials insist she assaulted them.

A group of ANC campaign officials allegedly “handled” DA councillor Vuyokazi Matanzima outside the Ark Educare Centre voting station in Enkanini, Khayelitsha. She has laid charges at the Harare police station.

But ANC spokesman Cobus Grobler said two ANC campaigners laid counter-charges of assault against Matanzima, who said she had fought back. “There were long queues, people were getting a bit hot under the collar, I assume,” Grobler said.

DA leader for the constituency Masizole Mnqasela said: “The ANC in this province have become so desperate that they have few tactics other than violence. Saturday’s incident has proved they will go so far as to assault a woman.”

However, Mnqasela later met ANC representatives Nomaindia Mfeketo and Pamela Tshwete to talk about the incident. DA and ANC campaign parties were urged by their respective leaders to remain peaceful and not to intimidate voters or opposition party members.

Matanzima sustained mild scratches and bruises from the confrontation, which she said began as she went inside the voting station to speak to another DA member in the queue.

“ANC activists came inside and confronted me. I felt humiliated. It was a disaster.”

An IEC official intervened, moving the altercation outside.

“When I went outside, towards the gate, all the ANC activists were standing there saying I can’t leave until I explain myself. When I started stepping out of the gate, that’s when they handled me. I was not scared. I fought back.”

Matanzima, one of the founding members of the DA’s Khayelitsha branch in 2001, said attitudes towards the DA had changed since then, and she was no longer ostracised for her political affiliation.

“At first it was taboo to see a person wearing a DA T-shirt. But as time went by and the DA took power, people started to see how the DA works. Now people respect me and consult me.”

chelsea.geach@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Priest stabbed in Mfuleni

0
0

Priest Bafana Ndlovu had to undergo reconstructive surgery to his hand after he was stabbed and assaulted in Mfuleni.

|||

Cape Town - A Catholic priest who arrived in Cape Town a week ago had to undergo reconstructive surgery to his hand after he was stabbed and assaulted in Mfuleni on Saturday night.

Priest Bafana Ndlovu, from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation, had stopped his car at a four-way stop when he was attacked.

Catholic Archbishop Stephen Brislin said two men allegedly tried to hijack the car at about 10pm.

“Bafana and two others arrived in Cape Town from KwaZulu-Natal a week ago. He moved into a house of a priest in Mfuleni on Saturday. Many people came to welcome him and also helped him unpack.”

Brislin said Ndlovu was on his way back to the house, after dropping a church member in the city centre, when his car window was shattered.

“He was at the four-way-stop when two men tried to break the window on the driver’s side. His car stalled at that moment and they managed to break the window.”

One of the perpetrators allegedly tried to stab the priest in the neck, Brislin said. “He tried to protect himself and held up his right hand, which is when he was stabbed.

“They pulled him out of the car and beat him up.”

The suspects fled with the priest’s cellphone, wallet and watch.

“They didn’t take his car.”

When he was able to, Ndlovu climbed back into the car and drove home.

“He had to undergo surgery at the Kuils River Hospital this afternoon (on Sunday). Tendons in his right hand had been damaged.”

Brislin added that “spiritually and psychology” the priest was doing well.

“It affects me deeply when this happens to one of our members.

“People living in Mfuleni experience this all the time. It shows how important the Khayelitsha commission of inquiry is.”

He added that police were often under-resourced.

“This reminds us to work together to combat crime.”

The police were asked to comment but had failed to do so by on Sunday night.

natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Hospital patients must sleep on chairs

0
0

Patients at Helderberg Hospital claim that a shortage of beds means they often thave to sleep on hard chairs instead of a bed.

|||

Cape Town -

Patients at Helderberg Hospital claim that a shortage of beds means they more often than not have to sleep on hard chairs instead of on beds.

Some in the hospital’s emergency unit told the Cape Argus that they had no choice but to sleep on the floor or hard benches as the hospital overflowed almost every day. They say going back home meant losing their spot on the waiting list for beds.

Late last week, the emergency unit and all the wards were full, with some patients sleeping on stretchers in the passage while others snoozed on mattresses and blankets along the wall.

Mark van der Heever, spokesman for the provincial Department of Health, acknowledged that the 162-bed hospital had, in recent weeks, experienced “tremendous pressure” as the number of patients increased.

The emergency unit saw about 114 patients a day – nearly 50 percent more than the usual numbers.

“This tremendous pressure has challenged the hospital and the staff are stretched to be able to deal with the numbers,” he said.

Among those who waited for hours at the hospital was Martie van Wyk, 70, of Strand. She waited for eight hours at the hospital, and left without seeing a doctor, Van Wyk said.

She had gone to the hospital for a lower back problem. “It was chaotic… there were not enough doctors.

“People were sitting there the whole day without being seen. Staff were not very friendly… We were just told to be patient because there were no doctors. I decided to leave the hospital when I saw staff covering CCTV cameras with a tape… I didn’t know what worse could happen so I left.”

But Van der Heever said the cameras were covered as they were being installed, and the tape had since been removed.

Another patient, who had been diagnosed with gall stones and admitted, was in agony following a night spent on a chair. “I wanted to go home just so that I could sleep in my own comfortable bed, but I was told that if I leave I will lose my spot and will have to queue afresh.”

Roxanne Carolous of Macassar, who had brought her wheelchair-bound grandfather, Thomas Brooks, 84, to the hospital, was anxious about his possible admission.

“My grandfather is really sick and dehydrated from diarrhoea, but I hope that they don’t admit him. Where will he sleep if he is admitted?”

Carolous criticised hospital management, saying the shortage of beds was getting worse every year.

 

Van der Heever said the hospital’s emergency unit was among the busiest in the province, confirming the urgent need to refurbish it. “A complete replacement of the hospital is in the planning schedule for new hospitals.”

Van der Heever said the province’s increasing population was a major contributing factor to the increasing patient load, as well as the burden of lifestyle diseases.

sipokazi.fokazi@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Accused in court for academic’s murder

0
0

The State and defence are in talks in a bid to "shorten" the trial of three men facing charges relating to the murder of Louis Heyns.

|||

Cape Town -

The State and defence are in discussions in an attempt to “shorten” the trial of three men who are facing charges relating to the murder of Stellenbosch academic Louis Heyns.

Brothers Marthinus and Sarel van der Walt appeared in the Western Cape High Court for the first time on Friday.

They appeared briefly along with their co-accused, Malmesbury businessman Juan Liedeman, for a pre-trial meeting.

While the two brothers face robbery and murder charges, Liedeman faces a charge of robbery as an accessory after the fact and another charge of defeating the ends of justice.

The body of Heyns, a Tygerberg paediatrician, was found in a shallow grave in Strand on May 30, about a week after he went missing.

In court, prosecutor Samantha Raphels said they were in discussions to consider ways of “shortening of the trial”. The State needed one more pre-trial meeting before it could proceed.

Attorney William Booth, representing Liedeman, objected to his client’s case being joined with the other two as he was not charged with murder.

It is alleged that Liedeman, the only one of the three out on bail, tried to dismantle Heyns’s stolen vehicle – sold to him by the brothers – to destroy and conceal evidence.

Booth said he would apply for Liedeman’s trial to be separated from that of the Van der Walt brothers.

Judge President John Hlophe postponed the case to March 7 for another pre-trial meeting.

In a separate case that came before Judge Hlophe on Friday, two men appeared over the killing of schoolboy Glenrico Martin, 18, who was shot in the head in May while entering the premises of Spes Bona High School in Athlone.

The court heard that the defence for Wilston Stoffels, 18, and Jevon Snyman, 19, were in discussions with the State with a view to plea bargains.

The trial was postponed to February 28.

leila.samodien@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Plans on track for State of the Nation adress

0
0

Parliament’s preparations are on track for Thursday when President Jacob Zuma delivers the State of the Nation address.

|||

Cape Town -

Parliament’s preparations are on track for Thursday when President Jacob Zuma delivers the State of the Nation address, which traditionally opens the national legislature and marks the start of the parliamentary calendar.

“All’s on track,” Parliament spokesman Luzuko Jacobs confirmed on Thursday.

He said discussions with various roleplayers both within and outside of the national legislature had been under way for several weeks already.

Details such as this year’s theme, widely expected to tie in with the country’s 20th anniversary of democracy, as well as who will participate in the civil guard of honour and other details will be released on Tuesday by the presiding officers Max Sisulu and Mninwa Mahlangu.

However, it is understood that the new upgraded National Assembly chamber will be completed and come into use in time for the joint sitting on Thursday.

The chamber, and the benches for MPs, who speak from there during questions and motions and, if required, cast their votes to pass legislation, have undergone renovations since after last year’s State of the Nation address.

Last year, the electronic system worked sporadically during voting on legislation, frequently requiring manual head counts of parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, workmen are busy sprucing up the parliamentary precinct: fences have been given a fresh coat of paint, pavements cleaned with high pressure water hoses and repairs on buildings have been finalised.

Work to put up banners with this year’s themes and the stages for the entertainment and other displays is expected to continue right up until Thursday, when the red carpet is rolled out across the parliamentary precinct.

Strict security measures for Thursday’s opening of Parliament and the State of the Nation address have already been circulated by the office Secretary to Parliament.

The rule for the day: no accreditation, no access – even parliamentary staff not accredited will be asked to leave the precinct by 1pm, while deliveries are banned from 2pm, according to a document seen by the Cape Argus.

A strict regimen has been put in place for the off-site vetting of cars, followed by an escort to Parliament, for those MPs, who want to park in their usual bays in the parliamentary parking bays. Guests are allocated parking elsewhere and will be transported by shuttle to Parliament.

Guests, who have not gone through the security checks by shortly before 6pm – the time by which they must be seated in the National Assembly’s gallery and overflow venues elsewhere in Parliament – will not be allowed into the precinct, according to the security measures.

As usual, several of the roads around Parliament will be closed off for most of the day.

Political Bureau

Cape man tells of hell ride in CCID van

0
0

A Camps Bay butler has told of his harrowing experience, allegedly at the hands of Central City Improvement District officers.

|||

Cape Town -

A Camps Bay butler has described how Central City Improvement District (CCID) officers picked him up in Long Street before driving him around for four hours and then demanding payment for his release.

Victor Katekwe, 28, originally from Zimbabwe, said that what was to be a fun night out in the city centre turned into a harrowing experience.

Katekwe said he had gone to a bar in Long Street with a friend. While waiting for a taxi to return to his place of work in Geneva Drive, Camps Bay, he was approached by three CCID officials who put him in their van.

“At first they didn’t tell me why I was taken. It was only when we got to a police vehicle, after four hours of riding around violently, that they told me I was standing in a place where a robbery was committed earlier,” said Katekwe.

He claimed that during the four-hour journey with five other foreigners in the back of the CCID vehicle, one of the officials asked for money for his release.

He said he was threatened that if he did not pay he would remain in the van.

He described how the other men were getting money ready to pay the officers but he decided not to.

“This was a very painful experience and I’m worried because I am scared to go to town as it might happen again. I might lose my job because I have to make sure that I’m at the residence (place of work) at 10pm and I arrived four to five hours later,” said Katekwe.

Tasso Evangelinos, chief operations officer of CCID, said a thorough investigation would take place.

“We will definitely be investigating the incident once we have received the police report and can make a balanced assessment. However, it is highly unlikely that something like this would happen,” said Evangelinos.

Manager for safety and security for the CCID Muneeb Hendricks said it was unlikely that Katekwe had spent up to four hours in the CCID vehicle and said it would have been closer to 30 to 40 minutes as part of the city’s Morpho Touch operation, which was used to identify suspects.

The operation is a joint initiative between the CCID and SAPS which uses mobile touchscreen fingerprint technology to keep an eye on high-risk areas like Long Street.

The technology allows authorities to immediately ascertain if suspects are involved in crime, especially in an area like Long Street.

“The CCID will pick the individual up and take them to a central point where police officials will conduct the fingerprint analysis. It only takes about 30-40 minutes and the individual (Katekwe) was standing in a robbery hot-spot area,” said Hendricks.

Katekwe was due to lay a charge on Sunday.

warren.fortune@inl.co.za

Cape Argus


Khayelitsha cops problematic - witness

0
0

The attitude of officers at Khayelitsha police stations contributes to problems not being solved, a retired police officer said.

|||

 

Cape Town - The attitude of officers at Khayelitsha police stations in Cape Town contributes to problems not being solved, a retired police officer said on Monday.

“It comes down to taking responsibility for what you are doing. A lot of the time it comes down to the attitude of members. Attitude plays a big role in this,” said former deputy provincial commissioner of operations Glenn Schooling.

“In all fairness, when you have to comply with instructions in a register you must do it.”

Schooling said the only other possible explanation why problems were not solved was a lack of time and training.

He was testifying at the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry in Cape Town on a strategy he introduced to address crime in the area in 2003, after it was identified as a presidential priority.

Commission chairwoman Kate O'Regan noted that she had seen a range of reports over the years identifying problems at the area's police stations.

“What doesn't seem to be apparent is any actual action other than the reporting of problems,” she said.

Schooling agreed and said the only indication something had not gone well was when the following year's inspection report was made available.

He explained that every police station was required to conduct first and second level inspections, every 24 hours and week respectively.

With the first level inspection, the relief or community service centre commander had to check the occurrence book, all registers, and cross-check monetary amounts and figures, for example.

Schooling had an opportunity to inspect the occurrence books of the Harare, Lingelethu West, and Khayelitsha police stations and found they were partly compliant.

“In some instances, yes, there are first level inspections done, not always at the quality I was trying to explain now, but they were done.”

However, instances where junior officers such as constables were quite often tasked with these inspections was problematic.

“He's the lowest-ranking officer there. I will admit he did a beautiful first inspection... But in my eyes it's wrong,” Schooling said.

“Why is the responsibility of rank-bearers being pushed down on this constable?”

The purpose of the weekly second level inspection was to check whether first level inspections had been done properly and to solve any problems still outstanding.

Schooling was asked what happened if these second level inspections were not done.

“Nothing. Even when the provincial inspectorate inspects it... It dies. Nothing happens,” he said.

The inspectorate and provincial commissioner should have more power over station commissioners.

“They should have teeth to bite with.”

The commission was set up by Western Cape premier Helen Zille to probe accusations by civil society formations that police inaction was leading to an increase in “mob justice” killings in the area.

The Social Justice Coalition alleged police inefficiency was leading to criminals running rampant in the sprawling township, and residents being forced to take the law into their own hands.

The commission's activities were delayed for some time when Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa tried to have the inquiry scrapped.

Mthethwa lost his legal bid to stop the commission in the Constitutional Court in October last year.

The first phase of hearings was expected to end on February 21. - Sapa

‘Anti-election’ protest shuts Vanguard Drive

0
0

Anti-election protesters from the Siqala informal settlement shut a large section of Vanguard Drive on Monday morning.

|||

Cape Town - Anti-election protesters from the Siqala informal settlement shut a large section of Vanguard Drive on Monday morning.

Protesters burned tyres, toyi-toyied and removed party election posters from lamp posts.

On the backs of these, slogans were painted – “no vote, no houses, no toilets, no electricity”.

They also dumped faeces from portaloos on the road.

Siqala resident Roy Nobatana, 37, has lived in a shack there for the past seven years.

He said the ANC and the DA had both failed to bring meaningful improvements to his life since the advent of democracy.

“I will not vote again, and we forbid other people from voting.”

He added that residents had attacked and petrol-bombed a voting registration station in Siqala on Sunday.

As Nobatana was speaking to the Cape Argus, fellow protesters set fire to a stack of tyres. Police responded by throwing two stun grenades and chasing after the protesters on foot.

By mid-morning police Nyalas and armoured vehicles with water hoses had arrived too.

Businesses in Vanguard Drive complained about a morning of lost trading.

Pacific Ocean wholesalers, a seafood and dried fruit outlet, has its busiest trading period of the week on Monday mornings, said director Achmat Carr.

“This is when hawkers come to us to get their stock for the week. There is no other access, so our business is effectively closed,” he said.

Sidney Marais, who’s lived in the area for 25 years, came to warn Carr that protesters had threatened to loot the wholesaler if it opened.

“This has been going on since 6pm on Sunday and they have not stopped since,” Marais said, adding that he was pelted with stones when he walked to Vanguard Drive to check the commotion early Monday morning.

The Siqala protest follows similar, yet isolated protests elsewhere in the province. In Kayamandi informal settlement near Stellenbosch, residents closed a voting station this weekend and issued death threats to people attempting to register as voters.

At the time of publication, Vanguard Drive was closed to traffic.

Police spokesman Andre Traut said the protest was being monitored by police. No arrests had been made.

Cape Argus

Shortage of staff, reservists in Khayelitsha

0
0

Staff shortages, absenteeism, and a lack of reservists are the realities Khayelitsha police stations face, a retired police officer said.

|||

Cape Town - Staff shortages, absenteeism, and a lack of reservists are the realities Khayelitsha, Cape Town, police stations face, a retired police officer said on Monday.

Former deputy provincial commissioner of operations Glenn Schooling was giving evidence on the report he and a fellow officer compiled for the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry.

According to the report, the staff complement at the Khayelitsha police station declined by 55 members, predominantly non-commissioned visible policing officers, between August 2010 and 2012. These figures were different to those stated in the police resource allocation guide.

Schooling said he was concerned about absenteeism figures across the stations.

“If you have 15 people on relief and two people are off sick and another person is off who is pregnant, it does bring a big change to what you have available.”

He said low morale was a big contributor to absenteeism figures. Absenteeism had a ripple effect on the number of vehicles that could be deployed, especially because two officers were required per car.

“One person is not enough to work on a vehicle. It is anti-sector policing policy, but it happens.”

The commission heard that the number of reservists in the area declined between 2010 and 2012. Schooling said reservists had been paid on several occasions for big events in the past, such as the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.

“This has made it very difficult to get reservists to come in and do voluntary work. Most of these people are actually unemployed,” he said.

These reservists had to use their own money for public transport to their station and this had put many people off, he said.

The commission was set up by Western Cape premier Helen Zille to probe accusations by civil society formations that police inaction was leading to an increase in mob justice killings in the area.

The Social Justice Coalition alleged police inefficiency was leading to criminals running rampant in the sprawling township, and residents being forced to take the law into their own hands.

The commission's activities were delayed for some time when Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa tried to have the inquiry scrapped.

Mthethwa lost his legal bid to stop the commission in the Constitutional Court in October last year. The first phase of the hearings was expected to end on February 21.

Sapa

DA’s visit to Bredasdorp disrupted

0
0

DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko's visit to Bredasdorp was disrupted, allegedly by ANC members.

|||

Cape Town - DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko's visit to Bredasdorp, in the Western Cape, was disrupted on Monday, allegedly by ANC members, her spokeswoman said.

“It was a very disappointing incident,” said Siviwe Gwarube. Mazibuko was not assaulted.

She claimed that ANC members shouted and disrupted Mazibuko when she visited the spot where Anene Booysen was found last year. Booysen, 17, was raped and disembowelled. She died in Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town on February 2. Her attacker, Johannes Kana, was sentenced to two life terms for the crime.

Mazibuko was in the area to outline the Democratic Alliance's plan to fight violent crime. ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu could not be reached for comment.

Sapa

Victims’ families treated badly: witness

0
0

The families of murder victims in Khayelitsha suffer further injustices when police treat them poorly, an inquiry into policing in the area heard.

|||

Cape Town - The families of murder victims in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, suffer further injustices when police treat them poorly, the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

“What we have to take seriously is how the police treat people,” non-governmental organisation Ndifuna Ukwazi's (Dare to Know) director Zackie Achmat said in his testimony.

“In all the cases I will raise and discuss, it is always us who have to go to the police. It is rarely... that the police come to us.”

Achmat gave examples of three women murdered in Khayelitsha, namely Lorna Mlofana in 2003, Nandipha Makeke in 2005, and Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006.

Mlofana was an HIV/Aids educator in the area and went to a tavern at the end of the year for a few drinks. She was raped and when her attackers found out she was HIV positive, was kicked to death.

Achmat said the police failed to use a sexual assault kit because her body looked like she had been run over by a truck when she arrived at a hospital.

“What comes afterwards was horror and a travesty.”

He said police failed to keep her family informed about what was happening in court, and it was only through the Treatment Action Campaign's efforts and relationship with the station commander that they were told what was going on.

Advocate Peter Hathorne asked his witness what he thought of provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer's affidavit, in which he stated that the task team had looked at the case and noted the conviction and sentencing of two men for the crimes.

Achmat replied that police had never informed Mlofana's family of a subsequent appeal by the perpetrators, which resulted in a lighter conviction.

“The first time my colleagues knew about this was when that person was out on the street,” he said.

He also took offence at Lamoer's stance, in his affidavit, on Makeke's case. In it he stated that the task team found her case had been properly investigated. Makeke was raped by a gang of boys and killed in a toilet.

“Never once did the police go visit the family and say this is the situation,” Achmat said.

Zoliswa Nkonyana lived openly as a black lesbian in Khayelitsha. She was killed because of her sexual orientation and nine men, mostly juveniles, were arrested.

“A policeman helped some perpetrators escape from the Khayelitsha court. What I'd like to know is what happened to that policeman,” Achmat said.

“That's something that people face in Khayelitsha on a daily basis.”

Achmat recommended that before any recommendations by the inquiry could be implemented, the police first had to apologise to the women's families for what had gone wrong.

The commission was set up by Western Cape premier Helen Zille to probe accusations by civil society formations that police inaction was leading to an increase in mob justice killings in the area.

The Social Justice Coalition alleged police inefficiency was leading to criminals running rampant in the sprawling township, and residents being forced to take the law into their own hands.

The commission's activities were delayed for some time when Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa tried to have the inquiry scrapped. Mthethwa lost his legal bid to stop the commission in the Constitutional Court in October last year.

The first phase of hearings was expected to end on February 21.

Sapa

Viewing all 3770 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images