A 15-meter-long Southern Right whale was found entangled in rope in Table Bay.

Cape Town - A 15-meter-long Southern Right whale was found entangled in rope in Table Bay on Wednesday morning, the SA Whale Disentanglement Network (SAWDN) said.

The Transnet National Ports Authority discovered the whale caught in many thick ropes and alerted the network, spokesman Craig Lambinon said.

The rope covered the under-belly and was wrapped around the animal's tail.

“The whale appeared to be lethargic and gave us the impression, from its calm demeanour, that it was tired and may have been entangled for quite some time and we feel that the whale is in a poor condition,” Lambinon said.

The rope had cut into and become embedded in the whale's blubber.

“In total 27 cuts were made in attempts to free rope from the whale.”

The SAWDN was able to remove large sections of the rope. They were optimistic about the whale's prospects, but concerned about the pieces of rope that remained embedded in the blubber.

The SAWDN has as its members volunteers from organisations including the National Sea Rescue Institute, SA National Parks, the environmental affairs department, and the police. - Sapa

Theatre director Roy Sargeant has responded to a reviewer who found the treatment of “rape scenes” too light and “disturbing”.

THEATRE director Roy Sargeant has defended his production of tragi-comedy Cardenio, based on a Shakespeare text, after a reviewer found the treatment of “rape scenes” too light and “disturbing”.

The play is being staged at Maynardville Theatre.

Sargeant’s production is based on a re-imagining of Shakespeare’s text by Gregory Doran, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Tracey Saunders, who reviewed the play in Tuesday’s Cape Times, said in one scene a character pays off another character’s servant, goes into her room, rapes her and then in a soliloquy says she had not protested.

Saunders said many high school pupils were likely to see Cardenio.

In her review she described some of the performances as excellent, but said the “almost throw-away treatment” of rape scenes was disturbing, given the despicable levels of sexual violence against women in South Africa.

Saunders noted how Sergeant’s The Taming of the Shrew had also created debate two years ago.

In a review at the time, UCT professor Sandra Young wrote: “Roy Sargeant’s staging offered little to help us reflect on the deeply disturbing undercurrent of violence inflicted on those in positions of disempowerment – women and servants, in particular.”

Yesterday gender activist Melanie Judge, who also questioned that production, said she had not yet seen Cardenio but had heard from a number of women that its representation of violence was “hugely problematic”.

Yesterday in an e-mail response, Sargeant said Saunders’ accusations that he had displayed “a cavalier attitude to women’s rights” could not be sustained.

“Let me state unequivocally that I am keenly aware of how women are abused and abominate it. But I will never distort a play to fit some contemporary commitment which has no bearing on an artistic work conceived and set in a period over 400 years ago,” he said.

“While Fernando does question himself as to whether his love-making with Dorotea was rape, he soon moves on to other considerations. The point is he has not raped Dorotea. When Fernando and Dorotea make love they are married in the eyes of 17th-century law,” he said.

Sargeant said radically re-imagining Cardenio would have betrayed the play.

“We had a text, Gregory Doran’s text. Our duty is to interpret that text as faithfully as possible... Nowhere in Cardenio, either in the play or in the production, is rape affirmed,” he said. - Cape Times

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

More than 22 complaints of police brutality during the farmworkers' strike have been lodged at the De Doorns cop shop.

Western Cape - More than 22 complaints of police brutality during the farmworkers’ strike have been lodged at the De Doorns police station.

On Wednesday, the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) accompanied families and individuals to the police station to lodge more complaints.

Three people have died, many have been injured and scores arrested in the strikes which began in late November and have spread to several Boland towns. Property has also been damaged.

“I’ve got complaints from groups and there are also about 22 complaints from individuals of how police are treating people,” SAHRC commissioner Melanie Dugmore said at De Doorns police station on Wednesday afternoon.

She said the commission would visit Robertson on Thursday.

The SAHRC was called out to visit the Stofland informal settlement near De Doorns where during house visits Dugmore heard how people had been shot in their homes. On Monday, a shopkeeper was shot in the head and later died. The victims included a 10-year-old girl who was shot in the eye as she stood in her home’s doorway on Monday morning.

Community leaders in Stofland have compiled a list of people injured during police operations in the settlement, including several people shot in the back.

“We are very pleased the SAHRC has come to see what has happened here. There has been so much police brutality. They are acting like mad dogs in a community they are supposed to protect. We want all the charges to be fully investigated and action taken,” said community activist Bettie Fortuin.

Fortuin was one of several leaders who escorted the media and Dugmore through the settlement which had become a no-go area for journalists after at least two attacks on reporters last week.

After she had interviewed victims and their families, Dugmore accompanied families to the De Doorns police station where she helped them lodge formal complaints.

Stofland resident and brother of 25-year-old Letsekang Tlokoane said his brother had been found critically wounded about 500m from the spaza shop where he had worked.

“It was about 5am and police were going around in the location, going door to door. They kicked down doors and assaulted people. Rubber bullets were also fired,” said Atang Tlokoane. Tlokoane had been among a group of men who had fled into some unfinished houses.

Dugmore and her aides werelater shown the bloodstained floor of an unfinished house where police had allegedly cornered Letsekang after he and other men tried to get away from police who had followed them in Nyalas.

Mokhachane Setlolela, a security guard at the building site, explained how two officers had confronted Letsekang in the house and how his limp body had later been dropped in a trench.

“I did not see what was happening in the house, but when the police came out they sprayed something. They then took him and dropped him there,” he said pointing to a trench 50m away.

Tlokoane was later rushed to hospital by residents.

Alice Moya, whose son owned the spaza shop, said: “He was like a son to me. He lived with us. He was not a trouble maker.”

Rapelang Moteoli, a father of two, said he had been shot at point-blank range while he was lying in bed on Thursday.

“I heard shots being fired outside the house. Suddenly the door was kicked down and two policemen stood in front of me. Without saying or asking anything they shot me. I was wounded in the stomach,” he said.

Neighbours had rushed him to hospital where he had an operation. He was discharged on Monday.

Earlier the father of 10-year-old Rifiloe Mosala explained how police had chased and fired shots at a group of men on Monday about 6am.The little girl had been standing in the doorway when a rubber bullet hit her in the eye.

“We took her to the clinic but it was closed. At the police station the officer refused to open a case,” he said.

Police spokesman FC van Wyk said: “People who have been injured are advised to go to their nearest police station and lodge official charges.”

*A farmworker on the Twaalfde Fontein Estate in Villiersdorp was knocked over by a bakkie on Wednesday, allegedly by private security guards. Fellow workers allege Reginald Williams, the foreman, was targeted by the security men.

A spokesman for the farm, Marius van Merwe, denied all allegations.

* In De Doorns, Wolseley, Robertson and Rawsonville the situation was calm on Wednesday.

Cape Times

Police officers responding to an ATM bombing in Gugulethu came under fire from a man armed with an automatic weapon.

Cape Town - Police officers responding to an ATM bombing in Gugulethu came under fire from a man armed with an automatic weapon on Wednesday.

A cash machine at Mzoli’s Butchery in the township was bombed at around 2.25am.

Hearing the explosion, police patrolling the area went over to investigate. When they arrived, a man opened fire at them with an automatic rifle.

Police fired back and the attackers fled.

Police spokesman Captain FC Van Wyk said no one was injured. It wasn’t clear if the men had got away with any money.

No one had been arrested at the time of going to print.

Mzoli Ngcawuzele, owner of the popular Mzoli’s Butchery, said his property hadn’t been damaged by the blast. “Only the front of the ATM was blown in.

Ngcawuzele said it didn’t seem as though the bombers had got what they wanted. But he was angry, saying this sort of crime deprived the surrounding community of an important resource, a place where they could easily draw money.

He had CCTV cameras on his property and these could aid police investigations.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

“There was a lot of crying when they arrived, but once they got settled and started working, they were fine.”

Cape Town - Flustered parents, with past school records and birth certificates clenched in their hands, paced the hallways at Valpark Primary School in Valhalla Park in a last-minute attempt to get placement for their children on Wednesday.

This was as more than 970 000 pupils across the province started the new school year.

Casedy Roman, 6, was one of about 100 000 Grade 1 pupils who started their school career. While Roman, dressed in her new uniform, held on to her aunt Ester Julies’s hand as the bell rang for her first school day to start, her fellow pupils appeared excited.

“She was excited to come to school when we left home, but now she doesn’t want to stay. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Julies said.

Grade 1 teacher Glynes Bruiners welcomed the new pupils by inviting them to sit on the mat while she handed out name tags and lollipops.

“Parents often wait until the last minute to come and register their children, so we still doing a lot of running around and paperwork,” Bruiners said.

Several parents were seen rushing into the classroom requesting to register their children, but were referred to the administration office.

At Lavisrylaan Primary in Bishop Lavis, Grade 1 teacher Veronica Burger had her hands full with a roll call of about 40 pupils as she attempted to comfort six-year-old Zeeque Zeederberg who, an hour into the day, was still crying for his mother.

“There was a lot of crying when everyone arrived, but once they got settled and started working with the counting apparatus, they were fine,” she said.

Last year, 27 schools in the province received a notice from Education MEC Donald Grant that they would be closed this year.

Valpark Primary is one of the 17 schools that reopened their doors on Wednesday after the Western Cape High Court granted a reprieve last month.

They will remain open pending a review of Education MEC Donald Grant’s decision to shut them down, which is expected in March.

Meanwhile, ANC Western Cape chairman Marius Fransman visited one of the 17 schools, Beauvallon Secondary, in Valhalla Park. It was without electricity as a result of vandalism.

“Vandalism, security and infrastructure are major problems at the school. We are in the process of making a formal request to the department to provide the minimum requirements needed for a school in a poor community,” said Fransman. “Past pupils should come forward and assist in reviving the school when we come back next month,” he said to pupils on Wednesday.

Beauvallon’s matric pass rate improved from 24 percent in 2011 to 51 percent last year.

Acting principal Desmond Lawn said that a few pupils who were known to be disruptive and to not attend class regularly last year were turned away. Grant’s spokeswoman, Bronagh Casey, said while there were a few hiccups, everything went as planned.

This included schools in the Cape Winelands and Overberg district, except Sibabalwe Primary in De Doorns, where more than 50 percent of the pupils attended school.

barbara.maregele@inl.co.za

Cape Times

In Knysna, some pupils at a new high school had to be accommodated in marquees while mobile classrooms were being completed.

Cape Town - The 2013 school year got off to a good start, although late enrolments remained a problem at some Western Cape schools.

There was a tyre-burning protest by parents in Knysna over a lack of transport, and at a school in De Doorns - hit by farm strikes - only half the pupils turned up on Wednesday.

Bronagh Casey, spokeswoman for Education MEC Donald Grant, said the department was pleased schools were operating normally in the Cape Winelands despite recent farm strikes.

“All schools have high attendance, except for one, in De Doorns, which is at just over 50 percent capacity. This school is operating as per normal though. It is a small school of around 220 learners.”

In Knysna, some pupils at the new Concordia High School had to be accommodated in marquees while mobile classrooms were being completed.

Western Cape Education Department (WCED) director of communications Paddy Attwell said the classrooms would be ready within three weeks. He described the marquees as being sturdy, well-lit and waterproof.

Construction delays were caused by “additional requirements for consultation” and the weather.

“The contractors have assured the department that the remaining 14 mobile units and the administrative building will be completed in three weeks,” said Attwell.

The marquees would complement the 13 mobile classrooms already in place for the 1 115 pupils enrolled at the new school.

But SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) provincial secretary Jonavon Rustin said members had informed the union that conditions at the school were not conducive to learning.

“Why put children in a school that has not been completed? This is not right. Why would you put children in tents?” he asked.

He said some parents wanted to remove their children from the school and return them to the schools they attended last year.

Two kilometres away from the school, in Witlokasie, parents burnt tyres in protest over transport.

Attwell said: “There is a group of parents who want the department to provide transport for learners (to) the new Concordia High School. The policy of the department is to provide transport for learners who live more than 5km from the nearest school and where no public transport is available.”

In Wallacedene, a few parents were still looking for places at Enkululekweni Primary for their children.

Principal Nondlela Tomose said the school still needed furniture for some of the classrooms, but Casey said the the school had yet to submit a requisition form for additional furniture.

In Manenberg, the principal of Silverstream Secondary – the school with the lowest matric pass rate in the Western Cape in 2012 – started the school year in a positive mood. Dawood Tregonning said they were ready to improve on their 34 percent pass rate and had identified the areas that needed improvement.

Tregonning said factors that had contributed to the poor results included gang violence, which traumatised pupils, and a lack of support at home.

“Parents need to create the space and time for kids to learn at home because sometimes I feel education stops when they leave school,” he said.

Phoenix High School, also in Manenberg, was one of six schools in the province assigned law enforcement officers for security.

Three police cars and one metro police van could be seen parked inside the school grounds while officers patrolled the premises.

Principal Shafiek Abrahams said he was positive the initiative would help to keep pupils safe. People with guns had caused trouble at the school several times in the past.

“We are optimistic. Having worked in this area for 30 years, you can’t be a pessimist. We have 900 learners here and need to keep them safe,” Abrahams said.

ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za and neo.maditla@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

It has been almost three weeks since police recovered the deadbody of a girl which they suspect to be 12-year-old Jennifer Williams.

Cape Town - It has been almost three weeks since police recovered the body of a girl they suspect to be 12-year-old Jennifer Williams, who went missing on December 20 near her Parkwood home, but they are yet to confirm this by DNA analysis.

Forensic expert David Klatzow said this was an unacceptable amount of time for the Williams family to wait for clarity on Jennifer’s fate. “It takes 48 hours to get a DNA result, 72 hours maximum,” he said.

Klatzow said that while the body was probably already decomposing when it was discovered, it was still relatively fresh and therefore simple to extract the DNA: “You would think this was a priority case. What if it turns out it’s not her body? Now, a month down the line, they have severely diminished their chances of finding her.”

Klatzow said that South African forensic labs were incredibly slow and didn’t stand up to the high standards in places such as the UK. But Professor Lorna Martin, head of UCT’s division for forensic medicine and toxicology, said a one-month wait for a DNA result wasn’t unreasonable at all.

“There are a large amount of tests we have to conduct, and many cases we are working on,” she said.

She said the tests took on average three days, from admission to the mortuary to completion of the autopsy.

These results are communicated to the investigating officer and a provisional report is filed.

But Martin said the other tests could often take a bit longer, especially those that are provided to the forensic pathology service by external agencies.

Carolyn Hancock, of lobby group DNA Project, said forensics was a far more involved process than TV shows such as CSI made it out to be.

“There are multiple labs and people specialising in different fields,” she said. “There isn’t just one mastermind pathologist calling all the shots.”

But she said that in cases where a body was being identified, especially if reference DNA had been provided by the family, the lab process should take no longer than 24 hours. However, she added that the large amount of cases being processed by South Africa’s forensic labs often resulted in delays.

“Additionally, if a body has already started to decompose it will degrade the DNA evidence,” she said. “This means the tests might need to be done several times to get a result.”

Vanessa Lynch, also of the DNA Project, said people had to realise that every case was important to the family involved and police couldn’t just assign priority to cases that the media had picked up.

“There is such a high incidence rate in this country,” she said. “Every case is a priority to the family of the victim.”

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The ANC in the Western Cape is turning around its dire financial situation while business leaders are returning to fund the party.

Cape Town - The ANC in the Western Cape says it is turning around its dire financial situation while business leaders are returning to fund the party again.

In a candid interview with the Cape Times on Wednesday, ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile admitted their financial situation was “humiliating” in the past, but said the ANC was geared to take back control of the province in the 2014 provincial elections.

Despite Mjongile’s optimism, the ANC still owes R1.7 million to the CTICC for a provincial conference it held back in February 2011.

This while the ANC almost landed out on the street in November when the party failed to pay its rent for its provincial offices at Sahara House in Thibault Square.

“As you can remember our office furniture was attached, it was very humiliating,” said Mjongile. He said the party’s national office took over the payment of the rent and Luthuli House was also helping provincial treasurer Fezile Calana to settle their debts with the CTICC. Last year Calana told the Cape Times how the ANC was negotiating with the CTICC to pay the money in monthly instalments.

CTICC spokeswoman Zeenat Parker said there was no change in the situation.

“We have handed it over to our lawyers,” she said.

Mjongile said the ANC would secure more funding, regain support and proclaim a victory in 2014. “Business lost confidence in the ANC because of the way the ANC conducted itself in the past... but funders are returning,” said Mjongile.

Last year, Calana complained private funding had dried up in the province over the past few years and this compounded their funding woes. Mjongile said the ANC had huge bills when he and ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman took over in February 2011. “You take an organisation like this voetstoots... we were crawling, now we are taking toddler steps,” he said.

Mjongile said the ANC:

- Would reconnect with its support base, especially farmworkers and textile workers, women and young people.

- Councillors and the legislature would be more critical opposition to the DA.

- Would mend rifts between races and preach non-racialism.

- Would grow its party membership and strengthen its branches.

“In the past we built branches just around elections. That is why you can see an upsurge of members when we had the provincial conference,” he said.

ANC membership in the Western Cape fell from 43 000 in 2011 to 38 000 in December last year. The number of branches also declined, from 253 two years ago to 170 before the Mangaung conference at the end of last year.

“Our branches must deal (with) community issues like water, housing, electricity,” he said. Mjongile admitted the ANC had “missed opportunities” in the past to gather support, especially in cases of housing problems and the laying off of textile workers.

The party had created an “elections nerve centre” to plan for upcoming elections.

Secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, however, warned in his political report last year that the province’s weakness was that it expected head office to pump resources into this election programme.

“Yes, that was the case, but we now run it with our current staff and they hold regular meetings,” Mjongile said.

Asked who would lead the party to the 2014 elections, Mjongile said Fransman.

“Our members have elected him, he is young and he will lead the party,” said Mjongile of the 43-year-old politician.

cobus.coetzee@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A teen boy was apparently going to buy bread when he was gunned down in front of his house near Lotus High School.

Cape Town - A teenager was shot and killed in Ottery on Thursday morning, Western Cape police said.

“I can confirm the incident happened but further details will only be available later from officers on the scene,” Captain Frederick van Wyk said.

ANC councillor Majidie Abrahams, who was at the scene, said the boy was apparently going to buy bread when he was gunned down in front of his house near Lotus High School.

“His body is lying here on the pavement and the kids can't go to school because they're scared,” he said.

“It's gang-related with fights over turf to sell drugs. The community is divided between two different blocks of flats and the situation is volatile. The community is still in uproar.”

The councillor was trying to establish the age of the teenager but said he was not a pupil at the high school.

Abrahams said the gang fight had been ongoing for the last eight months, with the last casualty, also a teenager, buried on Wednesday.

He criticised the lack of police presence in the area.

“Today there are hordes of police officers around but when I was here yesterday, there was a low profile.” - Sapa

The destruction of a fruit packing warehouse will cost hundreds of farmworkers their jobs.

Cape Town - The destruction of a fruit packing warehouse will cost hundreds of farmworkers their jobs.

This has been confirmed by Jan le Roux, owner of Sandrivier farm outside Wellington, after the blaze on Tuesday night.

The shed was a hi-tech fruit processing plant, complete with sophisticated sorting machines and equipment, all of which was destroyed.

Le Roux said the shed had been guarded by officers and dogs, but several fires had been lit on the farm which might at some point have distracted the guards. The shed was then torched. It burnt to the ground.

Assessors had yet to finalise their report, so the precise extent of the damage was not known, Le Roux said.

He suspected that the shed would take at least six months to rebuild and hundreds of workers would be unemployed until then.

“It’s terribly sad, because this farm was started as a job-creation exercise, after I had long discussions with (then water affairs and forestry minister) Kader Asmal,” he said.

“The farm was bought in 1995 and the shed was built in 2003. Whoever caused this fire has caused damage to the people who benefited from this project. It’s a great pity that people will do this to other people.”

The looming harvest of plums would have to be processed elsewhere.

Le Roux refused to speculate on who might have been behind the arson attack.

The site was visited on Wednesday by Agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg, who said in a statement: “The damage to our economy and future job creation is huge.

“The Western Cape government will not tolerate his type of behaviour and condemns it in the strongest possible manner.

“We will work very closely with the police to see that the responsible individuals are brought to book. We will also see to it that the organisations they are affiliated with bear their equal responsibility in this regard.”

Cape Argus

The farmworkers' strike in the Western Cape has not been suspended, the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry said.

Western Cape - The farmworkers' strike in the Western Cape has not been suspended, the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry (Bawsi) said on Thursday.

“The strike will continue across the province until there is an agreement for better wages and worker protection,” said Nosey Pieterse, Bawsi president and general secretary of the Building and Allied Workers Union of SA (Bawusa).

“Workers who go back do so at a huge risk. They are going back to vindictive farmers, more dismissals, victimisation and intimidation; the same old life, the same old money.”

Pieterse, who said he represented thousands of striking workers, cited an example in Piket-Bo-Berg of such victimisation.

He said farmers in the area allegedly invited workers to return on Tuesday and when they did, fired 41 of them.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Wednesday announced the strike would be suspended for a week.

Provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the strike would resume next Wednesday unless Agri SA agreed to certain conditions.

“The only real thing that Agri SA has to agree to, is that they will not victimise workers for standing up and protesting against the R69 a day starvation wage.”

Agri SA also needed to “honour their previous commitments to local-level agreements”.

Farmworkers went on strike last year to demand their daily wage be increased from R69 to R150, and that a coherent land reform programme be implemented. The strike was suspended in December, but resumed on Wednesday last week in various towns in the province.

At least 180 people had been arrested in connection with the protests since Wednesday last week.

Agri SA president Johannes Moller said in a statement on Wednesday that no agricultural wage deal had yet been made in the country.

He said a single Clanwilliam farmer had made an agreement that was “welcomed by Cosatu and portrayed by them as a collective deal with Clanwilliam farmers”.

He said Cosatu viewed this isolated deal as one which could “serve as a trend-setter for wider application”.

The offer was apparently not supported or mandated as a collective agreement by other farm leaders and their organisations in the area.

Agri SA had repeatedly called for individual farmers to negotiate with their workers, which was apparently taking place.

Western Cape police spokesman Andre Traut said no arrests or reports of violence linked to the protest were recorded overnight or on Thursday morning. - Sapa

Police have arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with the murder and mutilation of a 16-year-old girl.

Cape Town - Police have arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with the murder and mutilation of a 16-year-old girl, whose body was found in Kraaifontein.

The body of Charmaine Mare, 16, was discovered near a shooting range in Kraaifontein by police on Monday afternoon. The body was burnt, and the arms and legs had been cut off.

Upon checking the missing persons list, investigators found that Charmaine had been reported missing on January 11.

Charmaine, who had recently travelled from Mpumalanga to Cape Town to visit relatives, was left in the care of the partner of a friend’s mother, while the latter two went on a week-long holiday. When the friend and her mother returned from their trip, Charmaine was missing.

A Kraaifontein man has been arrested in connection with the murder.

“When detectives questioned the family, the suspect was also present. He was very vague with his answers, while the rest of the family was very helpful with their answers,” said police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk.

“The behaviour of this man made the SAPS detectives detain him for further questioning. Detectives went to investigate the case by searching the family’s two vehicles, and the field around the scene where the body was found. The two arms… were found inside the garage of the house.”

Van Wyk said the house in Elterman Street, Windsor Park, was less than 100m from where a poster was put up to say Charmaine was missing.

The suspect was to appear in the Blue Down’s Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Sapa has reported that

workers found the skeletal remains of a child while digging near Lentegeur Hospital in Mitchells Plain yesterday morning, the Western Cape Health Department said.

“The bones were found in a blanket while workers did maintenance on a fence,” said department spokeswoman Faiza Steyn.

The police were called to the scene, but could not be reached for comment immediately.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A 37-year-old Cape Town mother of five had to undergo surgery in Tygerberg Hospital after she was attacked by a Boerboel.

Cape Town - A 37-year-old Delft mother of five had to undergo surgery in Tygerberg Hospital after she was attacked by a Boerboel on Monday afternoon.

Aadilah Abrahams's left arm was broken in two places during the attack and she has several defence wounds on her right hand.

When the Cape Argus visited her on Wednesday at the hospital she was in “a lot of pain” after undergoing a two-and-a-half-hour operation.

Her left arm and hand were heavily bandaged and fitted with a metal external splint, a surgical treatment used to stabilise bone and soft tissue.

She said she was taking morphine injections to keep the pain at bay.

“I'm trying very hard not to think about it. That dog wanted to bite my head off. I fought with the dog for about 20 minutes… his teeth were locked into my flesh,” she said.

Abrahams said that she was walking down Canberra Street in The Hague, Delft on her way to a friend's house on Monday afternoon.

“Out of nowhere” she saw the Boerboel charging towards her. “I suddenly saw this big dog running towards me. I knew I was in danger. I started to run but I tripped on the stairs in front of a house and fell to the ground. I lifted my arm to protect my head and it bit into my arm and pulled, as if it wanted to rip it off. I started fighting with it.”

She said a neighbour then tried to run over the dog with his car to scare it off but it wouldn't let go. “I got up and tried to run away, he grabbed me again. I fell down and he kept coming for my head. He eventually let go after neighbours pulled him off… there was so much blood I thought my arm was going to come off,” said Abrahams.

City spokeswoman Kylie Hatton said the dog had been impounded by law enforcement and was being held at the Atlantis dog pound. “We are investigating the incident together with SAPS,” she said. Abrahams said the dog was chained but had broken free.

He then escaped through an open gate. She said the dog's owner Patrick Esau had promised to help with her hospital bills.

“My brother loves dogs and has a few pit bulls. I learnt from him how to fight with a dangerous dog, otherwise that dog would have killed me,” she said.

nontando.mposo@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A man was shot dead in an early morning gun battle in Cape Town, and one other person was injured and taken to hospital.

Cape Town - A man was killed in a gang battle in Ottery on Thursday morning, and one other person was injured and taken to hospital.

The man was shot dead in a running gun battle early this morning, said Philip Bam, spokesman for the area’s community policing forum (CPF).

“At least one other person was injured and he is currently in Victoria Hospital,” he added.

Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said one person had been arrested, and a case of murder and attempted murder had been opened.

The shootings occurred at about 5am, on the border between two gang turfs. The areas are divided by a canal, dubbed the “battle river” by residents.

By mid-morning, police had cordoned off sections of the street in the area as they gathered evidence.

Residents in the two areas alleged that police were protecting gangsters.

Asked about the allegations of corruption against Grassy Park police, Van Wyk said: “We want people to place these allegations on the record so that they can be investigated. If there are corrupt officers among us, they must be rooted out.

The station commissioner at Grassy Park’s door is open... If the matter needs independent investigation, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate will take the matter further.”

Cape Argus

A large number of Western Cape farmworkers were back at work, on the first day after strike action was suspended.

Cape Town - A large number of Western Cape farmworkers were back at work on Thursday, on the first day after strike action was suspended, agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said.

“Our understanding is that most farmworkers are back at work, with isolated incidents of striking workers,” said his spokesman Wouter Kriel.

Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich, who announced a week-long suspension of the strike on Wednesday, mirrored this information.

“All indications received are that people have gone back. It's not 100 percent as not every worker has been informed of the suspension, but there is a move to return to work.”

He said that even workers in De Doorns, the epicentre of the strike, were contemplating returning, in the spirit of negotiation.

Farmworkers went on strike last year to demand that their daily wage be increased from R69 to R150, and that a coherent land reform programme be implemented. The strike was suspended in December, but resumed last Wednesday in various towns in the province.

According to Cosatu, the strike would be resumed next Wednesday if Agri SA stopped honouring commitments to “local-level” agreements and did not agree to stop the victimisation of workers.

Contrary to Cosatu's announcement, the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry (Bawsi) said the strike was still on.

“The strike will continue across the province until there is an agreement for better wages and worker protection,” said Nosey Pieterse, Bawsi president and general secretary of the Building and Allied Workers' Union of SA.

“Workers who go back do so at a huge risk. They are going back to vindictive farmers, more dismissals, victimisation and intimidation; the same old life, the same old money.”

Pieterse said he represented thousands of striking workers who did not belong to unions.

The agriculture department estimated the number of permanent and seasonal workers in the province at around 200 000.

Of these, only five percent were unionised, Ehrenreich said.

Despite this figure, he said Cosatu had more influence in the strike.

“Cosatu is a national organisation with incredible influence and power, with alarming strength. This is not a competition though. We want to work with smaller organisations. Bawsi is a small organisation with significant influence.”

Agri SA has repeatedly called for individual farmers to negotiate with their workers, which is apparently taking place.

Western Cape police spokesman Andre Traut said no arrests or reports of violence linked to the protest were recorded overnight or on Thursday morning. - Sapa

Thousands of striking farmworkers marched along the N1 highway in De Doorns, the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry said.

Cape Town - Thousands of striking farmworkers marched along the N1 highway in De Doorns on Thursday afternoon, the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry (Bawsi) said.

They were visiting farms along the way to pick up more supporters.

“I'm leading the march and there are thousands of us here being led by Nyalas 1/8armoured police vans 3/8. I am sure the whole country's police are here,” said Bawsi president Nosey Pieterse.

“We are peacefully demonstrating to everybody that this thing 1/8the strike 3/8 is not going to go away. It's an emphatic message that the strike is alive.”

Marchers were stopping at every farm to hand farmers a memorandum in which they demanded, among other things, an increase in their daily wage to R150.

Pieterse said the march and farm visits were not meant to provoke farmers.

Workers marched about 10km in scorching heat; the SA Weather Service predicted a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius. They planned to stop the march at the Hex River High School.

Western Cape police spokesman Lt-Col Andre Traut said police were keeping watch and no violence had yet been reported.

Farmworkers went on strike last year for a higher daily wage and the implementation of a coherent land reform programme.

The strike was suspended in December, but resumed last Wednesday in various towns in the province.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) announced a week-long suspension of the strike on Tuesday, on condition that Agri SA honour commitments to “local-level” agreements and agree to stop the victimisation of workers.

Cosatu's Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the suspension excluded De Doorns, because workers there were standing by their demand for R150, and were not open to negotiation.

Ehrenreich and agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said a large number of farmworkers were back at work in many rural towns on Thursday.

At least 180 people have been arrested in connection with the protests since last Wednesday, mostly for public violence.

The Freedom Front Plus and the Transvaal Agricultural Union (Tau-SA), both condemned a comment Ehrenreich apparently made during a briefing about the suspension of the strike on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Beeld newspaper reported him as saying: “The land war will be coming soon.”

FF Plus spokesman Pieter Groenewald said comments such as this bordered on hate speech and encouraged violence.

“Responsible government demands that president Jacob Zuma and his ministers of land reform and agriculture should intervene and repudiate Ehrenreich,” he said.

In a statement, Tau-SA said it was clear the country needed to prepare itself for “large-scale trouble countrywide”.

“The ANC and its allies need to give the citizens of South Africa a clear answer on what their ultimate goal regarding food production on available agricultural land in South Africa is,” said Tau-SA president Louis Meintjies.

“Tony Ehrenreich and his friends should walk the talk by not eating food produced locally by South African farmers, in preference to imported food.”

Ehrenreich was not immediately available to respond. - Sapa

Western Cape farmers need to offer something tangible to their workers to halt a strike over wages and land, a trade union said.

Cape Town - Western Cape farmers need to offer something tangible to their workers to halt a strike over wages and land, a trade union said on Thursday.

“Part of the 'hard-sell' to workers should be to sell a concrete tangible, be it commitment to genuinely negotiate, with processes/timelines and 'ball-park' figures, or an understanding on an improved offer on the table,” Food and Allied Workers' Union (Fawu) general secretary Katishi Masemola said.

He said the union noted the call by Cosatu in the Western Cape on Wednesday for a week-long suspension of the strike. Workers want a coherent land reform programme and a daily wage of R150.

“We believe workers must be consulted and canvassed with, as we cannot treat them like a tap to be switched on and off,” Masemola said.

He called on farmers to make meaningful individual commitments to higher wages with their workers.

The strike started last year and was suspended in December. It resumed last Wednesday in various towns in the province.

Since then, there had been at least 20 complaints of brutality by workers against the police, farmers, and private security companies. The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was probing reports of police brutality, racism and inhumane living and working conditions.

SAHRC officials were visiting the affected areas, including De Doorns, to gather information on the cases and help people lodge complaints.

On Monday, spaza shop worker Letsekang Tlokoane, 25, died when he was allegedly shot with rubber bullets in De Doorns.

The same day, a 10-year-old girl was apparently shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.

Masemola called for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) to investigate Tlokoane's death and place all witnesses in a protection programme.

“The life of an innocent person... cannot be regarded as cheap, especially given allegations that he was ‘kidnapped’ from a spaza shop he was working at, assaulted, shot point-blank range, and dumped in a ditch.”

Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini said he had received from the SAHRC numerous cases involving the police, mostly of assault and the use of rubber bullets at close range, which were being investigated.

Police were also investigating the torching of the Sandrivier Estate fruit packing warehouse outside Wellington in the early hours of Wednesday.

Estate owner Jan le Roux told Sapa the warehouse went up in flames around 2.30am.

“We packed plums there, with about 220 crates of plums a day or 500,000 cartons a season, which is about six months,” he said.

“We have already organised new pack houses where we will pack for the season. About 300 to 350 people worked there and they will keep their jobs.”

The estate was built in 1996 as part of a job-creation exercise, following discussions with then water affairs and forestry minister Kader Asmal.

Le Roux said police were trying to determine who was responsible for the fire. - Sapa

A man accused of murdering a 16-year-old girl whose burnt body was dumped and arms were cut off has appeared in court.

Cape Town - A man accused of murdering a 16-year-old girl appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court on Thursday, Western Cape police said.

The 48-year-old man's case was postponed to January 24 for further investigation and preparations for a bail application. He remained in custody, said Captain Frederick van Wyk.

Charmaine Mare was reported missing on January 11. Her family had gone on holiday and left her with the man, who was the boyfriend of one of her relatives, but she was not there when they got back.

On Monday, a passer-by found the burnt body of an unknown woman in Darwin Street, Kraaifontein. Her legs and arms had been cut off.

Van Wyk said after searching the missing persons' database, police linked the body to Mare. The family identified her necklace and tongue ring.

“When detectives questioned the family, the same boyfriend was also present. He was very vague with his answers, while the rest of the family was very helpful with their answers,” he said.

Police searched the family's cars and the veld near where Mare's body was found. Her arms were found inside the garage of a house. - Sapa

The sentencing of convicted paedophile Johannes Kleinhans was delayed because a medical expert was not available.

Cape Town - The sentencing of convicted paedophile Johannes Kleinhans was delayed in the Parow Regional Court on Thursday because a medical expert was not available.

Magistrate Amanda van Leeve postponed the matter to Wednesday.

Kleinhans, 74, a former director of companies and chief executive of one, will be sentenced on 95 counts.

The counts involve sexual assaults on three pubescent girls, possession of child pornography, and taking pornographic photographs of children.

Prior to his arrest, Kleinhans befriended the parents of the three girls, and showered the families with gifts and money over a protracted period to gain their trust. - Sapa

A sum of R1000 paid to a police captain accused of extortion was for the repayment of a loan, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court heard.

Cape Town - A sum of R1000 paid to a police captain accused of extortion was for the repayment of a loan, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court heard on Thursday.

Captain Riaan Jordaan, accused of accepting a corrupt payment, claimed the money was the repayment of numerous loans he made to student Constable Zolani Jam-jam (SUBS: CORR) in August 2011.

At the time, Jordaan was commander of the visible policing unit at Wolseley.

Jordaan said that Jam-jam pressed the charges to avoid repaying the money.

In October 2011, Jordaan was arrested and released on R2500 bail after pleading not guilty to a charge of extortion and another of corruption.

Jam-jam, who was a police reservist at the time, alleged that Jordaan gave him a letter of recommendation in 2009, which was required for his permanent appointment to the police force.

In February 2010, Jam-jam was accepted as a full-time police officer.

Prosecutor Xolile Jonas alleged that Jordaan regarded the letter of recommendation as a “favour” and that after Jam-jam's appointment, he repeatedly told Jam-jam: “You owe me.”

When Jam-jam asked him what he meant by this, Jordaan allegedly replied that he expected R4000 in exchange for the recommendation.

Jordaan denied this.

“I never made any threats, nor did I ever say that Jam-jam owes me for helping him get a permanent post in the police.”

He said he lent Jam-jam the money because Jam-jam did not earn much money as a farmworker and as a police reservist.

Jordaan said he had kept no record of the loans, but estimated that Jam-jam owed him R3000.

According to the charge sheet, an undercover operation was set up to trap Jordaan, during which he accepted R1000 from Jam-jam.

Under cross-examination, Jordaan said he had 22 years of service and regarded Jam-jam as a son.

He also claimed that reservists received no remuneration, but this was refuted by official documents which showed Jam-jam was paid for 64 hours work between September and December 2006.

Jordaan said: “I agree what I said about reservists not being paid was not true.”

The trial continues on Friday. - Sapa