One man died, a luxury guest lodge was evacuated, and property threatened by a blaze that began after a lightning strike in the Cederberg.

A massive fire sparked by a lightning strike may have claimed at least one life, as dozens of tourists had to be evacuated from a luxury Cape guest lodge in the Cederberg.

About 30 people had to be evacuated from Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve and Wellness Retreat last night, said Colin Deiner, chief director of disaster management and fire services for the Western Cape. The lodge was saved from the blaze, but at least five other structures in the area have been razed, and seven aircraft were battling the fire today.

 The fire began in the Heuningvlei area – between Clanwilliam and the mission station Wupperthal – after a lightning strike last Thursday.

The fire has burned in a massive circle south to the Pakhuis Pass, and last night threatened the five-star Bushmans Kloof.

Bushmans Kloof’s general manager, James Basson, said: “The fire threatened at one point yesterday, so we acted proactively and back-burned yesterday afternoon, early evening.”

A back-burn is a pre-emptive measure which involves deliberately burning veld around key installations, like the lodge, in this instance - in a controlled manner, to prevent the veld later being burned by runaway fires.

“It worked perfectly, and we were protected when the fire started burning towards the lodge, coming down the kloof from the west. The lodge suffered no damage,” Basson said.

“The fire-fighters arrived at around 11pm and stayed all night to monitor the situation. We are very relieved,” he said.

“We believe the fire is burning towards the Biedouw Valley in the direction of Wupperthal.”

Meanwhile, the search for a missing man ended when his body was found today. It was not clear, however, if he had succumbed to the fire or had died from other causes. He had not been identified by this morning.

Deiner said the next vulnerable property was the Biedouw youth camp, located in the little valley famous for its spring flowers, on the road east towards Wupperthal.

“We have seven aircraft in the air - four fixed-wing bombers, two spotters and a chopper.

“We are working a very large area. And there are no good water sources in the area for choppers to frequently reload water, which is why we are using the fixed-wing bombers,” said Deiner.

Farmer Barry Lubbe said the fire was about two kilometres from the Biedouw Valley at 11am today. “The fire is busy burning itself out,” he said, “but the whole Pakhuis Pass is burned. It’s pitch black and looks like a moon landscape.”

Included in the burned area is the famous grave site of the celebrated poet C Louis Leipoldt, whose ashes were scattered in a cave just off the rugged pass, after his death in 1947.

At press time the fire was burning about 10km from Clanwilliam, but was not an immediate threat to the town, authorities said.

l A family of five narrowly escaped injury when their home in Schotsche Kloof burned down in the early hours of this morning. In Samora Machel, two shacks and a house burnt down this morning.

No injuries were reported.

Cape Argus

A paramedic appeared in court on charges of obstructing a policeman in the execution of his duties after an argument at the scene of an accident.

Cape Town - A paramedic appeared in court today on charges of obstructing a policeman in the execution of his duties after an argument at the scene of an accident near Franschhoek.

Garth van Zyl, of Medicare EMR in Franschhoek, was at the accident scene yesterday where a truck carrying sheep had overturned. He allegedly became involved in an argument with a police officer over the securing of the scene.

A video said to have been filmed during the incident, which ended with Van Zyl being arrested, threatened and shoved into a police van, has been posted on Facebook and YouTube and has also been posted on an American-based website. It shows Van Zyl asking the officer why he was not co-operating with a request from a fire chief to help secure the accident scene.

The officer responds by swearing at the paramedic and then leaves the scene. Later, he returns with a colleague and when they are asked for their names and numbers, they refuse the request and again verbally attack the paramedic. Van Zyl is then grabbed and forced into the police van.

Attempts to obtain a statement from police failed by the time of publication today.

Cape Argus

Police officers who apparently manhandled a paramedic attending to a Franschhoek accident scene should be investigated, Western Cape community safety MEC Dan Plato said.

Cape Town - Police officers who apparently manhandled a paramedic attending to a Franschhoek accident scene should be investigated, Western Cape community safety MEC Dan Plato said on Thursday.

The incident on Tuesday, posted on video sharing site Youtube, shows two police officers escorting the medic past an accident scene to their police van, where they try to push him in after arresting him.

The medic is heard asking if he can enter the van himself because he has a broken leg that is healing. The officers can be heard saying they would use the necessary force against him.

Another official is then seen begging the officers to help secure the accident scene.

After watching the video online, Plato said he had written to provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer to request an urgent investigation.

The MEC said he was required to monitor police conduct and promote relations between police and the community as part of his oversight role.

"The conduct of the two police officers in the report raises serious questions about those officers' ability to manage an accident scene, and suggests that they do not have a good relationship with the local community after arresting what appears to be a man only willing to help, in a legitimate capacity, in a very serious situation."

Plato said he would be asking provincial health MEC Theuns Botha  whether any similar cases had occurred in the past.

The paramedic in the video was identified on social media sites as Garth van Zyl, who works for Medicare EMR.

He had been attending to a truck carrying sheep that had overturned on Franschhoek pass.

Western Cape police spokesman Lt-Col Andre Traut said the paramedic was arrested in Lambrechts Road at 1pm on Tuesday for "hindering a police officer to perform his duties".

"The circumstances surrounding the matter are still under investigation, and this office is at this point unfortunately not in a position to comment on the finer aspects of the matter," Traut  said.

He said Van Zyl was released on warning the same day and told to  appear in the Paarl Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said Van Zyl appeared in court and his case was postponed until February 12, in the Franschhoek Magistrate's Court.

"The accused is facing another, similar case in Franschhoek on that day," Ntabazalila said.

Further details on the second case were not available. - Sapa

One of the victims of convicted paedophile Johannes Adolf Kleinhans tried to commit suicide twice, according court documents.

Cape Town - One of the victims of convicted paedophile Johannes Adolf Kleinhans tried to commit suicide twice, documents presented in the Parow Regional Court in Cape Town on Thursday revealed.

Two statements, one by the girl and the other by her mother, described to the court how both felt about the incidents of sexual and indecent assault.

Kleinhans, 74, faced sentencing before Magistrate Amanda van Leeve on 95 counts, including the possession of child pornography.

He comes from a family of business people and prior to his arrest, was a director of several companies and chief executive of one.

Prosecutor Herculine Swart handed several documents and the statements to the court on Thursday for sentencing purposes.

In one of the statements, the girl described her feelings of shock and embarrassment after the incident.

“I became very self-conscious and introverted, and I had a burden of secrets that I was unable to share with girls whom I regarded as my best friends,” she said.

“This affected my social life and social skills.”

Because of the time that had passed since the incidents, the girl had been able to process it and was now “almost over it”.

She wanted to forgive Kleinhans, and to forget about what happened.

The girl's mother said in her statement that she blamed herself for her daughter's ordeal.

She had spent several hours with her daughter to try and get her to believe in herself again.

“It went well for a time, but then she tried to commit suicide by hanging herself in her room.”

The mother said her daughter was admitted to hospital as a result of the suicide attempt. The girl spent 14 days locked in a room in the hospital before the mother was allowed to take her home again.

She said her daughter suffered mood swings as a result of her ordeal and she later tried to commit suicide a second time by taking an overdose of tablets.

The mother said the girl now suffered major depression, which had affected her performance at school.

“My feelings as a mother are that I am very disappointed in the accused,” she wrote.

“I have done the best I can, and I will stand by my child and bring her back to the lady that she was.”

Sentencing continues on January 29. - Sapa

Renowned ornithologist Prof Phil Hockey has died of cancer. He was 56.

Cape town - Renowned ornithologist Prof Phil Hockey died on Thursday of cancer, the University of CapeTown (UCT) said.

“Professor Hockey's impact and leadership in ornithology has been exemplary, and is appreciated by a wide range of the ornithological sector,” Dr Rob Little, the manager of the Centre of Excellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at UCT, said in a statement.

“He will be remembered for his vast contribution to avian literature, both scientific and popular. He touched the hearts and lives of many people, from deeply insightful discussions about birds to warm interactions on life itself.”

Hockey was the director of the institute, which focused on the study of birds (ornithology).

UCT vice-chancellor Dr Max Price said in an earlier tribute to Hockey that people looked up to him.

“To the thousands of students who have passed through his classes, Professor Hockey was guru, kind father-figure, field supervisor and teacher. He was a much-loved member of UCT,” he said.

The university extended its condolences to Hockey's wife, Samantha.

Hockey led research expeditions to Chile, the Canary Island, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Kenya, Madagascar, the Arabian Gulf and Namibia.

He was a co-author of the regional field guide, Sasol Birds of Southern Africa.

Hockey was born in England in 1956 and obtained his BSc honours degree in Ecological Science at Edinburgh University in 1977.

He moved to South Africa and joined the institute in 1979.

In 2008, Hockey was awarded the Stevenson-Hamilton Medal of the Zoological Society of Southern Africa for contributions to the public awareness of science. - Sapa

Rescuers have freed a nine metre humpback whale that was entangled in seven fishing ropes north of Cape Town.

Cape Town - South African rescuers on Thursday freed a nine metre (30-foot) humpback whale that was entangled in seven fishing ropes north of Cape Town.

The juvenile whale was found south-east of Dassen Island, near Yzerfontein, with its mouth snared by one heavy rope.

“We had to first cut away the line through the mouth... as this would have affected the whale's ability to feed in the future,” said Mike Meyer of the Department of Environmental Affairs.

During the nearly five-hour rescue operation, the team attached a large flotation buoy to the whale to prevent it from diving below surface as the rescue boat approached.

“The large floatation buoy kept the whale buoyant enough, and high enough in the water for us to successfully cut away that particular rope that (was) entangled through the mouth,” said Meyer.

The rest of the ropes - in a bundle on top of the flukes and around the tail stem - were also removed.

The whale was not seriously injured and appeared to be “sprightly and healthy”, Meyer said in a statement released by the SA Whale Disentanglement Network. - Sapa-AFP

He’s a husband, dad, factory foreman, loves rugby and braais and wears a nappy under his jeans.

North West - He’s a husband, dad, factory foreman, loves rugby and braais and wears a nappy under his jeans.

Jan-Hendrick Terblanche, aka Poopoo-nappy, sounds like a typical Boer.

But this 40-year-old is an infantilist – a grown-up who chooses to escape to a baby world where he feels emotionally safe.

“When I don’t [wear my nappy] I get aggressive. To calm down, I put on a nappy and suck a dummy until I fall asleep,” he told the Daily Voice in an exclusive interview.

Locally, adult baby syndrome is still under wraps, which is why Jan-Hendrick started his own website.

Jan-Hendrick was only five years old when he first put on a “nappy”, wrapping a small blanket around himself.

As a teen, he stole towelling nappies and waterproofs before finding out that pharmacies sold adult nappies.

His teens were hell. Coming from a conservative, Afrikaner background, he was consumed by guilt and considered suicide.

Then in 1995 he read an article on adult babies and realised he was not alone.

“A psychologist I consulted in 2003 told me my mother didn’t love me enough, but I don’t believe that,” said the North West man.

“I don’t blame my parents. We all have insecurities and it affects you in different ways. Some turn to alcohol and drugs.

“But infantilism doesn’t hurt anybody. It has nothing to do with sex or paedophilia. Adult babies don’t want to be with children – we want to be children.

“I don’t have a problem with my masculinity. I simply need the security of snuggling up to my wife at night and suckling on her breasts while she maternally strokes my head or pats my nappy.”

He told his wife about his condition two weeks into the relationship – and they’ve been happily married for more than a decade.

“Sometimes my wife needs a extra little bit of attention, then I leave the nappies and she’ll fall asleep in my arms. Of course, with the odds of me wetting the bed she’ll wake me up later and tell me to go put on a nappy.

“I think nothing upsets my wife more than waking up in her husband’s pee-pee!”

Jan-Hendrick says wearing a nappy by day has its challenges – like when he went bungee jumping and his nappy showed.

Since launching his website adultbabies.co.za – he has met dozens of infantilists.

“There are about 100 adult babies in South Africa, 10 who I know personally.”

His advice to closet adult babies?

“Die lewe is te kort om ’n onderbroek te dra. (Life is too short to wear underpants.)”

Lifting the lid on infantilism

A documentary recently lifted the lid on the adult-baby phenomenon.

The UK’s Channel 4 broadcast a documentary series, The 15-Stone Babies, showing the bizarre lives of those who practise it in the US and UK.

Many said they yearn to be absolved of any of the responsibilities of adulthood and escape into the role-play of babyhood.

Infantilism covers a wide spectrum – from pure adult babies who need to be treated as real babies 24/7, to diaper lovers – people who wear nappies because it sexually arouses them. Sissy babies are adults who role-play as infants of the opposite sex.

Experts say the urge to be treated as a baby usually begins between the ages of five and 15. The majority are heterosexual males, with just one in five women. Women mostly take on the role of the caregiver or “mommy”.

Pure Adult Babies are not paedophiles and are often acutely protective of real children, says sexologist Gloria Brame.

Due to the clandestine nature of the lifestyle, there is no way to ascertain the number of adult babies – although some infantilists put it between 300 000 and 500 000 in the USA and UK.

Daily Voice

A massive blaze lasting 10 days has killed a man, destroyed homes and left the Cederberg landscape a scorched ruin.

Cederberg - A massive fire in the area between Clanwilliam and Wupperthal is beginning to die out. But the flames, which have been tearing through the arid countryside for almost 10 days, have killed a man, destroyed homes and farming equipment, and left almost 500 square kilometres of land in ruin.

According to reports, Christo Fourie, the retired FNB bank manager in Clanwilliam, had been helping fight the fire. He went missing on Wednesday and his body was found on Thursday in the charred veld near his vehicle.

Police spokesman Andre Traut said Fourie had been caught in the fire, but the exact circumstances of his death were still being investigated.

About 30 people staying in the luxury Bushmanskloof resort were evacuated on Wednesday night, but the lodge was saved.

The inferno began last Wednesday after a lightning strike in high-lying Heuningvlei.

Since then the fire has burned in a massive circle south to the Pakhuis Pass.

On Wednesday evening, a strong wind swept through the area causing flames to spread at incredible speeds.

Di Mohr, who was staying in Klein Pakhuis Pass, a trust-owned getaway of houses and cottages near near Clanwilliam, said she saw the flames advancing on the property on Tuesday night, but by then it was too late to flee.

By Wednesday afternoon the fire was on her doorstep.

Her sons, Nick and Craig, seven-year-old twins, got onto the roof of their thatched home and began spraying it with water.

Mohr said firefighters and farmworkers banded together to save the property.

But the main house on site was quickly swallowed by flames on Wednesday night.

“Firefighters still ran in to try and save whatever valuables they could before the roof came down,” she said.

Mohr said the night was filled with the loud bangs of gas canisters exploding inside, but her converted barn was saved.

“I just have to say that it’s the farmworkers and the firefighters who are the real heroes here,” she said. “They all put their lives on the line and worked through the night to help us.”

Three of the cottages in the resort along the hills were also destroyed by the flames.

Robert Beruatzeder, a Capetonian who owned one of the cottages, said it was completely unsalvageable.

When Beruatzeder heard about the fire he had rushed up to the resort to try and save his property, but when he arrived he found it in smouldering ruins.

Justin Hyland said when he arrived on Wednesday night to try and rescue his cottage, the landscape was just a field of flames. But his cottage, which was surrounded by fire, had miraculously survived the blaze.

Bennet O’Connel, who runs a rooibos tea and cattle farm in Pakhuis Pass, said he had been up for two days fighting the blaze.

On Wednesday evening the fire spread at alarming speeds and he found his farm surrounded by a wall of four-metre-high flames.

“I knew there wasn’t really much I could do, so I helped where I could,” he said.

After the flames finally subsided, O’Connel was left with a yard full of scorched farming equipment. On Thursday, he said he was too tired to even assess the damage, but he knew it was going to cost him a fortune.

O’Connel said that on Tuesday last week a lightning strike near his farm had caused some dry plants to burst into flames, but with the help of nearby farmers and farmworkers the fire was contained.

However, it had evidently flared up again.

Koos Jantjies a local farmworker, said he had spent the whole night fighting the fire.

Colin Deiner, chief director of disaster management and fire services for the Western Cape, said a total of five properties were destroyed in the 10-day long blaze.

“It was a difficult fire to contain because of its size,” he said.

But he added that the problem was compounded by the fact that fire services had been stretched by the recent farmworkers’ strikes in De Doorns.

Disaster services would continue to monitor the area for any signs of the fire spreading again.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus, with additional reporting by the Cape Times

Sakeenah and Bilaal Dramat returned to school after "extensive discussions" between their principal and officials.

Cape Town - Siblings Sakeenah and Bilaal Dramat, who had been kicked out of school for wearing traditional Islamic headgear, will attend their first full day of classes for the new school year on Friday.

The Western Cape Education Department stepped in to assist the Kraaifontein family after the pair had been out of Eben Donges High for six days.

Sakeenah, 16, and Bilaal, 13, returned to class on Thursday after “extensive discussions” between the school’s principal and department officials, said department spokesman Paddy Attwell. They had been asked by teachers to remove their headscarf and fez on the first day of the school year on Wednesday last week.

Sakeenah, in Grade 11, had refused to remove her scarf, while Bilaal, in Grade 9, removed his fez as he had not wanted to cause trouble.

 Attwell said the department had indicated in writing that the pupils should return to school and be able to wear their headgear.

“A district official joined parents at the school for the discussion and to facilitate the learners’ return to class. An imam from the family’s mosque in Kraaifontein provided valuable advice on requirements for Muslim attire and how they can be accommodated in school dress codes.”

The siblings’ mother, Nabila Dramat, said the meeting at the school had gone very well, with the issue being rectified.

Dramat, who had asked the SA Human Rights Commission to investigate the incident, said she was grateful for the “miracle” which had allowed her children to return to school.

Attwell said that all schools should follow the Department of Basic Education’s national guidelines on school uniforms.

According to these, a school’s dress code should take religious and cultural diversity into account. “If wearing a particular attire… is part of the religious practice of pupils or an obligation, schools should not, in terms of the constitution, prohibit the wearing of such items.”

michelle.jones@inl.co.za

Cape Times

The two former heads of Health & Racquet have been released after serving only a fraction of their jail terms.

Cape Town - The two former heads of the Health & Racquet franchise, who were at the centre of one of South Africa’s biggest white-collar crime court cases, have been released from prison after serving only a fraction of their sentences.

While behind bars Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell set up a fully sponsored, state-of-the-art gym in the Malmesbury Medium A Correctional Centre, which could be a blueprint for gyms in prisons around the country.

Gardener and Mitchell were found guilty in the Western Cape High Court in 2007 of fraud involving R12 million. Gardener was sentenced to 12 years with four years suspended, and Mitchell to 12 years with five years suspended.

They were the joint chief executives of LeisureNet, which operated the Health & Racquet gym franchise.

The group ran into financial difficulties and was liquidated in 2000. At then-President Nelson Mandela’s request the franchise was taken over by the Virgin Group the same year.

In a 2002 judgment, the Western Cape High Court described the failure of LeisureNet as “the largest corporate collapse in South African history”.

In March 2011 Gardener and Mitchell were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment after appealing against their original sentences. Gardener and Mitchell were arrested in 2002 but started their seven-year jail terms only in April 2011.

On Thursday Sabelo Mzanywa, area commissioner of the Correctional Services’ West Coast management area, confirmed to the Cape Times that they had been released in December. This means they spent roughly 19 months behind bars.

Mzanywa said the two had applied for an early release and were now serving an alternative sentence.

In April, President Jacob Zuma announced remissions of sentences for some categories of prisoners.

Gardener and Mitchell, sentenced for non-violent crimes, had benefited from this when applying for an early release.

Mzanywa said part of their alternative sentence included community service. They had to return to the prison gym - opened a month before their release - every Wednesday to assist inmates.

Mzanywa said equipment for the gym had been sponsored by the companies Fitness World and Zone Fitness.

Of Mitchell and Gardener’s time in prison he said: “It takes a great man to say: ‘I’m here… now let’s do this’.”

Earlier this week their attorney, Jeremy Tyfield, told the Cape Times said he would take instructions from his clients to see if they would authorise him to respond to questions.

On Wednesday he said: “I hold no instructions to furnish any information to you.”

In April 2007 Mitchell and Gardener were convicted of fraud involving R12m, which arose from a stake in German gymnasiums that LeisureNet had bought in 1999.

Gardener and Mitchell’s interest in these gymnasiums had not been disclosed to the board.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

While in jail, the former heads of the Health & Racquet franchise set up a fully sponsored, state-of-the-art prison gym.

Cape Town - The music is pumping, and with pure concentration etched on their faces, the rows of men pedal, lift weights and punch away in between walls painted vivid orange, purple and green. A sports channel flashes from a flat-screen television.

This is the fitness centre in the Malmesbury Medium A Correctional Centre set up by Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell, the former heads of the Health & Racquet franchise.

One or two Correctional Services officers monitor the room and prisoners in orange uniforms walk about.

On Thursday the Cape Times visited the gym, which is for inmates and prison officials. It was opened in November under a project called “Opportunity through Fitness”.

Nathan Cedras, 29, sentenced to 15 years for armed robbery, said he had been trained by Gardener and Mitchell, whom he looked up to.

“I used to be on drugs. I used to be a criminal. I’ve gone from a zero to a hero. Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell changed their prison sentence, but they’ve changed our lives.”

Since the gym was opened, Cedras had quit smoking and was dedicating himself to fitness training.

“Every day we put 150 inmates through one-hour sessions... I used to be an armed robber. Now I’m an armed trainer,” he said, flexing his arm muscles.

Inmate Robert Joseph said, “The equipment is good quality… Rodney Mitchell taught me about fitness. This gives us hope.” .

Godfried Morris, the Correctional Services department’s West Coast management area’s spokesman, said Gardener and Mitchell “shared a combined 60 years’ experience in running one of the largest fitness companies in the world”.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Convicted sex offender Johannes Kleinhans’s wife is willing to have him back home if he is sentenced to house arrest.

Cape Town - Convicted sex offender Johannes Kleinhans’s wife is willing to have him back home if he is sentenced to house arrest for sexually assaulting three teenage girls, the Parow Regional Court heard.

Magistrate Amanda van Leeve on Wednesday questioned Kleinhans’s family support as no-one had been to court to publicly show support for him.

Kleinhans’s lawyer Johann Grobbelaar led evidence during pre-sentence proceedings to show that Kleinhans, 74, convicted of 95 counts including sexual assault of minors, was a suitable candidate for correctional supervision.

A Correctional Services document stating that Kleinhans had received at least 30 visits from relatives during 13 months in Pollsmoor Prison and another, signed by his wife, Hermie, were handed to the court.

Hermie Kleinhans, 73, confirmed that her husband of 53 years could return to their Parow North home.

But prosecutor Herculine Swart handed in a report from Correctional Services head Johan le Grange listing the problems with house arrest.

Le Grange said it was not “practically possible” for an offender to be monitored for 24 hours and that correctional officers visited people randomly two or three times a week.

Counts Kleinhans was convicted of included indecent assault, sexual assault, sexual grooming, compelled self-sexual assault, using children to benefit from child pornography and the illegal possession of child pornography.

The girls, aged between 13 and 15 during 2009 and 2010 when the offences were committed, were paid or received gifts in exchange.

The 89 pornographic images of the girls showed their naked bodies, exposed genitals and other body parts.

Three victim impact statements were handed to the court in aggravation of sentence.

In it, the girls said they struggled to come to terms with what had happened to them.

One girl wrote: “I feel rage and pity for him (Kleinhans)”. Another tried to commit suicide twice.

Closing arguments are expected on Tuesday.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Western Cape Health MEC Theuns Botha and his department head have declared war, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says.

Cape Town - Western Cape Health MEC Theuns Botha and his department head have declared war, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says.

On Thursday he lashed out at the pair over their utterances over control and funding of three Western Cape academic hospitals.

A letter Botha wrote to Tygerberg and Groote Schuur staff about control of the institutions was mischievous, misleading and an attack on him, Motsoaledi said.

In his January 21 letter, Botha tells staff the provincial government employed them, the hospitals are provincial assets and any decision to alter their employment status needed to follow proper labour procedures.

“I would reassure you that the Western Cape Government will ensure that your rights in this regard are indeed protected,” Botha wrote.

Botha and his head of department, Craig Househam, have taken issue with Motsoaledi’s plan to relieve the province of control of the three hospitals while Househam had also lamented a possible R173 million cut in the medium-term grant for the hospitals.

Househam also said the national Health Department director-general opposed a grant decrease and that he had not as yet received written confirmation of the cut.

“I think it is serious mischief. I don’t know why they are going to war this week,” an agitated Motsoaledi said.

Househam had acted on an internal communication between junior officials in the national department, who were preparing a budget to be presented to the Treasury for Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, he said. Gordhan would present the national Budget later.

“It will be irresponsible to look at a document junior officials are still working on and are continually tweaking. They can’t come to me all the time,” he said.

About Botha’s letter, Motsoaledi said: “He is stoking fires. It is inciting war to indicate to people in the Western Cape that they are going to be losing their jobs. It is pure mischief.”

He said policy change had nothing to do with jobs and salaries. “Nobody will wake in the morning and receive a letter to say they no longer hold this or that position. South Africa is one country, but there is a certain thinking in the Western Cape. It looks like their world starts and ends in the Western Cape, and if there is any policy change they think we are targeting them. They want to strengthen this siege mentality. It is sad and I’m concerned about it.”

Placing Tygerberg, Groote Schuur and Red Cross under national control was something various experts and academics had urged and he had tabled a proposal in the cabinet where he was advised to change policy, Motsoaledi said - adding that the proposed change was to also align the country’s medicine faculties and teaching hospitals. Academic hospitals were national assets and belonged to the whole country, said Motsoaledi.

Botha said on Thursday: “I’m not at war with him. I had inquiries from hospital staff and I responded by writing that letter. I think it is inappropriate of him to describe it like that.”

He stood by his assertion that the hospitals were provincial assets. Botha has said he will resist a national takeover of the hospitals. About Motsoaledi’s view that the hospitals were national assets, Botha said: “They are assets of national importance that belong to us. Why take them over if they are national assets?”

aziz.hartley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Two Bo-Kaap families have lost their homes in fires that broke out on successive days.

Cape Town - Two Bo-Kaap families have lost their homes in fires that broke out on successive days.

All that is left of the Burns’ home, where the family had lived for 18 years, is rubble.

Aqeel Burns, 25, recalls waking up to smoke and flames at about 6.30am on Thursday.

“I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I had to get everyone out of the house, especially the kids.”

Attempts by the family and neighbours to put out the fire proved fruitless, as by then it had consumed a large part of the house.

The family does not know what caused the fire, as everyone in the house was asleep when it started.

On Wednesday afternoon, members of the Samuels household escaped with minor injuries after a fire tore through their home on Van der Meulen Street.

Tasneem Samuels said they were sitting in the lounge about 2pm when her five-year-old nephew ran into the house, shouting that it was burning.

Her blind sister Rushaan Ockards, who was asleep in a bunk bed in the burning bedroom, was pulled out of the room. She was taken to Somerset Hospital with burns to her arm and back.

“We aren’t sure what started the fire, but my nephew said he was playing with matches a while before the fire started,” said Samuels.

Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Theo Layne said the causes of the fires had yet to be determined.

Cape Argus

The Education Department will be able to accommodate 138 kids from Khayelitsha who do not have school placement, but parents are not sold.

Cape Town - Western Cape Education MEC Donald Grant says his department will be able to accommodate 138 children from Zwelitsha in Khayelitsha who are yet to find a school placement, but some parents are not sold on the offer.

Grant said the department was informed last week of about 400 children in the area who had not been placed in schools, but later determined that there were only 138.

Last week, when officials visited the area they were locked inside a school building by residents demanding a new mobile school be built.

A meeting between officials, principals in Khayelitsha and the Khayelitsha development forum was held on Wednesday; Grant said it was determined there were 686 places available in primary schools and 120 in secondary schools.

“There are two schools each with three additional classrooms that can also be utilised if needed. With this information we are confident that we will be able to accommodate the 138 learners at a school.”

He said the onus was now on parents to enrol their children. A registration hub has been arranged.

“Should a parent continue to refuse to enrol their child, they will be in clear violation of the law.”

He said a new school would be built in the area in Zwelitsha over the 2013/14 and 2015/16 period.

ANC councillor Andile Lili, who said his own child had not found a place, said parents were planning to take the matter to court.

He said they wanted a mobile school.

He claimed there were 500 children, not 138, without a school.

“We can’t allow the children to be placed in overcrowded schools. An African child here in Cape Town is treated as a refugee.”

Nosbulelo Ngesi, mother of Grade 2 pupil Nangamso Ngesi, said: “I cannot afford the transport to send my child to the schools that are far from my home. The only income I have is a grant.”

She was concerned about the distance kids would have to travel to schools.

Luleka Ngqeshemba has three children.

She said she could not afford to pay for transport to schools outside her area as she was unemployed.

She said did not want to send her children to other schools because of the gang violence in those areas.

ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A group of homeless people have set up shacks on vacant land next to Trafalgar High School in Cape Town.

Cape Town -

While the provincial Department of Human Settlements is deciding what to do with the land next to Trafalgar High School in Zonnebloem, a group of homeless people have set up shacks on the site.

Bruce Oom, spokesman for Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, said on Thursday that part of the property was being used by the provincial Education Department for the school while the remainder of the land fell under human settlements.

“We are still looking for the best options for the use of that land,” he said.

Meanwhile, homeless people have set up shelters there.

Marius Smith, 32, is one of them. Originally from Graaff-Reinett, Smith said he came to Cape Town where he found a job as a taxi conductor.

But then he decided to leave as he was earning too little to support himself and his living conditions were “terrible”.

“I worked in the taxi business for eight years and used to earn between R100 and R150 a day. But the boss’s son used to hit us and one day when it happened again to a friend of mine I decided to leave.”

Smith worked on the Vredehoek to Cape Town CBD route and would often see the homeless people he now lives with in Zonnebloem.

“I knew them, sometimes I saw them in town. So when I came here, they already knew me.”

There are several groups of homeless people in the Zonnebloem area and Smith said his group consisted of about eight adults.

When the Cape Argus visited about six people were putting paper into black plastic bags which they would sell to recycling businesses.

Fikile Mzilane, 48, said he had been living on the streets for nearly 30 years. He stopped going to school at 15 when he became involved in the 1976 school protests while living in Gugulethu.

“After that I started stealing and ended up in jail for 14 years. But my mom died a year after I was released. My older brother got to keep the house. And when I couldn’t get a job, I started living on the streets.”

Mzilane said besides the recycling, he did odd jobs and on Sundays he sold newspapers at a streetlight in the CBD.

Larochelle Naidoo, a field worker for Oasis – an NGO that works with homeless people – said she had been working with this group for the past six months.

Unemployment was the main reason they ended up on the streets.

Naidoo she tried to help them find jobs and to apply for IDs so that they could make money for themselves as they did not want to stay in the formal shelters.

Trafalgar High School principal Nadeem Hendricks said he did not have a problem with the homeless people next to his school as long as they did not bother the pupils.

Brett Herron, Mayco member for transport, roads and stormwater, and Ward 57 councillor (which includes Zonnebloem), said he had had complaints about homeless people setting up shelters on the site.

neo.maditla@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The Western Cape government has called for a probe into an incident in which two cops allegedly manhandled a paramedic at an accident scene.

Cape Town - The Western Cape government has called on the provincial police commissioner to “urgently” investigate an incident in which two policemen allegedly swore at and manhandled a paramedic at an accident scene in Franschhoek on Wednesday.

Paramedic Garth van Zyl of Medicare EMR in Franschhoek attended an accident in which a truck carrying sheep had overturned. He allegedly got involved in an argument with a policeman over the securing of the accident scene.

A video said to have been filmed during the incident, which ended with Van Zyl being arrested, threatened and placed in a police van, has been posted on Facebook and YouTube.

Van Zyl appeared in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court in connection with a charge of hindering a police officer in the execution of his duties yesterday.

But according to the Medicare EMR Facebook page, he should have appeared at a Franschhoek court, not in Paarl, and the case was postponed.

The apparent conduct of the policemen, exposed in the video, “raises serious questions” about their ability to manage an accident scene, said Dan Plato, Community Safety MEC.

“Following media reports and a video posted online this morning of two South African Police Service officers allegedly manhandling a medic at an accident scene earlier this week, I have written to Western Cape Provincial Commissioner, General Lamoer, requesting an urgent investigation into the matter,” Plato said.

“As part of my oversight role, I am required to monitor police conduct and among other duties enshrined in the constitution, promote good relations between the police and the community. The conduct of the two officers in the report raises serious questions about those officers’ ability to manage an accident scene, and suggests that they do not have a good relationship with the local community after arresting what appears to be a man only willing to help, in a legitimate capacity, in a very serious situation.

Plato said he had also asked his department to look into this incident as a matter of urgency.

“

I will also be speaking to the Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha, to find out if this is an isolated incident and, if not, how best to go about addressing the matter.”

Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut on Thursday confirmed the arrest of the paramedic on a charge of hindering a police officer in the performance of his duties at 1pm on Wednesday.

“The suspect was released on the same day with a warning to make a court appearance today in Paarl.

“The circumstances surrounding the matter are still under investigation, and this office is at this point unfortunately not in a position to comment on the finer aspects of the matter until the investigation has been completed.”

Cape Argus

The roll-out of the MYCiTi service to Walmer Estate, Salt River and Woodstock has been delayed for two months.

Cape Town - The roll-out of the MyCiTi service to Walmer Estate, Salt River and Woodstock has been delayed for two months following last-minute objections by members of the taxi industry and Golden Arrow.

The latest MyCiTi service was supposed to launch on December 1 with the city hitting snags with the operating licences for the buses for these routes.

Initially the city said administrative problems with operating licences delayed the roll-out of the new service.

The city first applied to the Provincial Regulating Entity (PRE) for the licences in August. The first hearing was set for December and then postponed to last week after objections were raised by the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) on behalf of some taxi associations and Golden Arrow Bus Services.

The city said it was disappointed by the delays saying it was holding back the implementation of the public transport service.

Santaco Western Cape chairman Vernon Billet was reluctant to discuss the taxi body’s concerns saying: “We don’t want to engage in the media about our objections because we have submitted them to the provincial authorities. But the fact is that the city wants the new buses to come on to routes where our members operate and our members were not consulted. It will impact negatively on our members’ business.”

Golden Arrow spokesman John Dammert said the bus service was not opposed to the Walmer Estate, Salt River and Woodstock routes but objected to what they call the premature application of operating licences for other routes where no official contracts have been issued.

Apart from the Walmer Estate, Salt River and Woodstock routes, Dammert said the city had also applied for licences on 22 routes where no contracts were in place.

Dammert said the city should first finalise the applications for Walmer Estate, Salt River and Woodstock before lodging other applications. He said Golden Arrow buses and other operators’ service would be disrupted by MyCiTi buses along some parts of the Salt River and Woodstock routes.

Mayco member for transport Brett Herron said the applications were for three buses for Salt River, Walmer Estate and Woodstock and buses for nine routes that the city plans to launch in the inner city.

“Other routes in the application include the nine inner city routes stretching as far as Hout Bay and the Table View feeder routes,” Herron said.

He said while it was the right of industry role players to lodge objections, he was disappointed by the delays.

Herron said the city’s goal was to expand the public transport network that would create opportunities for all industry stakeholders.

“We will continue to engage with the industry in our effort to alleviate their concerns and fears,” Herron said.

The next hearing at the Provincial Regulating Entity is scheduled for February 4.

Herron said the city could not say when the licences would be granted as this was dependent on the outcome of the hearings.

zara.nicholson@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Commercial lobster fishermen have been fishing in the Betty’s Bay Marine Reserve where it is outlawed.

Cape Town - Commercial lobster fishermen have been fishing in the Betty’s Bay Marine Reserve where it is outlawed - and they have a letter from the fisheries department which allows them to do so.

The letter from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) was sent out last Friday, granting commercial lobster fishermen from Kleinmond, Hermanus and Gansbaai permission to fish their quotas anywhere in a section of the southern Cape coast they call “Zone F”. However, the letter failed to say they may not fish in the marine protected area or the designated “no-fishing” zone.

Both areas were created by the government to allow depleted fish stocks to recover. The lobster population has sunk to just 3 percent of its size in the early 1900s.

The department was told of its mistake and on Wednesday sent out another letter saying they were not allowed to fish in the protected areas. However, either the fishermen did not get the letter or they ignored it, because they were back pulling out lobster in Betty’s Bay Marine Reserve on Thursday.

Local resident Tony Cunningham said the incident was a good example of the confusion caused by the split of duties between the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Department of Environment Affairs.

“From a global conservation perspective, that this is allowed by DAFF in South Africa’s first Unesco-linked biosphere reserve, Kogelberg, which the government has signed up to support, is an indictment of DAFF’s mandate,” Cunningham said.

Mike Tannet, who runs the community-based anti-poaching organisation SeaWatch in Betty’s Bay, said on Thursday the fisheries department had done the same thing last year.

“It is sad to wake up and see four or five crayfish boats where they are not allowed to fish. These fishermen constantly push the legal bounds. There is less crayfish where they are allowed to fish so they asked the department to extend the boundaries. They did so but did not say they could not fish in the protected areas. These areas are important breeding areas. There are fewer crayfish now and they are smaller from overfishing,” Tannet said.

Fisheries spokesman Lionel Adendorf said on Thursday the department had sent a second letter correcting the first. He said the department would ensure the fishermen complied.

However, locals have told the Cape Times that even the second letter is incorrect, and that fisheries will have to issue a third letter.

Cape Times

“I’m not saying my husband wouldn't have died eventually, but his death was expedited by poor treatment.”

Cape Town - A Khayelitsha widow says the appalling experience she and her late husband had at the new Khayelitsha Hospital has left her with mixed feelings about the state-of-the-art facility.

Nozuko Buthi of Site B said that not only was her sickly husband, Sajini Mfamela, 57, made to wait on a hard bench for 18 hours before he was seen to or given a bed, but the hospital failed to dialyse him for two weeks despite recommending this be done twice a week.

He died of kidney failure in November.

The hospital has countered Buthi’s claims, saying Mfamela was seen by medical staff and was monitored while lying on a trolley.

Buthi said that while the hospital, which opened exactly a year ago, had received accolades from Health MEC Theuns Botha and other health officials for its early achievements and modern infrastructure, things are not always as rosy on the inside as they seem from the outside.

Mfamela had to wait for hours for a bed, and Buthi was not allowed to stay with him.

“It was only after I made a commotion with rude nurses during the evening visiting hour that my husband was admitted… The question is why, if they saw that he was very sick, did they keep him on the bench for so long?”

Two weeks later, says Buthi, her husband was discharged into her care. Medical staff said they “couldn’t do anything for him”.

“My husband was so sick and swollen that he couldn’t even walk. I had to buy a wheelchair for him. When I asked doctors why they were discharging him in this condition and not transferring him to Tygerberg Hospital as they had initially promised, they said ‘hospitals can’t do anything more for him… take him home or to a hospice’.

“That was the most chilling response… here was a man who was kept on a hard chair for so long in the waiting room now being declared terminally ill two weeks later. The whole discharge process was done so insensitively. The hospital couldn’t even transport him home.”

Buthi believes that had her husband been given appropriate treatment, he would not have died so soon.

Following his discharge, doctors said he should be taken to the hospital twice a week for dialysis because he was accumulating water. But when the family took him back, one doctor told them that there was no need for this procedure, and referred Mfamela to the Michael Mapongwana Community Health Centre for his treatment.

When he was readmitted to Khayelitsha Hospital a few weeks later, Mfamela died within days.

“I’m not saying my husband wouldn’t have died eventually, but his death was expedited by the poor treatment he received at that hospital. His body gave in due to the excess water that was not being drained despite doctor’s orders for this to be done.

“Everything was just so horrible… the nurses were rude and unhelpful. At one point we had to clean my husband’s vomit as he was left unclean. The doctors also didn’t seem to agree on what needed to be done after his discharge. The hospital is very nice outside and has nice infrastructure, but the service provided is the complete opposite.”

Chronic shortage of beds in the trauma unit, poor service delivery, staff shortages and staff attitudes were some of the complaints residents have raised.

Commenting on Buthi’s claims, Sithembiso Magubane, spokesman for the provincial Department of Health, confirmed that Mfamela was acutely ill when he was admitted, but denied that he waited long before being treated.

“He was admitted at 5am for shortness of breath. He was immediately assessed and triaged as category orange. He was reviewed by the emergency unit specialists at 8am with the laboratory investigations requested earlier. The team decided to observe him in the emergency unit for 24 hours to stabilise his potassium level.”

Magubane denied that Mfamela had been left to sit on a hard bench.

“The patient was managed on an emergency trolley in the emergency centre (a bed). Hospital beds are actively managed by the hospital bed management team. Critically ill patients that require intense monitoring are observed in the emergency unit and transferred to the ward once stable.”

Mfamela was discharged after 20 days in a “stable condition after the medical team informed his family of his diagnosis and poor prognosis”, Magubane said.

“Patient complaints and compliments are actively monitored… all complaints are investigated. Where staff have erred, progressive discipline has been implemented.”

sipokazi.fokazi@inl.co.za

Cape Argus