Cape Town - Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown made additional admissions in his embezzlement case in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.

Cape Town - Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown made additional admissions in his embezzlement case in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Jannie van Vuuren told the court the time taken to comb through the indictment with Brown on Monday had been “well spent”.

Court proceedings were adjourned on Monday to clarify the admissions, which Brown said he made because he wanted to save the court time.

“The accused has made further admissions to certain documents we dealt with,” the prosecutor told Judge Anton Veldhuizen.

He handed up a copy of the amended admissions document, that listed eight pages referring to paragraphs Brown admitted to in the indictment.

Brown faces four counts of fraud, two counts of corruption, one count of money-laundering and two counts of theft. He was arrested in 2007 in one of the biggest financial scandals South Africa has ever seen.

The State alleges Brown ran a pyramid scheme and used investors' funds for his personal gain.

The biggest chunk of money that went missing from Fidentia was over R1 billion from the Living Hands Umbrella Trust, formerly the Mantadia Asset Trust Company (Matco).

The trust paid money from the mineworkers' provident fund to the widows and orphans of workers killed in mine accidents.

Brown was also accused of soliciting a R200 million investment from the state-owned Transport, Education and Training Authority (Teta) by giving Teta CEO Piet Bothma a R6m bribe.

The information that Brown conceded related to the entities Fundi Projects, Antheru Trust, Teta and Matco.

The admissions involving these entities relate largely to movement of money between Fidentia Holdings' bank accounts and that of its clients or service providers.

Brown also admitted to certain aspects of his two theft cases, which were originally called up in the Cape Town Regional Court and later consolidated with the main trial.

On one theft count, the State alleges Fidentia bought the company Infinity, from which Brown stole R5m to pay Fidentia salaries.

In the amended admissions document, Brown admits to issuing an instruction to transfer R5m from the Infinity settlement account to the Infinity current account on January 24, 2007.

“On the aforesaid date, the funds were then transferred from the Infinity current account to the account of Bramber Alternative 1/8Fidentia Alternative 3/8... and utilised to pay salaries for employees of the Fidentia group of companies,” the document reads.

On the second theft count, Brown allegedly stole R12.6m of Antheru funds to buy the Eastern Cape farm, Thaba Manzi.

Brown admitted the money used to purchase the farm was in fact investors' money held by Fidentia Holdings.

“The farm Thaba Manzi was thereafter transferred into the name of the Farmer Brown Agri 2 Trust. The trust therefore acquired the farms with funds to which it was not legally entitled.”

Van Vuuren spent most of Tuesday questioning former Fidentia accountant Graham Maddock, leading him through numerous pages of Fidentia Holdings' bank account records from 2003.

The court heard Maddock would be unable to testify from February 5 to February 11 because of a hip operation and resulting recovery in hospital.

Other witnesses had been lined up for this period.

The trial would resume on Wednesday. - Sapa

A man accused of slaughtering twin toddlers while high on drugs was out on bail at the time of the brutal murders.

Cape Town - A man accused of slaughtering twin toddlers while high on drugs was out on bail for a drug charge at the time of the brutal murders.

The Daily Voice can reveal that Heinrich “Junior” Siegels was facing a drug possession charge when he allegedly ended the lives of two-year-olds Rainetha and Rainecia Neelse.

Siegels is alleged to have been high on tik on the day the double murder occurred. He told witnesses he thought he had killed snakes and not his lover’s babies.

Siegels, 30, has a history of drug abuse according to those close to him.

He appeared in the Caledon Magistrates’ Court last week for a bail application but was sent back to the cells after a brief appearance. It emerged that his bid for freedom was hopeless as he had already been sentenced for the drug charge after his arrest for the twins’ murder.

Details

Authorities could not immediately provide details of the drug charge but the National Prosecuting Authority confirm Siegels’ arrest and conviction on the dwelm charge.

“The bail application was not heard on Thursday because the accused was sentenced in a Hermanus case and must first serve that sentence,” says Eric Ntabazalila, provincial spokesman for the NPA.

Ntabazalila added that the State would oppose Siegels’ bail application due to the seriousness of his alleged crime. And he says staying behind bars may be safer for Siegels following threats from the community to take the law into their own hands and exact revenge on him.

“It is also the view of the police that the accused’s life will be in danger if he were to be released on bail,” says Ntabazalila.

Siegels was arrested in December after he allegedly stabbed ex-girlfriend Reinette Neelse, 25, several times with a shard of broken glass.

He is then accused of turning his rage on Reinette’s twin girls. The two died after being savagely stabbed with a homemade knife. Witnesses say Siegels was high on tik at the time.

In his brief court appearance last week he apologised to Reinette, saying he did not mean to harm her kids.

He also asked why she had not visited him in prison.

Siegels will remain behind bars until his next court appearance in March.

Daily Voice

Xolani Koyana spoke to those involved or affected by the farmworker strike to find out what lessons were learnt.

Cape Town - Farmworkers in De Doorns went back to work last week and production at some farms returned to normal after a deal of R105 a day was agreed on by unions and farmers. Wage agreements at other farms are yet to be finalised but it is understood they could be signed off by the end of the week. The strike was on intermittently for three months as workers demanded R150 a day. XOLANI KOYANA spoke to those who had been involved or affected by the strike to find out what lessons were learnt.

NOSEY PIETERSE is Bawsi Agriculture Workers’ Union of SA general secretary:

“In the absence of unions, farmers were left at the mercy of lawlessness because people were not subjected to an organisation’s rules.

“For us it was difficult leading people who were not subjected to our organisation’s rules and discipline. We as unions will no longer be kept outside the farm gates because we have gained a significant number of members.

“I think the victory for the workers is they managed to have the sectoral determination reviewed this year. The current minimum wage would have been reviewed in three years’ time.”

Zikhona Maqona, a farmworker at the De La Haye in De Doorns:

“I have learned that it is not a good thing to go about things in a violent way because people have been killed and some have lost their eyes in the strike. Others are in jail because of all the violence. I think the next time we as workers have to sit down with farmers to negotiate our own wage increases and if they don’t want to then we can go to unions for help.

“I feel like we have not gained anything because people are still confused as to how much we will be paid.

“We hear that some farmers are still offering R69 but we are told that we have to go back to work.”

Sandile Keni is the Food and Allied Workers’ Union provincial organiser:

“What we have managed to achieve is that workers’ voices have been heard. Communities sympathise with them because they believe that being paid R69 is not fair.

“One of the losses for the strike was the violence between police and the community. Those are the things that that can tarnish an organisation’s image.

“I think this will teach unions to properly communicate with members so that there are not conflicts that will lead to violence. That will also help us avoid our struggle being hijacked by hooligans and criminals.”

Michael Loubser is a farmer and spokesman for the Hex Valley Table Grape Farmers Association:

“Farmers have lost out quite a lot, having their vineyards burnt and property damaged.

“Nothing has been gained out of this.

“None of the farmworkers really got much out of this.

“I think the only positive that came from this strike is that farmworkers’ voices have never been heard as much as they did in the last few months.

“I hope that the government and South Africans realise that it is not only farmers who benefit from agriculture but farmworkers also.”

Gerrit Van Rensburg is MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development.

“In South Africa there are tensions between certain groups, in particular foreigners.

“I think in future we must learn to deal with those conflicts. We can find solutions to problems if we just sit around a table and talk about them. It was very sad to watch what unfolded in the last few months; vineyards, property and vehicles being burnt.

“I really hope that farmworkers earn more. But we as government have to do a lot to ensure the profitability of farms.

“That will translate to better wages for farmworkers.”

Cape Times

More fire-fighting teams will be brought in to assist as the blaze on the Western Cape mountains continues.

Cape Town - More fire-fighting teams will be brought in to assist as the blaze on the Western Cape mountains continues, Working on Fire (WoF) said on Tuesday.

WoF spokesman Linton Rensburg said a meeting of disaster management teams, fire-fighters and government officials on Tuesday afternoon decided that 10 more fire-fighting teams should be brought in.

“The 10 teams come from across the country and by tomorrow we should have around 395 more fire fighters here,” he said.

A total of 14 teams had initially been deployed to fight the blaze.

Five other teams who had been on standby were brought in from the Eastern Cape and Free State on Tuesday morning, said Rensburg.

While the fire in the Cederberg mountains was contained in the early hours of the morning, Rensburg said they were still battling with the one in the Franschoek area.

“We are working around the clock. We have helicopters and water bombers deployed,” he said.

Around 10 helicopter water bombers, eight spotter planes, eight fixed wing water bombers and 37 pilots have been deployed by WoF to fight the fires. - Sapa

Convicted paedophile, Johannes Adolf Kleinhans, was jailed for 15 years on 95 counts that included sexual assaults on three pubescent girls.

Cape Town -Convicted paedophile, Johannes Adolf Kleinhans, was jailed for 15 years on Tuesday on 95 counts that included sexual assaults on three pubescent girls over a period of two years, possession and the manufacture of child pornography, and the use of the girls for the manufacture of the pornography.

He appeared in the Parow Regional Court in Cape Town before magistrate Amanda van Leeve, who ordered that his name be entered in the Register for Sexual Offenders.

Although no firearms were used in the commission of the offences, he was declared unfit to possess any firearms, in accordance with the Criminal Procedures Act.

This means that Kleinhans may no longer have in his possession a variety of firearms, including a hunting rifle that he inherited.

Kleinhans, 74, was prominent in business circles at the time of his arrest in 2009, held directorships in numerous companies and was the chief executive of one of them.

The magistrate said Kleinhans had hired a house which he stocked with liquor, pornography and condoms for his three victims.

He had also equipped the house with gym equipment, to give the impression that the three victims, who visited the house regularly, were doing so for gym purposes.

Van Leeve praised Chanelle Brand, who lived next door to the house, for alerting the police after she became suspicious of the goings-on in the house.

“It was as a result of her, that the police kept observation on the house, obtained a warrant to search it and then arrested Kleinhans.

“Had it not been for her, Kleinhans would still be exploiting the girls, and the chances are that he would never have been brought to book,” she said.

Brand attended Tuesday's proceedings, and burst into tears when Kleinhans was led from the courtroom to the holding cells.

Van Leeve said she had searched the judicial Law Reports as well as dictionaries, to find appropriate words to describe the harm that Kleinhans had inflicted on his victims.

She said all 95 counts related to the sexual exploitation of children.

She told Kleinhans: “What you did to these girls was despicable, degrading and disgusting, and that does not even start to describe what you have done.”

She said the one victim, 13 at the time of the offences, had testified in court with a vacant expression, and was receiving treatment for severe depression.

Van Leeve added: “This is what you inflicted on a 13-year-old child. You have destroyed the lives of all three victims, taken away their youth and the future that they might have had.”

Van Leeve said: “The protection of minors falls squarely on the shoulders of this court, as their upper-guardian.”

Van Leeve said Kleinhans had “dressed the three girls as adults, to satisfy his sexual fantasies”.

She said the three girls were not his only victims, as Kleinhans, in his bail proceedings, had mentioned other victims who had not featured in the case.

She said the photographs that Kleinhans had taken of the girls were not just of them in the nude, but many focused entirely on their privates.

She added: “The photographs shown to the court were disgusting and repulsive, and it is uncertain whether these young girls will ever return to normal.” - Sapa

A couple accused of butchering a cop and burying him in their backyard had an emotional reunion in the dock.

Cape Town - A couple accused of butchering a cop and burying him in their backyard had an emotional reunion in the dock yon Monday.

Barnabas Sentiwe and his partner Phumla Veli only had eyes for each other when they briefly appeared at the Blue Downs Magistrates’ Court.

The pair are accused of beating and beheading Constable Monwabisi Mnyombolo in their Mfuleni home in October 2009.

It has been claimed Sentiwe flew into a jealous rage because he thought his cop neighbour was having an affair with his lover.

Constable Mnyombolo was reported missing on October 26. His remains were discovered almost two years later on May 12, 2011, by a new owner of the house.

Sentiwe reportedly kept the 29-year-old’s body in his house for two days before burying the head and body in the backyard.

The “killer” boldly took out his wallet after his partner joined him in the stand yesterday and gave her money and a phone card. He then took off his gold necklace and handed it to Phumla.

The two stood inches apart, not touching but constantly whispering to one another and maintaining regular eye contact.

Sentiwe, dressed smartly in a finely-pressed dress shirt and black pants, stood in stark contrast to Phumla who was casually clad in a striped vest and cargo pants.

He constantly played with each of the six silver rings on his fingers.

The pair appeared lost in their own world, only resurfacing to answer direct questions from the magistrate.

And in a surprise twist, Phumla dramatically abandoned her quest for freedom when she told the court she would no longer proceed with her bail application.

This comes after the couple’s murder trial was transferred to the Western Cape High Court by Magistrate Deon van der Spuy.

Phumla was days away from the commencement of a bail hearing, which was set to start next week Monday.

But she told her defence lawyer Gary Petersen she wanted to stay in prison for the duration of the trial to speed up the legal process.

The couple have been in custody since 2011. Their trial is set to start on February 22.

Angry community members crowded into the small court room to get a glimpse of the couple.

The small group protested outside court earlier in a bid to have the two alleged killers kept in prison for the remainder of the trial.

But Constable Mnyombolo’s family say they are happy there is finally progress with the case.

The victim’s younger sister, Nqabakazi Mnyombolo, 26, tells the Daily Voice: “The sooner this trial begins, the sooner it can end – and hopefully the truth will come out.

“We have all been through a lot and all we ask for is for justice to be carried out and for the real motive for my brother’s death to surface.”

Daily Voice

A Cape Town father-of three was stabbed to death allegedly over a R1 debt he owed his friend.

Cape Town - A R1 debt between two friends has ended in bloody murder.

Now a father of three is dead and his pregnant wife is heartbroken that he was killed.

Yandisa “Maradonna” Cele, 31, was stabbed to death as he made his way to work last Thursday.

His training as a security guard meant little when his armed attacker pounced.

Moments later Yandisa was lying dead on the ground, metres from his Brown’s Farm, Philippi, home.

The suspect – a devoted member of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) – handed himself over to Nyanga police and is expected to be charged with Yandisa’s murder.

Angry residents have since destroyed the suspect’s shack.

A grieving Mandisa Tokwe said she cannot come to terms with the fact that her three kids and unborn child lost their father over R1.

The 32-year-old woman says she will never be able to forgive the suspect who was once a close friend of her husband.

Mandisa said 24 hours before the tragic event, the suspect burst into her home waving a knife, demanding to see her husband.

But Yandisa was not there.

“He [suspect] then turned around and left, cursing that my husband was very lucky to not be at home,” she said.

“When my husband arrived later I explained to him what had happened and he informed me that he had owed the man R5.

“He told me he could not afford to pay him because he only had R4 and claimed that the man had refused to accept it when he gave it to him R1 short.

“He begged me to give him R1 to add to the R4 so he could pay it back to our neighbour.”

She agreed to help him out with the money when he got back from work but Yandisa was attacked before that could happen.

“It was just after he left for work late on Thursday afternoon [the following day] when kids called me to the scene where I found my husband lying dead in his work uniform,” said Mandisa.

She said she does not know how she is going to survive with three kids and one on the way.

“He [suspect] really deserves harsh punishment,” she added.

Bongani Mgqushwana, a street committee member, said residents demolished the suspect’s shack as part of their efforts to banish all criminals.

He says residents are shocked at who the suspect is because he is known as a churchly man and good friend of the victim.

“Those two men also both lived as very close friends,” he said.

Police spokesperson Captain November Filander confirms: “A 28-year-old suspect is appearing in Athlone Magistrates’ Court on charges of murder.”

Daily Voice

The NPA has welcomed the 15-year prison sentence handed to convicted paedophile Johannes Kleinhans by the Parow Regional Court.

Cape Town -The NPA has welcomed the 15-year prison sentence handed to convicted paedophile Johannes Kleinhans by the Parow Regional Court in Cape Town on Tuesday.

“We are happy that the court agreed with us that the only appropriate sentence... was a lengthy prison sentence instead of the correctional supervision the defence asked for,” National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said in a statement.

“We are also happy that the court ordered for Kleinhans' name to be included in the national register of sex offenders.”

Ntabazalila said he hoped the families of the victims could find closure.

“We know that the 15-year sentence will never reverse what happened to the lives of the victims, but we hope their families will find closure knowing that he has paid for what he did to their children.”

Kleinhans was convicted on 95 counts which included sexual assaults on three pubescent girls over a period of two years, possession and the manufacture of child pornography, and the use of the girls for the manufacture of pornography.

Although no firearms were used in the commission of the offences, he was declared unfit to possess any firearms, in accordance with the Criminal Procedures Act.

This means that Kleinhans may no longer have in his possession a variety of firearms, including a hunting rifle that he inherited.

Kleinhans, 74, was prominent in business circles at the time of his arrest in 2009, held directorships in numerous companies and was the chief executive of one of them.

Magistrate Amanda van Leeve said all 95 counts related to the sexual exploitation of children. She said Kleinhans had hired a house which he stocked with liquor, pornography and condoms for his three victims.

He had equipped the house with gym equipment, to give the impression that the three victims, who visited the house regularly, were doing so for gym purposes.

The three girls were not his only victims, as Kleinhans, in his bail proceedings, had mentioned other victims who had not featured in the case, said Van Leeve.

She said photographs that Kleinhans had taken of the girls were not just of them in the nude, but many focused entirely on their privates.

Ntabazalila said Kleinhans had abused the most vulnerable in society and betrayed their trust in him. - Sapa

Runaway fires savaged the Cape's scenic winelands, stoked by “perfect conditions” of strong winds and hot weather.

Paarl - Runaway fires savaged South Africa's scenic winelands on Tuesday, stoked by “perfect conditions” of strong winds and hot weather.

The authorities declared a code red emergency in the picture-postcard region between Franschoek and Paarl, the crucible of South Africa's wine industry.

Emergency services struggled to put out a series of blazes, deploying four helicopters, 13 vehicles and 120 firefighters.

“The fire is not under control at the moment,” said Liesl Brink, incident command spokeswoman for the fire fighting effort.

Separate blazes raged on mountains near both towns, while several smaller fires smouldered, sending dense smoke over the area and obscuring the mountains which draw tourists to the area in droves.

A total of 7 100 hectares (17 545 acres) of land including farmlands, alien vegetation and indigenous fynbos have already been destroyed.

Two workers' cottages were burned down and two farms had to be temporarily evacuated.

No deaths have been reported, but a warning has been issued to residents to be alert.

Firefighters were battling difficult conditions to put out the flames, Brink said.

“There is quite a strong wind out here, the wind's blowing at 40 kilometres per hour (25 miles per hour), it's also very hot, temperatures are soaring above 30 degrees” Celsius (more than 86 degrees Fahrenheit), she said.

The cause of the blaze is still unknown.

But according to Brink, many fires at this time of year - when wind and hot summer months provide “perfect conditions for runaway fires” - had been shown to be caused by people, often children.

The fire started on Sunday in Franschoek, about an hour's drive from Cape Town, and was moving towards nearby Paarl which lies slightly to the north-west.

Choppers laden with water bombs circled the area Tuesday, dropping their payload before rushing back to a make-shift control centre at the prison where democracy hero Nelson Mandela walked free from 27 years of apartheid jail.

On the ground, the livelihoods of scores of farmers hung in balance.

Trees at the Freedom Hill winery burned near the tasting room and smoke from the nearby fires hovered menacingly over the vines.

The winery has 18 hectares of cabernet, shiraz and pinotage grapes that are due to be harvested within weeks.

So far the owners have been relatively lucky, losing less than a hectare of merlot grapes which are no longer used for wine.

But the path of the blaze is unpredictable.

“We are very worried that it would come back,” said tasting room manager Malisha Fortuin.

With blackened vegetation a stone's throw away, workers on a fruit farm were busy harvesting plums while a chopper flying above was water bombing a nearby fire.

“I'm not scared of fire. I have worked with fire a few times,” said worker Lionel Plaatjies.

Back up teams have been called in from the city of Cape Town and from other provinces.

“The fire has been declared a code red meaning that we've used all of our available resources and are pulling all the resources that we can,” Brink said. - Sapa-AFP

Western Cape firefighters are still battling a monster blaze near Franschhoek and have called in reinforcements.

Johannesburg - More firefighting teams will be brought in to assist as the blaze in the Western Cape winelands continues, Working on Fire (WoF) said on Tuesday.

WoF spokesperson Linton Rensburg said a meeting of disaster management teams, firefighters and government officials on Tuesday afternoon decided that 10 more firefighting teams should be brought in.

“The 10 teams come from across the country and by tomorrow we should have around 395 more firefighters here,” he said.

A total of 14 teams had initially been deployed to fight the blaze.

Five other teams that had been on standby were brought in from the Eastern Cape and Free State on Tuesday morning, said Rensburg.

While the fire in the Cederberg mountains was contained in the early hours of the morning, Rensburg said they were still battling with the one in the Franschhoek area.

“We are working around the clock. We have helicopters and water bombers deployed,” he said.

Around 10 helicopter water bombers, eight spotter planes, eight fixed wing water bombers and 37 pilots have been deployed by WoF to fight the fires. - Sapa

MEC says road deaths to overtake homicide, Aids and TB as main cause of premature death.

Cape Town - Road fatalities will soon overtake homicide, Aids and TB as the main cause of premature death in South Africa, says Western Cape Transport MEC Robin Carlisle.

Speaking at a Cape Town Press Club lunch in Observatory yesterday, Carlisle said 5700 people have died on the Western Cape’s roads since he became Transport MEC in 2009.

“These are huge figures,” Carlisle said. “Road fatalities will overtake homicide in the next two years, and then Aids and TB deaths as the main cause of premature death soon after that.”

Carlisle said that since 2009, his department, with the help of the media, has managed to bring down road deaths by 27 percent, from more than 1700 deaths in 2009 to 1321 deaths last year.

“There is no country in the world that has seen a reduction in road deaths over such a short period of time like we have,” he said.

“Drunk driving incidents – although still a problem – (have decreased). But the current focus is on moving offences. We see suicidal driving on our roads and it has to stop.

“Buckling up alone will shave 22 percent off current road death statistics. And adherence to the speed limit is also crucial.”

Asked whether he would be reducing the speed limit on highways, Carlisle said: “We won’t change the 120km/h speed limit, don’t worry. We want to enforce the existing speed limits.

“But in built-up areas, the speed limit is way too high. We can’t have 70km/h zones in Khayelitsha.”

Carlisle said drivers who broke the law faced weak punitive measures.

“We need to change this lack of consequences,” he said.

“Police management of crash scenes is appalling. We are seeing poor investigation by SAPS and very soft judgments.”

Carlisle said safer cars designed to go no faster than the speed limit were necessary to reduce the road death toll in future.

“Safer cars will be key in the future and this is not extra airbags or more advanced brake systems, but how fast they are,” he said. “However, we’ll have to bend the arms of the local motor manufacturing industry to change that.”

About the toll roads in Gauteng, Carlisle said: “The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Scheme will not be paid for by the road users of this province.” -Cape Argus

After exposing fraud in LeisureNet, Wendy Addison's life was threatened and she lived "abject poverty".

Cape Town - Eleven years ago Wendy Addison blew the whistle on fraud in LeisureNet. It’s an action, she says today, that resulted in her life being threatened and left her in “abject poverty”.

The former international treasurer of LeisureNet spoke out a few weeks after hearing that Peter Gardener and Rodney Mitchell, the two former senior executives she blew the whistle on, were released from prison last month after serving roughly 19 months of a seven-year jail sentence.

Addison left South Africa after exposing the duo and “receiving anonymous death threats post blowing the whistle”.

She now lives in the UK and in an e-mail response to the Cape Times two days ago, said: “For the last twelve years, on being outed as the whistleblower, I have lived a life in abject poverty, mainly on welfare…

“I did indeed end up begging on the streets of London with my 12-year-old son, while squatting in a house.”

Gardener and Mitchell were the joint chief executives of LeisureNet, which operated the Health and Racquet gym franchise and which was liquidated in 2000 after running into financial difficulties.

Nearly 12 years ago Addison gave evidence at an inquiry into LeisureNet’s affairs and told a commission that Gardener and Mitchell had used the company as a personal bank. They were eventually convicted of fraud and in March 2011, after appealing their original sentences, the duo were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. But last week the Cape Times reported that they had been released from Malmesbury Medium A Correctional Centre, where they had set up a fully-sponsored, state-of-the-art gym for inmates and officials, after roughly 19 months there, and were now serving an alternative sentence.

Addison said: “I was made aware of this via individuals observing Rod Mitchell training at the Constantia Virgin Active in full view of members that he had defrauded. It is clear that the hubris has not been tamed by jail time.”

She had not expected their release and questioned the gym they had set up in prison.

“I challenge why convicted prisoners should be given the benefit of a ‘state-of-the-art’ gym when there are many innocent citizens in South Africa who, in my opinion, would be far more deserving of such a gym, outside of prison, in their communities.”

She said becoming the whistleblower in the LeisureNet saga had changed her life “irrevocably and significantly”. Addison left LeisureNet in 2000 and joined Virgin Atlantic in London, the company which eventually took over LeisureNet, but was abruptly dismissed from that job. She had tried to get a pro bono attorney to represent her in a civil case against Gardener and Mitchell.

“I was met with a deafening silence from the South African judiciary, the same judiciary who had utilised my willingness to do the right thing to their own benefit.”

Since then she had become a member of the Corruption Research Group at Surrey University. Addison also established an organisation, SpeakOut SpeakUp, a programme which educates on whistleblowing, corruption and anti-bribery.

“I am now in a position to encourage others to find the moral courage to speak out in the face of wrongdoing and to make whistleblowing a part of risk management... I invite Gardener/Mitchell to act as true heroes to extending their ‘good’ work to supporting my organisation as opposed to remaining in the very comfortable zone of gym fitness,” Addison said.

On the SpeakOut SpeakUp website, it says Addison reported corruption in what was better known as “the biggest corporate disaster in South African history”.

“Ousted as a whistleblower, Wendy became locked into a massively lopsided war of attrition. On one side the wrongdoers, still with the credibility and authority of their positions and with a wealth of resources behind them. On the other side Wendy, discredited in the public’s eyes, unemployed, unemployable (because of the notoriety of the case), running out of money, receiving death threats and having lost the support of friends and family,” it said.

According to an October 2001 Financial Mail article, it said at the time “most market watchers familiar with LeisureNet” had not heard of Addison. “Her testimony, though, will probably be etched in memories for a long time,” it said.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

As firefighters battle the blazes sweeping through the Boland, farmworkers are rushing to harvest grapes and fruit.

Daneel Knoetze, Yolisa Tswanya, Sibusisiwe Lwandle and Sapa

As hundreds of firefighters battle the blazes sweeping through the Boland between Franschhoek and Paarl, farmworkers – locked in a deadly race against the flames – are trying to harvest grapes and fruit.

Ten teams from across the country have been flown in to join the local firefighters on the ground, and a Code Red emergency has been declared, according to Peter Viljoen of CapeNature.

Linton Rensburg of Working on Fire said 10 teams had arrived, and that an additional 395 firefighters would have joined the 14 local teams by Wednesday.

“We are working around the clock. We have 10 helicopters and water bombers deployed.”

Working on Fire had contributed eight spotter planes and 37 pilots to fight the fires.

Over and above the serious fire in the Wemmershoek mountains heading towards Paarl, at least 43 new fires broke out in the past 24 hours.

Viljoen said the fires had been confirmed as the worst in this part of the province in years.

The blazes have taken their toll on firefighters – three were injured while battling a fire near Liesbeek Parkway, said Theo Layne, spokesman for the city’s Fire and Rescue Services.

Six firefighters were injured last week in the fire devastating parts of the Cederberg, and a man died. That fire is now under control.

Layne said of Tuesday’s fires around the city: “There were vegetation fires all over the place but there were no runaway fires. Two firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation and one had a back injury.”

Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell said the exhaustion of firefighters was a concern, and that authorities needed all the help they could get over the next 10 days.

The Wemmershoek fire blazed for a third day in the farmlands between Paarl and Franschhoek on Tuesday. Farmers, farmworkers, residents and firefighters battled the blaze through the night, and had little relief as the wind drove the flames towards Paarl.

By late afternoon, reinforcements from the Eastern Cape had arrived to relieve some of the local firefighters on call, Viljoen said.

Three helicopters and 10 fire engines were on the scene throughout the day.

Trees at the Freedom Hill winery burned near the tasting room and smoke from nearby fires hovered over the vines.

The winery has 18 hectares of cabernet, shiraz and pinotage grapes that are due to be harvested in the coming weeks.

So far the owners have been lucky, losing less than a hectare of merlot grapes, which are no longer used for wine. But the path of the blaze is unpredictable.

“We are very worried that it (the fire) will come back,” said tasting room manager Malisha Fortuin.

With blackened vegetation a stone’s throw away, fruit farm workers were harvesting plums while a helicopter was water-bombing a nearby fire.

On the ground, the livelihoods of scores of farmers hang in the balance.

Lugresia Baatjies, of Hartebeeskraal near Paarl, described how the fire swept down to farmworkers’ houses at about 7pm on Monday.

“It sounded like a thunderstorm when the flames came around the bend. It reminded me of a volcano in a movie. We just had to run, there wasn’t time to think about your possessions. It was all around us in no time.”

She fled with her family and took shelter in a church hall. Baatjies’ home was spared, but her neighbour’s house was gutted.

Frederick Diedericks showed the Cape Argus his burnt-out house on Tuesday. His furniture was in ashes, a VW Golf outside a blackened shell.

“All we could save were some clothes for the children, a mattress and a blanket. The fire simply spread too quickly,” he said.

Diedericks’s family slept outdoors as he helped other workers battle the blaze through the night.

Irrigation pipes siphoning water from mountain streams were burnt through, and firefighting was hampered by dwindling water supplies.

“Strong winds, soaring temperatures and poor visibility are making it difficult for firefighters to contain the fire,” said Liesl Brink of disaster management’s incident command post.

She said the situation was not yet under control on Tuesday afternoon.

So far, 7 200 hectares of vegetation, fynbos and farmland have been burnt and two buildings have been gutted.

At a press conference on Tuesday, chief director of the province’s disaster management centre Colin Deiner said 50 fires had required aerial support so far this year.

“The Cederberg and Limietberg areas have been the worst affected, with fires going for the past 14 days.”

Layne said determining a cause for vegetation fires was difficult, but confirmed that lightning was to blame for the Cederberg fire.

Temperatures are expected to range between the high 20 and 30°C mark and winds are forecast to reach 45km/h for the rest of the week.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

yolisa.tswanya@inl.co.za

sibusisiwe.lwandle@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The Ugandan man who allegedly killed Danish millionaire Preben Povlsen used a stabbing technique he learned as a child soldier.

Cape Town -

The Ugandan man who allegedly killed Danish millionaire Preben Povlsen used a stabbing technique he learned as a child soldier.

Francis Kimeze is being tried for murder along with his two sisters, one of them Povlsen’s widowed wife Maria.

Povlsen’s body was found in Table View six days after he was allegedly assaulted in his Gordon’s Bay home in 2008.

In the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, Kimeze said that when he’d realised Povlsen, 71, was dead, he’d propped up his body and opened Povlsen’s shirt to inspect his wounds.

When questioned by advocate Ken Klopper, representing Kimeze’s other sister Stella Ssengendo, he said that he could not remember using the technique on Povlsen but acknowledged that he recognised it from the wounds.

Klopper put it to Kimeze that the move involved stabbing the victim three times in what was called a “triple tap” – one strike to the neck, another to the chest and the last lower down in the abdomen.

Kimeze, however, did not explain this in his own words, simply answering “ja” (yes) when Klopper described the technique.

According to Kimeze, he was abducted as a child in 1984 and forced to serve as a soldier in the rebel National Resistance Army in Uganda.

They’d been trained, he said, in hand-to-hand combat.

Some of their instructors had been from Korea, while a few others were British.

He maintains that it was a “mistake” that Povlsen died.

Povlsen was murdered on January 14, 2008 and his body dumped in Table View.

He had multiple stab wounds, and a broken neck.

When Klopper questioned Kimeze about the “fear” that had overcome him during the scuffle with Povlsen, he wept as he replied: “You cannot understand what fear is because when people die, they don’t just disappear. They stay with you in your mind, in your eyes.”

Kimeze also acknowledged that he’d been smoking tik and drinking brandy and beer in the garage of the Povlsens’ home shortly before the altercation with Povlsen, which, according to him, was sparked by his smoking.

After he’d inspected Povlsen’s wounds, Kimeze took off the T-shirt Povlsen had on and put on a shirt, which Povlsen had been carrying on his shoulder to wear for a round of golf that morning.

“I can’t really tell you why. It was almost like I wanted to plead with him, ‘come alive’,” said Kimeze.

He’d later wrapped Povlsen’s body in bed linen and plastic and put his body in the car boot.

Kimeze said he’d wanted to run away, but couldn’t do so because Povlsen’s body was in the boot of the car and he hadn’t had any money.

He’d spent the R2 800 Povlsen had given him for renovation supplies on drugs.

Kimeze said a friend had helped him dump the body.

The trial continues.

leila.samodien@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Just one in five matrics achieves a pass of more than 50 percent in maths and science exams, a survey has found.

Cape Town - Just one in five matrics achieves a pass of more than 50 percent in their maths and science exams.

And more than half of these matric pupils have failed in the last five years.

These figures are revealed in the latest South Africa Survey, published by the South African Institute of Race Relations last week.

The class of 2012 achieved a national pass rate of 73.9 percent, up from 70.2 percent in 2011.

According to the Department of Basic Education’s National Diagnostic Report on Learner Performance, 22.6 percent of 2012 matrics had achieved a pass above 50 percent in maths and 24.2 percent in science.

Researchers at the institute found that since the introduction of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) in 2008, the proportion of pupils achieving a pass in mathematics of between 70 percent and 100 percent fell from 8.3 percent in 2008 to 5.9 percent in 2011.

The Cape Times found this had increased last year, with 7 percent of 2012 matric pupils achieving a maths pass of between 70 and 100 percent.

“The data also revealed that more than half of all pupils who have written mathematics since the introduction of the NSC have failed, receiving a mark below 30 percent,” said an institute press statement.

The institute’s analysis was based on data supplied by the Department of Basic Education. It did not include results from the 2012 matric exams as these were not available when the survey was compiled.

Researchers found that pupils had achieved more encouraging results in science.

“However, as is the case with mathematics, more than half of all pupils who have written physical science since the introduction of the NSC have failed,” they said.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga decided last year to establish a ministerial committee to probe the standard of the NSC after widespread criticism of its quality.

Under this system, a Grade 12 pupil needs to obtain 30 percent in three subjects and 40 percent in another three, including their home language.

Under the old system, a minimum pass mark of 40 percent on higher grade and 33.3 percent on standard grade was required to pass matric.

These were done away with and all pupils now complete the subjects on the same level.

Jonathan Snyman, a researcher at the institute, said the pass mark should be increased to 50 percent to bring it in line with what universities expected.

michelle.jones@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Former Fidentia accountant Graham Maddock was unable to continue his testimony in the trial of J Arthur Brown.

Cape Town - The embezzlement trial of former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown was postponed in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday morning because a witness was absent.

Former Fidentia accountant Graham Maddock would have continued his testimony regarding bank statements, but had been advised otherwise by his doctor, prosecutor Jannie van Vuuren told the court.

“I received a call from the witness this morning that his doctor has advised him from moving around. He has serious problems getting in and out of his car with his hip (problem), and standing,” he said.

During Maddock's testimony on Tuesday, Judge Anton Veldhuizen had offered for the witness to sit, but Maddock politely declined and continued standing.

He would undergo a hip operation in a week and be unavailable for at least a week after that.

Brown faces four counts of fraud, two counts of corruption, one count of money-laundering and two counts of theft. He was arrested in 2007 in one of the biggest financial scandals South Africa has ever seen.

The State alleges Brown ran a pyramid scheme and used investors' funds for his personal gain.

The biggest chunk of money that went missing from Fidentia was over R1 billion from the Living Hands Umbrella Trust, formerly the Mantadia Asset Trust Company (Matco).

The trust paid money from the mineworkers' provident fund to the widows and orphans of workers killed in mine accidents.

Brown is also accused of soliciting a R200 million investment from the state-owned Transport, Education and Training Authority (Teta) by giving Teta CEO Piet Bothma a R6m bribe.

Veldhuizen postponed the trial to Monday. Other State witnesses would be called to testify. - Sapa

Social workers have visited the 80-year-old Parkwood woman neighbours claim is being kept in her council flat against her will.

Cape Town - Social workers have visited the 80-year-old Parkwood woman neighbours claim is being kept in her council flat against her will.

Melany Kuhn, spokeswoman for Social Development MEC Albert Fritz, said a team of social workers visited the flat on Tuesday to assess the situation and that a report would be presented to the department soon.

“I can confirm that social workers visited the granny and we are awaiting the report,” Kuhn said.

On Monday, residents of Gerda Court in Parkwood told the Cape Argus that Maureen Johnson, whose mental state is said to be confused, was allegedly being kept locked up by a couple.

The couple were also alleged to be fraudulently collecting Johnson’s monthly pension.

Colin Arendse, a community activist, said Johnson was confined to a single room and being “kept under lock and key”.

Parkwood ward councillor Melanie Arendse said the matter was “stuck at the Grassy Park police station”.

“I’ve been struggling to get the police to get (Johnson’s) pension card and ID for the past three months,” she said. “The couple refused to (hand it over) and the police just don’t do anything about it.”

Arendse said residents had told her and community leaders that Johnson had been “locked up” and was “sleeping in her own faeces”.

Pat Lindgren, director of Action on Elder Abuse, said that if the police were not responding effectively to a complaint, anyone who knew that someone was being abused – be it physically, sexually, emotionally, psychologically or financially – should report this to the Department of Social Development.

“If the police are not doing anything about it, go to social development,” Lindgren said after being told about Johnson’s plight.

“It’s normal that she would tell the police that everything is fine in front of her alleged abuser.

“This seems like a very extreme case, but the woman should be taken out of that situation and taken for an assessment at a hospital.

“If she’s being locked up, she may be underfed or dehydrated.”

Lindgren said that the other people living in the council flat should be evicted.

“Many victims of abuse fear that if they admit to the police they are being abused, the abuser may ‘punish’ them for speaking out.”

Two years ago, the Cape Argus reported about a similar case, in which a social worker found a desperately thin elderly woman imprisoned in a windowless room in Brooklyn. The 80-year-old woman was allegedly locked by her son into a room with no running water and no electricity.

According to the social worker’s report, the woman weighed only 38kg when she was found. She was later transferred to a frail care centre.

Elderly people were vulnerable to abuse, and were easily manipulated as they were dependent on relatives to care for them, Lindgren said.

* The Halt Elder Abuse Line is 0800 00 3081.

Cape Argus

A Constantia landmark appears on packaging for Uruguay’s ‘Rice of the Americas’

Cape Town - Rice isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Groot Constantia.

But a brand of the popular starch being sold in French supermarkets would make you think the famous estate had its own secret rice paddy.

The rice, which is grown in Uruguay, boxed in Italy and distributed by the supermarket chain Carrefour, is sold under the name “Riz de Amériques” (Rice of the Americas).

But instead of a picture of a Uruguayan landscape or an Italian villa on the box – the advertisers used an image of South Africa’s own Groot Constantia.

Jean Naudé, chief executive officer of the company that runs the historic wine estate, described the picture as “very unfortunate”, saying it wasn’t the first time it had been brought to his attention.

He was first made aware of the issue in 2009.

He contacted Carrefour, who put him in touch with the advertising agency involved.

“As a gesture of goodwill and without admission of liability, they said that they would advise their client to stop using the images and they had removed the image from their image bank,” said Naudé.

“This obviously didn’t happen.”

Groot Constantia, built in 1685 and one of the oldest wine estates in South Africa, has become an important part of the Cape’s heritage. Naudé said the image of the building was synonymous with the Constantia brand.

That they were continuing to use the image, even after being made aware of the estate’s history, put a question mark behind the integrity of one of the biggest supermarket groups in the world.

“I don’t understand how they can jeopardise their integrity in this way,” Naudé said.

A South African visiting France, Marius le Roux of Stellenbosch, sent the Cape Argus an empty box.

“I am aware that theft in South Africa has increased phenomenally in the past decade, but Groot Constantia now proudly standing somewhere in Uruguay must represent a new milestone in the achievement of the profession,” said Le Roux.

Carrefour had not yet responded to queries at the time of going to print.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The Western Cape Education Department is mulling legal action against ‘unregistered’ classes at a Khayelitsha church.

Cape Town - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is considering “various legal options” in a bid to resolve the situation in Zwelitsha, Khayelitsha, where children are attending an “unregistered school”.

More than 80 children whose parents claim they have been unable to find places for them at local schools have been attending classes in a one-roomed building in Zwelitsha, which is also used as an office and a church.

The school opened on Friday and accommodates children in Grades R to 7. They are taught by 12 volunteer teachers.

The WCED has indicated that it has places available for the children in schools in Khayelitsha. Some parents have told the Cape Argus that they were concerned that their children would have to travel outside their area.

Yesterday, education officials went to the school with notices, which they wanted to place at the property.

The purpose was to inform parents that the school was unregistered and that placements at recognised schools had been arranged for them.

“A member of the community refused to allow the officials to place the notices at the property. This individual was also part of the same group that locked our officials inside a school when we were attempting to register these learners,” said Bronagh Casey, spokeswoman for Education MEC Donald Grant. “Following (yesterday’s) events, the WCED is considering their legal options as we are obliged to protect the interests of these children.”

Lulamile Jaca, deputy chairman of the local ward forum, who was at the building, told the officials he would not accept the notice: ”What we want is a school with mobile classrooms.”

Casey said the WCED had gone above and beyond normal enrolment processes to help assist the pupils.

“We will continue to contact the parents and inform them that their child has a place in a registered school. Our latest information reveals that over 1 000 places are still available in Khayelitsha.”

ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The sentencing of a bus driver convicted of causing the deaths of 23 people was postponed beacuse he needed a new lawyer.

Cape Town - The sentencing of a bus driver convicted of causing the deaths of 23 people was postponed until February 27 by the Cape Town Regional Court on Wednesday.

Legal Aid lawyer Wimpie Strauss agreed to represent Sisa Nonama, 41, after his previous lawyer Thabo Nogemane withdrew because he no longer had a Fidelity Fund certificate.

Every attorney in the country must obtain this certificate every year to be able to practice law.

Strauss assured the court he would be ready by the postponement date, and said he would gather information on the case from Nogemane.

Nonama admitted to 23 counts of culpable homicide under a plea agreement in October.

He was driving a bus from Leeu-Gamka to Cape Town on May 5, 2010, when it crashed near De Doorns in the early hours of the morning.

Three children were among the dead. Fifteen people were seriously injured.

Nonama admitted speeding down the Hex River pass and not slowing down in the rain. He lost control of the bus, it veered off the road and overturned.

He did not have the required driver's licence and the vehicle was overloaded, with 78 people on board instead of the 64 it was certified to carry.

Five months before the crash, the bus had failed a roadworthy test for having defective brakes, a cracked front windscreen and oil and diesel leaks. It belonged to Nonama's brother Malinga.

Both were initially charged with murder. Charges were later withdrawn against Malinga. - Sapa