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Morsi: Jew comments out of context

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Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi is defending comments that he made in 2010 referring to Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs.”

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Berlin - Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi is defending comments that he made in 2010 referring to Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs,” saying that they were taken out of context.

Morsi's criticized remarks came from a mix of speeches he made in 2010 when he was a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure. The remarks were revived when an Egyptian TV show aired them this month to highlight and mock Morsi's current policies.

Speaking after a meeting Wednesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she brought up the comments in her talks with the Egyptian leader, Morsi said he was “not against the Jewish faith or the Jewish people.”

He says “my comments were about conduct that sheds blood and kills innocent people - things neither I ... nor anyone condones.” - Sapa-AP


Fail: Cop car clamped on red line

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Shocked officers suffered the humiliation of having car clamped for illegal parking.

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Shocked City of Cape Town metro police officers have suffered the humiliation of having their patrol car clamped for illegal parking.

Deputy police chief Yolanda Faro told the Cape Argus that the officers parked in a parking area at a Parow shopping centre in order to go off and issue a motorist with a ticket.

They returned to find their well-marked patrol car with a clamp on its front right wheel.

Faro said they had dispatched the City’s Internal Affairs Unit to the scene to investigate.

It later transpired that the site manager of the centre had clamped the vehicle. The vehicle was parked on a red line, but it was not clear if this was public or private land.

Faro said it was not clear whether the officers had parked their car illegally, and this would now be investigated. -Cape Argus

Basson motivational talk raises eyebrows

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The Kelvin Grove Club has refused to comment on a “motivational talk” given by “Dr Death”.

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Cape Town - The Kelvin Grove Club has refused to comment on a “motivational talk” given by apartheid-era chemical warfare expert Wouter Basson at the club.

Basson gave a lunch-time talk to a capacity crowd at the club last Friday.

Eleven years ago Basson was acquitted of 67 charges, including murder, fraud, certain drug offence charges and conspiracy to commit various crimes, by the Pretoria High Court.

This was relating to allegations against the controversial cardiologist during his stint as the head of the state’s secret chemical and biological warfare project, Project Coast, in the 1980s.

In the last few years, Basson – who works for Mediclinic as a support doctor in Panorama and Durbanville – has become a motivational speaker.

His latest “motivational talk” delivered at the Kelvin Grove Club has raised a few eyebrows with some on social networks questioning the club’s intentions in inviting Basson.

In an advertisement for the talk, the club described Basson as: “Nicknamed ‘Dr Death’ for his alleged actions in apartheid South Africa, Basson was acquitted in 2002 of 67 charges, after having been suspended from his military post with full pay in 1999.”

The club’s marketing manager, Corine Sharp, said: “I will not talk to you about this” before referring queries to the management who were not available.

Speaking to the Cape Times on Wednesday, Basson said he had given a talk about stress and conflict management on Friday.

Basson said he had someone who organised places and events for his talks but only knew the name of the venues about a week beforehand.

“I have thousands of these every year but I don’t know why this one (at Kelvin Grove) attracted so much attention.

“It was a great discussion. We had a great day with great people and great food.”

Referring to people who had objected to his public speeches, he said: “I think they are stupid and uninformed people. Obviously they were not following the court cases.

“There was nothing ever found against me by the High Court in Johannesburg.”

Basson said the talk at the Kelvin Grove club was his second for the year, but would not reveal details of the other.

“I don’t want to offend anyone,” he said.

Basson is facing a Health Professions Council of SA professional conduct inquiry into his involvement in Project Coast, which he managed for the apartheid-era government.

The inquiry is looking into Basson’s activities during his tenure as head of the top-secret arm.

 

Hearings were postponed to April following the unavailability of two key witnesses for a session in December.

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Gambler: Lotto a gateway drug

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SA's biggest cause of problem gambling is the national lottery, says a former gambler, who equates it to a gateway drug.

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Cape Town - South Africa’s biggest cause of problem gambling is the national lottery, says a former gambler, who equates it to a gateway drug.

Professor Peter Collins, executive director of the National Responsible Gambling Programme, said that about 1 percent of the population had developed a gambling problem - a figure similar to that in North America, Europe and Australia, but lower than in parts of the Far East.

But the figures were much higher for people playing the lottery.

“In 2001, 1.7 percent of the population developed a problem that way, and by 2008 this figure had grown to 3 percent of the adult population. That is much higher than in other parts of the world,” Collins said.

 

He said another alarming statistic exposed by the 2008 research was the influence of illegal gambling.

“Up to a third of all problem gamblers gamble illegally at places like shebeens or on the internet, where even under-age gambling becomes a problem. And those are the people we are not reaching. That is where criminals find a foothold.”

A reformed problem gambler said the Lotto was like a soft drug that could draw addicts into harder forms of the “sport”.

 

“I have lived through this hell myself and I tell you it is not getting better. The public does not see what is going on. It is taking a lot of people’s lives down. From losing everything to suicide, it is crushing people and their immediate families.

“I went wild to get money to continue gambling, from legal borrowing to illegal borrowing, pawning, theft. The pawn shops in Goodwood are doing a thriving business. These days pubs with slot machines cover their overheads not with the booze they sell, but with the slot machines.”

The 40-year-old said his addiction developed when he was a teenager.

“It started innocently enough - you put a bit of money on a horse and you watch it run. It is quite cool, you win some money, the girls like you, it is fun. Once in Standard 8 I won a few thousand rand and it felt like I was living the life… But then it gripped me.”

He married and had a family, but could not keep his life under control.

“I was in financial disarray. For 15 years I tried to stop. I started doing it in secret and that is a sure sign you have a problem. My wife - we are divorced now - twice tried to commit suicide. It got very messy. I can just thank God I did not get involved with loan sharks.”

He warned that the borderline or illegal underbelly of the industry was inundated with underworld figures.

 

“I tried to stop. I was in rehab twice. But, unlike other addictions, the medical aid people do not pay for this. And you are never sure where a person’s rock bottom is. Some hit rock bottom when their families leave them, others when they lose their possessions. Some never hit rock bottom and they die.”

 

Collins appealed to problem gamblers or their families to contact the National Responsible Gambling Programme at 080 000 6008 for free and anonymous professional help.

Sershan Naidoo, spokesman for the National Lotteries Board, said playing the lottery was a form of gambling. “With the lottery you are taking a chance that you will win. However there is nothing to suggest that there is a problem (with problem gamblers).

“It is a small percentage of people.”

henri.duplessis@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Salaries, wedding rings down the drain

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Pawn shop owners say desperate gamblers pawn prized possessions such as wedding rings in exchange for money to gamble.

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Cape Town - Pawn shop owners say desperate gamblers pawn prized possessions such as wedding rings and family jewellery in exchange for money to gamble.

Leslie Cash, the owner of Mr Cash, a pawn shop in Voortrekker Road, Goodwood, said some people waited for the store to open so they could gamble before work.

“We try to advise them that they will lose their money but they say they want to win back money gambled away at GrandWest Casino.”

Cash added that some people had to go home to tell their spouse they gambled away their entire salary.

“Others don’t even have money to go home and need transport money.”

Another pawn shop owner, who declined to be named, said a woman entered her shop to pawn jewellery worth R9 000. “She pawned it for R1 500 cash. This woman and her family lost their home and two cars and are now renting a room.”

He said some people used their disability grants to gamble.

Baby Tyawa, CEO of the National Gambling Board, said research showed that 20 percent of the population gambled. More people were turning to online gambling or buying lottery tickets because it was more convenient, she said.

Karen Thomson, from Harmony Addictions Clinic, said there were more online gambling addicts being treated than casino gamblers.

Cape Argus

Millionaire’s body ‘in boot for a day’

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Preben Povlsen's body was kept stuffed in the boot of his car for a whole day before his body was dumped in a field.

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Cape Town - Preben Povlsen’s body was kept stuffed in the boot of his car for a whole day before his body was dumped in a field.

The Danish millionaire was assaulted at his home in Gordon’s Bay in the early hours of January 14, 2008. His body was found six days later near Otto du Plessis Drive in Table View.

He had almost 50 stab wounds and a broken neck and his body was partially burnt.

The three siblings accused of murdering him - Francis Kimeze, Stella Ssengendo and Maria Povlsen, his widow - are on trial before Judge Rosheni Allie in the Western Cape High Court.

Kimeze has admitted to killing Povlsen, 71, but maintains that it took place during a scuffle and that it hadn’t been premeditated.

He told the court that on the morning of the killing, he put the body in the boot of one of Povlsen’s cars.

“I had the body in the car that whole day,” said Kimeze, a former Ugandan child soldier who is representing himself, as he took the stand for a third day on Wednesday.

He had dumped the body the next morning, on January 15.

According to Kimeze’s version, a friend - identified only as a Nigerian named “Frank” - had been with him on the morning of the killing and had helped him dump Povlsen’s body.

It is not yet clear what has become of his friend, whom he described as someone he bought drugs from.

He hadn’t introduced Frank to Povlsen, saying he wouldn’t normally introduce “a friend like that” to his family.

At the time, Kimeze had been doing renovations around the Povlsens’ home.

Kimeze said there had been a problem with one of the home’s sliding doors. He had often used this sliding door and didn’t need a key to open it.

When prosecutor Mmatlhapi Tsheole asked whether Povlsen knew that one could gain entry to the house through this sliding door without a key, Kimeze replied, “No.”

Tsheole asked whether he had permission to use the door.

Kimeze said he was not given permission, but “used it anyway because I never took things serious”.

Tsheole asked whether anyone in the house had been expecting him at that time (it had been “after midnight”) - to which he replied, “No” - as well as whether they would’ve expected him to gain entry through that sliding door.

He acknowledged that they wouldn’t have expected it.

“Would it be correct to say you broke into the house?” the prosecutor asked.

Kimeze, who described the Povlsen house as his “second home”, said he had done it “many times”.

The State’s cross-examination of Kimeze is expected to continue on Thursday.

leila.samodien@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Keep tabs on police service in your area

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Waiting four hours for a police van and being told to “get out” of a police station are just some of the complaints received by a hotline.

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Cape Town - Waiting more than four hours for a police van to arrive and being told to “get out” of a police station are just some of the complaints received by the provincial government hotline set up to stamp out police corruption.

The “Report a cop, reward a cop” hotline was launched by Community Safety MEC Dan Plato in July to encourage people to report police corruption or good work by SMS, Twitter, telephone or e-mail.

On Wednesday, Plato’s spokesman, Greg Wagner, said that, on average, 20 calls and SMSes a week were received, most relating to poor police service. In November and last month, 147 complaints were received about problems that ranged from poor response times to unwillingness to help.

Only “a handful” of compliments were received, said Wagner.

“One woman reported that she called SAPS to report a crime and was promised that a van would be dispatched, but it was not forthcoming,” Wagner said.

“The complainant went four hours later to the station, where she was again told that a van would be sent.”

The woman was allegedly also told to “get out of the station” when she went back for assistance.

The highest number of complaints were from Grassy Park, followed by Delft and Elsies River.

Wagner said the measures proposed in the Western Cape Community Safety Bill, such as the introduction of an ombudsman, were part of attempts by the province to assist in resolving these complaints. The bill is before the legislature, but has been described as unconstitutional by the ANC, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and the Western Cape Community Police Board.

Public hearings were held this week and final submissions are to be discussed by the legislature’s committee on community safety on February 12. The bill would give the provincial government greater oversight over the police.

Wagner said public complaints were collated by the provincial Department of Community Safety and sent to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) or provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer for investigation.

* People can report police misconduct or good work by SMSing the word “reward” or “report” to 35395 or by calling the 24-hour hotline: 021 483 4332.

Faxes may be sent to the Department of Community Safety at 021 483 6026.

Reports may also be e-mailed to policing-complaints@pgwc.gov.za or by tweet to @RewardaCop.

clayton.barnes@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Gyms mooted for more prisons

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Gyms, modelled on the one set up in the Malmesbury prison by former inmates, may be rolled out to other prisons.

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Cape Town - Gyms, modelled on the one set up in the Malmesbury prison by former inmates Rodney Mitchell and Brent Gardener, may be rolled out to other prisons - and the Goodwood facility could be next.

Gardener and Mitchell, former heads of the Health & Racquet franchise liquidated in 2000, created the state-of-the-art and fully sponsored gym in the Malmesbury Medium A Correctional Centre while serving 19 months of their seven-year prison terms.

The duo were convicted of fraud involving R12 million in 2007. They started serving their terms in 2011 and were released from jail early last month. Gardener and Mitchell are now serving alternative sentences.

Equipment and trainers for the gym they set up, which is open to inmates and prison officials under the project “Opportunity through Fitness”, were sponsored by various companies.

The Correctional Services Department is responsible for maintaining it.

Among others, the prison gym was sponsored by The Zone Fitness Group.

Brent Gardener, who this week confirmed to the Cape Times he is Peter Gardener’s son, is the operations director at Zone Fitness.

On Tuesday he referred the Cape Times to Herman Blackie, the company’s sales and marketing director, for further comment.

Blackie said Peter Gardener had no official link to Zone Fitness.

Zone Fitness was looking at helping in the rolling out of other gyms in other prisons, such as the one in Goodwood, Blackie said.

Zone Fitness had been approached about 14 months ago about getting involved in the Malmesbury prison gym.

Initially frustrated with the slow pace at which the plan unfolded, Blackie said he felt good about the gym when he saw the positive impact it had on inmates.

“To see the guys qualify and get their (fitness trainer) certificates, that’s why we got into it.

“It’s (about) ploughing back,” he said.

Blackie had met Delekile Klaas, the province’s Correctional Services Department’s regional commissioner, about rolling out more gyms.

On Tuesday, Klaas confirmed they had met and said Goodwood prison and Brandvlei prison were being eyed as possible centres at which to set up the next gyms.

He said he planned to meet Zone Fitness representatives again next week to discuss it.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times


Karabus takes strain as UAE case drags on

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Cape Town doctor Cyril Karabus will have to wait another month before the case against him resumes.

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Cape Town -

Cape Town doctor Professor Cyril Karabus, who has been held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for 168 days, will have to wait another month before the case against him resumes.

On day his wife, Jenifer Karabus, who arrived back in Cape Town a few days ago after visiting him, described him as “a bowed man”.

“He’s a man with a lot of bravado. He’s very powerful in his profession. He finds it very difficult to take a submissive role...

“He’s pretending to be in control. But he’s a bowed man. This is killing him,” she said.

Because his passport had been confiscated, his movements were restricted. Jenifer said her husband was not allowed to work while he was in the UAE so had to simply wait for the case to proceed.

She said she had earlier been on Skype with Karabus and he had told her “some pretty bad news” – the medical committee was only expected to meet again on February 13.

On Wednesday Karabus’s local lawyer, Michael Bagraim, said that, after 16 postponements, the case had now been postponed to February 27.

He said on this day it was expected that a judge would:

* Withdraw a fraud charge against Karabus. The prosecution had requested this.

Bagraim said the fraud charge, that related to alleged forgery and the falsification of a hospital file, was the main charge and had resulted in a three-year prison sentence.

* Hear the defence ask that the second charge Karabus faced, that of manslaughter, also be withdrawn.

Bagraim said it was “shocking” that Karabus would have to wait about a month.

However, he said it was better than the situation they had been in before – when no date had been set for the case.

Karabus, 77, a retired paediatric oncologist, has been in the UAE since August.

He was arrested while in transit through Dubai and released on bail in October.

He had been tried in absentia and convicted of manslaughter and falsifying documents after the death of a three-year-old in 2002 at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, where he had been working as a locum. He was sentenced to the three years in jail in absentia.

Earlier this month South Africa sent a démarche – a strong protest – to the UAE government calling for the case against Karabus to be expedited. International Relations and Co-operation Deputy Minister Marius Fransman previously told the Cape Times he was following up on the matter.

However, the Cape Times could not reach him for comment on Wednesday.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Cape hit by 179 strikes in past year

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There were 179 violent strikes and protests in the Western Cape in the past year, provincial police said.

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Cape Town - There were 179 violent strikes and protests in the Western Cape in the past year, provincial police said on Thursday.

“A violent strike is where there is a use of force, a tyre was burnt, where somebody was assaulted with a stick..., if a case of intimidation is opened... or roads are blocked with barricades,” acting provincial police commissioner Peter Jacobs told reporters in Cape Town.

He said the figure was recorded between January 2012 and the start of this year, against the backdrop of the extended farmworkers' strike.

Farmworkers went on strike from November, demanding that the minimum daily wage be increased from R69 to R150, and that a cohesive land reform programme be implemented.

The strike was recently called off on condition that Agri SA committed to “local-level” agreements, and agreed not to victimise workers.

The police figures showed a spike in violent strikes and protests from September, with 19 incidents recorded.

There were 17 in October, 27 in November, and six in December. This month there were 58 violent strikes and protests.

Jacobs said police officers planned as far as possible to ensure their responses to the farmworkers' strike were adequate.

“It's important to understand what is different in this strike. It was spread over a vast area, especially the first part of November, when it was unheard of in rural areas to have such a simultaneous response, an outburst.”

He said the affected area in the Cape Winelands had a radius of at least 600 kilometres.

“Whilst we had a number of incidents, we were able to confine it to specific areas and the level of widespread damage was reduced considerably. There was damage, yes, but it was always localised in scope.”

Jacobs said deployments in these areas would remain until there were clear signs that labour unrest was over.

Sapa

More complaints about new hospital

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Another family has come forward with a complaint about the treatment a relative received at the new Khayelitsha Hospital.

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Cape Town - Another Khayelitsha family has come forward with a complaint about the treatment a relative received at the new Khayelitsha Hospital.

Nolubabalo Mtshalala alleged that her ailing diabetic mother, Elda Mtshalala was not only neglected by staff at the hospital, leading to the deterioration of her health, but had been given medication on another patient’s prescription.

The grandmother, 67, who spent almost a month in hospital, has since been discharged after doctors diagnosed her with a kidney failure.

Nolubalo Mtshalala accused the hospital of insensitivity, claiming that she was told of her mother’s kidney failure only as s he was being discharged.

“I asked the doctor why my mother was being discharged in such a bad condition. He called me to one side and told me that ‘your mother is not going to live long. Her kidneys are damaged and are starting to fail. She won’t live longer than two years’. I couldn’t believe how casually he broke such sad news.

Her complaint comes a week after the Cape Argus reported how Sajini Mfamela, 57, was not given regular dialysis despite it being recommended, and how he had died of kidney failure. The hospital denied the claims of his widow, Nozuko Buthi.

The Mtshalala family was also instructed not to give Mtshalala some of her anti-diabetes medicine as doctors suspected that it triggered the kidney failure, but she was not given alternative medication. But then Mtshalala was given medication - for Vitamin B1 - with someone else’s name on the envelope.

“We noticed that this was the wrong medication only after a week. We don’t know whether it’s responsible for her deteriorating health or not. Ever since she was discharged more than two weeks ago her diabetes has been uncontrolled.”

Sithembiso Magubane, spokesman for the department, said a review of the pharmacy prescription charts showed Mtshalala was discharged on the same medication she received in the ward. “The nurses work hard to keep patients as comfortable as possible.”

sipokazi.fokazi@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

W Cape police release protest numbers

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A total of 337 people were arrested during the recent Western Cape farmworkers' strike.

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Cape Town - A total of 337 people were arrested during the recent Western Cape farmworkers' strike, provincial police said on Thursday.

Acting provincial police commissioner Peter Jacobs told reporters most of the arrests (224) were made this month (January).

Farmworkers went on strike in November, demanding that the minimum daily wage be increased from R69 to R150, and that a cohesive land reform programme be implemented.

The strike was recently called off on condition that Agri-SA committed to “local-level” agreements, and agreed not to victimise workers.

Jacobs said two people died in the strikes, 28 civilians were injured, and 68 police officers were hurt.

The province had been hit by 179 violent strikes and protests in the past year.

“A violent strike is where there is use of force, a tyre was burnt, where somebody was assaulted with a stick... if a case of intimidation is opened... or roads are blocked with barricades,” Jacobs said.

The police figures showed a spike in violent strikes and protests from September.

This month there were 58 violent strikes and protests.

Jacobs said police officers planned as far as possible to ensure their responses to the farmworkers' strike were adequate.

“It's important to understand what is different in this strike. It was spread over a vast area, especially the first part of November, when it was unheard of in rural areas to have such a simultaneous response, an outburst.”

He said the affected area in the Cape Winelands had a radius of at least 600 kilometres.

“While we had a number of incidents, we were able to confine it to specific areas and the level of widespread damage was reduced considerably. There was damage, yes, but it was always localised in scope.”

Damage to private property could not be estimated. Provincial police had to fork out R75 000 for damage to 25 of their vehicles.

Jacobs said deployments in the areas affected would remain until there were clear signs that the labour unrest was over. - Sapa

Parents lock school head out

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Parents at Nomlinganiselo Primary School in Nyanga used their own locks to close the gates of the school in an effort to stop the principal from getting in.

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Cape Town - Parents at Nomlinganiselo Primary School in Nyanga used their own locks to close the gates of the school on Thursday morning in an effort to stop the principal from getting in.

They said that they were barring the principal from entering the premises. The lockdown is the result of a month of tension between the school’s principal and a group of disgruntled teachers and parents.

Teachers allege that they were shouted at, treated with disrespect in front of their pupils and threatened with dismissal by the principal.

“The principal has been working towards getting rid of the established teachers to make way for family members who he wants to employ at the school.

“We are tired of this and are calling on the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to investigate this matter fully. While this investigation is under way, we want the principal to be suspended,” said Unathi Mhana, a parent at the school.

She said that a meeting between parents, teachers and the principal to discuss the annual budget for the school had led many parents to believe “the budget is worked out in a secretive manner and when it was presented there were irregularities in the figures”. She wanted this matter to be investigated.

Teachers at the school declined to comment when contacted by the Cape Argus.

Principal Bhejle Mzinda said he was waiting for clearance from the education department before speaking directly to the media.

Paddy Attwell, spokesman for the department, said he had been aware of tensions at the school for some time.

“The community have given the WCED a list of allegations against the principal. The WCED is investigating these allegations. The principal will continue to work at the school while the investigation is in process.”

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Abalone poachers target Sea Point

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Sea Point has become the focus of more police patrols as brazen perlemoen poachers are operating on the coastline.

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Cape Town - Sea Point has become the focus of more police patrols as brazen perlemoen poachers are now operating off the coastline there.

Shaheen Moola, chief executive of the marine research company Feike, said as perlemoen stocks decreased in areas where poaching typically occurred, including the Overstrand, poachers started targeting areas that were less known for poaching, including Sea Point.

Earlier this month, members of the public had told police about a diver in the water near Mouille Point, a marine reserve.

Around 10pm, two people were spotted in the area where the diver had been in the water.

According to police, they tied a rope to a pole. One person lowered himself to the sea, re-emerged with a bag and handed it to the second person. This person took the bag and walked to Beach Road where he got into a taxi.

Police stopped the taxi and arrested a 50-year-old man who was found with 67 shucked perlemoen worth about R20 000.

Moola said poaching off Sea Point had not been “nearly as devastating as in the Overstrand”.

“Here (in Sea Point) abalone is growing year by year…

“Inevitably, because abalone is increasingly hard to find in the Overstrand, people are coming around the mountain to poach,” Moola said.

The positive aspect about the Sea Point stretch was that “rights holders”, people with permits allowing them to operate there, reported poaching, Moola said.

He said unlike the Overstrand area, more resources were focused on the Sea Point area to prevent poaching.

Bernard Liedemann, deputy director of the monitoring and surveillance directorate of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department, confirmed there had been sporadic incidents of poaching in Sea Point.

“The area was never known to stock abalone in the quantities known in other areas,” he said.

Liedemann said in one case, the Sea Point police had contacted him in the early hours of December 18 about poaching in the Sea Point area.

He said a suspect was arrested with 28 perlemoen.

Liedemann said the department would conduct patrols and inspections in the area and increase it if necessary.

Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said following the arrest of the suspected perlemoen poacher in Sea Point this month, vehicle, vessel and foot patrols had been increased.

“Patrols continue daily,” he said.

“The area from Sea Point swimming pool to Mouille Point is known for poaching and patrols are directed at these areas.”

Van Wyk said investigations into poaching in the area were ongoing and at a sensitive stage.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Cape Town fire victims being assisted

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A temporary relocation area is being developed for 800 families affected by a blaze in Khayelitsha on New Year's day.

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Cape Town - A temporary relocation area was being developed for 800 families affected by a blaze in Khayelitsha on New Year's day, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said on Thursday.

De Lille, in a council speech, said the City and provincial government were meeting with community representatives weekly to fast-track the development of the temporary site at OR Tambo Hall in Khayelitsha.

“Earthworks have been completed and very soon those residents still residing in the community hall will be accommodated on this site.”

Another site in nearby Mfuleni was being developed as the ultimate location for fire victims.

Fires in Khayelitsha and Du Noon on January 1 killed five men and destroyed numerous shacks and formal houses.

De Lille said some had accused fire and emergency services of not responding fast enough.

According to the mayor, the fire and rescue services department had nearly halved the fire mortality rate in informal settlements, from 7.9 deaths per 100,000 people in 2005, to 4.3 deaths in 2011. - Sapa


DA wins by-elections

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The Democratic Alliance has won two of three municipal by-elections that took place on Wednesday.

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Johannesburg - The Democratic Alliance has won two of three municipal by-elections that took place on Wednesday, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Thursday.

The other seat went to the African National Congress.

More than 22,000 people had registered to cast their votes in the three wards.

One by-election took place in KwaZulu-Natal. John Neville Lewis of the DA was voted as the new councillor in Ward 5 in uMngeni municipality. The seat was retained by the party.

Two by-elections took place in the Western Cape.

The new councillor was Johanna Martlow of the DA in Ward 22 in the City of Cape Town. The seat was retained by the party.

In the other by-election in the Western Cape, Piet Waterboer of the ANC won Ward 10 in Witzenberg municipality.

This seat was previously held by the Democratic Alliance. - Sapa

De Doorns grape trade illegal: cops

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The illegal trading of grapes along the N1 highway in De Doorns has become a growing concern for law enforcers, the Western Cape police said.

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Cape Town - The illegal trading of grapes along the N1 highway in De Doorns has become a growing concern for law enforcers, the Western Cape police said on Thursday.

Police have experienced an increase in reports of robberies which had been taking place in the area, said Captain Frederick Van Wyk.

“Most reports were from motorists who intended to stop and buy these grapes from informal traders who operate next to the highway,” said Van Wyk.

The highway in the Hex River Valley, between Worcester and Touws River, was identified as a hot-spot for this trade.

Van Wyk said grape trading was illegal and warned that it was posing a health risk, as some of the grapes were not of standard.

Several arrests of traders, and of motorists who ignored visible road signs indicating a non-stopping zone, had been made.

“We urge motorists not to buy these grapes but to rather buy from legal farms stalls or shops in the area,” said Van Wyk.

Police and traffic department officials were conducting operations to prevent such occurrences.

Traders and motorists found guilty of such practices would risk facing a jail term or paying a fine. - Sapa

Winelands fire rages for fifth day

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The defence force has been called in to help Western Cape firefighters battle a blaze in Franschhoek.

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Cape Town - A fire raged for a fifth day in the Western Cape winelands on Thursday, as firefighters battled a new blaze with military assistance.

Around 9 000 hectares, largely vegetation on the mountains, has burned since Sunday in the town of Franschhoek.

“The fire is still raging in that mountain range around Franschhoek towards Du Toitskloof,” said Etienne du Toit, deputy director of the Fire Brigade Service for the Western Cape.

“With this wind, you have continuous flare-ups. We anticipated that it would burn for at least seven days.”

Six helicopters and a spotter plane, 15 fire engines and 55 firefighters battled the fire on Thursday.

Firefighters and four helicopters and a military chopper were also dealing with a fresh blaze in a pine plantation in Wolseley, north of Franschhoek.

A defence force helicopter and crew was assisting in fighting the fire.

Du Toit said the fires were typical of the time of the year.

“This is the fire season so it's not unusual to have fires of this nature,” he said.

The fire in the Franschhoek area was not under control, but no lives were at risk.

“It doesn't pose any threat to lives or property at this stage,” said Du Toit.

Another fire which started in the scenic Cederberg mountains area two weeks ago, and claimed one life, was declared safe on Thursday. - AFP

Boy stabbed to death ‘for his lunch’

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A Cape Town pupil was stabbed to death allegedly for standing up to bullies who demanded his lunch.

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Cape Town - A Cape Town pupil was stabbed to death at his school’s gate allegedly for standing up to bullies who demanded his lunch.

Now a 15-year-old has been arrested for the death.

Aphelele Nogqala, 14, was pronounced dead at the scene after being stabbed in the neck on Tuesday.

Police said that the Grade 9 boy – who had started high school just three weeks earlier – died at the entrance to Isilimela Comprehensive School in Langa.

Aphelele’s mom Nomthetho Nogqala, 49, said days before her son’s death he complained that fellow pupils were bullying him for his lunch.

But she never imagined it would lead to bloody murder when she got a call summoning her to his school.

“I found him lying motionless on the ground. He was already dead,” she said.

“The worse part was that the police would not let me close his eyes. My son lay there for a long time with this dead eyes wide open.

“I don’t know who stabbed him or why but I keep thinking about the day he told me that during lunch there would be other learners who tried to take their food and he was one of the people who refused to give it up.”

The distraught mother said she now fears for the safety of her other children at neighbouring schools.

She said more schools in her area should get Metro police officers like the six Cape schools in the pilot project driven by the City of Cape Town.

“I want to know what the department is doing about ensuring the safety of children in the township schools,” the mom said.

“I don’t care about who gets arrested and I won’t even attend those court cases because that will not bring my son back.

“What I do want to ensure is that this never happens again to any other parent.

“I miss him so much, he was a kind loving child who helped me around the house.”

Police spokesman Captain FC Van Wyk confirmed a 15-year-old learner has been arrested and he is due to appear in court soon.

Daily Voice

Bredasdorp’s sex crimes spike

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The rape and murder of Anene Booysen has cast a spotlight on a spate of violent sex crimes in the town in recent years.

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Cape Argus - The vicious rape and murder of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen has cast a spotlight on a spate of violent sex crimes in the town in recent years.

Seventeen-year-old Anene was raped and mutilated. She was found alive at a construction site outside the Overberg town early on Saturday morning. A few hours later she succumbed to her injuries in Tygerberg Hospital.

Before she died she named one of her attackers. Two men were arrested this week on rape and murder charges, and they will appear in court next week. Police say they are hunting more suspects.

Bredasdorp residents spoke this week about increased violence against women and children, and this was confirmed by official crime statistics presented by a group of MPs yesterday, showing a spike in sex crimes in the Bredasdorp area over the last two years.The numbers were “alarming”, said Dorothy Ramodibe, chairwoman of the portfolio committee on women, children and people with disabilities, in a statement condemning the rape and murder of Anene.

Reported sex crimes in Bredasdorp had increased between the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 financial period, she said.

Quoting police figures, she said the number of murders reported in the town increased from four to 11, and sex offences had increased from 47 to 60 in the period.

“These alarming statistics point to a dire need for a relook of the survival and development of the nation’s children in a safe environment conducive for their growth,” said Ramodibe.

Community members were planning to march in Bredasdorp today in memory of Anene and in protest against violence aimed at women and children.

A wreath-laying ceremony was to be held at the location where Anene was found on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, Cosatu’s Western Cape office has joined President Jacob Zuma, the DA and other organisations in expressing outrage over Anene’s death. The union federation called for a picket outside the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court when the two suspects appear next week.

“When a very similar incident occurred in India recently, there was a massive outbreak of protest and mass demonstrations in the streets; it was a big story around the world,” said Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s provincial secretary.

“We have to show the world that South Africans are no less angry at such crimes and make an equally loud statement of disgust, and protest in the streets.”

Condemning Anene’s rape and murder, Zuma said: “The whole nation is outraged by this extreme violation and destruction of a young human life.”

Professor Rachel Jewkes, director of the Medical Research Council’s gender and health unit, said despite promises of a zero-tolerance stance on rape, there was no evidence that there had been any impact.

She said rape had become a frighteningly normal part of society. According to research her unit had conducted in the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng, between 25 percent and 33 percent of men had raped someone.

Jewkes said part of the problem was that the government trivialised rape.

“We are seen as the rape capital by the rest of the world… We might not be the worst, but we are a middle-income country and it is inexcusable,” said Jewkes.

She added that leaders should step up, as Zuma had done, and make it clear that rape would not be tolerated.

On Thursday, DA MPs visited Anene’s family in Bredasdorp to pay their respects.

The party has pledged to do everything it can to support the family - including assisting with arrangements for the funeral tomorrow.

*Additional reporting by Kieran Legg

Cape Argus

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