Hout Bay police are searching for two knife-wielding muggers who robbed a group of hikers on the Karbonkelberg trail.

Cape Town - Hout Bay police are searching for two knife-wielding muggers who robbed a group of hikers on the Karbonkelberg trail, leaving one of them with bruises.

This was the eighth reported attack on the Table Mountain range since the beginning of the year.

Hout Bay resident Gwen Robins said her son, daughter and daughter-in-law had gone hiking on the Karbonkelberg trail on Saturday. They had five children with them aged eight months to eight years.

The group was cornered by two men with knives while ascending the trail. “They pushed my daughter to the ground and threatened them with big knives. My son told me that the children were screaming. Those people are cowards, there were children there,” she said.

Robins said the men made off with rings and watches. Apart for a few scratches and minor bruises to her daughter, the group was unharmed. They reported the incident at the Hout Bay police station immediately.

Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk confirmed a case of robbery had been opened at the police station. He said the two men were still at large after taking jewellery, clothing and a watch from the group.

Most muggings were reported during summer, he said. “People are warned on a regular basis… not to walk alone with expensive items in these mountainous areas, as criminals will use these opportunities to commit crime,” Van Wyk said.

Table Mountain National Parks spokeswoman Merle Collins said the incident was not reported to them.

She said rangers patrolled the area but had not reported anyone suspicious.

Collins said there weren’t many criminal incidents reported in the winter months. “Right now we are doing preventative work. We are more concerned about people injuring themselves on the mountain. This time of the year, the mountain is very wet and a lot of people tend to slip…” Collins said.

Six robberies on Table Mountain have been reported since January, including last month on Signal Hill when a 19-year-old Norwegian exchange student was raped.

This prompted Sanparks, the city and the police to install CCTV camera at the top of the parking lot on Signal Hill.

Cape Times

Thirteen days is virtually all it took the Fidentia group to buy a company managing the trust funds of widows and orphans.

Cape Town - Thirteen days is virtually all it took the Fidentia group to buy a company managing the trust funds of widows and orphans and involving more than R1 billion.

And based on court documents, it took just under two-and-a-half years for the money to be misappropriated.

Last month Arthur Brown, the former head of Fidentia, was sentenced to an effective R150 000 fine or three years in jail after being convicted on two counts of fraud.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has applied to appeal against this sentence.

One of the counts Brown was convicted of involved Fidentia’s takeover of the Mantadia Asset Trust Company (Matco).

Based on two sets of court documents - the NPA’s application to appeal and a 2010 matter brought by Matco - it took barely two weeks for Fidentia to gain control of Matco.

The 2010 document listed 19 defendants in the Matco matter including former directors and shareholders of Matco, Brown, and directors later appointed by Fidentia.

It was found that Matco’s trustees, directors, shareholders and Old Mutual had “acted recklessly” and breached their duty to the trust and its beneficiaries.

Matco, now known as Living Hands, was a trust administration company that managed the trusts of widows and orphans.

According to the NPA papers, Matco had a current account fund, with at least R69 million, used for the daily needs of beneficiaries in various trust funds.

It also had a surplus investment with Old Mutual “which covered the future needs of these funds of more than R1bn.”

Based on the NPA court papers and the 2010 document:

* October 6, 2004 - Brown “was directly involved in the proposal” to buy Matco for R93m and on this day signed an agreement.

* October 14, 2004 - A letter with Brown’s signature describes him as Matco’s “incoming director”.

* October 15, 2004 - Fidentia Holdings instructs Standard Bank in writing to transfer R93m “seemingly from the Fidentia Holdings account at Standard Bank… to the account of Matco.”

A letter from Fidentia Asset Management (FAM) to Old Mutual says: “We hereby instruct you to liquidate the R150m of Matco assets with immediate effect and transfer such proceeds into the following account: Fidentia Asset Trust Management”. Old Mutual writes to Matco that it is unsure about Fidentia’s instructions and will only act on Matco’s instructions. Then in a letter to Old Mutual, Matco confirms that Fidentia Asset Management was appointed investment manager with effect from October 14 and had full authority to deal with the investment portfolio, including moving “a portion of the entire investment” from Old Mutual.

The NPA’s court papers say Brown tried to get the R150m from Old Mutual “by deceit”.

* October 16, 2004 - The balance of the Fidentia Holdings account from which the payment to Matco is to be made stands at R353 316.97 - nowhere near the R93m purchase price.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A man was to appear in the Strand Magistrate's Court for allegedly trying to bribe a traffic official at a licence test centre.

Cape Town - A man was to appear in the Strand Magistrate's Court on Tuesday for allegedly trying to bribe a traffic official, the City of Cape Town said.

Traffic services inspector Merle Lourens said the man was told on Monday that he had failed his heavy duty motor vehicle learner's licence test.

“The applicant then handed a plastic money bag filled with R100 notes, in an apparent attempt to bribe the examiner,” she said.

A supervisor was called and the man admitted that he had tried to bribe the examiner.

“This should serve as a warning to all those who wish to subvert the system through illegal means. Anyone attempting such tactics will be shown no leniency,” said safety mayoral committee member JP Smith. - Sapa

Two men accused of luring a Khayelitsha teenager to a shack and then raping her for two hours have appeared in court.

Cape Town - Two men appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court on Tuesday for raping a teenager, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

Western Cape NPA spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said the men, aged 27 and 29, were expected to bring a formal bail application on June 25.

According to the Daily Voice, the 15-year-old girl was playing outside her home when she was lured to a shack with the promise of money.

She was reportedly abused for two hours before escaping. - Sapa

Cape Town’s low-lying areas have been hit by the recent rain - and residents are mopping up their drenched homes daily.

Cape Town - Residents in low-lying areas across Cape Town are feeling the brunt of the rain this week and have been mopping up their rain-drenched homes daily.

More than 1 300 people have been affected in Endlovini in Khayelitsha since the weekend and residents in Europe in Gugulethu have puddles in their shacks.

The informal settlement is in a low-lying area.

Resident Chippa Themba said he would spend most of the week indoors, trying to keep his house dry.

“Even when it rains just once a day there will be a lot of water inside the houses,” he said.

Furniture would be damaged and there was no way people could adequately prepare themselves for rainy days.

“The people just try to fix their roofs, that is the only thing we can do. There is not even sand in the area that we can put at the doors so the water doesn’t come in that much.”

Themba said they received some assistance from the city, but the last time they were given any blankets was last year.

“Our children are also sick. Some people have carpets and those take longer to dry and their children stay sicker for longer. There is nothing we can do. We just have to wait until it is summer again.”

Last year, Cape Town experienced its coldest winter in decades. The average temperature in June and July was 12.4ºC.

Rain has been forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is expected to be a touch warmer, with no rain forecast.

The City of Cape Town said planning for this winter started last year.

“It followed a structured approach and included lessons learnt in dealing with challenges last winter.

“Mitigation measures are in place to prepare for any potential storm damage.

“The city is geared to deal with any major emergency events.”

Cape Argus

The father of the man accused of Anzunette du Plessis’s murder said he did not send his son to check on repairs done at her house.

Cape Town - The father of the man accused of murdering Claremont mother Anzunette du Plessis did not send his son to check on repair work done to the roof of the Buchanan Street home, the Western Cape High Court has heard.

But Moegamat Armien Salie may have heard his father talk about possible leaks the night before the murder.

Faried Salie of Mitchells Plain told the court on Tuesday: “It was raining heavily that evening. I told my family I hope that the roof doesn’t leak again. My son was busy in the yard so he (may have) heard it.”.

Faried Salie was called as a witness by the defence. It has now closed its case.

Faried Salie told the court that he owned a maintenance business, Faried Salie & Sons, and had renovated an en suite bathroom at Du Plessis’s home in March last year.

Du Plessis, her fiancé and their daughter had moved into the house as tenants a month later.

In September, the landlady contacted Faried Salie to do repair work on the roof.

By this time, Du Plessis had set up her home office; she worked as a specialist medical recruiter.

Salie has admitted that he stabbed Du Plessis to death that day. The State claimed he went to the house pretending to check on leaks to the roof that he and his father had worked on two weeks earlier.

Faried Salie confirmed that he and his son went to the house in September, but testified that only he had worked on the roof and that his son had assisted him by passing tools and equipment to him from below.

“He doesn’t do waterproofing. I do,” said Faried Salie.

Moegamat Salie also told the court earlier that Du Plessis had owed him money for repair work he had done to door locks inside the house.

His father said he was neither aware of locks that needed to be repaired nor that his son had fixed them at Du Plessis’s request.

But Faried Salie said it was “a common thing” for people to ask workers to do odd jobs around the house while they were contracted to do other work.

Faried Salie said he had no knowledge of what happened that day and had not seen his son that day either.

State advocate Evadne Kortje and defence advocate Ken Klopper are expected to deliver closing arguments on Thursday.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A 29-year-old cross-dresser who pleaded guilty to the murder of Graham Flax in his flat last year has been sentenced to 15 years.

Cape Town - A 29-year-old cross-dresser who pleaded guilty to the murder of Graham Flax in a Sea Point flat last year has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

A Cape Town Regional Court magistrate jailed Jerome Benjamin for 15 years, with six years suspended, for murder, theft and the attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

Benjamin, of Delft, who also goes by the name Jade September, was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the murder. He pleaded guilty to killing Flax, 65, whom he met on an internet site, in his Costa Bravo flat in Beach Road on March 3.

Benjamin admitted he fetched a bottle of whisky, hit Flax over the head while he slept and stabbed him numerous times in his neck and chest.

He then stole Flax’s laptop and BlackBerry cellphone, which he sold in the CBD to get money to buy drugs. Benjamin later handed himself over to police.

Outside court on Tuesday, Dani Janks, a relative of Flax, said the sentencing would not bring him back.

Barbara Macdonald, a friend of Flax for 40 years, said that although Benjamin showed remorse, he still knew what he was doing on that day.

“He said he was sorry and under the influence of drugs at the time. But he still stole the laptop and cellphone.

“Graham was such a gentle, tolerant and cultured person. I really loved him. He was the best friend, kind and caring, always giving and a very good mentor.”

natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille has appealed to residents for help in monitoring companies who clean and provide sanitation.

Cape Town - Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille has appealed to residents for help in monitoring companies who clean and provide sanitation services in a bid to improve service delivery in informal settlements.

On Tuesday, De Lille launched the “Know your Community, Know your Contractor” campaign saying the city has realised that it has to communicate with residents to know whether they are getting proper services and if contractors are providing the service the city pays them for.

This comes a month after Khayelitsha residents highlighted the dismal state of chemical toilets and the failure of Mshengu Services to maintain the toilets according to its R140 million contract with the city.

De Lille said the city, as part of its efforts to be a caring city, had to be responsive to the needs of people and would open all channels of communication so that residents could lodge complaints when services were not being delivered.

She said the city had installed 70 FreeCall Lines which residents could use to lodge complaints in disadvantaged areas and would install 20 more FreeCall lines by July.

De Lille said she would embark on a series of public meetings to inform residents who the service providers were, what level of cleanliness the city expected and what channels residents could follow to lodge claims.

“The campaign is aimed at informing residents living in informal settlements about their rights and obligations related to city services they receive,” De Lille said.

She said the city had systems in place to monitor its contractors such as spot checks, inspections between the city and the contractor, community workers to assist with monitoring service provision, janitors, crosschecking invoices and monitoring and measuring waste drop-offs at the designated points.

“However we cannot be in all places at all times. We rely on communities being the eyes and ears of the city, helping us to identify any shortcomings on behalf of the community,” she said.

While it is the city’s duty to provide services and to monitor the contractors, De Lille said residents also had to keep their neighbourhoods clean and in a healthy state. For this financial year alone, she said the city spent R13.9m on repairing water and sanitation infrastructure damaged by vandals.

De Lille will hold eight public meetings which started last night in Block 6, Philippi.

Next week, she will hold meetings with residents in Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Dunoon, Imizamo Yethu, The Heights, Freedom Farm and Malawi Camp.

“A critical aspect to this campaign is to remind communities that if they have exhausted all communication channels to the city, they must make use of their councillor about aspects of delivery that require attention,” De Lille said.

zara.nicholson@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Five Cape Town families who refused to move from an area earmarked for a R480m housing development will be moved by authorities.

Cape Town - Five families in Joe Slovo in Langa who have refused to move from an area earmarked for a R480 million housing development will be moved by authorities on Wednesday, the Western Cape Human Settlements Department has said.

MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela announced on Tuesday that the department would enforce a court order that the five families signed on April 16, agreeing to move in order for the project to go ahead.

“If people have to be moved in this way you do expect resistance but we have no choice. We won’t allow five households to stand in the way of providing 2 051 families with homes. We will be setting a very wrong precedent,” said Madikizela.

Madikizela said they had spent more than a year trying to engage with the families and had sent them three more notices subsequent to the court order.

“They are shifting the goalposts every time the officials go there and they have not told us why they do not want to move,” he said.

“It’s a very strange thing. Why would a community and certain community leaders not assist in a case where we want to build homes for people?” Madikizela asked.

Xolile Tolobisa, who lives in one of the five households, said they were refusing to move because the city had not given them anything in writing saying where they would be relocated to or if they were entitled to a house in the new development.

“We have been waiting for them to give us something in writing but we found a letter slipped under our door on Monday saying they are coming to relocate us,” said Tolobisa.

“I don’t know what their plans are but I will be at work tomorrow (Wednesday) and when I come back I won’t have a house.”

The department and the Housing Development Agency (HDA), plans to build 2 639 houses in the Joe Slovo Phase 3 Project and has budgeted R480m for this. The projects benefits families who earn less than R3 500 per month.

Madikizela said another 90 families, who had also been living in the same area as the five remaining families, have already voluntarily relocated within the project areas.

“This order stipulated that they would relocate to vacant sites within their environs, that they would be assisted to move, would not incur any costs and would also be provided with the same basic services they currently enjoy,” said Madikizela.

“This delay also means that the department faces the risk of having to pay the contractor appointed to build the houses because of the losses the business has incurred due to the stoppages.”

Community leader and chairman of the Langa South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco), Michael Dumo said the department was consulting the wrong community leaders.

“We are now representing the community and this relocation is news to us.”

“We are not against the development of the area but we want a proper consultation to be done.”

nontando.mposo@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Patricia de Lille was forced to leave the stage of a public meeting in Philippi when a chanting crowd refused to let anyone speak.

Cape Town - Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille was forced to leave the stage of a public meeting in Philippi on Tuesday night when a chanting crowd brandished chairs and refused to let anyone speak.

They were angry their ward councillor was not present and accused the mayor of not inviting him.

The meeting was the first of a series organised by the City of Cape Town in a campaign to “know your community, know your contractor”, against a background of intensifying service delivery protests.

Before the meeting De Lille said she was “not expecting it to be easy”, expecting to hear complaints about basic services – especially sanitation and solid waste – but in the end she did not get a public word in edgeways.

As soon as the crowd in the hall of Bongolethu Primary School in Brown’s Farm heard that their councillor, Thembinkosi Pupa, would not be present, they rose, began singing Struggle songs and refused to listen to anything said from the stage, where De Lille and other councillors were sitting.

They also tore up pamphlets which explained the purpose of the meeting and starting stacking chairs as if packing up.

After five to 10 minutes of mayhem, De Lille left.

Some residents claimed Pupa, an ANC councillor, had not been invited on purpose, but De Lille said this was not true.

She told the Cape Argus: “The councillor was invited, his name and all his contact details are even at the back of the pamphlet.

“I expected it to turn out the way it did, you can see Pupa instigated the whole issue.”

De Lille said she felt sorry for elderly people who turned up to the meeting to “engage”.

“We wanted to show them how contractors that work for the city work so the community can assist the city in service delivery.”

Outside the hall there was a tense moment when DA councillor Nceba Hinana was trying to explain the situation to the Cape Argus, and a group of ANC Youth League members approached, shouting at Hinana.

A policeman arrived and told the ANCYL members to leave.

Loyiso Mdini, chairman of the ANCYL in Philippi, said the DA was only there to “drive their agenda”.

Nceba Tshandana said they were not there to listen to the “DA’s lies.”

Teenage Mtiyane said: “The councillor is a resident and this was a community meeting, he didn’t need to be personally invited to be here.”

The council has spent almost R14 million to repair infrastructure destroyed by vandals, often during service delivery protests, in the past financial year. And in the past two months, council staff have been attacked as they provided top-up services in informal settlements in Gugulethu.

The city has been granted an interim interdict against 89 former employers of cleaning service Sannicare CC and residents of Ward 40, who were identified as inciting violence and preventing council staff from delivering services. But the city is adamant the campaign is not a response to the recent attacks on city staff trying to service toilets in the Europe, Kanana and Boystown informal settlements.

“This is about service level agreements for all communities in Cape Town,” said De Lille. The next meeting is due to be held at the Weltevreden Community Hall in Kosovo in Philippi on June 4.

Cape Argus

Cape Town police intervened after frustrated immigrants started stoning a temporary refugee reception centre.

Cape Town - Police used stun grenades to disperse a crowd at Customs House on the Foreshore on Tuesday after the building was stoned by frustrated immigrants

The temporary refugee reception centre housed in the building was closed soon after 11am as staff feared for their safety.

On Monday, security guards turned fire hoses on hundreds of waiting immigrants as a “crowd control measure”.

The refugee rights NGO Passop has been vocal in its condemnation of how Home Affairs has managed a sudden influx in the numbers of people queuing to sort out their documentation.

Many of the immigrants interviewed by the Cape Argus said they had been queuing for days, and in some cases through the night, in the hope that their asylum-seekers’ documents would be renewed before they expired.

The fine for an expired document is reportedly R2 500.

It also carries with it the threat of job losses, arrest and deportation.

JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, slammed the department on Tuesday for its inability to provide proper service, management and facilities to the waiting crowds.

Yusuf Simons, the department’s provincial manager, responded by saying that Customs House was an unsuitable, temporary facility that could not accommodate the sudden influx of people.

A large number of immigrants had arrived at the centre last Thursday after the department had sent out calls for those with outstanding asylum seekers’ applications to present themselves for processing.

Simons conceded that many of the centre’s staff had failed to come to work on .

Meanwhile, Passop is planning a march on the centre to protest against the poor service.

Passop’s director, Braam Hanekom called on Home Affairs staff to join the immigrants in protest.

“No one should have to work under these conditions, no one should have to face being treated like this.

“We should stand in solidarity against this crisis in management,” Hanekom said.

Cape Argus

Hundreds of members of Popcru, clad in red and yellow T-shirts, gathered in Cape Town and Durban ahead of marches over salary grades.

Cape Town/ Durban - Hundreds of members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, clad in red and yellow T-shirts, gathered in Cape Town and Durban ahead of marches over salary grades on Wednesday.

Staff were protesting over the safety and security sectoral bargaining council agreement signed in 2011, which had apparently not yet been implemented.

The agreement contains provisions related to pay level upgrades and career path planning.

At the King Dinuzulu Gardens in Durban Popcru members carried placards which read: “Away with level three salaries for 20 years,” and “Away with slavery packages”.

They were expected to march to the police provincial headquarters in Durban.

In Cape Town a crowd gathered in Keizergracht Street and waited for buses to bring in people from Paarl, Worcester, and Beaufort West.

Some blew vuvuzelas, and one carried a sign with the words: "Top management must adhere to agreement or face war. Away with low wages".

Other signs read: "Popcru rescue us from this SAPS madness", and "Why should we beg?".

At one point, the crowd sang: "Is this dog, Phiyega? She is taking our rights from us."

Riah Phiyega is the national police commissioner.

The march to the police provincial offices in Green Point was to have started at 9am.

Indications were the march could be redirected to Parliament, depending on the eventual starting time.

Congress of SA Trade Unions marshals would lead the march. - Sapa

Opposition parties warn that huge underspending in the current City of Cape Town budget points to a "city in crisis".

Cape Town - As the City of Cape Town prepares to finalise its R31-billion budget on Wednesday for the 2013/14 financial year, the main opposition ANC warns that huge underspending in the current budget points to a “city in crisis”.

The financial year ends on June 30, but the city has spent only R3.6bn of its R6.2bn capital budget, which is used for council infrastructure.

ANC chief whip Xolani Sotashe says the city’s move to cut the capital budget to just R5.4bn for the next financial year is an acknowledgement that it lacks the capacity to spend its budget.

The “cold war” within the DA’s leadership and caucus was affecting the ability of staff in the city to deliver on its mandate. “There is poor leadership and this leads to poor planning by the administration.”

Yet, despite this underspending, the city had increased its operating costs for the day-to-day running of the city from R23bn to R26bn.

But Brett Herron, acting mayoral committee member for finance, said the ANC had misunderstood the budget.

“Last year, the city, in agreement with the National Treasury, rolled over in excess of R1bn of conditional grant funding related to transport projects. This was for projects already contractually committed to.

“These funds have now been spent and are therefore not reflected in this year’s budget. Even excluding these funds, the city’s capital budget has still increased in real terms. It is important to note that the city spends one of the highest percentages of any metro in the country on capex, as part of our commitment to infrastructure-led growth,” Herron said.

While Sotashe expressed doubt that the city would be able to spend its remaining capital budget before the end of June, Herron said it was too early to determine what the city’s final expenditure would be.

The city had to increase its operating costs for the 2013 financial year because of factors beyond its control. These included fuel costs, Eskom tariffs and multi-year wage agreements.

“Critically, the city also prioritises expenditure on repairs and maintenance, at a level higher than inflation.”

Sotashe said the transport directorate got the lion’s share of the last capital budget with R2.6bn, but had only managed to spend R1.4bn. The capital budget for 2013 has been reduced to R1.4bn.

Social development received the smallest budget allocation in 2012, but could only spend 28 percent of it, Sotashe said. “It is a disgrace.”

Herron acknowledged that this department had underperformed for “a range of historical reasons”, but added that improvements to the way it functioned would ensure it delivered on its mandate.

ANC councillor Bheki Hadebe said the MyCiTi bus service was running at an annual deficit of R32 million, but had cost the city R35m in operating costs in 2012. “This service can’t sustain itself.”

ANC councillor Peter Gabriel described the 2013 budgets for safety and security, social development and economic development as “inadequate”. He said crime was the top issue raised during meetings with communities, and the R67m allocated would not be enough to beef up the metro police.

New policies for youth development and to deal with substance abuse would come to nought because social development was not being allocated enough money, he added.

Hadebe questioned the R222m proposed spend on consultants in the 2013 financial year and the allocation of almost a third of the budget to contracted services. “This is a clear indication this is not a well-run city.”

The city had seen a steady increase in employee-related costs, he said, yet it could not spend its budget.

Herron said: “Like all governments, the city uses consultants for the rollout of complex technical projects. For example, the implementation of the IRT requires engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and a range of other professional services. This expenditure therefore improves service delivery.

“The finances of the City of Cape Town are widely regarded as the best run in the country. This is attested to by the fact that we have received eight successive unqualified audits and have been awarded the highest possible credit rating by Moodys.

“Given the financial mess in most ANC-run municipalities, they would be well advised to sort out their own problems before misleadingly attacking the DA-run City of Cape Town.”

Cape Argus

A man walking across a Philippi East field has found a baby - naked, pale and with its umbilical chord still attached.

Cape Town - On Tuesday, the Daily Voice was called out to a Philippi East field for a third time to find the corpse of a tiny newborn on the ground.

In the latest discovery, a man came across a baby - naked, pale and with its umbilical chord attached.

The grim find comes as the country observes Child Protection Week.

“This is now a graveyard for unwanted newborns,” community leader Yvonne Barthies told the Daily Voice.

“It is a baby dumping ground – in three years three babies that we know of were dumped here. This is not good for our people in this community. We are not murderers here.”

The concerned woman says residents suspect a woman dumped the child on the open field in the early hours of Tuesday morning under cover of darkness.

“We suspect the mother of this baby came from another area to dump it here,” said Barthies.

“There is no electricity here so this place is very dark at night, and that is the only reason why people take advantage of it.

“We are like aliens here for five years – until election time. Only then the politicians act like we are people.”

Police spokesman FC van Wyk confirmed the infant was found early on Tuesday.

“We are investigating a case of concealment of birth. No arrests have been made,” he said.

Heavily pregnant resident Lameez Crawley, 27, said that they are themselves hunting for any woman who was recently pregnant and who is now without her baby.

“That will be a bit difficult considering there are a lot of us in this area,” said Lameez.

She was one of the first people on the scene.

Witnesses told the Daily Voice that a man crossing the field at the Klipfontein Mission Station along Govan Mbeki Road came across the little corpse.

“He said initially he thought the baby was a doll, and actually got a shock when he found it was a dead baby,” said Lameez.

“I think the baby was in a bag which was next to it. But the man saw the bag and wanted to see the contents and that is when he made the gruesome discovery.

“I rushed there and I saw it was, in fact, a baby – it still had the umbilical cord attached. We had to chase dogs away from the corpse and covered it with the plastic bag.”

Lameez said the baby was pale and its clenched little hands had already turned blue.

“She probably died because of the cold. It was raining last night,” said Lameez.

“And I cannot imagine how the baby must have cried as the mother walked away from her.”

The Daily Voice was previously called out to the field in October 2011 when a three-month-old was found stuffed into a red sports bag.

Exactly a year earlier in 2010, another infant was found by a municipal worker in a plastic bag on the same field.

Daily Voice

Court proceedings against the remaining accused may shape investigations into Anene Booysen’s rape and murder, say police.

Cape Town - Court proceedings against the remaining accused in the Anene Booysen case may shape investigations into her rape and murder – and influence whether more arrests will be made, say police.

Two suspects, Jonathan Davids, 22, and Johannes Kana, 21, were initially arrested for her attack in Bredasdorp.

Last week Davids was set free and all charges against him were dropped as prosecutors found that DNA forensic tests results of semen and blood had ruled him out as a suspect.

On Tuesday while police spokesman Frederick van Wyk could not say if more arrests would be made, he said investigations into the matter were continuing and information that surfaced during the case against Kana could influence the probe.

“It all depends on what comes out of that,” he said.

About a week after Anene died a story on the police’s official online journal said Anene “was gang-raped” between 3am and 4am on February 2.

In a statement police sent out at the time, it said she died in Tygerberg Hospital at 10pm after identifying one of her attackers.

The statement did not detail her injuries.

Six days after Anene’s death her foster mother Corlia Olivier, had told the Cape Times that police told her that Anene’s body had been totally cut open and “some of her body parts were open on the ground”.

Olivier also said officers told her Anene’s fingers and legs had been broken.

During Davids’s bail application in February, the case’s investigating officer, Edmund Abels, had testified a security guard found her body, with the intestines hanging out, at a construction site.

On Tuesday the police’s Hermanus cluster commander Phumzile Cetyana told the Cape Times in a telephone interview that after Davids was released, Cetyana had addressed the Bredasdorp community about the case.

“I said to them there was an exaggeration of the matter (in the media),” he said. Cetyana said at some point during the meeting, residents had asked how one person could have broken Anene’s bones.

He said he told them: “Her bones were not broken.”

Cetyana said residents had also asked him how one person could have slit her stomach and he replied: “No. No. No. There was no stomach that was cut.”

Cetyana declined to answer further questions and referred the Cape Times to the provincial police.

Van Wyk declined to comment on Anene’s injuries and referred queries to the Health Department.

On Tuesday Health Department spokesman Mark van der Heever said it had never released the types of injuries Anene had suffered.

“This information is patient-confidential and was given to SAPS at the time,” he said.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said: “Unfortunately we cannot discuss the extent of her injuries as this will form part of the case against Johannes Kana. I can confirm though that Anene Booysen was not disembowelled nor did she have broken legs, fingers or bones.”

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Hundreds of Popcru members marched down Adderley Street in central Cape Town to protest over salary grades.

Cape Town - Hundreds of Popcru members marched down Adderley Street in central Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon to protest over salary grades.

The police administrative staff, dressed in red and yellow, slowly made their way towards the provincial police building in Green Point to hand over their memorandum of demands.

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) Western Cape secretary Mncedisi Mbolekwa said the march would shut down essential provincial support services.

“We will shut down every (police) support service in the Western Cape... That includes human resources, finance and supply chain management,” he said.

Three police vehicles led the march, followed by a truck with a loudspeaker and generator.

Congress of SA Trade Union officials acted as marshalls.

Some people blew vuvuzelas, and one carried a sign with the words: “Top management must adhere to agreement or face war. Away with low wages”.

Other signs read: “Popcru rescue us from this SAPS madness”, “SAPS is worse than apartheid” and “Why should we beg?”

At one point the crowd sang: “Is this dog, Phiyega? She is taking our rights from us.” Riah Phiyega is the national police commissioner.

Staff were protesting over the safety and security sectoral bargaining council agreement signed in 2011, which had apparently not yet been implemented.

The agreement contains provisions related to pay level upgrades and career path planning. - Sapa

Two men were shot and killed in separate incidents in Lavender Hill, Cape Town.

Cape Town - Two men were shot and killed in separate incidents in Lavender Hill on Tuesday night.

It is understood that one of the men was shot at least 12 times and police found 24 bullet casings around his body.

Shortly before 7pm, Steenberg police responded to reports of a shooting in Symphony Avenue.

“On arrival at the scene they found the body of a 29-year-old male inside his vehicle. According to the information received the (dead man) went outside to his car and three unidentified males approached him,” said police spokesman Captain F C van Wyk.

Van Wyk said the assailants “randomly” shot at the victim.

While trying to escape, the victim crashed his car into a lamppost. He sustained two gunshot wounds and died on the scene.

Shortly after midnight, police responded to reports of another shooting in Bonaface Street, about 2.5km from Symphony Avenue.

A 21-year-old man was shot several times and killed. Police found his bullet-riddled body lying in the middle of the road.

Murder dockets have been opened, but no arrests have followed in either case.

Police would not speculate if the shootings were linked, or gang-related.

However, Kevin Southgate, chairman of Steenberg Community Police Forum, said the men were members of rival gangs. The former was apparently a Corner Boy and Stevens was a member of the Mongrels.

“The situation for the community in Lavender Hill is once again desperate. People fear for their lives and feel that police cannot protect them against the gangsters,” said Southgate.

“There was a shooting incident on Sunday, a call was made to the police station and yet there was no response. If there is not a concerted crackdown, gang hitmen become emboldened in their activities.”

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Vukukhanya Primary School in Gugulethu was closed for a second day as protests over the return of the principal continued.

Cape Town - Vukukhanya Primary School in Gugulethu was closed for a second day on Wednesday as protests over the return of the principal continued.

Tyres and rubbish were burnt and buckets of human waste were emptied in front of the school gates.

There was a strong police presence.

The protests started yesterday after principal Nontsikelelo Seabe’s return to school on Monday. She had been working at the district office since February while officials investigated allegations concerning her.

According to the Western Cape Education Department, the investigation found there were no grounds to prevent the principal from taking up her post.

However, parent Zukile Siyo described Seabe as “a dictator”. Other complaints against her included that she had stopped several projects at the school and had chased a teacher away.

Officials arrived at the school this morning but some parents said they were outraged because one of the officials only spoke to a few parents and not the whole group. More tyres and other rubbish were thrown on to the fire after the officials left and parents and children toyi-toyied outside gates.

Western Cape Education Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said yesterday an investigation had not found any reasons why the principal should not continue in her job.

He said officials had tried to ensure Seabe’s return to the school in March, and again, on Monday but she had been prevented from doing so.

“Officials have explained the outcome of the investigation to the school governing body and teachers, and have developed an intervention to facilitate her return,” he said. “Our Safe Schools division asked police to maintain a presence. Officials will continue to discuss the issues concerned with the relevant role plyers to ensure the principal’s return.”

ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

The man police are investigation for selling, but not delivering Krugerrands used to boast about big precious metal deals.

Cape Town - Matthys van Tonder, the man who police are investigation for selling, but not delivering Krugerrands, sold over R1 million worth of coins in just three months in 2008, former employee Clinton Wentzel said on Tuesday.

Van Tonder’s Cape Town company, Investments for Life (IFL), specialised in gold and precious metals. It promised safe returns in an uncertain investment climate by letting its clients pay for Krugerrands in monthly instalments.

On Monday the Cape Times reported that Donovan Barnes, 46, from Table View, and Vera Hougaard, 31, from Tokai had paid for their coins but not received them. Barnes opened a case against Van Tonder at the Milnerton police station in July 2012.

Wentzel, 33, from Parow, said he started working for IFL in 2008 after replying to an advert. “I phoned people and made appointments to sell them coins.”

Wentzel said he spent most of the day out of the office visiting clients, while Van Tonder stayed in the company’s offices.

Wentzel said he managed to sell about 90 one-ounce gold coins in the three months he worked there. Based on today’s prices, these coins would be worth about R1.2m.

He said Van Tonder gave him R24 commission for each coin he sold. After three months, he was told he would also get a monthly salary of R5 000, but only if he sold more than 100 coins a month.

Wentzel said some clients ordered coins, but soon ceased to pay the monthly instalments, due to financial difficulties. He said it was uncertain how many of the 90-odd coins he helped sell were paid off in full and how many were delivered to clients.

Wentzel quit the company when he “lost confidence in Van Tonder”, who he said used to boast about important precious metal deals and colossal houses he was building.

In 2008, Wentzel sold five coins to Paul George, who he met through mutual friend Elton Lotriet. George, 38, from Belhar, confirmed the purchase, but said he never received any coins, which would be worth R67 500 today.

George paid R700 a month for 60 months to IFL. “It was basically for my kids for a rainy day,” said George. “It wasn’t always easy to give that money, but in the end you knew you were going to reap the benefits.”

In late 2012, as his investment was nearing maturity, George attempted to contact IFL to check when the five coins would be delivered. But he found IFL premises in Kloof Nek Road closed.

“I didn’t have any contact numbers for Matthys,” said George. “I tried to get hold of him, but no one could help us.”

Anthonie Roussouw, Van Tonder’s father-in-law, said on Tuesday he last saw Van Tonder two or three weeks ago in Cape Town, but couldn’t say where he was at the moment.

All attempts by the Cape Times to contact Van Tonder have been unsuccessful.

Police spokesman Andrè Traut said the case against Van Tonder had been referred to the senior state prosecutor at Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in October last year.

jan.cronje@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Police staff will hold more marches if Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa remains silent on a salary deal in his budget vote, Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu said.

Cape Town - Police staff will hold more marches if Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa remains silent on a salary deal in his budget vote, Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu said on Wednesday.

He said Mthethwa and national police commissioner Riah Phiyega had been quiet on critical issues, and had not shown responsibility and accountability.

“We want to say: 'Comrades, this is the beginning. If you do not respond, national commissioner, tomorrow (Thursday), we are going to the budget vote speech and if, from the budget vote speech, we do not have our money, we will go on and march'.

“This is not a threat. It is going to happen.”

He was addressing a crowd of about 300 protesting police administration staff outside the provincial police building in Cape Town.

The staff, aligned to the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), marched to the building to hand over a memorandum of demands concerning a safety and security sectoral bargaining council agreement signed in 2011.

They were irate that the agreement had not yet been implemented and called for this to happen within two weeks.

They wanted all Public Service Act personnel upgraded from salary levels one, two, three and four to salary level five, and all supervisory clerks to level seven.

They wanted Public Service Act staff to be incorporated into the SA Police Service, as a category, in line with the agreement.

They called for clear career pathing which separated operational and administrative staff, and for equal pay for work of equal value.

Cebekhulu said police management was acting as though it was “business as usual” and was waving a red card at staff by saying they could not strike because they were an essential service.

“We had to leave our jobs and leave our society unattended just because of you. It's too nice to stay in the office, it's too nice to give us nothing,” he said.

Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said all police officials would be told to strike if the department did not implement the agreement.

He said Phiyega was not abiding by the law.

“Phiyega has a responsibility to make sure that these agreements are implemented... In this country, we have rules and we have laws. The workers must always follow the laws,” he said.

“If you don't want to follow the laws... then we'll tell all of the police, whether they're essential services or not, to come out on strike with all of us, until we win those demands.”

Ehrenreich said he represented more than 240 000 Cosatu members in the province, and he wanted the police staff to know they were behind their struggle.

“It's because of that solidarity that we are telling the SA Police Service that we will not tolerate their discrimination, and we will be back here with you unless they pay you the decent wages you deserve.”

He said Popcru refused to believe that the police did not have enough money to implement wage increases, as it claimed.

At least 12 police officials stood in front of the building while the crowd was being addressed.

The union members called on staff watching from the windows to leave their offices and join them below.

Deputy provincial police commissioner Maj-Gen Hendrik Burger accepted the memorandum of demands and said he would make sure it was acknowledged by the right people.

He also thanked the protesters for marching peacefully. - Sapa