Officials from two department are inspecting development at the Cape Town Film Studios at Faure.

Cape Town - Officials of the national Water Affairs Department and provincial Environmental Affairs Department are inspecting development at the Cape Town Film Studios at Faure, after receiving a complaint about damage to critically important wetlands on the site.

An official complaint was made to both departments by freshwater ecologist Liz Day, who had been called in by the film studio company as a specialist consultant.

But company chief executive Nico Dekker has dismissed her complaint, calling it “a storm in a teacup” and saying her comments should have come to him first.

He insisted that all work was taking place within the approved development boundary and argued that Day had misread the co-ordinates on the approved site development plan demarcating conservation areas - a claim she strongly denies.

However, Dekker confirmed to the Cape Argus there had been two “slight transgressions”, saying clearing work had encroached into the conservation buffer zone “a couple of metres” in one place and “a push of about 10m” in another.

“We are fixing it… I’ve actually employed a consultant, the best, because I want to do the right thing. We’re not developers, we’re trying to create a most precious asset for the country and the province.”

Dekker also conceded that two of the conditions of approval for the development - the establishment of an environmental monitoring committee, and the physical demarcation of sensitive sites identified by specialists during the initial environmental impact assessment - had not been met.

He said they were busy fencing the sensitive sites and he was talking to CapeNature and the provincial authorities about establishing the committee.

The studios have been operating since before the official opening in October 2010.

Day was so concerned by what she found during a site visit on October 30 that she lodged an official “Report on unauthorised activities/developments which may have a detrimental effect on the environment or non-compliance with Nema [environmental legislation] general duty of care” with the provincial environment authorities.

She also wrote to the national Water Affairs Department asking it to investigate, saying: “These wetlands are critically important and their current condition and treatment does not suggest that this is the case, or that the developer of the site has an appreciation for the importance of meeting the development’s conditions of authorisation.”

The development of the film studios in the sensitive Cape Flats dune-and-wetland area was controversially authorised on appeal in April 2006 by then environment MEC Tasneem Essop, after being fast-tracked by her department but opposed by CapeNature.

The project had been personally pushed by Ebrahim Rasool, first as finance MEC and later as premier.

Officials from the two departments were to have inspected the site yesterday, but this had not been confirmed at the time of going to press.

john.yeld@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Residents clashed with police after a court decision granting the DA interim relief to take back the municipality.

Cape Town - Forty Swellendam residents have been arrested on public violence charges as running battles between the community and the police continued on Friday.

By midday, shops in the centre of the town were closing in anticipation of an invasion by residents of Railton on the opposite side of the N2 highway.

Long queues were forming at supermarkets as residents stockpiled supplies.

Railton residents were reacting to a Western Cape High Court decision granting the DA interim relief to take back the local municipality following a hostile take-over by the ANC and the ACDP last month.

The protesters are demanding the reinstatement of an acting municipal manager who has been suspended in the wake of the latest political developments.

A police spokesman confirmed that nine residents had been injured and three police vehicles damaged in the protests, which started on Wednesday.

Late on Thursday night protesters threw burning tyres on to the N2 highway, barricaded roads with rocks and looted shops belonging to foreign nationals.

A liquor store in Railton was set alight as tensions flared in the Overberg town.

On Thursday night, and again on Friday morning, Railton residents and police were engaged in running battles, the former stoning policemen and the latter responding with rubber bullet fire.

Late on Thursday night police in riot gear held back a 1 000-strong crowd, determined to cross the N2 to reach the town’s main business district.

A three-hour stand-off ensued during which a policeman was wounded in the face as the angry mob pelted officers with stones.

Heavily armed police responded with rubber bullets and angry protesters scattered.

Armed with stones and sticks, small pockets of protesters tried moving forward but were forced to retreat as police stormed into the township.

By midnight the Western Cape ANC provincial deputy secretary, Maurencia Gillion, was urging residents to return to their homes and to refrain from any criminal activity.

She said negotiations were taking place with the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Richard Baloyi, to get him to lead talks with community, church and traditional leaders as well councillors of the embattled municipality.

Railton community leader Mcgegan Anthony said the community had vowed to continue the protest action until ANC-appointed acting municipal manager Mervyn Steenkamp was reinstated and the municipality was back in the hands of the ANC.

Cape Argus

About 300 farmworkers who went on strike in Wolseley in the Western Cape have returned to work, Sanco said.

Johannesburg - About 300 farmworkers who went on strike in Wolseley in the Western Cape returned to work on Friday, the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the province said.

Provincial general secretary Vusi Myeki said the workers agreed to suspend the strike for at least two weeks until a decision was made on the farmworkers' minimum wage.

Protests over wages in the Western Cape spread across the Boland, with table grape harvesters demanding to be paid R150 a day. Most earned between R69 and R75 a day. The strike was continuing in other areas of the province.

On Friday protesters looted shops and torched businesses in the Hex River Valley in the Western Cape. On Friday morning, roads, including the N2, were blockaded with rocks and burning tyres.

“We have received reports of unrest and torching of businesses, but the situation is under control,” Western Cape police spokesman Lt-Col Andre Traut said.

eNews Channel Africa reported that protesters looted a bottle store and that a butchery was torched in Swellendam on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Agri SA said the farmers should be allowed to decide what action to take against their illegally striking workers.

“Lawlessness and criminal activities cannot be tolerated and the culprits must be held accountable via normal prosecution processes,” Agri SA labour committee chairman Anton Rabe said. He said affected parties should work together to restore business confidence and peace of mind so the country's image could be restored.

Sapa

Former politician David Malatsi is expected to arrive at Goodwood Prison in Cape Town to begin serving his five-year jail term.

Johannesburg - Former politician David Malatsi is expected to arrive at Goodwood Prison in Cape Town on Friday to begin serving his five-year jail term, correctional services said.

“We are still waiting... we have been here since 8.30 this morning. We don't know his whereabouts... “ Western Cape correctional services spokesman Simphiwe Xako said.

Malatsi's appeal on corruption charges was dismissed in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.

Judge Patrick Gamble took less than a minute to read out the appeal judgement, stating only that the “appeal is dismissed and the conviction is confirmed”.

The former provincial environment affairs MEC and national deputy social development minister was not present in court when judgement was handed down.

In October 2006, Malatsi was found guilty by the Cape Town Regional Court on charges of corruption after he accepted a R100 000 payment from the developer of the Roodefontein Golf and Country Estate to approve the development, despite clear environmental concerns.

The money was given to him in April 2002 by Count Riccardo Augusto, the owner and developer of the R550 million Plettenberg Bay project. He was sentenced in December 2006 to five years in jail and at the same time granted leave to appeal.

He was granted bail pending the outcome of the appeal.

Sapa

Cape Town journalist Gadija Davids has opened up about the horror of her incarceration by Israeli officials two years ago.

Cape Town - City journalist Gadija Davids still has flashbacks of a deadly raid by Israeli soldiers on a flotilla en route to the Gaza Strip two years ago.

Davids, 25, was one of 40 passengers on board humanitarian aid ship the Mavi Marmara in 2010 when Israeli commandos seized the vessel.

The Mavi Marmara was one of six ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza and Davids was one of 40 journalists from 40 different countries participating in the Freedom Flotilla, filing news reports for a local radio station Radio 786.

The flotilla was reportedly travelling in international waters en route from Turkey to the Gaza Strip when Israeli commandos boarded the ships.

Davids said she was abducted and questioned by Israeli officials.

Davids has been receiving counselling over the past two years, which has helped, she said.

“I have processed everything and I still get flashbacks of the attack.”

This week, a press conference was held in Joburg to announce that South African authorities would be investigating the matter.

The Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU), a division of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, and the police will officially investigate and communicate with the International Criminal Court.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel in South Africa (BDS South Africa) and the Palestine Solidarity Alliance have welcomed the decision. But the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) said the move was a “publicity stunt”.

Davids said she was incarcerated in an Israeli prison, guarded by “balaclava-clad Israeli naval soldiers” and denied access to South African consular assistance. During her questioning she was asked whether she knew she was illegally in Israel.

“I responded that I had no intention of being there, that we were taken there against our will,” she said.

When they were being transported to Ben Gurion Airport to be deported, she was put in a “cockroach-infested van”, handcuffed with plastic cable ties and “made to sit in the sun for several hours” while being transported against their will to the port of Ashdod.

Davids’ attorney, Ziyaad Patel, said Davids and other civilians had been subjected to “inhumane treatment” by Israel, which is considered a violation of their rights, crimes against humanity in terms of schedule 1 of the Rome Statute, and war crimes in terms of schedule 3 of the that statute.

In September 2010, the UN published a fact-finding report into the alleged attack which found that Israeli forces had violated international law during and after it.

It deemed the conduct of the Israeli military and personnel towards the passengers as “not only disproportionate to the occasion, but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence”.

“It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality,” said the report.

“Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law.”

In January last year, Davids and Patel approached the police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to conduct a criminal investigation and to prosecute those responsible.

This week, the PCLU said there were “reasonable” grounds for an investigation and that it had opened a case docket.

Davids said the move instilled in her “faith and credibility in South Africa’s commitment to the protection of human rights”.

“I remain hopeful that the investigation will prove fruitful and that those responsible for the attack will be brought to justice,” she said.

The SAJBD said:

“The decision constitutes yet another noisy publicity stunt by those dedicated to demonising Israel at every possible opportunity.

“The SAJBD deplores the fact that these groups are willing to tie our legal system up in pointless and time-consuming, baseless litigation in order to further their own selfish and bigoted agenda.”

Davids said she was not afraid to go on other humanitarian causes.

“Since I am a journalist, reporting on these stories would definitely be important to cover. Particularly as humanitarian aid missions have become a technique of civilians and aid organisations that aim to raise awareness around injustice and oppression,” she said.

Cape Argus

Police have arrested at least 26 people in De Doorns for blocking roads and trying to prevent farmworkers from going to work.

Cape Town - Police have arrested at least 26 people in De Doorns on Friday for blocking roads and trying to prevent farmworkers from going to work, said Jesaja Louw, leader of the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) in the town.

Police are still processing suspects, and would be unable to comment until later on Friday, said spokeswoman Constable Lybey Swartz.

There were more violent clashes between police and strikers last night, said De Doorns resident and activist Owen Maromo.

Cosatu’s message that farmworkers should return to work has become a bloody fault line between strikers.

The labour federation issued a statement on Wednesday that the strike would be suspended for two weeks - the time deemed necessary for Minister of Labour Mildred Oliphant to review the minimum wage.

Fawu says its members in the Hex Valley have refused to return to work.

“We don’t want to contradict Cosatu, but we have to respect the wishes of our members. They want a wage offer on the table, until then the strike is on,” said Fawu president Attwell Nazo.

Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich, however, remains adamant that the strike is suspended. He said it was a strategic decision, because some people in De Doorns had run out of money.

Farmworker Rosemarie Filander said farmers “will laugh at us if we return to work, they’ll throw it back in our faces… People have gone hungry for two weeks, they will go hungry for another two.”

Hunger has become a serious concern for many strikers, who have not been paid for two weeks. Many workers who have heeded Cosatu’s call to return to work have been assaulted by diehard strikers. Crime and violence - looting, vandalism and arson - continue to accompany the strike.

“What we need now is communication, unity and consensus among the people. It would be a tragedy if the strike rips into two,” said Louw.

He admitted the unions’ communication to strikers about the interim agreement had been inadequate.

Road closures in the Boland due to strike action include the N1 at De Doorns, the R46 outside Ceres and the road between Villiersdorp and Grabouw, said provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa.

Cape Argus

Stark warnings of the laying off of thousands of farmworkers have been sounded if minimum wages in the sector is increased.

Cape Town - Stark warnings of the laying off of thousands of farmworkers have been sounded in the wake of an announcement by acting labour minister Angie Motshekga in yesterday’s Government Gazette which looks set to see minimum wages in the sector increased. This comes after widespread violence rocked the Western Cape.

One person has died and 52 have been injured since the start of the protest action two weeks ago, which has spread to at least 15 farming towns.

In the latest violence yesterday, seven people were injured after police fired rubber bullets in the vicinity of Ceres. Ten people injured this week remain in hospital.

The violence spilled over to Swellendam on Thursday night, where more violent clashes saw shops looted and gutted by fire after a Western Cape High Court decision granting the DA interim relief to take back the local municipality, following a hostile takeover by the ANC and the ACDP last month.

Last night, the provincial disaster management centre said stones and debris littering roads in Robertson and Ashton had been cleaned up, and roads were open in Witzenberg.

However, the N1 at De Doorns remained closed, along with the R60 between Ashton and Swellendam because of a large hole in the road.

Provincial traffic authorities have increased patrols and visible policing.

Also yesterday, national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega warned that police had their hands full as the country experienced “very challenging circumstances in policing”.

Referring to incidents “erupting all over”, she said police were grappling with a flood of instability and public disorder caused by services not being delivered to people and communities across the country.

Earlier, SA Police Union president Mpho Kwinika said police officers should be properly trained to deal with public violence and strikes that turned violent.

“Members of the police force lack the required skills to handle public violence,” he said, pointing out that communities often used violence during protests and strikes to ensure they were heard by the authorities. The union was concerned that not enough was being done to train police officers.

Meanwhile, Motshekga’s announcement that the R69-a-day minimum wage would be reviewed has sparked dire warnings from agricultural industry bodies, including Agri-Western Cape, the Transvaal Agricultural Union, fruit horticulture body Hortgro, as well as economists.

The farmworkers are demanding R150 a day.

Cosatu has called on the farmworkers to suspend the strike until December 4, and to resume only if the talks fail to yield results.

Motshekga, who is standing in for Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, who is in Switzerland, also announced that the conditions of employment of farm labourers across the country would be reviewed.

The announcement came after Tuesday’s comments by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersen that the labour department would review the minimum wage with a view to raising it to R80 an hour.

But yesterday the agriculture bodies forecast that farmers would lay off workers in their thousands to absorb wage increases.

The Transvaal Agricultural Union’s Henk van der Graaf said major job losses would result: “Farm owners will cut their labour by half to fit their budgets.”

Economist Dawie Roodt agreed, warning that if the minimum wage was hiked for political reasons, further unemployment would result.

“Many will lose their jobs because of the increase, and there are really literally millions of people who are willing to work for significantly less than the basic wage currently offered. Instead of putting out this emotional statement in response to strikes, the government should be realistic about how this will affect the economy.”

Economic growth would be slowed down, there would be fewer jobs, and prices would increase.

Some experts pointed out that Western Cape farmers would also have to carry the extra burden of paying for repairs to burnt and damaged property and crops

. Agri-Western Cape spokeswoman

Porchia Adams, who described the unrest as the worst amongst farm labourers the Western Cape had seen, said it was “highly likely” that farmers would lay off workers to keep their farms financially viable.

“Farmers will re-assess their options and try to employ the fewest possible labourers. Farmers have been going out of their way to provide work for as many labourers as possible, but will unfortunately be driven to let workers go.

“The economic impact of the strike means they have to find a way to recoup millions lost as a result.”

She added that in 19 years she had never experienced such severe farm labour unrest.

Hortgro representative Anton Rabe said: “The fruit production structure of the Western Cape will never be the same again. These events have shaken the industry and will lead to a review of long-term industry and business strategies.”

There was no doubt that the current production and cost structure, based on labour-intensive practices, would change. This would translate to farmworkers eventually losing their jobs to machines.

Rabe said the government arrived at the existing minimum wage of R69 a day after careful consideration.

“That figure didn’t just fall from the sky. On an operational level, the average farmer will not be able to afford to pay more than the current minimum wage,” he said, warning that part-time workers would be the first to go.

Weekend Argus

henriette.geldenhuys@inl.co.za

lerato.mbangeni@inl.co.za

Health services in De Doorns have been caught in the crossfire of the farmworkers’ strike, with several health institutions closed for business.

Health services in De Doorns have been caught in the crossfire of the farmworkers’ strike, with several health institutions in the area closed for business.

The Orchard, Sandhills and De Doorns clinics have been closed intermittently since the start of the strike on November 1, with the De Doorns clinic closed for four days this week, the second week of the strike.

The clinic provides services to about 20 000 people in women’s health, mother and child care, as well as chronic care and infectious diseases.

Jo-Anne Otto, a spokeswoman for the provincial Health Department, said the clinics were closed on and off on the advice of police. She said staff had, however, opened as and when they could, mostly during the mornings.

Otto said Orchard clinic was open yesterday, while the De Doorns and Sandhills clinics remained closed.

“As the protest action escalated, the safety of both staff and patients was compromised,” she said. Health workers were particularly worried about children’s health in the De Doorns area because it was “diarrhoea season”.

Yesterday, patients, including some with babies strapped to their backs, were turning away from the clinic when they realised the gates were closed, and that they could not collect medication and clinic cards.

One 42-year-old woman went to get her HIV treatment yesterday, concerned the clinic would be closed on Monday, her regular collection day.

“I’ve got enough pills to last me until Monday. I don’t know what will happen if I don’t get my treatment thereafter,” she said, complaining that the strike action was far away from the clinic.

“The strike is not about the clinic, it’s about farms,” she said.

Andries Syster, 47, suffers from epilepsy and was also unable to get his medication.

“I take three kinds of tablets for my epilepsy. I have two, I came to collect the other. I need those pills, I won’t be okay without them,” he said.

A 23-year-old mother, who did not want to be named, said she was there to collect formula for her two-month-old baby.

“I usually come get about two tins of 250g formula when it’s finished. There’s absolutely nothing at home. I don’t even have money to buy formula because we’ve been on strike. I don’t know where to start,” she said.

Otto said the closure of the clinics was a last resort.

“Western Cape government health repeatedly urged the community to allow emergency vehicles free access to people needing care. Even so, our emergency medical services were required to request police escorts when travelling to patients,” she said.

She urged communities to respect health services so that patients can be treated in a safe environment.

Weekend Argus

Farmworkers are reluctant to suspend strike action despite a call from Cosatu.

De Doorns - Onke Zwinye lives in a shack made from four make-shift pillars, flattened cardboard boxes for walls and a sheet of corrugated iron for reinforcement.

Zwinye, 28, is a farmworker. He earns R78 a day, and this week he told Weekend Argus that he was desperate for better wages to improve his home and to allow him to send money to his sister and two brothers in Mthatha.

“I made my own bed with mattresses and a plank, the plank rests on bricks. I don’t even earn enough money to buy myself a decent bed. I don’t have a toilet, I go to the bushes when I need to use the toilet.

“We’ve already been fighting and waiting for a long time. Someone’s died in this fight. We can’t all of a sudden go back to work, because Cosatu said so, without knowing what decisions have been made,” he argued.

Many other strikers concurred that the wage protest action, which this week spread from De Doorns to at least 10 other towns in the region and saw violence flare up in many places, could not just be suspended.

They were reacting to the news that Cosatu, along with unions and NGOs in the agricultural sector, had declared the strike would be suspended pending an “acceptable” outcome of negotiations.

Betty Fortuin, a farmworker from De Doorns, vowed that no one would return to work until they were all assured a minimum wage of R150 a day.

“When you go to the shops they don’t have separate sections or prices for the poor and for the rich. We all have to pay the same prices, and food prices are high. We also want to live a little better,” she said.

Striking workers are also demanding decent working and living conditions, something which is paramount for three Zimbabwean friends who say they “work like slaves” for R65 a day.

Junior Dube, 26, David Mupiwa, 22, and Hardly Mupfudze, 20, said they had all been beaten more than once by a livestock farm owner in the area. “Sometimes he threw rocks at us, slapped us or beat us with a stick,” Mupfudze said.

Dube said the beatings were administered to workers who did not work “fast enough”.

“He once tied a rope around someone and dragged him with his car. Another day he reversed his car towards us at a high speed because he said one of the guys stole his rope. If we didn’t run away he would have knocked us over.”

Mupiwa alleged the farmer had a reputation for pulling his gun on employees.

“You couldn’t hit back, if you did he would threaten to shoot you. I have seen him shoot people before, and all they could do is run.”

Dube added that aside from their working conditions, he and his friends had a duty to participate in the strike if they wanted to send something “more significant” to their families in Zimbabwe.

“If I’m only getting R65 a day how will I manage to send a decent amount home? We need more money also to be able to study and open opportunities for ourselves to do something better than working on farms. That is what this strike is about,” he said.

Some Wolseley protesters, also farmworkers, added to their list of grievances a lack of services, including electricity, water and schools, in the Pinevalley township, along with complaints about foreign-owned shops there.

Almost every foreign-owned shop in Pinevalley was closed on Thursday.

One resident said they didn’t want the shops there:

“They do not employ our people at their shops, and in these very same shops they sell drugs to our children, and that’s why they’ve run,” she said.

However, Kenyan Abdir-izack Ali, whose shop was the only foreign-owned one open late this week, hit back, saying the allegation was “a plain lie”.

“I don’t know any foreigners selling drugs here. The others left because they fear for their safety.

“I had to break the partitioning in my shop to jump out of the window when people wanted to rob my shop [on Wednesday], but I still feel safe. I have friends around here and people know me,” he said.

He said that it wasn’t farmworkers looting the shops, but “tik kops”.

“They are taking advantage of the situation. Farmworkers come to my shop and buy from me as you can see. The shop is empty because I’m running out of stock and I can’t go buy more because those taking advantage might burn your van if they see you. Farmworkers are fighting for better pay,” Ali said.

There are however some workers who are happy with their income.

Ironically they include Marelise Brander, the girlfriend of Wolseley farmworker Michael Daniels, who was shot dead during a confrontation between police and protesters while on his way to give Brander her cellphone earlier this week.

Brander said both she and Daniels had been satisfied with their earnings.

“I’m not involved in this strike, neither was Michael. We were both happy with what we’ve got,” she said.

sibongakonke.mama@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

Police will continue to monitor areas of the Western Cape which had been affected by the protests of striking farmworkers.

Police would continue to monitor areas of the Western Cape which had been affected by the protests of striking farmworkers, provincial police said on Saturday.

“From the police's side, everything is quiet this morning,” Lt-Col Andrè Traut said.

On Friday, protesters looted shops and torched businesses in the Hex River Valley and roads in the province, including the N2, were blockaded with rocks and burning tyres.

The Mawubuye Land Rights Forum said in a statement on Saturday that it supported the striking farmworkers in their demands.

“These protests are spontaneous and organised by the workers themselves, and are an indicator of the abject poverty that farm workers and their communities experience.”

Protests over wages in the province spread across the Boland, with table grape harvesters demanding to be paid R150 a day. Most earned between R69 and R75 a day.

Even among workers at the same farm, there were often pay disparities, with women were paid less than their male counterparts, even though they do the same work, Mawubuye claimed.

“Living conditions on many farms are sub-human, and we need to dispel the myth that farmers provide free electricity and offer pay for transport themselves.”

The labour department met with various farmers' unions on Friday and negotiations are set to start next Thursday.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration would mediate the talks.

The department on Friday called for interested parties to comment on a possible review of the sectoral determination for farmworkers, which prescribes minimum wages and conditions of employment.

About 300 farmworkers who went on strike in Wolseley in the Western Cape returned to work on Friday, according to the SA National Civic Organisation.

Provincial general secretary Vusi Myeki said the workers agreed to suspend the strike for at least two weeks pending a decision on the farmworkers' minimum wage. - Sapa

A second farmworker, hospitalised after violent protests in Ceres, has died in hospital.

Western Cape - A second farmworker, hospitalised after violent protests in Ceres on Wednesday, has died in hospital.

The death of the 40-year-old Wakkerstroom man on Saturday morning was confirmed by police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut, who was adamant the unnamed man had not been shot by the police.

He said investigations were continuing. A source said on Saturday night however that a murder docket had been opened with the Prince Alfred Hamlet police.

Another farmworker, 28-year-old Michael Daniels, was shot dead on Wednesday when police allegedly fired at protesters in Wolseley. A total of 52 people have been injured since the start of the protest action two weeks ago, nine of whom remain in hospital.

Meanwhile, unions have moved quickly to condemn agricultural industry leaders for predicting that thousands of farmworkers stood to lose their jobs if their minimum wage was hiked.

Cosatu called it “a typical employer tactic to try and intimidate workers”, while

the Farm and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) suggested it was a “knee-jerk” reaction.

Weekend Argus reported on Saturday that acting labour minister Angie Motshekga announced in Friday’s Government Gazette that the minimum wage of R69 a day would be investigated, with a view to increasing it to R80. Farmworkers are demanding a minimum of R150 a day.

Negotiations between unions, the government and farm owners are expected to start on Thursday with the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration mediating the talks.

Cosatu has asked workers to return to work for now and hold off their strike until December 4 to allow the investigation period to deliver results.

Yesterday Agri-Western Cape, the Transvaal Agricultural Union, fruit horticulture body Hortgro and economist Dawie Roodt said if farmers had to hike farmworkers’ pay, they would be forced to lay off staff.

Condemning the statements, Cosatu’s national spokesman Patrick Craven said they were then, in effect, saying workers “must accept a poverty wage and bad working conditions… or else”.

Suggesting the damage caused by the strike may have been over-rated, Craven said the farmworkers had legitimate demands, other than the wage issue. “It’s ill-treatment of farmworkers and them being evicted from the farms on which they live,” he said, calling on employers to rather assist in securing a settlement that would end the highly volatile stand-off.

Adding that just 5 percent of the country’s more than 800 000 farmworkers belonged to a union, Craven said they had a huge task to unionise the workers and so safeguard their interests. Fawu general secretary Katishi Masemola agreed that rather than threatening to lay off labourers, farm owners should work with unions towards a reasonable solution. Wendy Pekeur, from the Ubuntu Rural Women and Youth Movement, said she and other organisations had warned the government and farmers for many years that if things did not change there would be uprisings, boycotts and a “farmworker revolution”. She said it was a huge contradiction that farmworkers earned the lowest wages and were the ones “feeding the nation”.

Late on Saturday the Disaster Management Centre reported that things were calm, but the N1 between De Doorns and Touws River remained closed. – Additional reporting by Warda Meyer

henriette.geldenhuys@inl.co.za

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

"We call on the arrest of the Wolseley police station commander who allegedly instructed the shooting..."

Western Cape - The Food and Allied Workers Union on Friday called for the arrest of a Western Cape police station commander following the death of a farmworker during the farmworkers strike this week.

“We call on the arrest of the Wolseley police station commander, who allegedly instructed the shooting with live ammunition in which Michael Daniels was killed,” the union said in a statement.

Daniels, 28, was shot and killed in a skirmish with police during a protest in Wolseley on Tuesday. Five other people were injured in the incident.

The Wolseley station commander has since been replaced.

The temporarily removal of the station commander from her post may send a wrong message that police brutality was a norm, the union said.

Led by its president, Attwell Nazo the union on Saturday visited Wolseley, Ceres, Robbertson, and Bonnievale and De Doorns in the Western Cape.

The areas have been marred by violence as table grape harvesters demanded to be paid R150 a day.

Most earned between R69 and R75 a day.

“Fawu is behind the workers' demands and will support them all the way. We will engage with employers and government to address their problems.”

On Friday, protesters looted shops and torched businesses in the Hex River Valley and roads in the province, including the N2, were blockaded with rocks and burning tyres.

Police said they were keeping an eye on the situation. - Sapa

ANC accused DA of being behind a pamphlet calling on "comerade" (sic) to collect R150 in return for their efforts during protests.

Cape Town - A war of words has erupted between the two major political rivals in the Western Cape, with the ANC accusing the DA of being behind a hoax pamphlet calling on “comerade” (sic) to collect R150 from ANC councillors and community leaders in return for their efforts during the recent protests.

The pamphlet, which bears the ANC logo, reads: “Thank you to everyone who participated in the protests. We were victorious. We have left something for each one of you who participated with the following people. 3 x R150.”

It then lists the names of two councillors, Peter De Wet (Pieta) and Johanna Nellie, as well as two ANC members, Pieter Baster and Hilton Witbooi, and community leader Simon Makenzie.

Farmworkers are urged to take their IDs and go to the listed leaders’ homes to collect R150 a day for each of the three days they did not work.

And the workers took it seriously, queuing outside the leaders’ homes from 5.30am on Saturday.

The leaders reported the matter to the police.

According to Witbooi, about 20 people turned up at his front door with their IDs in hand.

“From what we can gather, the pamphlets were dropped off in their thousands, in the streets of Nuwedorp and Extension 11 in Goniwe Park in Villiersdorp,” he said.

“In my view this letter was written by a white person. The language they used is not the language of a comrade. They use words like ’n ietsie (something).”

Nellie said she was on her way out when four men accosted her outside her door.

“I immediately went to the police. This is not something the ANC would ever be a part of,” she said.

Later, when she returned to her house, there was a crowd of 40 people waiting for her.

Responding to the issue, ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile said: “The DA is once again fabricating so-called confirmation to support its agenda to blame the ANC for its own failures… The DA has now produced a hoax pamphlet and made dishonest claims about the ANC.”

Mjongile took a swipe at DA leader Ivan Meyer, saying Meyer learnt from his “masters”, and was now trying to frame the ANC for the “spontaneous and organic dissatisfaction” among farmworkers.

“The DA is clearly behind the leaflet as it targets the ANC and its people of Villiersdorp only, in order to stoke unrest and expectations to get money. It is a hoax born in the heart and hands of DA supporters in its Villiersdorp right wing.”

But Meyer denied that the DA had been behind the pamphlet.

“We have information from various sources, including within the ANC, about the party’s involvement in the ongoing violent protest. They will have to pay the price for this violence that has erupted across the province. There will be consequences to individuals, the ANC and their alliance partners,” Meyer said.

He added that the DA knew the names of the ANC councillors they accuse of instigating the violence.

“We will ask the speakers of various municipalities to take action in terms of the code of conduct for councillors. We are gathering information and compiling a docket to hand over to the police,” he added.

The outraged chairman of the ANC in the Overberg region, Manie Damon, has also accused a far right group of being behind the pamphlet.

“This pamphlet is being circulated on several websites, including the Boere Krisis Aksie group,” he said.

The ANC would never stoop to such a level, said Damon.

“We support the plight of the farmworkers because it’s about their livelihood. But as a party, we will never support or encourage violence,” he said.

warda.meyer@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus

Western Cape premier Helen Zille visited the family of a 19-year-old woman who was killed apparently because of her sexual orientation.

Cape Town - Western Cape premier Helen Zille visited the family of a 19-year-old woman who was killed apparently because of her sexual orientation.

“The attack on Sihle (Sikoji) once again highlights the scourge of hate crimes against lesbian women, and LGBT people more broadly, that continues to ravage our communities, leaving devastated families in their wake,” Zille said in a statement.

“We must all stand against and seek to eradicate all hate crimes because they are violations of the constitutional rights to life, to dignity and to freedom which every person deserves.”

Zille said she spoke to Sikoji's grandmother Nomangesi and mother Ntombizanele on Saturday.

Western Cape were searching for four men after four women were attacked on Friday night.

“An argument ensued between them, whereby one of the women was fatally stabbed and another one slightly wounded,” Warrant Officer November Filander said.

“The suspects fled the scene on foot. A case of murder is being investigated.”

Luleki Sizwe, an organisation that supports lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, said Sikoji was stabbed because of her sexual orientation.

Zille said she also met with Luleki Sizwe founder and director, Ndumie Funda.

She applauded the organisation for the work they did defending the rights of lesbians and promoting equality. - Sapa

Compassion and generosity of spirit are sorely absent in a country that is among the most unequal in the world, writes Marianne Merten

Western Cape - Everybody is ticking the boxes. But it’s not good enough when compassion and generosity of spirit are sorely absent in a country that is among the most unequal in the world.

And ticking boxes – or following the letter, not the spirit of the law – doesn’t cut it when the constitution’s founding provisions talk of “accountability”, “responsiveness” and “openness” in relation to democratic governance.

Amid the farm strikes in the Western Cape, Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson ticked the box: wage disputes were not her field, she said, and instead she submitted proposals for a revised minimum wage to her cabinet colleague, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant. Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu took the same line in the wake of the Marikana killings.

AgriSA, the farmers’ association, also ticked the box, saying farmers paid the legally stipulated minimum wage of R69 a day. However, a minimum wage is just that – the least that has to be paid by law, while there is nothing stopping anyone from paying more.

Mining companies caught in the midst of almost 12 weeks of wildcat strikes, which moved from the platinum belt to the gold and coal fields, also just ticked the box.

There could be no new wage agreement in the middle of the collective bargaining cycle, as this would undermine collective bargaining procedures, the argument ran, although, legally, exceptional circumstances could be declared to reopen talks early. Little mention was made of what had sparked the wildcat strikes: a R700-odd pay hike for some pay grades – not rock drillers – which companies styled as a gratuity.

At Marikana, the police ticked the box. The SAPS sent a monitoring and negotiation team in first because it wanted strikers to disarm and disperse. But every rule in the conflict resolution manual was broken when police simply shouted from an armour-plated Nyala with the engine running that the strikers’ representatives must “sondela” (come closer).

There is the fact and the fiction of consultation and participatory democracy. And these days it seems there is more fiction.

Boxes are ticked and crossed off in key performance areas with one consideration: it looks good on paper. After all, no one, if one is not actually in the rural areas, in the shacklands, or at a commission of inquiry – and is able to speak out – can tell whether a real difference is made for the better in people’s lives.

Bureaucrats seem to pay more attention to protocol – standing up when a minister or president walks into a room and ensuring there are enough blue-light escorts around – than to, say, service delivery or just plain Batho Pele.

How is it possible that a nurse at a Gauteng public hospital can tell an elderly domestic worker needing a cataract operation it costs R3 000, when the operation is free?

How is it possible for the Gauteng government to bulldoze brick and mortar homes people had built rather than wait for RDP houses, as one woman told a television news crew, when it should, in the first place, have ensured no one erected homes on empty land earmarked since 2006 for state-subsidised housing?

Much has been made of the violence of the recent farm and mining strikes, and the community service delivery protests. Setting alight vineyards, barricading roads with burning tyres and bricks, intimidating those who want to work and killing are unacceptable.

Finish and klaar.

But as the research “The Smoke That Calls” shows, often protests are a last resort as politicians and officials, or employers and trade unions, ignore their constituencies.

The research by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Wits University also argues community service delivery protests are often intricately tied to ruling-party factional power plays. At another level, anecdotes abound about senior civil servants, many of whom are card-carrying party members, too afraid to make decisions in case a new minister should have different ideas. Councillors, according to one Idasa study done before the 2011 local government elections, are seen to be more interested in awarding tenders to friends and relatives.

Put this together with public misspending to the tune of more than R26 billion, ministerial stays at luxury hotels and fancy flights and the apparent ease of allocating millions for “security” measures at the president’s Nkandla homestead, while on the waiting list are upgrades in community-protest stung Ficksburg, where activist and would-be-councillor Andries Tatane was shot dead by police.

It enforces perceptions of an inefficient state which services the elite, not the people.

And poor people are poor, not stupid.

When corporate South Africa hoards hundreds of billions of rand in bank accounts, does business really have the right to complain about the lack of skills and slow economic growth in the country?

Can trade unions afford complacency – a significant number of Cosatu members today are civil servants – and focus on housing subsidies rather than bread-and-butter issues when millions of South Africans raise families on R3 500 or less a month?

The lessons of having been able to negotiate its way out of apartheid for the better of all seem to have been lost in South Africa. Instead, the strong-man attitude has returned – across the board.

Send in the army, says Western Cape premier and DA leader Helen Zille, to deal with farm strikes and policing on the Cape Flats.

Yet negotiating still works. If there is the will, some creativity and commitment, going beyond the letter of the law to capture its spirit, and that of the constitution, pays off.

A series of meetings under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) settled the Lonmin unprotected strike.

There followed a series of talks between the Chamber of Mines and the National Union of Mineworkers which resulted in thousands of striking miners returning underground, their demands for a minimum monthly wage of anything from R12 000 to R18 000 unrealised.

There has again been talk of a social compact to overcome South Africa’s challenges. It’s not new – remember the ANC election manifesto, now part of government banners and speeches, talking of “Working Together We Can Do More”?

This renewed talk of a social compact, however, has focused on the frivolously symbolic: a pay freeze, not a cut, for top leaders.

And while President Jacob Zuma on Thursday said his cabinet and directors-general had agreed to a year-long pay freeze, it is a meaningless gesture. Just a few weeks ago the cabinet’s 5.5 percent pay hikes came into effect, raising the president’s salary to R2.6m.

Such a gesture ignores the inherent power relations in society – between the poor and the moneyed, between those outside the political inner circle and those banking on political connectivity for their gains, between those in an office and those on farms, in mines and our homes.

A true social compact – not just generous words uttered after meetings in airconditioned venues or rhetoric of being the leader of the people – must be followed through by active steps to mitigate inequality. Consultation must happen with citizens of all social standing and a start would be to ensure information on services – a right under the constitution and not a nice-to-have from the state – is made available in every corner of the country.

Politicians must take charge of their portfolios in the broadest possible sense, but not as an ego trip.

If the private sector can donate schools which cost R5m each, why is the state paying about R30m on tender?

It is crucial that corporate South Africa turns its back on tolerance of unethical business practices like collusion among those who provide bread and dairy products and other goods, in the construction sector and elsewhere.

Real buy-in from business is needed rather than fancy, but ultimately cheap, cost-to-company, corporate social responsibility once-offs.

For a social compact to succeed, it must live up to the accountability, responsiveness and openness enshrined in the constitution which binds every South African.

It can no longer be just about ticking the box.

Sunday Independent

A restaurant chased away a patron who apparently didn't leave the waitress a decent tip.

Cape Town - An incident in which a Kalk Bay restaurant chased away a patron who apparently didn’t leave the waitress a decent tip has raised questions on local tipping etiquette, and what amount is considered reasonable for good service.

A patron who witnessed the incident at Cape to Cuba in Kalk Bay last Friday wrote to the Weekend Argus to explain.

“There were some people from Gauteng… they tipped the waitress 5 percent instead of the expected 10 percent. The proclaimed owner of the restaurant chased them out… like dogs... and telling them to go back to Gauteng and not return to her restaurant.”

The restaurant did not respond to a request for comment.

However, comments left on Tripadvisor – an international tourism ratings website – indicated it was not the first time

the restaurant got crabby about tips to its staff.

According to one post, a group of patrons were “challenged as to why we didn’t leave a bigger tip”.

Another poster wrote in 2010 that “the waiter had the audacity to call us back and tell us that we have to tip him 10 percent”.

So what constitutes a reasonable tip?

Restaurant Association of South Africa chief executive Wendy Alberts is adamant there are no laws regulating tipping in South Africa. It was at the discretion of the customer “for service that exceeds expectations”.

Alberts said a 10 percent tip was generally the norm in South Africa, but added there was an expectation that this amount should always be paid.

“In some cases we find the restaurant doesn’t pay minimum wages, and waiters are working for tips. And, when they aren’t tipped, they can turn quite hostile.”

She explained there were varying skills levels among waiting staff in this country, with very few professional waiters. Despite this, some restaurants charged an “obnoxious” service fee of about 20 percent.

Service charges were acceptable if it was made clear before the bill arrived that a service charge would be added (provided it went to the waiter and not the restaurant), or in the case of large tables.

“At this time of year, there are a lot of large bookings for Christmas parties,” she said.

But if the first mention of a service charge was at the bottom of the bill in fine print, and the customer felt the service had not been up to scratch, they had the right to complain.

Cape Town Tourism’s website says a 10 to 15 percent tip is standard.

But various Cape establishments said that, when it came to tipping, amounts varied.

Evan Faull, owner of the Knead chain of cafés, said it was an industry norm that bigger tables paid a service fee (at Knead this is 8 percent), but everything else was at the customer’s discretion.

“Waiters earn a basic minimum wage, and then work for tips. So if they have a large table, it could take them out of circulation for a while, which is why we charge the service fee.”

On average, Knead staff received tips of about 12 percent. Their best waiters earned between 15 and 18 percent.

If staff harassed patrons over bad tips, it could lead to a written warning.

Manuel de Abreu, manager of Arnold’s in Kloof Street, said the restaurant’s policy that it charged a 10 percent service fee for tables of six people or more was printed on its menu.

“Tipping is at the customer’s discretion– our waiters earn tips which average 10 to 12 percent,” he said.

He added that many foreign visitors did not know what amount to tip, or sometimes thought the 14 percent VAT charge reflected on the bill was a service fee.

Nic Haarhoff, owner of El Burro restaurant in Green Point, said they charged a 12 percent service fee on tables of 10 or more.

When someone did not tip, a manager may ask the customer if the service was up to their satisfaction, he said.

“In some instances they will tell me that the waitress was absent, or their food took too long. So it’s also a good way to get feedback.

“But you have to be very careful about how you handle that, because it could blow up very quickly.”

Weekend Argus

A 30-year-old man is in critical condition in hospital after being rescued from the surf in Simon’s Town this weekend.

Johannesburg - A man was in critical condition in hospital after he was rescued from drowning at Windmill Beach in Simon’s Town on Sunday, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.

NSRI station commander Darren Zimmerman said the crew was called to the scene at 12.55pm.

He said rescue teams found the 30-year-old man on the beach with the stand-up paddle boarder who had rescued him.

“It is believed that the man, who is reportedly from Pretoria, had been face-down in the surf for at least 10 minutes before the stand-up paddle boarder had reached him and rescued him from the surf,” said Zimmerman.

Witnesses told paramedics that the man had difficulty while swimming in the sea, he said.

“Following approximately 50 minutes of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), the patient was airlifted to hospital by the Skymed helicopter.”

The man, whose name was not released, was in critical condition, Zimmerman said. - Sapa

The case against Shrien Dewani is compelling, but the Xolile Mngeni trial reveals problems, says Dan Newling.

London - On Monday, the man accused of firing the bullet that killed ‘honeymoon hijack’ victim Anni Dewani is due to learn his fate in a Cape Town courtroom.

If he is convicted, Xolile Mngeni, 25, will become the last of Anni’s South African killers to face justice for her murder two years ago last Tuesday.

Only her British husband Shrien, who denies the police allegations that he planned and paid for his beautiful wife’s murder, is still undealt with.

Dewani remains near his family home in Bristol, fighting an expensive legal battle against extradition. But while he does so, it is in a court many thousands of kilometres away that some of the most important allegations against him have been tested.

I attended almost every day of Mngeni’s three-month trial. Now I can reveal how the trial has exposed apparent inconsistencies in the police case. These do not acquit Dewani, but they have prompted many more questions than answers…

ANNI and Shrien Dewani had been married for just over two weeks when their taxi was hijacked as it passed through Gugulethu on the evening of November 13, 2010.

It was about 10.45pm and they were returning to their hotel from a night out when two young men, at least one of whom had a gun, got into their silver-grey VW Sharan.

Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, grabbed the wheel from the driver, Zola Tongo. He drove for a few minutes before stopping to boot out Tongo.

Qwabe’s threatening sidekick – allegedly Xolile Mngeni, 25, – then robbed the Dewanis. After about 15 minutes it came to a halt at a remote road junction where wealthy businessman Shrien got out.

Anni’s body was found nearby in the abandoned taxi the next morning. The 28-year-old product designer had a single bullet hole in her neck.

Four men, including Tongo, now 34, were arrested in connection with Anni’s murder. But it is against Shrien, 33, that the Hawks have focused their investigative energies.

The Hawks have obtained, via plea bargain agreements, the testimonies of Tongo, Qwabe and a “middle man”. They all put Shrien as a killer.

There is also CCTV footage from before the murder which shows Shrien and Tongo talking together, alone, for a total of 29 minutes. Cellphone records have them talking for another seven minutes and also apparently communicating via SMS.

There is evidence Shrien swopped £930 worth of US dollars into local currency in advance of Anni’s murder – part payment, the police claim, for the £1 335 “hit”.

There is more CCTV footage, this time from after Anni’s death, which shows Shrien handing an envelope said to contain R1 000 to Tongo.

The South African police claim this was another partial payment for his help setting up the murder.

Finally, for a motive, UK-based homosexual escort Leopold Leisser has claimed that before the murder Shrien paid him for sex and confided that he needed to “find a way out” of his then forthcoming marriage. Dewani denies this and plans to sue.

Several of Anni’s bereaved family have chimed in that the Dewanis’ marriage was not a happy one.

Shrien’s lawyers insist all this can be answered innocently. But taken together with the incident’s questionable logic, the case against the Briton seems compelling.

However, Mngeni’s trial has revealed that the case contains some serious problems.

1. The “kill texts” that may not exist

Until now, one of the key pieces of evidence against Shrien has been the alleged existence of SMSes from him to Tongo.

In Tongo’s plea-bargain confession – the main evidence against Shrien which earned Tongo an 18-year prison sentence (reduced from life) – the driver claimed that on the evening of Anni’s murder Shrien sent him an SMS saying “the money [for the murder] was in an envelope in a pouch behind the front passenger seat”.

These “kill texts”, as they were later described in the media, are crucial to the South Africans’ case.

The truth is that the SMSes don’t appear to exist. Phone records revealed by the prosecution’s forensic expert, Dr Peter Schmitz, in Mngeni’s Cape Town trial show Tongo SMSing Shrien seven times on the evening of Anni’s murder and Shrien calling him twice, for a total of 109 seconds.

But they do not show Shrien SMSing the driver at all that evening.

Even if Schmitz’s data is incorrect and SMSing did occur, Mngeni’s trial was told by forensic experts from two South African mobile networks that they cannot retrieve the messages’ wording.

2. Shrien ‘begged for his wife’s life’

Qwabe confessed in August to being the man who drove Anni to her death. In return for a sentence of 25 years (reduced from life), the gangster claimed that while it was his accomplice Mngeni who actually shot Anni, they both carried out the murder on Shrien’s behalf.

But giving evidence against his alleged partner in crime, Qwabe was confronted with what he told police in the hours immediately after his arrest.

It was a very different story indeed. In Qwabe’s original confession, made on November 18, 2010 – five days after Anni’s murder – he made no mention of Shrien’s role orchestrating the plot. Indeed, he claimed that the Briton had pleaded for his wife’s life – hardly the actions of a man desperate to see her dead.

Qwabe’s original statement was revealed to read: “While I was driving, Watti [Mngeni’s nickname] was talking to them. I heard them pleading with us not to harm them.”

This was backed up by video of Mngeni’s first police interview. Just like his co-accused, Mngeni portrayed Shrien as a terrified victim who wanted only to save his wife and himself.

3. There may have been no plan to kill anybody

Mngeni’s original testimony read: “Once I was pointing [the gun] at them, they said: ‘Please don’t kill us’.”

Mngeni went on: “The white guy [Shrien] he asked us: he can’t, he can’t be dropped alone because this is his wife.”

Mngeni’s original police statement revealed another perplexing fact about the plot to murder Anni: it apparently didn’t exist. Police video from 8.16pm on November 16, 2010, showed the small-time drug dealer revealing how, having taken the Dewanis’ valuables, he wanted to kick the couple out of the taxi.

Calling his accomplice “Mawewe”, he said: “I asked Mawewe: ‘What are we going to do with these two? Let us throw them here’.”

His partner-in-crime disagreed and drove on. Mngeni said: “Then he stopped the vehicle. He then took his firearm and I thought we were going to leave. And he climbed off the vehicle and walked around to my side. He opened the passenger doors right behind me. And the white lady was sitting at the back, next to the other door.

“He then pulled a small bag from this lady and the lady was hanging on, crying and she was scared. Then I heard one gunshot. Then I asked Mawewe, the thing that is he doing, what caused him to do it? Then we started arguing. Then he told me I cannot tell him what to do.”

If this first statement is the truth then Anni’s murder seems to have been something rather different from the professional “hit” the police claim.

Could it instead have been the unplanned by-product of two squabbling thieves’ petty greed?

4. An almost comical amateurish affair

In court, Qwabe revealed how the plot to murder Anni was pathetically ill-planned. He said he and Mngeni never discussed the specifics of how or where Anni would be killed, still less who should do it.

Judge Robert Henney asked the self-confessed murderer: “There was no plan as to how exactly this person should be killed?”

“Yes, there was no plan,” Qwabe replied. He later explained: “We knew she had to be killed, there was just no planning as to how she was going to be killed.”

Judge Henney pressed him: “Without saying it to each other, there was just some sort of a – I don’t know – agreement, without you talking about it. Is that what you’re saying?’

Qwabe: “Yes.”

The supposed “professional hitman” also revealed that after Anni had been shot he didn’t bother to check whether she was dead.

6. An unreliable witness

All of the main witnesses against Shrien have told contradictory stories.

The testimonies of Tongo, Qwabe and the “middle man” – whose identity the court has banned from being published – do not tally in numerous, potentially crucial, ways.

Tongo and Qwabe disagree on who sat where in the hijacked taxi; on who said what while in the taxi; on who held the gun. On payment, the witnesses are equally divided.

Tongo claims the “middle man” demanded R5 000 for his help while the “middle man” said he did it for free.

Qwabe claims he and Mngeni agreed to the murder for R7 500 each. But Tongo, who commissioned them, said it was R5 000 each.

There are many more inconsistencies. For Shrien’s legal team they are evidential gold dust.

Of all the evidence heard at Mngeni’s trial, it was the evidence of one man – or the absence of evidence – which could prove the most important.

Tongo did not take the witness stand, despite being the man who, on his own admission, organised the crime, despite being the only person to have met all the alleged gang members, and despite having agreed, in terms of his plea bargain, to testify and despite being available to do so.

Lead prosecution lawyer Adrian Mopp did not reveal why Tongo did not give evidence.

According to South African legal experts it could only be for one of two reasons – either the prosecution felt their case against Mngeni was so rock-solid that they didn’t need their prime witness, or Tongo has changed his story.

Mail on Sunday

A woman, her daughters and a man died in a crash, and cops are pointing fingers at people racing in top-of-the-range cars.

Cape Town - Police are investigating the role two drag racers played in the death of four people on the M5 early on Sunday.

A taxi taking people home from the annual Spring Queen event at the Good Hope Centre, overturned and landed in a ditch. Three women – aged 79, 52 and 50 – and a 29-year-old man died on the scene.

Eleven people, including the driver, were seriously injured.

The three women were a mother and two daughters, all from Parkwood. The police have not released their names.

Traffic Services spokeswoman Maxine Jordan said there were 20 people in the taxi.

The M5 was closed while authorities dealt with the crash. It was re-opened just before 3am.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut said they had reason to believe the incident was caused by two cars witnesses said were drag racing at the time.

Law enforcement agencies were studying camera footage and Traut said they would do everything in their power to apprehend the culprits.

The SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu), which organises the Spring Queen event, has called on the police to arrest those responsible.

A man who was driving a few hundred metres behind the taxi said two cars came “screaming and weaving through the traffic”.

The man, who did not want to be named, said the two cars were clearly racing: “They were weaving through the traffic at a high speed. When I stopped at the accident, one of the dicing cars had stopped, but then drove off.”

Posting on a traffic site on Facebook, Nurjehan Perin said she and her boyfriend were on the M5 and saw the two cars, a silver Mercedes-Benz and a black and silver Volvo.

She said they pulled off the road, and the two speedsters raced on.

Speaking to the Cape Argus on Sunday, Perin said it had been an extremely traumatic experience. She had seen the two cars in the rear-view mirror. She said they were speeding and moving from lane to lane.

The speeding cars passed the car she was in. The taxi, which was ahead of them, was not speeding, she said. As they were approaching a bend she saw the taxi overturn. People were flung from the vehicle.

Her boyfriend, Charl Krieger, a fireman, pulled over, called emergency services and helped as best he could, she said. Other motorists also stopped to help.

The incident happened just after 1am near the Kenilworth exit. It appeared that the driver lost control of the taxi and it overturned, landing in a ditch.

Traut said police had opened a culpable homicide investigation: “We have reason to believe that it was caused by two motor vehicles which were driving at excessively high speeds, and were possibly dicing at the time. No one has been arrested as yet.”

Nazmia Leite, a spokeswoman for Sactwu, said they were saddened by the loss of life: “We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased, wish the injured a speedy recovery and call for the dicers to be brought to justice as speedily as possible.”

Alida Jones of the Drive More Safely organisation said more than 55 people were killed on South African roads every day. On Sunday was World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, Jones said.

lynnette.johns@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

At least 80 people have been left homeless after a fire ripped through an informal settlement in Gugulethu, destroying 40 houses.

Cape Town -

At least 80 people were left homeless on Sunday after a fire ripped through an informal settlement in Gugulethu, destroying 40 houses.

There were no fatalities. One man was slightly injured.

Residents of Kanana informal settlement were left destitute after the fire left them with little or no possessions.

Residents claimed that the fire resulted from a stove that had been left on by one of their neighbours, but city fire and rescue services spokesman Theo Layne said the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Layne said 18 fire engines were sent to the scene. They managed to contain and extinguish the blaze .

The densely populated informal settlement experienced a similar fire in 2005, according to residents.

Bongiswa Sithloko, who shared a shack with five family members, said they were left with only the clothes on their backs.

“We got here when the fire was already big… we tried, but we couldn’t get any of our stuff out… and now we don’t know what we will do.”

Amanda Zamyoli and her boyfriend managed to get one of their beds out before the fire got to their home.

“We saw a fire in our section and ran and we tried to put it out with hosepipes but it wasn’t working. The residents quickly got tired,” Zamyoli said.

She said they suspected the man responsible for the fire ran away after hearing residents were angry at him for leaving his stove on.

“Even if we catch him, it won’t bring our houses back,” said Zamyoli.

Resident Buntu Seth was one of the lucky few – his home is close to where the fire started, but it escaped any damage. “I thought it was a fire from another part of the informal settlement and I started praying. When I got home I was so glad my shack was not burnt,” Seth said.

The city’s Disaster Risk Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the residents would be provided with building materials.

“There hasn’t been a hall set aside for them for the night, but the building materials are being delivered and they will be able to rebuild their homes,” Solomons-Johannes said.

He added that the residents would most likely stay on their plots in fear of them being occupied by others.

Only one man was reported injured during the ordeal.

“One man was treated on the scene after being electrocuted, but he is fine now,” Solomons-Johannes said.

yolisa.tswanya@inl.co.za

Cape Argus