The Basic Education Minister has reportedly said it is the prerogative of MECs to close schools as they deem fit.

Cape Town -

The ANC in the Western Cape is pressing ahead with its plans to institute court action against Education MEC Donald Grant’s decision to close 20 schools.

This despite reports that national Education Minister Angie Motshekga had said she supported Grant.

But ANC Western Cape chairman Marius Fransman said he had spoken to Motshekga and she had told him that she had not supported Grant.

“Her response was simply that it is his right to decide if a school is closed or not,” he said, speaking at a community meeting in Bishop Lavis on Sunday.

Grant announced last week he had decided to shut 20 of the 27 schools facing possible closure, 16 of them rural and four urban.

Motshekga’s spokeswoman Hope Mokgatlhe said she had told reporters that it was up to provinces to close schools as necessary.

“It is up to the MEC to make that decision. Schools do close. It is the prerogative of the MEC to close schools as they deem fit.

“If the MEC decided to do so, there is nothing wrong with doing so.”

Fransman said even if Motshekga did support Grant’s decision, that would not stop the campaign to keep the schools open.

“We are not allowing anyone to stand in our way. Whatever explanation that Grant has given, it will not be able to stand up to scrutiny. We are going to court.”

Bronagh Casey, Grant’s spokeswoman, said: “Minister Grant has carefully followed all the processes and procedures prescribed by the SA Schools Act.”

Despite the ANC’s decision to fight the closures, Cosatu secretary Tony Ehrenreich said 12 rural schools had been identified which could be closed. But urban schools should never be closed.

“As Cosatu we accept that some schools should be closed. Multigrade teaching may not be the best way for learners to get an education. Some of the schools in the rural areas could be closed.” He said Cosatu members would soon strike against the closures.

michelle.jones@inl.co.za

Cape Times

First it was the absent “h” in Gugulethu, now four more incorrectly spelt street names are under investigation.

Cape Town -

First it was the absent “h” in Gugulethu, now four more incorrectly spelt street names – all of them in Langa – are under investigation by the city.

The four are: Lerotho Avenue, Zolile Musie Street, Jekula Crescent and Reverend Howard Marawa Street.

The most glaring error is in the spelling Robert Marawa, which should be Marawu, the name of a political activist who was subjected to repeated police harassment during apartheid.

The chairman of the city’s naming committee, Brett Herron, said the correct spelling of Lerotho Street was Lerotholi.

Zolile Musie has to be changed to Xolile Musie and Jekula Crescent to Mjekula Crescent.

Last month the Cape Times pointed out an anomaly in the spelling of Gugulethu, which is spelt without an “h” on street signs.

The correct Xhosa spelling of Gugulethu is with an “h”.

Herron said the City of Cape Town had always used the Xhosa spelling, but he had noticed that the spelling on the signboard was different from this.

It was established that the suburb was registered as Guguletu, without an “h”, and was registered under a 1984 act.

This was therefore the “official” name of the suburb.

Since then, the four other incorrectly spelt names had been brought to the city’s attention.

“The city will have to investigate how incorrect spellings came to be implemented,” Herron said.

“With regard to Gugulethu, the incorrect spelling [Guguletu] appears to be as a consequence of the suburb being registered with the incorrect spelling several decades ago.”

The issue will be discussed at the November meeting of the city’s naming committee.

Herron said the committee would request a report on how these names came to be spelt incorrectly and would discuss how to correct this.

“If we establish that the signage is simply incorrect, then we will resolve that the roads and stormwater department correct the spellings with new signage.

“If the names were ‘officially’ adopted with the incorrect spelling, we will need to amend the spelling by council resolution.”

After this the roads and stormwater department would put up the correct signs

.

Mlawu Tyatyeka, Eastern Cape provincial manager at the Pan SA Language Board, confirmed that the correct Xhosa way of spelling Marawu was with a “u” and not with an “a” as on the road sign.

Tyatyeka added that Lerotho (meaning darkness) and Lerotholi (meaning raindrops) were Sotho names. “Jekula” referred to the action of speaking in sign language. “Mjekula” referred to a person who used sign language.

Zolile (“quiet) and Xolile (“at peace”) are the names of people.

zara.nicholson@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Xolile Mngeni has testified that he had no role in tourist Anni Dewani's murder, and was ‘set up’ by an alleged accomplice.

Cape Town - A man on trial for tourist Anni Dewani's murder had no role in the crime, the Western Cape High Court heard on Monday.

Xolile Mngeni, 25, testifying in his own defence, insisted he was set up by Mziwamadoda Qwabe, an alleged accomplice who was given 25 years in jail for his role in the murder.

Mngeni's lawyer questioned him on aspects of Qwabe's testimony.

His standard response to most of Qwabe's allegations was: “He's lying.” He has pleaded not guilty to hijacking, robbing, and killing Dewani in Gugulethu on November 13, 2010.

He told the court he was not friends with Qwabe and they had never swapped DVDs or watched DVDs at each other's houses.

He said he was not at Qwabe's home on November 12 and never spoke to him over the phone the following day.

He did, however, admit to meeting Qwabe by chance that afternoon.

Mngeni was walking home from the shop when he saw Qwabe in the passenger seat of a passing car.

“He called me, I got nearer... He asked whether I don't know of any person who wants a phone,” Mngeni said.

“I said to him I'm going to try get someone for him, but he must come around tomorrow (Sunday).”

The two met that Sunday afternoon and Qwabe apparently handed over a Nokia and Blackberry phone.

Mngeni said he found a buyer for the Blackberry but not for the Nokia, and kept it until he was arrested.

Mngeni denied ever being in a car with Qwabe or driving to Gugulethu together that Saturday.

A thin Mngeni, who has a brain tumour, had to be led to the stand by a police officer, who wrapped his arm firmly around the accused's waist for support.

Mngeni seemed lucid and spoke clearly.

He seemed to have no trouble recalling the series of events two years ago and responded quickly to the questions.

The trial continues. - Sapa

A specialist physician testified that he gave acting judge Patrick Maqubela a clean bill of health less than a month before his death.

Cape Town -

A specialist physician testified on Monday that he gave acting judge Patrick Maqubela a clean bill of health less than a month before his death.

Court proceedings were transferred from the Western Cape High Court to the nearby Taj Hotel so that 84-year-old Dr Sidney Samuel Brett could testify via a video link-up from Johannesburg.

The doctor, who has more than 60 years of experience, was advised not to travel.

Brett testified that Maqubela had been his patient since 2006 and visited him for medical check-ups every six months.

Brett examined the 60-year-old acting judge a total of 14 times and every time his blood pressure was normal.

The last time he saw Maqubela was on May 15, 2009, just a few weeks before his body was found in his luxury Bantry Bay apartment on June 7.

The State alleges he was suffocated with a piece of plastic. His widow, Thandi Maqubela, and co-accused Vela Mabena are on trial for the alleged murder.

The physician told the court the most serious condition he had ever treated the judge for had been swollen salivary glands.

However, on his last visit his blood count, blood sugars, ECG, and stress test as well as lung test were “perfectly normal”.

Brett said the only difference was that Maqubela had gained five kgs as he had not exercised for 10 months.

Maqubela weighed 78kgs and had a BMI of 26. Brett believed “he was in excellent health for his age”.

During cross examination, defence lawyer Marius Broeksma suggested that a specialist pathologist found the judge's BMI (body mass index) was 28.7 at the time of his death and had characterised him as overweight.

Broeksma told the court that the investigating team found three kinds of flu treatments, hypertension medication, as well as medication for the treatment of gout, next to Maqubela's bed.

Brett testified he had never seen Maqubela with an attack of gout, but that he may have prescribed it as a standby treatment.

Broeksma also put it to the doctor that the pathologist's report found micardial fibrosis, consistent with previous injury.

But, Brett said that “in a man of sixty, you will find some fibrosis. I wouldn't think that's abnormal. He had no evidence of heart disease or heart failure”.

Brett said he didn't believe there was any evidence of blockages in any of the coronary vessels Ä they were dilated and clean.

“... On clinical examination he had no organ damage whatsoever.”

The physician said he prescribed Viagra for erectile dysfunction every time the judge visited, but was asked not to include it in his records as Maqubela wanted “to keep it very quiet”.

Broeksma asked him if he was familiar with the condition sudden cardiac death to which Brett said he was, but it was usually associated with young people with inherited conditions.

Despite Broeksma's suggestion that cardio risks were associated with Viagra, Brett was adamant that it could not be a cause of death and could be used extensively.

He also dismissed the defence's suggestion that the judge could have died of cardiac arythmia, and said there had to be a history of heart disease.

Brett testified that he knew about the judge's infidelities, but didn't know about his financial difficulties, as Maqubela always “passed himself off a very rich man”.

He didn't agree that Maqubela's extramarital affairs were adding to his stress and said “I think he felt rather proud of his acquisitions”.

The trial continues. - Sapa

Xolile Mngeni says he was taken to the basement of a police building after Anni Dewani’s death and severely assaulted.

Cape Town - Police officers assaulted a man into confessing to tourist Anni Dewani's murder, the Western Cape High Court heard on Monday.

Xolile Mngeni, 25, testifying in his own defence, said he was taken to the basement of a police building after her death in November 2010 and severely assaulted.

“They put me into a certain place downstairs where there are some water pipes. There was one table in there and one chair, there was some blood on the floor,” he said.

“They took my head, tied it to the back of a chair, took a plastic bag and put in pepper spray. They put that onto my face and I vibrated as if I was fitting 1/8having a fit 3/8. The others were kicking me and others trampling.”

He said he was then stripped and his testicles slammed into a desk drawer.

Mngeni has pleaded not guilty to robbing, hijacking, and killing Dewani in Gugulethu on November 13, 2010.

He took the stand as the first witness in the defence's case.

Judge Robert Henney asked why Mngeni was only testifying now about the assault.

He said the evidence should have been given during the trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of Mngeni's confession.

Henney had ruled the statement could be admitted as evidence.

“The court can ignore this. You can't now present evidence of the confession.”

The trial continues. - Sapa

A man accused of indecently assaulting young girls walked in on one of his alleged victims, clad only in her panties, in a doctor's consulting room.

Cape Town - A businessman accused of indecently assaulting young girls walked in on one of his alleged victims, clad only in her panties, in a doctor's consulting room, the Parow Regional Court heard on Monday.

Johannes Adolf Kleinhans, 74, a former director of companies, was testifying in his own defence before magistrate Amanda van Leeve.

He initially pleaded guilty to 94 counts. However, the court decided he had erred in doing so and changed his plea to not guilty when, in giving evidence, he blamed his three victims for his predicament.

He told the court the mother of one of his alleged victims told him one day the girl was seriously ill and was at a doctor's consulting room.

When he arrived there, the doctor was examining the girl, and he entered at the mother's invitation.

Kleinhans told the court: “I walked into the consulting room and there the girl was lying on a bench, clad only in her panties.”

The magistrate said his presence in the privacy of the doctor's consulting room was “inappropriate”, because he was not even related to the child.

Kleinhans told of another occasion when one of his alleged victims complained to him of an infection on her genitals, and asked him to take a photo of the infection. He told the court he did so, for her to see for herself.

He agreed with the magistrate that this too was inappropriate. He said he later offered the girl R5 for more photographs of her genitals. He denied that he had once slapped the girl, leaving a mark on her face.

“I know about my faults, and you can punish me for them, but not for slapping her face. I did not do it,” he said.

Kleinhans said testimony was correct that his alleged victims often accompanied him to a house, which had been converted into a gymnasium, for exercise.

His lawyer Johan Grobler referred him to testimony that one of the girls saw him naked in the house, and that he was naked himself while photographing them in the nude.

He replied: “That is not true.”

He denied claims that one of the girls saw him in the gym with an erection.

“I am in my 70s, and not capable of that,” he said.

He admitted that the girls consumed liquor he had offered them.

Asked why he had done so, he replied: “I wanted to see if they could consume liquor in a responsible manner.”

The case was postponed to October 29, when Kleinhans would be cross-examined by prosecutor Herculine Swart.

It was not clear from the evidence how he knew the girls. - Sapa

Confusion abounded on Monday during the cross-examination of a man on trial for the murder of Anni Dewani.

Cape Town -

Confusion abounded on Monday during the cross-examination of a man on trial in the Western Cape High Court for the murder of Anni Dewani.

Prosecutor Shareen Riley asked Xolile Mngeni, 25, about a series of events the weekend Dewani was hijacked, robbed, and killed in November, 2010.

He got confused when she wanted to make sure he was not friends with his alleged accomplice Mziwamadoda Qwabe, who has been convicted of the murder and jailed for 25 years.

Mngeni said he only knew of Qwabe, because he and Mngeni's older brother had DJ-ed together.

“Did you ever talk to him?” Riley asked.

“No, I never had a conversation with him,” Qwabe replied.

However, later on in questioning, Mngeni conceded that they had chatted on occasion, when Qwabe visited his house sometimes to get a CD from his brother.

There was then a misunderstanding about where Mngeni was on the day of the murder.

Mngeni had earlier said that on the Saturday in question, he was walking from the shops when he saw Qwabe in the passenger seat of a passing vehicle, at a four-way stop opposite his friend's house.

Riley said this contradicted what his lawyer had put to Qwabe during his testimony.

“Remember when Mr Qwabe testified, your defence told him your version of events. He said you were at your friend's place getting a haircut,” she said.

He replied that his defence must have misunderstood him when taking instructions.

“No that is not a barber's shop. I was never at his place,” he testified.

Riley asked why Mngeni had not corrected his lawyer at the time. His reply was that he had not heard the mistake.

Mngeni seemed lucid and spoke clearly and easily when he took to the stand to answer questions from his lawyer Qalisile Dayimani.

He took his first long pause when the State asked where he was the night of the murder.

At first he said he had slept at his girlfriend's place on the Friday night and at his own home on the Saturday evening.

He was asked if he was sure.

He sat quietly for a minute, looking downward with his finger on his chin and told Riley: “I'm still thinking”.

Mngeni then said he was confusing things, and that it was the other way around. He was at his girlfriend's place that Saturday, with another couple.

The trial continues. - Sapa

A man on trial for the murder of honeymoon tourist Anni Dewani had not thought of telling anyone he had an alibi, the court heard.

Cape Town - A man on trial for the murder of honeymoon tourist Anni Dewani had not thought of telling anyone he had an alibi, the Western Cape High Court heard on Monday.

Xolile Mngeni, 25, told the court during cross-examination that he and his girlfriend visited her friend and boyfriend in T-Section, Khayelitsha on November 13, 2010.

They chatted into the early hours of Sunday morning and he slept at his girlfriend's house.

Asked why he had not told his lawyers he had three witnesses who could provide an alibi for that night, he said that until recently it had not occurred to him.

“I don't want to lie, but I did not even think about that... (until) this year.”

He said his brain tumour made him forget things.

“I had a headache and double vision (in 2011). That's when they took me for six operations on my head. Some things just flash and I recall it after.”

Mngeni has pleaded not guilty to hijacking, robbing and killing Dewani in Gugulethu on November 13, 2010.

He said when he was arrested, he was not given the chance to explain where he had been. He then found out about his tumour and was “whipped” out of Groote Schuur hospital in 2011 in a confused and sickly state, so he could appear in court.

“When Captain Hendrikse arrived, he personally discharged me, wrote a letter and arrived at Wynberg (Magistrate's) Court and he told the magistrate the doctor says I am fit.”

Mngeni said this was not the case and that the doctor had told him during a scan that he had not written any letter.

His cross-examination continues on Tuesday. - Sapa

Two young men have been arrested for the murder of a 19-year-old youth at his school in Mossel Bay.

Mossel Bay -

Two young men were arrested on Monday for the murder of a 19-year-old youth at his school in Mossel Bay, Western Cape police said.

Thabani Mntini was stabbed on the school premises around 10am on Monday morning, Captain Malcolm Pojie said.

He would not disclose the name of the school.

“It is alleged that the deceased was approached by the suspects during the morning break. A confrontation ensued and a fight apparently broke out between them,” he said in a statement.

“Thabani Mntini, 19,... sustained two stab wounds in his face and one in his chest. The two suspects fled the scene on foot in the direction of Kwanonqaba.”

Other children took the teenager to the school office and the police were called. He died shortly after the police arrived.

Two 18-year-old teenagers were arrested in Kwanonqaba at noon. They were expected to appear in the Mossel Bay Magistrate's Court soon. - Sapa

The latest proposed electricity hikes could cripple businesses and lead to job losses and higher food prices.

Cape Town - The latest proposed electricity hikes could cripple businesses and lead to job losses and higher food prices.

The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Eskom’s proposed increases would be a “destroyer” of industry. It predicted scores of job losses in the city.

The National Consumer Forum said the possible hikes would have a knock-on effect on food prices and could lead to workers demanding higher salary increases.

Eskom is asking the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) to approve hikes that would increase the cost of electricity by 16 percent a year for the next five years.

Last year, electricity costs rose by more than 25 percent. A similar hike is on the cards for consumers next year.

In its latest application to Nersa, Eskom is asking for increases over five years – from April next year.

Since 2008 the cost of one unit of electricity has jumped from just over 19 cents to 50 cents today.

It’s a bleak forecast for residents battling with higher food prices and regular petrol price hikes.

The City of Cape Town, which sells electricity to more than 500 000 households, has said it has noted a “slight increase” in the number of people not paying their bills after major hikes.

Peter Haylett, the chairman of the chamber’s industrial focus portfolio committee, said that with the proposed hike, the electricity tariff would have increased by 300 percent over six years.

He said that a series of steep hikes had led many businesses to shut their doors or scale down.

In some cases, businesses passed the higher costs on to the consumer. But it was not always possible to do this.

Haylett said the effects of the higher costs were widespread, hitting consumers at the tills as well as top business people. He predicted that the “upper end” of the real estate market would take a knock.

“People are having to sell their homes and scale down.”

The National Consumer Forum said Eskom’s latest call for higher tariffs was “shocking”.

Thami Bolani, chairman of the forum, said it would have far-reaching effects on the economy. The proposed increase would be “way above” the inflation rate. It would lead to an increase in the cost of items like food, and this would have major effect on the cost of living.

“Workers could then demand higher increases. It becomes a cycle that never ends and messes with the quality of life and the economy. All South African citizens should stand together and challenge this.”

When Eskom increases its prices, the City of Cape Town has to pay a higher rate when it buys electricity in bulk from the parastatal. Some areas like Table View and Khayelitsha receive electricity directly from Eskom. The city serves the other suburbs.

Ian Neilson, deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for finance, said the increases the city transferred to residents were lower than Eskom’s hikes.

He said there was a “slight increase” in “non-payments” after hikes. However, the majority of city residents had prepaid meters. Before an increase, many residents bought more electricity than normal to “cushion the blow”.

However, more residents were turning to different forms of energy.

“Perhaps the main issue now and into the future is the increasing [use] of alternative energies for cooking – gas mainly – and for water heating, like solar water heaters and heat pumps. There’s been a marginal decrease in electricity sales in recent years.”

There is no way we can charge more, we’ll never have clients

A Cape Town hair salon said the planned electricity increases would hit its bottom line, as the business could no longer pass the costs on to its clients.

City Hair, in the Golden Acre, has a monthly electricity bill of about R2 500. And even if that bill skyrockets over the next few years, it would not hike its own prices at the same rate.

Maxine Davids, the salon owner, said it had built a solid customer base by offering “affordable rates”.

“There is no way we can charge more, you’ll never have clients. The salons that are more expensive hardly have clients. But this hurts your profit, but there’s nothing we can do.”

Davids said the business was heavily dependent on electricity to operate hairdryers, flat irons and ensure the water was always heated. “This is really not fair, the working class is barely keeping up.”

Peter Haylett, the chairman of the Cape Chamber of Commerce’s industrial focus portfolio committee, agreed that a business like Davids’s could not always simply hike its own prices.

“Some really don’t have that option, people could just start visiting less, having their hair-cuts at home.”

We buy R300 electricity every three days… it has to be done

Summer Greens teacher and father of one, Michael Guzana, says he and his family would “definitely feel the pinch” should the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) approve Eskom’s proposed electricity tariff increase.

Guzana said he was already battling with his current monthly electricity bill, despite the 50 free units every month.

“R200 electricity per month used to go for the whole month, but now we have to constantly top up and keep buying again before the month ends.”

Guzana, who lives with his wife and six-year-old son Hluma, top, tries to save electricity where they can.

“It is amazing how much electricity we use as a family of three; I can only imagine how it will affect bigger families,” he said.

Guzana suggested that if the price hike went ahead, the government should subsidise electricity.

Eskom applied to the Nersa on Friday for a 16 percent increase in electricity prices each year for the next five years.

This would take the price of electricity from 61 cents a kilowatt hour in 2012/13 to 128 cents a kWh in 2017/18 – more than doubling it.

Colleen Naidoo, below, who runs a foster home in Mitchells Plain, said the cost of electricity was definitely one of their biggest expenses as they spent at least R4 500 on prepaid electricity a month.

“We buy R300 electricity every two days. It is a lot of money, but it has to be done because we can’t go without lights and I am too scared to use candles,” she said.

Naidoo currently cares for 10 children and seven family members.

She said most of the things in her house required electricity.

“The fridges and washing machines are always on and I think that is what takes up the most electricity,” she said. “We bought a gas stove and I used that to cook things that take longer to try and save the electricity because we couldn't cope with just the electricity.”

Naidoo said she was running the place with money she had inherited. She said she hopes that the money doesn’t run out anytime soon.

bronwynne.jooste@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A Cape Town investment manager was found murdered in his West Coast holiday home after being robbed, police said.

Cape Town - A Cape Town investment manager was found murdered at his West Coast holiday home on Saturday after being robbed, police said on Monday.

Alexander Otten, 53, owner of Northstar Asset Management in Bishopscourt, had his hands and feet tied and a plastic bag over his head. He had a head wound that may have been caused by a blow from a blunt object.

Two suspects, aged 22 and 26, were arrested in St Helena Bay on Monday and would appear in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, said police spokesman Andre Traut.

“The speedy arrests were the result of excellent detective work,” said Traut.

Otten’s holiday home is at Vlamink Vlei A – a game lodge near Velddrif, about two hours’ drive from Cape Town. There are four luxury holiday houses on the property – all fitted with security alarms.

“The motive for the murder is linked to a robbery that took place at his house. The house was ransacked and some goods broken,” said police spokesman November Filander.

Otten’s brother Theo said his brother’s widow, Jo, and their two teenage children were in deep shock.

“[Though] very traumatic for the whole family, we are a big family and are pulling together,” he said.

Theo Otten said his brother had gone to his holiday home alone, something he often did when he wanted to maintain and repair the place.

“Jo had tried to speak to him a few times, but his phone was off, which was very unusual.

“She then called the manager, who went to check and then he found the body. Apparently intruders got into the house,” he said.

Otten said his brother was an exceptionally bright man.

He was born in Cape Town, attended St Joseph’s College, studied at UCT and obtained a Masters degree in business at Oxford University in England.

“About 22 years ago he worked in England for a few years. He ran his own investment company for about 20 years.

“What has happened is shocking and horrible. Theo was a very honourable and just man. He was an absolute gentleman and his friends loved him,” Otten said.

When the Cape Times visited the scene on Monday, police forensic units were searching for clues and fingerprints in the house and in Otten’s Mercedes.

Police at the scene told the Cape Times there were footprints at the back of the house leading to the beach.

The farm owner’s daughter, Elaine Venter, said: “This is a big shock to the family and to all our visitors that come here to relax. This is the first time this has happened.

“Our visitors come here thinking that they have left the crime and hustle and bustle of the city behind, but now one person comes here and he gets murdered. This is totally unacceptable.”

She said Otten had checked in on Friday and she took him to his house.

“This is private land and here you do not expect anything like this to happen. We won’t have any peace in this little community now,” she said.

“This is a very sad situation, but we will simply have to try and prevent this from happening in the future.”

jason.felix@inl.co.za

aziz.hartley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A police officer turned a firearm on himself after a shooting spree which left four wounded. Among the victims was his daughter, 6.

Mossel Bay - A Mossel Bay police officer on Monday turned a firearm on himself after a shooting spree which left four people wounded. Among the victims was his six-year-old daughter.

Sergeant Annesh Bootram, 36, reported for duty at Kwanonqaba Police Station at 6pm on Sunday.

“It is believed that shortly after parade he departed to the residence of Constable Evelyn Pienaar [his ex-girlfriend], who resides within the Da Gamaskop policing precinct,” said police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie. “He went to her flat, where a quarrel ensued… shots were fired, of which several bullets hit Pienaar. Her mother, six-year-old daughter as well as a friend sustained bullet wounds.”

Pojie said an inquest docket and four charges of attempted murder were being investigated.

“Further investigation reveals that he [Bootram] walked down the corridor of the flat, turned the firearm on himself and pulled the trigger. He sustained one fatal wound to the head and died on the scene.”

The four injured victims were transported to the Bay View Hospital for treatment.

Pienaar, who sustained several bullet wounds to her body and legs, needed emergency surgery. By Monday, all the victims except Pienaar had been discharged from hospital.

John Blou, Bootram’s friend and colleague, described Bootram as a gentle person who was popular with all of his colleagues: “You could chat to him for hours without getting bored. He was the kind of guy that would always be willing to help you out.”

Blou added, however, that Bootram had been through a difficult time after his break up with Pienaar, who he “still loved very much”, around a month ago. Pienaar was the mother of Bootram’s two children – an infant and the six-year-old girl.

The question of custody and the possibility of it being settled in court apparently weighed heavily on Bootram’s mind. Bootram had no family or support structure in the Western Cape, and had turned to Blou as an emotional confidant.

“I don’t know what happened at Pienaar’s home on Sunday, but I can’t believe that the he went over there with the intention to hurt them,” Blou said.

“Something dramatic must have occurred to have triggered him off.”

Blou added that the working conditions for officers at Kwanonqaba were particularly dire and stressful.

He said that he was commenting in his capacity as a Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) official.

Western Cape Community Policing Forum board chairperson, Hanif Loonat, said: “We sometimes forget about the incredible stress under which our SAPS officers have to conduct their work.

“We need to provide support for them, and look after their psychological well-being.

“Police have to be ready for being the target of an attack at any time during a routine patrol. When you function under that sort pressure on a daily basis, it can become possible that the slightest thing can trigger you to do something that is unacceptable… like turning your gun on innocent people.”

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Community Safety MEC Dan Plato says he receives complaints from residents daily about people being assaulted by police during raids.

Cape Town - Community Safety MEC Dan Plato says he receives complaints from residents “on a day-to-day basis” about being assaulted by police during raids.

Plato was speaking following a Cape Argus report on Monday which stated that Steenberg police were being investigated for a string of allegations, including officers using baseball bats and hockey sticks to beat suspects.

Eleven residents have since filed complaints with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, and also a request to have police interdicted from unlawfully assaulting members of the public.

Plato said on Monday he had received complaints of police kicking doors in, tossing furniture around and assaulting residents.

“It is not part of the SAPS’s job to break down people’s property left, right and centre,” he said, adding: ““It is not part of their jobs to attack people, regardless of whether they are drug lords or not.”

Residents in a small cul de sac in Capricorn Park, near Steenberg, said on Monday that police harassed them on a weekly basis.

Sylvester Tanga, 19, showed the Cape Argus a black mark below his eye which he said he got during a raid a few weeks ago: “They say we sell drugs but we don’t. My dog was killed a few weeks ago because his barking annoyed them.”

Another resident, Norman Fortune, 41, said he felt police targeted him because of his gold chains. “Young kids (police officers) want to smack me because they say I am a gangster, but I fix cellphones.”

Cynthia Katasie, 40, shares a home with Tommy Newman, 53, and they said they had fixed their door three times after police kicked it in during raids.

neo.maditla@inl.co.za

nontando.mposo@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

Husband tells court he feels sorry for wife who set son, 9, alight as punishment for smoking cigarettes.

Cape Town - A Delft mother convicted of murder for setting her son alight as punishment for smoking cigarettes should receive a non-custodial sentence, the Western Cape High Court has heard.

On Monday, Noluthando Pamela Nomavayi’s husband, Mninawa, and her aunt, Nontsikelelo Joyi, asked Judge Vincent Saldanha to not jail Nomavayi.

Judge Saldanha had recalled Nomavayi’s husband during sentencing proceedings to get an understanding of why she had killed her nine-year-old son Aphelele on May 31 last year. Aphelele sustained 90 percent burns to his body.

He died after six weeks of treatment at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital.

Judge Saldanha had found that the State proved its case against Nomavayi and convicted her of murder and attempted murder.

On the evening of the incident, Nomavayi, 33, found Aphelele and his elder brother Mnikeli, 13, with cigarettes. She took them to the yard and doused them in paraffin.

Mnikeli managed to escape but Nomavayi struck a match and set Aphelele alight.

Her husband said on Monday he felt sorry for her and did not want her to be incarcerated.

“I feel sorry for her whenever I look at her. I’ve already said she was God-sent to me and it’s not easy to part ways with her because my meeting with her was facilitated by God,” Mninawa Nomavayi said.

The court heard that, according to a clinical psychologist’s report, Nomavayi had attempted suicide twice during their marriage but her husband said he had no knowledge of it.

Nomavayi’s defence, Thabo Nogemane, called her aunt Joyi to testify.

She said she had raised Nomavayi because she had had a difficult childhood and was shunned byher mother’s home after she fell pregnant at high school.

Joyi had taken Nomavayi in and raised her as her own.

She testified that she assumed Nomavayi was angry at her mother.

“She’s got a lot of anger in her for the manner [in which] she was brought up. She is angry at her mother, doesn’t know her father…” Joyi said.

She also asked that Judge Saldanha impose a non-custodial sentence but could not answer when Nogemane probed why that type of sentence should be imposed for a serious crime such as murder.

While Nomavayi’s eldest child is living with his maternal grandmother, Mnikeli is in foster care.

Sentencing proceedings are set to continue on Monday.

jade.witten@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A Cape Town magistrate found herself delivering a baby rather than a judgment in court.

Cape Town - A Cape Town magistrate found herself delivering a baby rather than a judgment in court on Monday.

Acting senior magistrate Pearl Andrews said she was on her way to a prosecutor’s office at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court when an interpreter told her a woman was in labour.

A few seconds later, security guards ran past her towards the toilets and she followed.

Andrews borrowed a cleaner’s rubber gloves to deliver the baby.

She said the mother, Koliswa Thwala, and her baby boy were taken to the Retreat Maternity Hospital.

Cape Times

Service delivery protesters blocked the N2 highway and roads in Nyanga and Gugulethu with rubbish bins and tyres overnight.

Cape Town - Service delivery protesters blocked the N2 highway and roads in Nyanga and Gugulethu with rubbish bins and tyres overnight, Cape Town police said on Tuesday.

“The situation started around 10pm (on Monday) and concluded at 2am this morning (Tuesday),” said Lt-Col Andre Traut.

“It is suspected that the matter is related to a service delivery situation.”

No arrests had been made. - Sapa

The AG’s office has flagged millions in irregular expenditure, missing assets and underspending in Helen Zille’s department.

Cape Town - The auditor-general’s office has flagged millions of rands in irregular expenditure, missing assets and underspending in Premier Helen Zille’s department and the provincial legislature.

This comes after the 2011/12 annual reports of different provincial departments and public entities handed in their audited financial statements to the legislature for discussion and approval by committees.

For the next month, the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) will meet the various departments and entities to discuss their annual reports.

The provincial legislature underspent R10 million in its administration section, while the Department of the Premier cannot locate R3.7m worth of assets listed in its asset register. R22.8m was irregularly spent and there were several lawsuits about alleged unfair labour practice.

Provincial legislature secretary Royston Hindley told Scopa that “the trend of underspending of the budget was a concern”.

He said the underspending took place because of an increase in vacant posts and “challenges” filling them.

Another reason was the pending upgrade and implementation of the legislature’s website, the electronic filing and document management system.

Hindley said an effort had been made to implement corrective steps including a remuneration study to address recruitment challenges.

On missing assets at the Department of the Premier, Zak Mbhele, Zille’s spokesman, said the department was busy stock-taking.

“The assets in question are mainly IT infrastructure and equipment. Often a portion of these assets are found during stock-take due to the equipment having been moved to another room or to another building at the time of reconciling the register, either for maintenance or repairs,” Mbhele said.

On the R22.8m irregular spending, he said it was for a communications services contract awarded in November 2007.

“The total cost was R22.8m and the expenditure was deemed irregular due to a conflict of interest that was not declared at the bid evaluation committee stage. This matter was not picked up by the auditor-general during that financial year. It was disclosed only in 2011/12 as a result of a Forensic Investigative Unit investigation.”

He said both the investigative unit and the legal services department had found the expenditure to be irregular.

“Where alleged misconduct was apparent, the necessary disciplinary processes have already been instituted against officials that were involved with the tender and contract management,” he said. “These processes are at various stages at the moment.”

sibusiso.nkomo@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

It would be difficult to locate the key alibi witness of a man on trial for the murder of tourist Anni Dewani, the High Court has heard.

Cape Town - It would be difficult to locate the key alibi witness of a man on trial for the murder of tourist Anni Dewani, the Western Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.

Xolile Mngeni, 25, said his girlfriend, who was with him the night of the murder, now lived in Johannesburg.

He said that when he became ill with a brain tumour, he lost her telephone number and lost contact with her.

Judge Robert Henney asked if he would be able to show the police where her family stayed in Khayelitsha to get her phone number and her new address.

“No, I don't have a problem [with that]. I'll be able to tell him where her mother stays, but the problem is I don't know her mother and she doesn't know me,” Mngeni testified during cross-examination.

He said he might be able to point out her brother.

Mngeni has pleaded not guilty to robbing, hijacking and killing Dewani in Gugulethu, on November 13, 2010.

He testified on Monday that he was with his girlfriend, her friend and her friend's boyfriend the night of the murder. They chatted into the early hours of the morning.

However, on Tuesday he said he and his girlfriend left the other couple around 8pm on the Saturday, and made their way to a nearby shack.

“For a young man on a Saturday night, that is very early,” Henney said.

The trial continues. - Sapa

Every time Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela went to see his doctor, he asked for Viagra, his physician has testified.

Cape Town - Every time Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela went to see his doctor, he asked for Viagra.

His physician said he had tended to the late judge every six months.

The 60-year-old acting judge was healthy and active, said specialist physician Sidney Brett who examined the judge weeks before his body was found. On Monday, Brett testified at the murder trial of Thandi Maqubela, accused of killing her husband.

Court proceedings were transferred from the Western Cape High Court to the Taj Hotel in the CBD so Brett, 84, could testify via a video link-up from Joburg. The doctor, who has more than 60 years of experience, was advised not to travel.

The State alleges Maqubela was suffocated with cling film but his widow argues he died of natural causes.

Brett, a specialist physician since 1956, had been the acting judge’s attending doctor since 2006. He said he had examined the acting judge a total of 14 times.

Brett said that when Maqubela first came to see him, he was already on treatment for hypertension, but his blood pressure was “good” and fairly low with each follow-up visit.

The doctor had last tended to Maqubela on May 15, 2009 – a few weeks before his body was found in his Bantry Bay flat on June 7.

The doctor had conducted tests, including an ECG and stress test.

Maqubela was found to have had eczema on his groin. He had not exercised for about 10 months and had gained weight, but nothing was “abnormal”. At that time, Maqubela had weighed 78kg, and his body mass index was 26 percent – not overweight.

State advocate Pedro van Wyk asked: “How would you describe his health?” Brett replied: “He was in very good health for his age…”

During cross-examination defence advocate Marius Broeksma

asked whether Brett had given Maqubela Viagra. He replied: “I did. He always asked for it, every time he saw me.”

He said the judge did not want the Viagra on his record.

Despite Broeksma’s suggestion that cardio risks were associated with Viagra, Brett said it could not be a cause of death.

Broeksma asked Brett whether he was familiar with the condition “sudden cardiac death”. Brett said it was usually common in young people with “inherited conditions”.

The trial continues.

Cape Argus

Local entertainers are planning to raise money to cover the legal fees of Emeritus Associate Professor Cyril Karabus.

Johannesburg - Local entertainers are planning a benefit concert named “Bring Him Home” in support of Professor Cyril Karabus, pictured.

Karabus, 77, of Claremont, was granted bail in an Abu Dhabi court on October 11. He paid R240 000 to the court, to be held as bond.

A specialist paediatric oncologist, Karabus was arrested on August 18, while in transit in Dubai to South Africa, from his son’s wedding in Toronto, Canada.

Organised by Ivor Joffe and Karabus’s lawyer Michael Bagraim, the concert to raise money for Karabus’s legal fees will be produced by Joffe and directed by Deb Newman Jardine. It will include music, dance and comedy entertainers Beverley Chiat, Nik Rabinowitz, Lindy Abromowitz, Zola, Mambazo African Choir and Herzlia Vocal Ensemble.

“Due to the trial his legal expenses are exorbitant,” Joffe said.

Karabus was detained at Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi Central Prison, on charges of manslaughter and falsifying documents. The charges relate to the death of a girl he had treated for leukaemia in 2002 while working in Abu Dhabi. He was convicted in absentia.

His son, Michael, said yesterday his father was “doing well now he is out of the stressful environment” of jail.

The concert will be held at the Baxter Theatre on November 4 at 7pm. Book at Computicket. Tickets cost R180. - The Star