Protesting students of the Tshwane University of Technology have set alight at least 18 cars belonging to the institution, police have said.

Pretoria - Protesting students of the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) have set alight at least 18 cars belonging to the institution, police said on Saturday.

“Cases of malicious damage to property and public violence have been opened,” spokeswoman Lt-Col Khensani Magoai said.

The cars were set alight at TUT's Soshanguve campus on Friday night, as students continued with the protest action which has been on going for almost two weeks.

Magoai said there were no injuries and no one had been arrested. She said police were monitoring the situation.

The protests have seen the closure of the institution on a number of occasions and the suspension of the Student Representative Council (SRC).

The suspension was lifted on Wednesday, following talks between the two parties.

On September 17, it was agreed that the strike would be suspended and lectures would resume.

Students were protesting against the lack of funds in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter was not immediately available for comment. She said the institution would release a statement.

The SRC were not immediately available to comment. - Sapa

The ANC in Joburg is troubled by the impact that the e-tolling system is having on its members and the prospects of the economic growth of the city.

Johannesburg - The ANC in Joburg is troubled by the impact that the controversial e-tolling system is having on its members and the prospects of the economic growth of the city, warning: “We can’t be arrogant and not to listen to the people.”

The party is pushing back on the decision it admitted “it agreed to years back to look at holistic approach to provide infrastructure for economic growth”, with a renewed hope that the government will listen.

This comes a week after Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said the national government would not scrap or review the user-pay system as a funding mechanism for urban roads, in response to a panel set up by Gauteng Premier David Makhura to assess e-tolling impact.

Over the past weeks, civil society movements, economists, big business, trade unions, opponents of urban tolling and the public in Gauteng have all stepped forward to reject the implementation of e-tolls.

Now the matter is threatening to become a divisive point in the ruling party debates ahead of local government elections in 2016. The ANC’s Joburg region and in Gauteng have already identified e-tolling as one of the reasons behind its votes decline during the May national elections.

Political pressure has been piling up on South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) with the ANC Youth League in Gauteng and Cosatu supporting the work of the advisory panel on e-tolls.

“It’s our own creation. We’ve got to find a way of dealing with its negative impact,” said Jolidee Matongo, ANC Joburg region spokesman. “It’s a real issue that bothers many of our members. It will ultimately affect us going forward.”

Matongo said the party has discussed the e-tolling not as stand-alone issue but as part of many other discussions and assessments made after the May elections. However, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said in May that the implementation of e-toll system could not be used as an excuse for a decline in the number of votes it received in the province in the elections.

Matongo said it was difficult to say whether the matter had brought divisions because it had not yet been discussed widely on its own, but there was a “great concern about it”.

The party’s stance on the system, however, was similar to that of the city, which made a damning assessment of the e-tolls in its submissions to the premier’s advisory panel.

The city suggested the e-tolls would diminish the emerging middle class – the cornerstone of its future growth – and dampen their approximately R17 billion they generated to economic growth of the city.

Several ANC members in Joburg who cannot be named told the Saturday Star this week that at meetings, some officials had encouraged other members to refuse to pay their e-toll bills.

“We know that no one is going to be arrested or jailed for failing to pay,” said one ANC official. “If the issue is still alive at the time that the local government elections come, it would be a surprise to all of us because the system is totally against the strategic position of the ANC to attain its objectives.”

Another official said e-tolling would reverse all the gains made since 1994 in Joburg, particularly for the black middle class that was trying to catch up with white counterparts.

“Also, it is a bad idea to toll urban areas where there are majority frequent users inside sub-urban areas,” he said. “The tolled roads cover a significant proportion where our people live and do business, especially the black population.”

Meanwhile Sanral has said that it wrote to Makhura requesting to meet him over his decision to establish the panel assessing the impact of the e-tolls.

Saturday Star

A beauty queen is up in arms after the organisers of a national competition allegedly failed to hand her prizes to her.

Durban - A young Durban beauty queen is up in arms after the organisers of a national competition allegedly failed to hand her prizes to her. The first princess says she has not received all her prizes either.

Ranelle Munsami was crowned Miss Teen India SA in December after she saw off stiff competition from 59 young Indian girls from throughout the country.

Nine months later, the Phoenix lass is yet to receive her R10 000 prize money.

She also found out, much to her embarrassment, that a R45 000 trip for two to Mauritius that was part of her winning package did not exist.

“I’m so angry,” said 20-year-old Munsami. “I feel so used. I invested so much of my time and energy and I’ve been left feeling like an idiot.”

While the event’s chief executive, Sharan Maharaj, conceded that Munsami had not received her prize money because of a pending investigation, she said the beauty queen had received all other prizes.

“How can the trip not exist?” refuted Maharaj. “Ranelle was given everything except for the prize money and that is because we found out after the competition that she had been drinking tequila and smoking in the toilets during one of the rehearsals. Girls entering the competition are prohibited from drinking and smoking.”

Maharaj said other participants had alerted her to Munsami’s alleged misdemeanours.

“So I hired a private investigator to determine whether or not there was any truth to the allegations,” said Maharaj. The investigation should be concluded by the end of the month.

The drinking and smoking allegations were “utter nonsense”, said Munsami.

Second princess Samantha Govender, 20, was supposed to receive a bursary, R2 500, and a restaurant voucher.

Except for the bursary, the Isipingo woman said she had yet to receive her other winnings. Govender, who is also Miss India Angel World, said this had put her off entering other local competitions.

“I feel like c**p. I spent so much money preparing for the competition, but I have nothing to show for it,” she said.

Maharaj dismissed Govender’s claim. “Samantha is talking nonsense,” she said angrily.

Independent on Saturday

The Tshwane University of Technology has closed all of its campuses following a spate of violent protests, the institution said.

Pretoria - The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) has closed all of its campuses following a spate of violent protests, the institution said on Saturday.

“The Tshwane University of Technology has announced that all campuses will be closed from today, 20 September,” spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said in a statement.

“In the interest of their own safety, all residence students at all campuses must vacate their rooms by this afternoon at 5pm.”

De Ruyter said the decision to shut down the institution followed the burning of 18 cars.

Police said cases of malicious damage to property and public violence were opened on Saturday, following the torching of the cars.

Spokeswoman Lt-Col Khensani Magoai said there were no injuries and no one had been arrested. She said police were monitoring the situation.

The protests have seen the closure of the institution on a number of occasions and the suspension of the Student Representative Council (SRC).

The suspension was lifted on Wednesday, following talks between the two parties.

On September 17, it was agreed that the strike would be suspended and lectures would resume.

De Ruyter said management's decision on Saturday, followed the violent protest action that erupted at the Soshanguve and Ga-Rankuwa campuses causing extensive damage to university property and threatening the safety of students.

She said the institution would bring the official recess forward to commence on Monday, September 22. Talks with student leaders would continue during that time.

“This decision was reached in consultation with the Chair of the Tshwane University of Technology's Council. The university will advise on the formal re-opening of the university. Updated information will be published on our website,” she said.

SRC president Mboniseni Dladla said the closure came as a shock but it was informed by the high level of violence in Soshanguve.

He said as much as they understood the decision to close the university, the SRC questioned why the entire institution had to be closed instead of the Soshanguve campus where violence was prevailing.

“We don't agree with the move because at the other campuses there is no violence. It (the closure) was just supposed to be in Soshanguve,” he said.

Students were protesting against the lack of funds in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. - Sapa

Two judges spared a former creche owner from serving jail time, after they set aside convictions related to allegations she sedated children.

Cape Town - Two Western Cape High Court judges this week spared a former creche owner from serving jail time, after they set aside convictions related to allegations she sedated children.

The judges were highly critical of the magistrate who heard the matter, saying she had attempted to fill gaps in the State’s case. The judges also described the prosecution’s case as “fundamentally flawed from the outset”.

Monica Helm, former owner of Kinderland Day Care Centre in Somerset West, was convicted in 2011 of eight charges of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm and of contravening the Children’s Act for failing to have the facility registered.

The Somerset West Regional Court sentenced her to five years in jail in terms of a specific section of the Criminal Procedure Act, which meant she had to serve a sixth before being considered for release on correctional supervision.

The principle State witness in the case was Angelique Carolus, Helm’s former domestic worker and creche assistant.

Carolus, who testified as an accomplice witness, told the court Helm had instructed her almost daily to give the children a potion which contained crushed pills that put them to sleep. Helm administered anything from five to 15 tablespoons of the mixture to each child, she said.

In November 2007, she bumped into one of the children’s parents and spilled the beans, which led to a police raid and Helm’s arrest.

Parents testified they were happy with the creche, and had not detected any adverse signs in their children.

Expert evidence of the analysis of substances seized at the creche, and urine and blood samples taken from the children, were also presented.

In a judgment handed down this week, Judge Pat Gamble said the regional court was required to consider whether the State had established beyond reasonable doubt that Helm had forced the children to take the potion without their parents’ consent, and that the potion was toxic enough to cause grievous bodily harm.

He found Carolus was not a satisfactory accomplice witness, pointing out she blew the whistle the day after she had been served notice of termination of her employment.

There was nothing striking in the parents’ evidence to corroborate Carolus’s claims.

“It must be borne in mind in that regard that 15 tablespoons (225 ml) is close to a standard cup (250ml) of liquid. It is extraordinary that children who had received quantities of the mixture measuring from one third of a cup up to a near full cup, did not present with significant medical symptoms after the ingestion of such relatively large amounts,” he said.

He also described as “striking” that there was little, if any, correlation between the samples analysed and said the State’s analyst was “hopelessly out of her depth”.

Judge Gamble was also critical of the fact that the State refused to supply the defence expert with raw data requested and that the court had not come to the defence’s aid.

Referring to the court’s decision to call further witnesses, Judge Gamble said: “There can be little doubt that, in a proper reading of this part of the judgment set in the context of the evaluation and criticism of other witnesses, in particular (the State’s analyst), the regional magistrate believed, if she did not call those witnesses, she would have to acquit the accused on the relevant charges.”

He pointed out there was, in any event, nothing significant in the court’s witnesses’ evidence that took the State’s case further, before adding: “And yet, this notwithstanding, the regional magistrate sought to rely on that evidence in an obvious attempt to fill the gaps in the State’s case.”

Judge Gamble added the perception was “regrettably” confirmed when considered with the fact that the court precluded the defence from obtaining access to the raw data and the magistrate’s failure to properly evaluate and consider the defence expert’s testimony.

Acting Judge Boet Smit agreed.

Weekend Argus

A survivor of the Nigerian church disaster said that the images of dead bodies strewn in the rubble would be etched in her mind forever.

Durban - a survivor of the Nigerian church disaster said on Friday the images of dead bodies strewn in the rubble would be etched in her mind forever.

The collapse claimed the lives of at least 84 South Africans, according to the high commissioner to Nigeria Lulu Mnguni.

A week after the tragic incident at The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, Thandi Zulu said the images still haunted her.

“Sleeping at night has been very difficult,” she said, while driving to hospital for a check-up on a severely bruised arm.

Zulu, 48, who is from Newcastle, said events leading up to last Friday’s cave-in still play vividly in her head.

“People… bodies… were scattered all over.

“There were cries and screams for help. I remember this one woman who was lying next to me… she had been crying from Friday until Saturday, when she died… I remember it all,” she said, her voice fading in grief.

She said she was able to breathe “by the grace of God”, despite the rubble piled on top of her after the building fell.

Zulu, who sustained injuries to her face and arm, spent three days in a hospital in Lagos.

She and fellow South Africans were having lunch at 11.45am when tragedy struck last Friday.

“Most of us were gathered at the dining hall when the building came tumbling down.

“I can’t even begin to explain the noise… it was a tremor… it sounded like my world was literally tumbling down,” she said.

Zulu, who was visiting the church for the first time, had spent three days there, after catching a bus to Lagos from Joburg.

However, she had not seen church leader TB Joshua during her stay.

“We would have breakfast at 9am and then service with the ‘wise men’,” she said.

The services were uplifting.

“I didn’t go to the synagogue for a particular purpose. I just went there for the service and to enhance my faith,” she said, dismissing claims that Joshua was a miracle worker.

Many of his followers believe he can cure illnesses, such as cancer and Aids, as well as relieve impotence, bankruptcy – and any other problem.

“He’s not a sangoma (traditional doctor). He’s just a man of God.”

She was shocked and saddened by the number of fatalities, but said if it was the will of God “so be it”.

“When it’s your time to go, then its your time to go.”

The backlash directed at Joshua was unjustified.

“Buildings collapse all the time. Buses, taxis and even planes crash all the time. Accidents happen.

“Why now must we blame one man as if he’s responsible?” she asked.

Construction experts have said the soil underneath the building probably could not support the structure.

The four-storey guest house had allegedly had two floors added to it, without a permit or reinforcement of the existing floors.

Joshua believes a mysterious aircraft, directed by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, brought down the guest house.

Another Durban survivor has also told of his narrow escape from death.

Businessman Daniel Chetty, who is still recovering at the Broad Hospital in Lagos, said he had been feeling “spiritually uplifted” when the building suddenly came down.

Chetty, 48, who had gone to Nigeria to “find peace”, sustained minor injuries.

Independent on Saturday

Three Zululand women on a game drive in the Kruger National park stopped a gang of rhino poachers in their tracks.

Durban - Three Zululand women on a late afternoon game drive in the Kruger National park stopped a gang of rhino poachers in their tracks.

The trio from Eshowe left their husbands at camp drinking beer. They had just settled down to watch a lion at a waterhole when they saw four men in a car behaving suspiciously. At the same time a black rhino appeared on the scene.

“There was something strange about the way they didn’t even look at a lion that people in other cars were watching,” said Haley Dahl who spoke to Jane Linley-Thomas on East Coast Radio on Thursday.

Dahl said she, Delise Powell and Yolande Larkan saw them take photos and talk on cellphones.

They were unable to report them because they were not within cellphone range but 45 minutes later, they confirmed their suspicions when they suddenly noticed only two occupants in the car. “We knew then that they had dropped the other two off in the bush.”

Dahl said she got the sense the two, in a blue Gauteng-registered car, realised they were being followed. “But we felt safe because there were quite a lot of cars. Everyone was heading back to camp before the gates closed.”

Once at Satara camp, they pointed them out to police waiting after getting the trio’s call once they had cellphone reception.

“They apprehended them after they had filled up with petrol at Satara. We also heard that they picked up the other two guys in the bush.”

SANParks spokesman Rey Thakhuli confirmed the arrests and thanked the women for alerting the authorities. “We won’t win this fight alone in the bush,” he said.

Dahl said she and her friends’ rhino detective work caused them to pay scant attention to the rhino they had just saved.

“The poachers came the moment the rhino arrived and I was too focused on the poachers and getting a picture of their car and its registration number. It seemed the poachers had tracked the rhino as they arrived and left when the rhino did, all in less than four minutes.”

Independent on Saturday

Elizabeth Serumula waited three days to get a bed at the over-crowded Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

Johannesburg - The last thing Origin Serumula remembers about his sickly mother is how scared she was of sleeping for yet another night on the floor at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

The 24-year-old’s mother Elizabeth Serumula, 50, waited three days to get a bed at the over-crowded public hospital.

For those days she was forced to sleep on the floor in the admission ward at the hospital with a drip attached.

Then on Thursday a relative, who also works for the Saturday Star, Rabbie Serumula intervened and called the hospital’s spokesman Nkosiyethu Mazibuko and a bed was promised.

Whether she was given a bed or not is unclear, but Elizabeth died in the early hours of Thursday morning after her condition had deteriorated.

“She begged me not to leave her. She told me she could no longer bear sleeping on the floor,” said Origin recounting the grim experience of watching his mother’s life slip away.

Before he left the admission ward on Wednesday afternoon nurses reassured Origin that a bed had been arranged for his mother and that she would be attended to.

According to Origin, Elizabeth became ill last Saturday.

He described her condition as “on and off”, saying “she shivered most of the day asking for blankets but it was hot outside. I didn’t know what was wrong with her. I didn’t know what to do.”

Origin said his mother had been treated earlier this year by a doctor but otherwise seemed healthy.

But when she fell ill again they didn’t have money for a private doctor. Elizabeth decided to go to the local clinic instead. But she never made it.

She collapsed in her yard and was rushed to the hospital on Monday. Once she was there she was placed on a drip and seated on a wheelchair.

At night she and other patients were told to sleep on the floor using a thin blanket. No longer able to endure seeing his mother suffer, Origen said he had an argument with hospital staff begging for help.

But nurses told him there were no doctors available.

“For three days, nothing was done. It hurts me because that is a long time for a hospital not to attend to someone. To place a drip is not enough,” he fumed.

Elizabeth’s mother Miriam Serumula, 83, cannot believe the treatment her daughter received from the hospital.

“Attendance at Bara is dead. I found her (Elizabeth) sleeping on the cement. She was shivering. She couldn’t talk,” adding that her daughter had breathed heavily and complained of chest pains.

Elizabeth said her daughter’s spirit died as she contemplated sleeping on the floor for another night.

Elizabeth’s last request was to see her youngest daughter.

“I didn’t answer her. They had put an oxygen mask on her. That’s when I realised that things were not looking good. She was slipping away from us,” she said, adding that her daughter was still being treated on the floor. Her youngest daughter never did see her mother again.

A hospital employee confirmed that people were sleeping on the floor at Bara even though the R730 million Zola-Jabulani District Hospital was now open.

The hospital opened in May.

“It just doesn’t make sense. This has to end. Someone has to account for this,” the employee said.

The Department of Health and the hospital did not respond to questions at the time of going to print.

Saturday Star

A wanted fugitive was arrested in Tokoza in the East Rand after being on the run for months, Ekurhuleni metro police said.

Johannesburg - A wanted fugitive was arrested in Tokoza in the East Rand after being on the run for months, Ekurhuleni metro police said on Saturday.

“An Audi A3 sedan driving erratically on Kumalo road in Tokoza attracted the attention of the EMPD Community Liaison Unit officers patrolling in the area,” spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago said in a statement.

“On stopping the vehicle, the metro police officers recognised the driver as an individual arrested in January 2013 on a charge of a business robbery committed at the Carnival Mall in Brakpan.”

The 33-year-old man was said to have skipped his bail hearing following the robbery and had been on the run ever since. He was arrested on Friday afternoon.

Kgasago said after his arrest, officers went to the man's residence at Sparrow Hawk flats in Germiston and recovered a 9mm Norinco pistol and eight live rounds of ammunition.

“The 9mm pistol had its serial numbers filed off. It was confirmed that the suspect had been on the run for months after skipping out on his trial,” he said.

The man would be charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. He was expected to appear in the Germiston Magistrate's Court on Monday.

“A pending case on skipping of his bail will be heard in the Brakpan Magistrate's Court soon,” said Kgasago. - Sapa

Dam levels in KwaZulu-Natal have fallen and below average rain is forecast for the months ahead. This means water rationing could be on the cards.

Durban - Brace yourself for dry weeks ahead and the possibilities of water restrictions.

Dam levels in KwaZulu-Natal have fallen and below average rain is forecast for the months ahead.

This means water rationing could be on the cards, Umgeni Water, the province’s main water provider has warned.

Further salt to this worry wound is that if good rains don’t fall by the middle of next month, consumers can expect to feel the pinch of increased food prices.

“At the moment the dryness is adding to farmers’ costs rather than their output,” KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (Kwanalu) president Michael Black told The Independent on Saturday.

Adding to the heat this week have been uncontrolled fires that have raged in the Midlands and towards the southern Drakensberg amid howling winds and soaring temperatures.

Then there’s the El Nino effect that is expected, said Shami Harichunder, spokesman for Umgeni Water.

“El Nino is a weather phenomenon that occurs irregularly, usually once in every three to seven years. It leaves in its trail low rainfall in some parts of the world, drought in some countries and floods in many other parts of the globe.

“Operational meteorologists in South Africa have predicted that the trend of low rainfall experienced thus far is likely to continue until January 2015 – through the spring and early summer months when the highest rainfall usually occurs – in KwaZulu-Natal, in general, and in the Umgeni Water catchment areas, in particular.”

Harichunder said the effects of drought are already being felt in the Middle South Coast region – also known as the Mzinto System – where the levels of the three dams there, EJ Smith, Nungwane and Umzinto, have fallen drastically and are fast depleting.

Rainfall levels

“The level of the EJ Smith Dam is currently at 11 percent, Nungwane Dam is at 32 percent and Umzinto Dam is at 29 percent. By all accounts this is a crisis situation as there is insufficient water available to meet demand.”

Harichunder added that the Ixopo System and the North Coast System were “already in a state of stress”.

He said there were no immediate concerns about water shortages in the Mgeni System for the current year. It supplies the eThekwini region, uMgungundlovu and northern Ugu district and Pietermaritzburg.

“Depending on the rainfall levels received during the coming months, this could become an issue in mid-2015.

However, he warned consumers that they could eventually be in for restrictions.

“If water conservation measures are implemented now, there may be sufficient water available to meet future needs.”

On the fire front, howling winds made it impossible for aircraft to bomb blazes using water.

“They (pilots) couldn’t fly out of Shafton (air field, near Howick) most of today. The wind was too strong and dangerous,” Simon Thomas, operation manager for the KwaZulu-Natal Fire Protection Association, said.

“At the moment it’s tinder, tinder, tinder dry out there.

“We have not had decent rains since April. The rain we have had has been sparse and very little.”

Thomas said that dry years happened in cycles – “2007 and 2008 were bad. It’s been pretty quiet since then, but it’s coming again.”

Among the farmers who are hard hit by the dry conditions are those who have just planted potatoes. “They will need to irrigate,” said Kwanalu’s Black.

“And those with extensive livestock will need to buy in feed because there has been no growth in the natural veld.”

Things appeared less dire in certain game reserves. “The end of winter is always a crunch period for animals when food resources and water availability is at the lowest,” said Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife spokesman Musa Mntambo.

“The relatively late summer rains have, however, helped as there is still surface water available and conditions are not yet critical and have certainly been worse in previous years.” Areas such as aPongolo and uMkhuze, which were traditionally affected by drought, were “still okay”.

Independent on Saturday

Joy Merryweather-Smith broke down and covered her face after hearing her paralysed son’s battle for damages was not over.

Cape Town - She broke down and covered her face, sitting on a bench at the Western Cape High Court on Friday after hearing her paralysed son’s battle for damages was not over.

“It’s just been so long,” she said, wiping her tears and trying to compose herself.

Joy Merryweather-Smith was referring to the civil action her wheelchair-bound son, Andrew Merryweather, has been embroiled in for five years.

Oliver Scholtz, one of the young men involved in the 2006 brawl that led to Merryweather’s paralysis, had just received the court’s go-ahead to appeal a judgment for a R10 million damages award granted against him.

Scholtz and his peers were acquitted of the criminal charges in connection with the attack in 2008. The following year, Merryweather instituted the civil action.

Scholtz was found liable in a default judgment, after he did not defend the action, and was ordered in his absence last year to pay Merryweather more than R10m in damages.

However, soon after he asked the court to rescind the judgment, saying his father told him not to take the matter seriously because he had been advised that the summons had not been properly served.

Judge Pat Gamble was, however, not persuaded and dismissed the application.

But Scholtz has not given up, and applied for leave to appeal, saying the court had failed to give proper consideration to his constitutional right to present his defence at a fair public hearing.

In a judgment yesterday, Judge Gamble said the case was important since the damages award was effective for 30 years – it would “undoubtedly be a millstone around Scholtz’s neck for the better part of his adult life”. It was also important for Merryweather, he said.

While he had every confidence in the correctness of his findings, judgment, logic and common sense dictated another court could view the matter differently. “I have little doubt this will cause unhappiness to others, but that is the nature of litigation – if the loser has a reasonable chance of succeeding on appeal, justice and fairness demands he be given that chance.”

He granted Scholtz leave to appeal to the High Court.

Weekend Argus

Rescue operations are underway in Rustenburg to free a man who is trapped on the Magaliesburg mountains, rescuers said.

Johannesburg - Rescue operations are underway in Rustenburg to free a man who is trapped on the Magaliesburg mountains, rescuers said on Saturday.

“The man fell down into a gap between two boulders,” Mountain Club of SA Search and Rescue spokesman Dean van der Merwe said.

“It appears that while the man was falling, there was also a rock-fall at the same time causing his leg to be trapped.”

North West police spokeswoman Captain Pelonomi Makau said it was believed the man went up on the mountain on Friday.

While he was on top, he is said to have seen a snake. He then jumped and that was when he fell in between the boulders.

Rescue operations started on Friday evening but emergency personnel could only reach the injured man on Saturday, said Van der Merwe.

“The rescue team tried to access the man from 8pm on Friday, but the search was called off around 3am on Saturday. It was started again at first light and we were able to spot him around 7am,” said Van der Merwe.

He said rescuers were unable to move the rock in between the boulders and added that the terrain was making it very difficult for rescuers to get him out.

“Once freed, we will have to put him on a stretcher and haul him to safety before transporting him to a hospital,” he said.

Van der Merwe said the police's air wing had supplied a helicopter to assist in transporting people up and down the mountain.

The SA National Defence Force was also on standby to assist.

He said more teams were being called in to relieve the team that had been on the mountain for more than 24 hours. - Sapa

An off-duty police officer was assaulted, shot and killed in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape police have said.

Port Elizabeth - An off-duty police officer was assaulted, shot and killed on Saturday, in KwaZakhele, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape police said.

The constable, 32, was allegedly dragged out of a telephone container and assaulted by five suspects at about 1am, spokeswoman Colonel Sibongile Soci said in a statement.

“He was also shot several times in the upper body and died at the scene.”

It is unclear if he was robbed. The officer had parked his bakkie next to the container.

She said the bakkie was not stolen but attempts were made to open it.

A murder case has been opened. No arrests have been made.

The Eastern Cape police commissioner, Lt-Gen Celiwe Binta condemned the murder.

“Any person who attacks or kills a police official will face the full might of the law... An attack on or murder of a police official is a threat to our constitutional democracy and rob our communities of their protectors,” she said in a statement. - Sapa

Three men were arrested after a man was stabbed to death next to a tavern in Jan Kempdorp, Northern Cape police said.

Johannesburg - Three men were arrested after a man was stabbed to death next to a tavern in Jan Kempdorp on Saturday, Northern Cape police said.

“Upon arrival at the scene they (police) found the deceased lying on the ground with a stab wound on the chest,” Lieutenant Donald Mdhluli said in a statement.

He said an ambulance was called but the man was certified dead on the scene.

“It is alleged that the deceased was stabbed by suspects while fighting in an apparent robbery attempt.”

Jan Kempdorp police held a search and arrested three men. A knife was confiscated from one of the men.

They are charged with murder and could be linked to a robbery, he said.

“Apparently as the police were busy detaining the three suspects, a complainant came to the client service centre to report a robbery when the complainant identified and recognised two of the three suspects that were being detained,” said Mdhluli.

The men are expected to appear in the Jan Kempdorp Magistrate's Court soon. - Sapa

The water supply in parts of Ekurhuleni has been switched off to allow a reservoir to fill, the municipality said.

Johannesburg - The water supply in parts of Ekurhuleni has been switched off on Saturday, to allow a reservoir to fill, the municipality said.

“We have today (Saturday) closed water from 2pm to 5pm in order allow the reservoir to fill up,” said spokesman Themba Gadebe.

The areas affected were Germiston, Benoni, Etwatwa, Daveyton and Tsakane.

The water supply issues were caused by erratic bulk water supply from Rand Water and unprecedented high water demand driven by hot weather and panic storage of water in large quantities.

“Engineers from Ekurhuleni and Rand Water are working around the clock to restore and stabilise the water supply as soon as possible,” said Gadebe.

He urged consumers to use water sparingly by avoiding irrigation, washing of cars, using hose pipes and filling of swimming pools.

“The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality will ensure that roving water tankers are dispatched to all areas experiencing low water pressure and no water in various parts of the region.”

Earlier, Rand Water said other parts of Johannesburg had also experienced water shortages.

The situation had started on Monday when a power outage at the Eikenhof pumping station meant water could not be pumped into reservoirs, Rand Water spokesman Justice Mohale said in a statement.

He said it became difficult for the water levels to stabilise during periods of high demand.

“This resulted in Rand Water (being) unable to pump water to some of our reservoirs, supplying mainly western and south of Johannesburg, parts of the west rand and Ekurhuleni,” he said. - Sapa

A man was burnt to death when his shack caught fire in Wynberg, south of Johannesburg, emergency services said.

Johannesburg - A man was burnt to death when his shack caught fire in Wynberg, south of Johannesburg, on Saturday, emergency services said.

Three other shacks were also destroyed, spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said.

The fire, which started around 10pm, was suspected to be caused by an unattended paraffin stove.

“We want to advise communities to make sure that paraffin stoves 1/8and 3/8 candles are supervised when in use to avoid devastating fire incidences like this one,” Mulaudzi said.

Fifteen shacks were destroyed earlier on Saturday around 12am, by a fire in Msawawa informal settlement, in Kya Sands, north of Johannesburg.

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was still being investigated.

Sapa

Five people died when two vehicles collided head-on in Durban on Sunday morning, paramedics said.

Durban - Five people died when two vehicles collided head-on in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday morning, paramedics said.

Three other people were seriously injured in the accident that happened at the intersection of Stanger Street and Somtseu Street, said Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann.

They were treated on scene and were taken to a nearby hospital for further medical care.

Sapa

The government is to send an aircraft to evacuate the injured South Africans in the collapse of a church building.

Peter Fabricius, Lebogang Seale and Toye Olori

Johannesburg - The government is to send an aircraft to Lagos, Nigeria, on Sunday to evacuate the injured South Africans in the collapse of a church guest house nine days ago that killed at least 86 churchgoers. Eighty-four are reportedly South Africans.

Officials said on Saturday that none of the dead would be returned to South Africa on this flight as South African forensic experts were still identifying the bodies in Lagos.

This could take at least seven days because of the complexity of DNA analysis, they said, though the experts were trying to accelerate the process because of the exceptional circumstances of scores of family members still waiting for confirmation of the death of their loved ones.

Only the next-of-kin of 10 of the dead South Africans had been notified so far as these were identified by identity documents found on them when they were pulled from the rubble of the six-storey guest house of The Synagogue, Church of All Nations (Scoan) over the past week.

Meanwhile, the South African government played down reports that the tragedy and the way it was being handled by Nigerian authorities had caused a diplomatic spat.

Some of the reports said that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his government had offended Pretoria by taking so long to express condolences to South Africa.

Clayson Monyela, spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco), would only say on Saturday that Jonathan had sent a diplomatic note to Zuma on Thursday – six days after the accident – conveying his condolences.

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, who is head of an inter-ministerial task team in the government handling the disaster, put it slightly differently, saying that Zuma and Jonathan had spoken by phone on Thursday.

Officials said on Saturday that the aircraft, which was to leave for Lagos early on Sunday, would remain briefly on the ground while loading the injured South Africans before returning to South Africa.

Medical personnel would be on board to treat them in the air.

About 30 South Africans are believed to be in hospital in Lagos and the government’s announcement that it will repatriate them will come as a relief to humanitarian workers who have battled to gain access to them in Lagos.

Reports have suggested that Scoan has employed guards to prevent the media and relief workers from meeting the South African patients in hospital.

On Saturday Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of disaster aid organisation Gift of the Givers, blamed unidentified people for preventing his representative, Sheik Mohammed Jamie, from visiting the church or the five hospitals where the injured survivors were being treated.

“I spoke to Sheik Mohammed Jamie (yesterday morning) and he said: ‘It’s still difficult here, they are not co-operative.’ Generally, it’s been a disaster. It’s never happened before,” Sooliman said.

More frustrating, he said, was that repeated pleas by South Africa’s High Commissioner in Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, had not been heeded.

“We went to speak to South Africans (at the guest house)… The ambassador (Mnguni) introduced the helpers. But they were still unco-operative and so the aid workers couldn’t go,” Sooliman said.

“It’s people from the hospital (refusing us permission), but it’s hard to say who they are. We are trying to negotiate.

“I got over 35 calls in the last hour from people wanting to know where their loved ones are. They don’t know whether they are alive, in hospital or dead,” Sooliman said.

After a slow start, which it blamed partly on the lack of co-operation mainly from the church, the South African government has now mobilised a major effort to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy.

Apart from forensic experts identifying the bodies, it has also sent in doctors to treat the injured and to ensure no infectious diseases are imported into South Africa, and welfare counsellors to help the injured and the families. Social workers were at OR Tambo International Airport to support families meeting injured relatives and at Dirco to counsel relatives looking for information on their loved ones.

In one of the few uplifting notes in an otherwise grim saga, a 4-year-old South African girl was found alive at the collapsed guest house on Thursday evening. The rescue of the girl, known only as Zama, came to light when Mohammed Jamie was searching for a woman whose daughter had contacted them for help. “She (Zama) is still at the hospital,” Sooliman said on Saturday. It was not known whether Zama’s parents had survived the collapse or not.

Meanwhile an audio file purporting to record TB Joshua, the preacher who heads Scoan, bribing Nigerian journalists on how to report the story of the collapsed church has surfaced on the internet.

And the Nigerian government seems to have made a deliberate decision to block entry to South African journalists to avoid negative publicity, South African government officials said. No South African media houses have been able to get visas for their journalists to enter Nigeria from South Africa as far as is known.

On Saturday President Goodluck Jonathan visited the collapsed guest house, promising to investigate the cause of the tragedy, rescuers said. – Additional reporting by Sapa-AFP

Sunday Independent

Documents suggest top cop Riah Phiyega did know about pending charges against Major-General Mondli Zuma.

Johannesburg - National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega may have misled the public last year when she told South Africans that Major-General Mondli Zuma, who she appointed as Gauteng provincial commissioner and then removed, had not told her that he had criminal cases against him.

And now one year after Phiyega was forced to remove him from the post, it appears that her lieutenants are still trying to put together a case against Zuma and charge him for the oversight.

Documents seen by The Sunday Independent suggest that Phiyega may not have been telling the truth when she announced that she was unaware of criminal cases against Zuma and his criminal record when she appointed him as Gauteng provincial commissioner.

Hours after the appointment, she withdrew his appointment.

Zuma was facing charges of drinking and driving and defeating the ends of justice, and was accused of escaping from lawful custody in Pietermaritzburg, but has been cleared of the charges.

However, The Sunday Independent has seen several documents disputing Phiyega’s statements, including a declaration form believed to have been signed by Zuma on August 26 last year disclosing that he had a criminal conviction and a pending case.

On the form, he stated: “I further undertake to disclose to management any criminal cases for which I may be charged in future.”

The document was signed just four days before Phiyega announced his appointment. Further documents seen by The Sunday Independent show that Phiyega’s officers may have let her down and not shown her the declaration before she made the announcement.

Phiyega issued a statement eight hours after appointing Zuma, reading: “Prior to the appointment, in line with South African Police Service prescripts, it was established that Major-General Zuma did not have a criminal record. It was further established that he did not have any internal disciplinary charges pending against him.”

The Sunday Independent has seen a memo to Phiyega, detailing that officers requested a copy of the declaration on September 3 but that Zuma signed the declaration before leaving for Angola on August 26 last year. It is understood he was part of a border posting unit at the time.

When Phiyega withdrew Zuma’s appointment, she said she became aware of the charges against him after the media briefing that day. National police spokesman Solomon Makgale declined to comment when he was asked if Phiyega had lied when she said she was not aware of pending charges against Zuma.

Last year Phiyega said Zuma had failed to comply with an instruction issued in May that year advising officers to declare pending cases against them or face misconduct charges.

“It is clear that, in line with this policy, Major-General Zuma failed to comply with the provisions of the instruction,” said Phiyega.

She added: “Disciplinary steps will be taken against Major-General Zuma for his failure to declare the pending criminal charges.”

But so far, no disciplinary steps have been taken against him.

The Sunday Independent has also seen an e-mail from Major-General Rantho Motlalepule to several lieutenant-generals, major-generals, brigadiers and a colonel, dated September 11 this year, discussing how to attempt to collate alleged misconduct charges against Zuma.

The e-mail states that a consultation had been scheduled with an advocate regarding disciplinary proceedings against Zuma.

Motlalepule says there is a “concern that some of the witnesses who have been identified do not seem to have knowledge of the facts which will be crucial to assist counsel”.

“May I kindly impress upon (you) the need to be provided with persons with personal knowledge of what the alleged misconduct is about.”

Motlalepule urges witnesses to bring “any documentation relevant in this regard”.

Efforts to get a comment from Zuma on Saturday proved fruitless as his cellphone was not answered.

Sunday Independent

A Durban woman has lost a battle to keep her "giant breed" dog at her plush multimillion-rand golf estate home.

Durban - A Durban businesswoman would rather give up her plush multimillion-rand golf estate home than part with her “giant breed” dog.

Since 2012, Pathmasolahani (Rita) Abraham has been at odds with management of the Mount Edgecombe Country Club over the “weight” of her Saint Bernard dog, Theodore, who turns three in December.

According to the estate’s house rules, dogs must not weigh over 20kg when they are fully grown. The biltong-loving Theodore’s mass is 75kg.

Abraham challenged the estate’s management on the issue, claiming her family had a “tight emotional bond” with the dog and it was not fair that other families on the estate were allowed to keep big dogs.

Her fight then escalated to court, and on Wednesday Durban High Court Judge Peter Olsen ruled against Abraham’s plea to keep Theodore on her property.

He said the issue was “not the dog” but human conduct and compliance with rules.

Olsen gave Abraham three months to remove Theodore from her home and ruled that she and her son Edward, a co-owner of the dog, pay the legal costs incurred by the estate.

Abraham said her legal team was reviewing Olsen’s judgment and was likely to appeal against his ruling. If her appeal failed, she would not abandon Theodore.

“How would Theodore feel if we turned our back on him? If it means selling this house and buying another, I will do that,” said Abraham.

Abraham, who occupies the house with her two daughters, said: “We’ve been on an emotional low since the ruling.”

Their disappointment has rubbed off on Theodore.

“He has not been the same since Wednesday. I think Theodore picked up on our emotional state,” she said.

The strong “emotional bond” has been one of the driving factors in their legal fight with the estate’s management.

“Theodore is not an animal; to us, he is a part of our family,” she said.

The other sore point for Abraham and her legal team is that other homeowners on the estate have big dogs, some heavier than Theodore, but they allege management has turned a blind eye to this.

Abraham claims to have seen many Labradors, German Shepherds, two mountain dogs and another Saint Bernard at the estate.

“My question to the judge, the estate’s management and everyone else who accused us of not adhering to the rules is: why are we treated differently from the rest?

“If a concession can be made for other dogs, why not us?” she asked.

Abraham said she had a friend whose dog didn’t meet the 20kg requirement.

The friend applied to keep the animal and the request was granted by management.

When Abraham bought her property in 2000, she had not been asked to sign any “conduct rules”.

Her family moved on to the estate in 2002 and kept a small dog, but did not register it. That dog died in 2007.

Abraham said the rules for keeping dogs might have been in place and changed over the years, but she wasn’t aware of them and was startled when asked to register Theodore.

“Even then, we were not told decisively that we couldn’t keep Theodore, who had been with us for three weeks.

“A director on the estate’s board even told us at the time that the weight restriction would be amended. It would have been easier to part with Theodore then, not after three years,” she said.

Estate manager Terry Keller welcomed the ruling.

“The judge’s decision was clear in terms of dogs over the weight limit. It is up to the estate to pursue and enforce conduct rules,” said Keller.

Sunday Tribune