The suspended “Cato Manor” cops have launched an urgent high court application directed at Nomgcobo Jiba.

Durban - Suspended “Cato Manor” policemen who were facing charges of racketeering relating to allegations that they operated as a hit squad said there was not a shred of any such evidence in the voluminous documentation they had been given by the State for trial preparation.

And they have now launched an urgent Durban High Court application, directed personally at Nomgcobo Jiba, who as acting head of the National Prosecuting Authority authorised their prosecution under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, saying her conduct was so “egregious” that she should be made to pay their legal costs from her own pocket.

They asked how it was possible for her to properly apply her mind to the contents of 23 dockets in just one day when it had taken them, an expert and their attorney almost six weeks to study the documents.

“We submit that the provisions of the constitution (relating to procedures for decisions to prosecute to prevent abuse) were not followed… she simply rubber-stamped the prepared indictment. Her decisions were made with ulterior purpose,” they said.

The application, made in the name of Rubendren Naidoo on behalf of 17 of the 27 policemen who are facing racketeering charges, was filed at court last week and has been set down to be heard in September.

It was served on the NPA on Friday and NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said on Sunday that it would be opposed, while declining to comment further. However, its chances of success are good because it mirrors a successful application brought by their former co-accused, KZN Hawks boss Johan Booysen, who has been cleared of all charges and is back at his desk.

Should they succeed in getting the two racketeering charges quashed, it means “ the glue” that binds them together falls away and the State will then only be able to charge individuals with individual offences in separate trials in the regional courts.

In his judgment on the Booysen matter, Judge Trevor Gorven ruled that Jiba could not have applied her mind properly. While she said she relied on four statements, one was dated after her decision, one was never signed, and none implicated Booysen in any offence.

Jiba has now been charged criminally with fraud and perjury.

The policemen said Jiba authorised their prosecutions on the same day as Booysen’s, so it was likely that the material in front of her would be identical.

Regarding their audit of the dockets and statements provided by the State, they said they could find no evidence relating to the racketeering charges.

“It transpired that there was no racketeering docket although the SAPS administration system provides for one to be registered on the system.

“When we were first arrested (in June and August 2010) none of us were warned that we were to face such charges. This only came to the fore when General Booysen was arrested and we suspect that it was introduced as an offence to overcome the fact that there was no evidence demonstrating him to be complicit in any of the predicate offences.

“Racketeering was thus a tool employed to charge Booysen in the absence of any evidence against him. In order to do that, we had to be unlawfully dragged into it.”

They said in the vast majority of the dockets there was no direct evidence implicating any of them in the other (murder, housebreaking and assault) charges as set out in the indictment.

“Most of the cases are based solely on our mere presence at various scenes where shooting took place.

“Those shootings took place in the course and scope of our employment while trying to apprehend dangerous suspects.”

The men said that they had knowledge of - but have not been given - two memorandums prepared by prosecutor G S Maema which contain “bald statements” regarding racketeering without the detail and peculiarity required in order to authorise a prosecution.

They referred to the NPA Act which states that prosecutors must act impartially and decisions to prosecute must be taken with great care. And yet it seemed that Jiba had ignored the fact that in respect of many of the dockets other prosecutors had rendered them nolle prosecui and inquest magistrates had held that no one was responsible for the deaths.

The Mercury

"Young women are bleeding to death as a result of the botched procedures being performed on them."

Durban - *Samantha is a 17-year-old girl who aborted her five-month-old foetus at an illegal back-alley clinic in Pietermaritzburg last month.

Since then, Samantha has suffered severe pain and abnormal bleeding, and was forced to tell her mother, who rushed her to their family doctor.

Samantha’s diagnosis is not good, and doctors are sceptical about whether the teen will ever be able to conceive again.

This is just one of the many horror stories to come out of the illegal abortion industry in the provincial capital.

Pamphlets offering “quick, same-day, pain-free” abortions are plastered on walls, light poles, garbage bins and other fixed structures around the Pietermaritzburg CBD, with cellphone numbers. Pamphlets are often left on the windshields of cars parked in the busy city streets.

Nurse and social worker, Daya Pillay, told the Daily News that in her 25-year experience, illegal abortions had skyrocketed in the past five years.

“It has become a massive problem. Young women are bleeding to death as a result of the botched procedures being performed on them,” Pillay said.

Three years ago, Pietermaritzburg police vowed to clean up the city and crack down on illegal abortionists who preyed on young women. This followed a number of cases in which foreigners had been arrested for illegally administering abortion drugs to women who were well over three months pregnant.

The police joined forces with local anti-abortion activists, women’s groups and NGOs in projects around the city, which included the handing out of flyers and pamphlets to educate people about the plague of illegal abortions.

But the scourge continues unabated.

Pillay said teenage pregnancy in Pietermaritzburg was on the increase as a result of an influx of young immigrants from other provinces and countries who came to the city because of the educational institutions.

“These youths are away from the care and guidance of their parents, which in turn exposes them to a lifestyle which involves drinking, partying and unsafe sex. The results of that are the growing statistics of teenage pregnancy,” Pillay said.

She said ruthless opportunists had opened illegal abortion businesses to take advantage of young women who were desperate for a solution to a problem which they believed could not be solved by going to a State institution, where they feared being shamed. “We need to start educating young women that legal and safe assistance is available,” she said.

According to Pillay, the illegal use of the prescription drug Cytotec, which is used to terminate pregnancies, is the major cause of the increase in backstreet abortions.

“The drug is obtained illegally from unethical pharmacists. These abortionists are then selling the drug to young women for between R500 and R800, and they take the drug unsupervised by a qualified medical practitioner. Also, the drug can only be used in instances when the foetus is under three months old. Young women are aborting foetuses at five and six months at these illegal clinics. It is a real-life horror story,” Pillay said.

According to the South African Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, an abortion may only be done “during the first 12 weeks of the gestation period of her pregnancy, and from the 13th week upwards, may only be done by a medical practitioner if the woman’s life is at risk, or there exists a substantial risk the foetus would suffer from a severe physical or mental abnormality.”

Marie Stopes advocacy and engagement manager, Andrea Thompson, said the safe way to seek an abortion was to go to a legitimate provider.

That can be a public health facility, a private doctor or a Marie Stopes centre.

“A safe provider has a fixed address and a landline phone number, and follows the rules in the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, including only providing services up to 20 weeks’ gestation,” she said.

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, has vowed to crack down on illegal abortions with the help of the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority.

“There is nothing safe about an illegal abortion; instead they pose a health risk to the young mothers and women in our country,” he said.

Dhlomo is currently advocating a provincial campaign to promote the legitimacy of the right to safe abortion.

*not her real name

Daily News

Sadtu provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza is reportedly under tight security with guards deployed.

Durban - The SA Democratic Teacher’s Union provincial secretary, Nomarashiya Caluza - who stepped into the role a few months ago - is reportedly under tight security with guards deployed.

The City Press newspaper reported on Sunday that tensions within the country’s biggest teacher union were so high that a decision had been taken to assign three guards to Caluza last year, as she took over as provincial acting secretary when Mbuyiseni Mathon-si joined the provincial government.

Mathonsi vacated the position just two months after being re-elected as the union’s provincial secretary at a provincial congress.

Caluza - who also serves in the provincial executive of the SACP as deputy chairwoman to eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo - has had

her guards accused of intimidating other union members during the elections of Sadtu’s South Durban region recently - a conference that needed to be run twice due to clashes.

“The previous secretary did not have a security team and this is not something that has happened in the history of this union. It is not ideal when you have union leaders interacting with their comrades at all levels accompanied by men in suits with firearms,” a source reportedly told the newspaper.

Caluza could not be reached for comment on her cellphone on Sunday. Sadtu’s national secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, said guards had been assigned due to threats made.

Daily News

Four people were killed and another seven injured in a four-vehicle pile-up on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

Durban – Four people were killed and another seven injured in a four-vehicle pile-up on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Monday, paramedics said.

Robert McKenzie, spokesman for the provincial Emergency Medical Service, said the collision between a bus, bakkie, sports utility vehicle and a car took place on the N2 between Umtentweni and Hibberdene.

McKenzie said three women and a boy, believed to be in his early teens, were killed.

Two of the injured were described as being in a critical condition while the five remaining passengers were described as being in a serious condition.

McKenzie said the debris from the accident was spread out over 250 metres.

He said the injured were taken to nearby hospitals, including Murchison Hospital.

Zinhle Mngomezulu, spokeswoman for the KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate, said: “It was a bad one. We really don’t know what transpired.”

Mngomezulu said that authorities were investigating four cases of culpable homicide.

She said the N2 was completely closed for more than two hours as the injured were attended to and authorities tried to clear the wreckage.

She said that none of the 58 people on the bus were injured.

ANA

The KZN Department of Health has warned the public about a dubious online job hoax titled “Nursing Scholarship”.

Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has warned the public about a dubious online job hoax titled “Nursing Scholarship”.

Department spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi said the advert was being circulated on e-mail and said officials had been inundated with enquiries from the public about the fake advert.

He said they did not know who was responsible and called for people who did know to report them to the police.

“The department regards this hoax advert as deceiving and misleading the vulnerable public, and wishes to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

“All advertisements by the department are placed in reputable news media, on the intranet and on notice boards.”

Daily News

Ten illegal foreigners in KZN evaded arrest, fearing they would be treated “inhumanely” during their deportation.

Durban - Ten illegal foreigners living in Pietermaritzburg were given letters saying they had to leave the country before June 25, but they stayed on while evading arrest, for fear they were going to be treated “inhumanely” during the deportation process.

They said they did not have the resources to leave, but the Department of Home Affairs said the only reason they had been given time to leave on their own and the June 25 date was because they had indicated that they had the means to do so.

A local teacher, Julie Stofberg, who has taken up their plight, said she would meet a human rights lawyer to discuss the treatment of foreigners from the time of their arrest until deportation.

The men were arrested during an Operation Fiela raid in May.

Explaining what had happened, one of them, a Zimbabwean, said that they had pleaded guilty to being in the country illegally and were sentenced to one month in prison.

After serving the term, they were taken to the Lindela holding facility in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, where illegal migrants are detained. Sixteen of them were brought back to Pietermaritzburg, given Form 21s by the department and released. A paragraph read: “As you have undertaken to leave the Republic voluntarily, you are hereby ordered to leave the Republic voluntarily by 00h00 on June 25, 2015, failure of which you shall be arrested and detained pending your deportation.”

The men said they did not have the money to leave and refused to go back to the department, for fear of being taken back to Lindela.

They said the conditions there were “inhumane”.

Stofberg said: “They now have nothing. Their belongings were stolen after the raids… they are homeless, penniless and vulnerable.”

The department’s acting provincial manager, Nosipho Shandu, said the foreigners had told immigration officers that they had the means to leave the country, which was why the forms had been issued.

The 10 foreigners who remained were deemed to be in the country illegally.

“The onus is on a foreign national to have a valid permit or visa at all times. If they are found without a valid permit, they will be deported.

“Failure to produce a valid permit on demand, by an immigration officer, will lead to arrest.”

She said that Lindela dealt with deportees in terms of the Immigration Act and in compliance with human rights.

Officials there had the discretion of sending illegal foreigners back to the South African cities they had been living in.

She said there were administrative processes enabling the department to establish who had left the country.

The information was available on the department’s system and at the ports of entry.

The Mercury

Copesville residents, who are fed up with living like prisoners, are moving out of the KZN suburb in their droves.

Durban - Copesville residents, fed up with living like prisoners in their own homes, are moving out of the Pietermaritzburg suburb in their droves, as rampant crime in the area shows no sign of slowing down.

Andrisha Maharaj, 45, who lost her 20-year-old son to a violent crime a few years ago, said after her son’s death, three break-ins, the theft of her car and theft of her electricity cables, she has had enough.

Maharaj’s son, Amrish, was killed three years ago in a hijacking attempt in the driveway of his family home.

The assailants stabbed Amrish, who was getting out of the car, but they could not get away in the car as it had an anti-hijack mechanism, and so the suspects fled with only Maharaj’s son’s wallet.

They were never apprehended.

“I have had three break-ins at my home in the past year. My car was stolen two months ago. We cannot even walk down the street for fear that we will be attacked and killed,” Maharaj said. “ This is no way to live.”

Lovie Chetty, 73, said that after being assaulted in her kitchen by a man who wanted money and food, her children have decided to sell her house and have her move in with her eldest daughter and her family.

“I never wanted to be a burden to anyone, and I am sad to leave the memories of my husband and children behind in our home, but I cannot live in fear any more. I am scared to even open my windows because I don’t know who is watching,” she said.

Neighbourhood watch member Sathia Padayachee said it was believed that the informal settlement which borders the Copesville suburb contributed to the increase in crime in the area.

He recounted several incidents in the area in the past few months where residents were hijacked in their driveways and others attacked in their homes during a break-in.

“The suspects then all flee into the informal settlement and cannot be traced. We are at war with the criminals in this area. It has become a daily fight to protect our properties and our families,” Padayachee said.

Copesville, to the north-east of the city centre, is bordered by the Ezekethini and Haniville informal settlements.

Attempts to contact the ward councillor for the area were unsuccessful.

A policeman stationed at the Copesville police satellite station said the police’s crime pattern analysis confirmed that there had been a worrying increase in house robberies and house break-ins in the area, but that police were taking action.

“Visible policing patrols have increased and are being conducted during the day and at night.

However, the criminals lie in wait for the police vehicles to leave certain areas and patrol elsewhere before coming out into the open,” he said.

The policeman also called on the community to be more alert and vigilant.

“Any suspicious criminal activities must be reported immediately, and we urge community members not to take the law into their own hands,” he said.

Daily News

A former teacher is blaming failing bureaucracy at the KZN Education Department for her debt not being paid.

Durban - Failing bureaucracy at the provincial Education Department is being blamed by a former teacher for her debit orders being rejected, which means she has not paid insurances and has almost had her car repossessed.

The teacher, Nomusa Mkhize-Mazibuko, who resigned from Othweba Primary, near Pinetown says she has lost R1.47 million in at least two of her four life covers after she failed to pay her premiums for four months.

“I’m on the brink of a nervous breakdown because every time a debit order bounces, I receive calls from my creditors and at times I wish I could just keep my phone off,” she said.

Mkhize-Mazibuko, 55, of Hammarsdale, said her problems started when the Education Department’s human resources unit did not process her resignation when she resigned in January. This has resulted in her pension not being paid out.

“I am devastated to think that now that I am no longer of any use to the department, my employer no longer cares about me after 35 years of faithful service. I’m on the verge of losing everything I have worked so hard and so long for,” she said.

However

department spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi, said the department policy was that as soon as all the required paperwork for a resigning employee was submitted, the payment process should kick in.

“In this case, I advise my colleague to call me so that the matter (can be) investigated. We will have to establish where the bottlenecks are,” Mahlambi said.

Mkhize-Mazibuko, who has three children, said that apart from her life policies, she had also lost two funeral policies, and that it was only through the intervention of a friend that her car was not repossessed.

She said she resigned after she was declared “additional” at the school, meaning that the teacher-pupil ratio was more than the departmental norm. She had the option of accepting a transfer to Inchanga, which was quite a distance from her home and family.

She said this was an inconvenience at her age.

“I served my notice in February and I submitted all the necessary documents to Truro House (the Education Department administrative office) on March 2. From April, I have been visiting Truro House to check the progress of my submission and each time I was told everything was in order. Normally one would receive a notification of submission from the Government Employee Pension Fund within two weeks after the submission date, but I was shocked to hear that mine was only received on Friday, April 17. That was the beginning of my trouble,” Mkhize-Mazibuko said.

She said she had tried to contact the department MEC, but in vain.

Thinking she would get her money timeously, Mkhize-Mazibuko made an offer on a Bellair house which had a small construction business on the premises - but she was unable to honour the deal.

“I saw this as a way of providing my children with something to do once they finish at Unisa, rather than watching them struggling to get employment,” she said.

Sadtu’s provincial secretary, Dolly Caluza, said she would contact Mazibuko-Mkhize to help her with her problem.

Daily News

A senior government minister said work on the controversial N2 Wild Coast toll road would start in September 2016.

Durban - A senior government minister said work on the controversial N2 Wild Coast toll road would start in September next year – but has given no indication whether Durban motorists would still have to pay the lion’s share of funding a new road through the neighbouring Eastern Cape.

Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti said in a media release on Friday: “We have made a decision. What we want to know now is where we are going to relocate people who have to make way for the road … we are left with 13 months before construction starts.”

However, plans to finance a new 80km section of the N2 along the remote Wild Coast by tolling motorists in Durban and on the South Coast have been opposed strongly by the eThekwini Municipality, the KZN provincial government and a coalition of large industries in South Durban.

The eThekwini Municipality repeated its opposition on Monday to a plan that would involve tolling up to 57 000 Durban motorists daily to cross-subsidise parts of the Wild Coast route.

Commenting on Nkwinti’s statement on Monday, the municipality’s communications head, Tozi Mthethwa, said: “The council resolution on this issue still stands. The resolution indicates that (the) council does not support any more tollgates within the metro region and this resolution has not been rescinded.”

Nkwinti, speaking last week in his capacity as chairman of the presidential infrastructure co-ordinating committee that is overseeing 18 strategic infrastructure projects across the country, made the announcement after a “public consultation meeting” at Bizana on Thursday.

Acknowledging that representatives of some Pondo communities remained opposed to the toll road and had launched high court action to stop the road, he said: “If court processes against the construction of the toll road persist, the project will start in 2017.”

His statement is the latest in a series of mixed messages from the government and the Sanral roads agency about a project that has been stalled in the starting blocks for more than a decade.

The original proposal was rejected in 2004 by former Environment and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, who ruled that the first environmental impact assessment (EIA) lacked independence because of its financial links to a private toll road consortium.

Following a second EIA, the toll road was approved by the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2010, but has been stalled since then following legal appeals by the Amadiba coastal community and other parties.

The South Durban Business Coalition also launched legal action to block the toll road after studies by transport consultant Gavin Maasdorp suggested that at least 31% of the total toll fees for the Wild Coast route would be collected from Durban commuters and businesses via the proposed Isipingo toll plaza.

Maasdorp said these Wild Coast toll fees excluded several additional mainline and ramp plazas proposed elsewhere on the South Coast.

It is understood that last October, just days before the business coalition challenge was due to go to court, Sanral gave an undertaking that there would be no new tolling on the N2 in KZN south of Durban. On that basis the matter was removed from the court roll.

Members of the Amadiba Tribal Authority are also challenging the toll plan in the high court, arguing that the toll road is being bulldozed through against their wishes.

The Amadiba Crisis Committee said in a statement on Monday that Nkwinti had deliberately excluded opponents of the toll road from the latest “consultation process” held in Bizana last week.

“No one here has been consulted on your plans, Minister Nkwinti. We have long been demanding answers, but with no response from the government or Sanral’s chief rascal, Nazir Alli.”

Crisis committee spokeswoman Nonhle Mbutuma said: “We will not move for mining or for the toll road.

“Sanral argues that this area is one of the poorest in the country … How can we be poor when we have the land. We grow maize, sweet potatoes, terro yams, potatoes, spinach, onions, carrots, lemons, guavas and we sell some of it to the market.

“We eat fish and we eat eggs and chicken. We have cattle for weddings and traditional rituals. We have goats for ceremonies. We are not a part of the ‘one out of four South Africans who go hungry to bed’. We have a life,” said Mbutuma, arguing that the proposed N2 toll road was intended to support plans by an Australian company to mine titanium and other minerals along the Wild Coast.

Nkwinti’s office did not respond to requests on Monday for clarity on whether the revised funding proposals had been finalised for the toll plan.

Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said on Monday: “As you may be aware, the N2 Wild Coast Toll Road is part of the 18 strategic integrated projects overseen by the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee (PICC) – hence the pronouncement by Minister Gugile Nkwinti who chairs the south-eastern node and corridor development.

“The KZN part of the project has been put on ice until the funding issue has been resolved by the PICC.”

The Mercury

Six people were injured when a car crashed into a RDP house in Umlazi, Durban paramedics said.

Durban - Six people were injured when a car crashed into a house in Umlazi on Tuesday morning, Durban paramedics said.

“Preliminary reports from the scene are that six people have been injured in the crash and this includes people that were in the RDP house when the car crashed into the house,” said KwaZulu-Natal Emergency Medical Services spokesman Robert McKenzie.

He said three people were in a serious condition and the other three sustained minor injuries.

The patients were treated on the scene before being transported to hospital, McKenzie said.

ANA

Large parts of KZN had the shivers as blasts of frigid air blew down from the Drakensberg and Lesotho mountains.

Durban - Large parts of KwaZulu-Natal had the shivers on Monday as blasts of frigid air blew down from the Drakensberg and Lesotho mountains.

There was light snowfall on Monday and more is expected on the mountains on Tuesday.

Weather Service forecaster Wisani Maluleke said a “small amount” of snow fell throughout the night but would probably stop falling later on Tuesday.

Maluleke said there were very cold conditions in the province, especially over the Drakensberg and in Durban and on the South Coast.

“In Margate the maximum temperature is 14ºC, which is very low for the area.

“In Durban it is about 14ºC and 15ºC. We are expecting more or less the same temperatures today (on Tuesday),” Maluleke said.

Maluleke said that from Wednesday, temperatures were expected to start increasing.

According to snow tracking website Snow Report, there was a slight chance that Kokstad might also have snowfalls.

The Mercury

A cost of R750 000 to transport eThekwini Municipality athletes to the Salga games, has opposition parties seething.

Durban - An amount of R750 000 spent on transport for 500 athletes who are set to represent the eThekwini Municipality in sports games has drawn the fury of opposition parties, which describe the amount as “absurd”.

The figure is part of R4 million requested by the city’s community and emergency services committee last month to prepare for the South African Local Government Association (Salga) games.

The event will be held in the Ilembe District Municipality from December 11 to 14.

A summary of the report says the funding is “in recognition of a holistic, sustainable and integrated sport development programme”.

This programme, it says, seeks “to nurture talent in an endeavour to strengthen partnerships with federations and create opportunities for sport development”.

City spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa provided information about the process involved in hiring vehicles, but side-stepped The Mercury’s query as to the fleet rate per vehicle.

But according to a city fleet employee, who said he did not want to be identified as he was not permitted to speak to the media, the unit charges R2 160 for eight hours, or R270 an hour.

He said that the R750 000 “sounds a bit astronomical”.

Based on the rates quoted, The Mercury’s calculations indicate the city would have to spend about R300 000 to transport the delegates in 23 22-seater buses.

Ilembe is about 70km away from Durban.

Mthethwa said: “The rate is determined by calculating City Fleet’s total operating costs and amortises the recovery of the cost over the fleet of vehicles available for hire.

“This rate is increased on the macro increase parameters that are provided as guidelines in the annual budgeting process.

“The current hire rate of the 22-seater bus fleet is based on an hourly rate, which includes the vehicle hire rate, fuel costs and so on.”

Team eThekwini will consist of “approximately” 400 athletes, 60 officials, managers, coaches and 40 politicians who will attend the games.

The report also requests that “authority be granted for the ordering of appropriate playing and training kits and equipment… including bags, caps, skirts, shorts, shirts and tracksuits”.

A breakdown of the R4m budget indicates R1.3m would be spent on accommodation, R550 000 on catering, R900 000 on clothing and R400 000 on “games preparation”, and a further R100 000 would be set aside for “contingencies”.

IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said his party had always supported the games “because they are budgeted for”, but he said they would be “probing the figures”.

DA councillor Andre Beetge described the expenditure, during a recent council meeting, as bordering on theft.

He noted that the figure for clothing could be “acceptable”.

“Even accepting that the buses could be air conditioned, a 65-seater luxury bus with a toilet, a TV and DVD player and everything conceivable to transport athletes in a radius of less than 100km,” spending more than R3 000 a day per bus was exorbitant, he said.

“Anyone can see that the figures are inflated.”

He questioned the integrity of “those who had put together these figures”.

The Mercury

A newborn baby left at a Newlands East property has so entranced the family who found him, they want to adopt him.

Durban - A newborn baby, wrapped in blankets and left at the back gate of a Newlands East property, has so entranced the family who found him, they want to adopt him.

The infant boy was thought to be two days old when he was found by Ebrahim Walljee, 59, of Herring Circle, earlier this month.

The baby is now at a place of safety, in the care of social workers.

Walljee said on Monday that the area behind his house had become an illegal dumping ground for refuse.

“My son, Zane, went to the shop at 7am and, because of our frustration with dumping, he called out to me: ‘Dad come and have a look at what they left here now.’ I walked to the back gate and peered out. I saw blankets wrapped neatly next to the gate. I said to him: ‘Keep an eye out for the person who takes it, then we can reprimand them for littering,’” he said.

He did not realise a baby was inside the blankets until 4.15pm that day, after Zane told him he could hear crying.

“I could hear the cries. I thought it was a kitten or a puppy. When I opened the blanket, I saw the back of a baby’s head and then saw blood on the blanket.

“Soon I was surrounded by the people in neighbourhood wanting to look at the baby,” he said.

Walljee, a father of five boys and eight grandchildren, said as soon as he picked up the baby, the infant stopped crying.

The baby was wrapped in a blue baby blanket, a green blanket and a blue duvet. When the ambulance arrived and did a check, they realised it was a baby boy.

“The response from the community was overwhelming. He was everyone’s child. He brought happiness - and despair - to the street. Mothers fed it with a spoon, someone made a bottle of milk, others got baby food and nappies,” Walljee said.

Since the incident, the little fellow has not left his mind.

“The concern I have is where he has gone to and what my options are to adopt him.

“We have not been consulted. I don’t mind adopting the baby. We can’t let him go. We are lucky no one burned refuse or stray dogs did not eat him,” he said.

Joyce Johnson, a crisis care centre worker at the Newlands East police station, said the baby boy stayed overnight with her and was taken by social workers to hospital for a medical check-up the next day.

“Healthwise he was perfect. The umbilical cord was still attached. I gave him a bath, fed and clothed him.

“The public support was overwhelming. The baby has been taken to court as a normal process by the social workers, who then placed him at the Verulam Place of Safety. I have not been told anything further. We call him Baby Peace for now,” she said.

Resident Monica Bimbrish said she was surprised to find the baby lying out in the cold. She had noticed the blankets, but thought they had been discarded.

“As a mother and grandmother, I am shocked. The mother could have asked for help,” she said.

Daily News

Vulnerable KZN sheep farmers have been left with no choice but to sell their businesses after repeated livestock theft.

Durban - Vulnerable sheep farmers near Kokstad have been left with no choice but to put their businesses up for sale after repeated theft of their livestock over the past 15 years, without any successful prosecution of the suspects.

A J Joubert, the owner of Rustfontein Farm, said he was in the process of selling the sheep farming operation “as we can no longer afford to feed these criminals’ businesses through our hard work”.

He said they had lost hope in the systems that were supposed to help them and he thought soon there would be no sheep farmers left in the area after the traumatic experiences they had been through.

Joubert was the latest victim of what he believes is a syndicate operating in the area. About 70 pregnant ewes were stolen from his farm in the New Amalfi area and later found slaughtered.

Pictures taken at the scene showed foetuses of unborn lambs scattered among their dead mothers.

It is believed they were killed and abandoned after the thieves realised they were pregnant.

He said the sheep were stolen and moved off his farm “as they have been doing every time they steal”. He said they got driven to the main road and were loaded into bakkies and ferried to Nouhoek.

“There they are hidden away in the wattle trees, and are slaughtered, on order, in a very cruel manner. This has been happening for years. Sometimes they are loaded and moved to other parts of KZN. They cut fences and destroy property,” he said.

Joubert said two farmers had already sold their sheep farming businesses and he hoped that by December this year he would have sold all his livestock. There were no more than 10 sheep farms left.

Guy Bastard, who represents the farmers, said the stealing had left the farmers vulnerable.

This was not only affecting the farmers, but a lot of farmworkers would be left jobless if the theft continued.

Joubert said every time their stock was taken, they opened cases, which were passed on to the police stock theft unit in Matatiele “and beyond that I have no idea what happens”.

He said the perpetrators were well known in the community but were feared.

“We need outside police to step in; a task force is needed to arrest this crime syndicate. They have their influence in every area of East Griqualand, and we need outside people who cannot be threatened.

“Everyone knows who they are.”

The Mercury contacted the KZN SAPS on Monday, but they could not comment as it was the responsibility of the Eastern Cape police. Eastern Cape police spokeswoman Sibongile Soci was unable to comment on Monday night.

The Mercury

Yashin Bagwandeen was reportedly killed by armed men who gained access to his Westville home by pretending to be customers.

Durban - A Westville businessman was shot dead on Tuesday morning while trying to protect his family, News24 reported.

Yashin Bagwandeen's sister Shakirra Govan recounted the events leading up to her brother’s death.

According to reports she said her father, Vinod Bagwandeen, was walking into their Mottramdale Road home when four men drove up the driveway.

“They were driving a white Subaru station wagon and came up to the door. They asked to speak to my brother Yashin Bagwandeen, 43, and my father told them that he was not home.”

The men, who pretended to be customers, reportedly held Govan’s father at gunpoint and proceeded into the house.

“My brother’s wife, Larissa, was carrying their 1-year-old daughter and they were in the kitchen when the men led my father into the kitchen.

“They pointed the gun at Larissa and the baby, and my brother heard the commotion and went into the kitchen with his gun. He went (to) the front of his wife to protect her and the baby and the men shot him several times.”

According to News24, Govan believes the men had been watching the family for some time.

“My brother sold appliances from his garage. They had done their homework, because they knew people come in and out of the house. They must have thought that there was a safe in the house,” she reportedly said.

An unnamed neighbour of the Bagwandeens reportedly heard gun shots just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

“I was in my office at the back when I heard the shots and I came out and I saw two men wearing overalls walking down the driveway.

“They got into a white Subaru. After they drove away, my neighbour and I walked into the house and everyone was shaken.

“I told my wife to call the police. I saw the victim on the ground. He was dead. I think it was robbery because it appears as though he pulled out his gun as well,” said the neighbour.

When paramedics arrived at the scene, Bagwandeen was already dead.

IOL

Some education researchers argue that the privatisation of schools violates the right of children to free basic education.

Durban - While low-fee independent schools have been touted as a way out of dysfunctional public schools in impoverished communities, some education researchers argue that the privatisation of schools is tantamount to selling out the right to quality public education for all.

In a report released last week, the Centre for Development and Enterprise, based in Johannesburg, recommended that the government increase the subsidies to independent, non-profit low-fee schools, to enable the schools to lower their fees and serve poorer communities - all at a lower cost to the government.

To qualify for a subsidy equal to 60% of what a provincial education department spends on the education of a public school pupil, the fees of a low-fee independent school must be below R6 000. Schools charging fees of R6 000 to R12 000 qualify for a 40% subsidy.

Another report released by the centre in May estimated that 250 000 South African children from disadvantaged communities were enrolled at low-fee independent schools.

But Salim Vally, associate professor of education at the University of Johannesburg, argued that while there were serious problems in the public school system, the solution did not lie in private schools.

“Rather, it rests on ensuring that we have functioning public schools, accountable to the communities they serve and which provide quality education,” Vally said.

“Public, quality, basic education is a human right and charging fees for basic education violates the right of children to free basic education,” he argued.

“Nowhere is there an example of a country with high educational outcomes where the provision of basic education has been in private hands. Yet there is now an increasingly insistent view suggesting that the privatisation of education - whether through high-cost or low-cost private schooling, charter schools or the voucher system - is the solution to the problems of the education system.”

Last year the South African Institute of Race Relations suggested the government take the money it spent on running schools and instead use it to provide all parents with vouchers which would allow them to enrol their children at what they considered the best schools.

The idea was that with these bursaries, parents would “buy” education for their children from a school of their choice - whether an independent school, a former model C school or an ordinary public school.

In 2012, the Centre for Development and Enterprise also advocated a new type of school, funded by the government but run by a private individual or organisation.

These so-called contract schools (called charter schools in the US) remained part of the public education system, but would be free of red tape and bureaucracy and would have the autonomy to hire and fire principals and teachers.

Carol Anne Spreen, an associate professor from New York University and visiting researcher at UJ, said that low-fee, profit-driven schools were increasingly being “sold” to governments throughout Africa by corporations and private foundations as cost-effective and profitable.

“What is problematic is that this movement is led by powerful and influential ‘edu-businesses’ and ‘edu-preneurs’ across the world with enormous power and resources devoted to undermining and circumventing funds from the public sector.”

What the Centre for Development and Enterprise argues are myths about independent schools:

* Independent schools were expensive, exclusive and deepened social inequality.

* Support for the growth of low-fee schools meant support for the privatisation of all.

* Independent schools turn education, a public good, into a profit-generating commercial commodity.

* Independent schools were a distraction from the challenge of improving public schooling.

The centre countered criticisms by arguing that in low-fee schools nearly all pupils were black, and with few exceptions low-fee schools followed the national curriculum. Most independent schools in South Africa were not for profit. While the government, NGOs and the private sector worked to improve the public school system, independent schools contributed by saving the state money.

What Salim Vally argues are the adverse consequences of the independent schooling sector:

* The removal of middle-class children from the public schooling system, and their separation from a wider network of social engagements and interactions.

* It almost always relied on the best publicly trained teachers in the country.

* The stimulation of perhaps the greatest outbreak of corruption in the public service through textbook provision, standardised tests, school meals and other outsourcing measures.

* Privatisation engendered the idea of competitiveness and individualism as the overarching values in society.

The Mercury

Two doctors and a nurse have been suspended from two Durban hospitals for allegedly refusing to treat a car crash victim who later died.

Durban – Two doctors and a nurse have been suspended from two Durban hospitals for allegedly refusing to treat a 19-year old car crash victim who later died.

KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo made the announcement at Durban’s Mahatma Gandhi Hospital on Tuesday.

The 19-year old Reveshen Pandather was brought to Osindisweni Hospital north of Durban on Saturday where the doctor allegedly refused to admit him.

The ambulance service then proceeded to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Durban, where the doctor at that hospital’s accident and emergency unit allegedly insisted that the teenager be returned to Osindisweni hospital or be taken to Addington Hospital.

Dhlomo said he was “appalled” at the alleged treatment that he teenager had received.

He said a preliminary investigation had revealed that the doctor at Osindisweni Hospital had not assessed he patient nor called a senior doctor to help her. She had also not written a referral letter for Mahatma Gandhi Hospital.

The nurse at the Osindisweni Hospital failed to open an admission file and record the teenager’s vital signs, such as his pulse and his blood pressure.

Dhlomo said the initial investigation revealed that the doctor at Mahatma Gandhi’s emergency unit had been informed that a patient in a critical condition had arrived.

“The doctor refused to treat the patient and told the paramedics that they must either take the patient back to Osindisweni or proceed to Addington. The patient died at casualty while still being on the stretcher without having been given necessary attention.”

Dhlomo said that the Health Professions Council of South Africa as well as the Nurses Council would be informed.

He said a district physician was appointed by the department to investigate and provide his findings within the next three days.

ANA

A KZN man was shot dead in front of his daughter, wife, and dad after confronting intruders threatening his family.

Durban - A community police forum activist was gunned down while trying to rescue his family in his Westville home on Tuesday morning.

Yashin Bagwandeen, 43, was shot dead in his kitchen in front of his 3-year-old daughter, wife, and father after confronting intruders threatening his family.

His father, Vinod Bagwandeen, 65, said the incident happened at the home in Mottramdale Road at about 8.45am.

Vinod said he had walked his wife to a car that was taking her to visit her daughter and then walked back to the house. As he got to the house, a minibus with four men was parked at the front door. They asked for Yashin.

“They held me up with a gun, pulled down their balaclavas and took me inside.”

He said his daughter-in-law, Yashin’s wife, Larissa Bagwandeen, was in the kitchen with her child.

The men pointed a gun at Larissa.

“My daughter-in-law pleaded with them not to shoot and told them that she had a child with her.

“One of the guys started pressing a gun to the child’s face and Larissa started screaming,” he said.

Vinod said Yashin, who was in his bedroom at the time, must have heard the scream.

“He came out with his gun to the kitchen. When one of the guys saw him, he fired at my son and my son fired back. They kept on firing and the next thing we saw all of them running out.

“When I went to my son, I found him lying on the floor with a bullet through his head,” he said.

Vinod said it was the first violent crime incident at the house in which they had lived for more than 20 years.

“We usually have someone who is trying to break in or checking who is in the house and we would phone the police,” he said.

When The Mercury went to the house on Tuesday, Vinod was arranging space for cars to park and erecting a marquee.

The gunmen did not take anything from the house, but Vinod said they believed the men’s intention was to rob the family. He said the whole incident happened in less than 10 minutes.

Vinod said the funeral was planned for Thursday. The service would be at home and the body would be taken to the Clare Estate Crematorium for cremation.

Yashin ran an electronics business at home and his wife owned a beauty therapy business.

Mike Myers, the chairman of the Westville Community Police Forum, said he had known Yashin for just over a year, as a fellow member of the forum.

“A nicer, more gentle person you could not meet. He was very giving to this community and very supportive of the work of the police. Whenever funding was needed, he was the first to put his hand in his pocket. His death is very tragic. I am extremely shocked.”

Former radio station executive and now senior director of corporate affairs at the Durban University of Technology, Alan Khan, who went to primary and high school with Bagwandeen, said he was shattered by his death.

Khan said Bagwandeen had sent him a Facebook message last week, and Khan had replied that they should meet up “soon”. The childhood friends, who grew up in Overport, had kept in touch over the years.

Police spokesman Thulani Zwane confirmed the incident and said police were investigating a case of house robbery and murder. He said the suspects fled and no arrest had been made.

Myers said there had been a spike in violent crime, especially robberies, in Westville in the past month.

“We have addressed it with the Westville police management. They do have a plan which they have been working on and we are hoping that the plan which has been implemented will be expanded on.”

He said, generally, Westville had had a quiet year, compared with previous years.

“It is only last month when we had a spike and, more so, the last two weeks. We believe it is one or two gangs operating in the area. We are hoping they will be brought to book.”

The Mercury

The use of drugs at schools has again come under the spotlight after a top SA boys’ school expelled a pupil over dagga.

Durban - The use of dagga and drugs at schools in KwaZulu-Natal has again come under the spotlight after one of South Africa’s top boys’ schools, Maritzburg College, expelled a pupil for being in possession of dagga.

The school had adopted a zero tolerance approach towards transgressions and the Education Department embraced this approach at all learning institutions.

This was said in papers before the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday in an application brought by the school to force the Education MEC to decide on the appeal of the expelled pupil.

A report compiled by two advocates who were part of the school’s disciplinary committee said that the Grade 11 pupil had a “dismal record”. In the past two and a half years he had accumulated 13 detentions and had been caught fighting twice. His latest offence was the second time he had been caught with dagga.

“The presence of the use of dagga at Maritzburg College in itself calls for the rooting out of those who partake in such offences,” it said.

The headmaster, Christopher Luman, said in an affidavit that the boy started at the school as a boarder in 2012, but was asked to leave last February after admitting to possessing marijuana on the school premises.

However, he remained as a day scholar and was given a final warning. He was counselled about the effects of dagga and cautioned that he would not be given another chance. Six months later, he was found in possession of a cigarette box filled with dagga at a school function.

He pleaded guilty at his hearing and expulsion was his punishment. In March, the head of the education department, Nkosinathi Sishi, approved the recommendation.

When the second term began, the boy returned to school. His father said he had appealed against the expulsion.

“This was the first time the school was aware of the appeal. To this day the school has not been shown a copy of the appeal documents,” said Luman.

On numerous occasions the had school tried to get feedback from the department, but failed. He said the department should have decided within 14 days of receiving the appeal.

The pupil’s father said in an affidavit that the sentence was too harsh and should have been suspended for a certain period, which would have had the “desired positive effect”.

On Tuesday, Judge Anton van Zyl ordered the MEC to take a decision on the appeal within 10 days of being served the court order.

In March last year, it was reported that a Kearsney College Grade 11 pupil had tested positive for steroids in a routine test. He had been expelled and his father brought an application for him to be allowed back to school, which was temporarily granted, so that he could write his exams.

The pupil had tested positive for the steroid Sustanon, which cannot be legally obtained in South Africa at all.

Sanca’s Durban manager of prevention services, Walter Petersen, said drug and alcohol abuse were an increasing problem, at all social levels, among boys and girls.

He said expulsion was a school’s last line of action.

“They must first try to assist the child, by for example counselling.”

Petersen said sanctions were meted out according to individual cases.

The Mercury

Desperate to save the credibility of the NPA, Mxolisi Nxasana hand-delivered a letter to President Jacob Zuma, he says.

Durban - Desperate to save the credibility of the National Prosecuting Authority, former prosecutions boss Mxolisi Nxasana hand-delivered a letter to President Jacob Zuma in which he implored him to take action against three top NPA officials, he says.

But Zuma apparently ignored the letter delivered last September, and deputy national director of public prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba, head of the specialised commercial crimes unit Lawrence Mrwebi, and North Gauteng director of public prosecutions Sibongile Mzinyathi remain in their jobs.

Nxasana, left the NPA earlier this year agreeing to an exit package – estimated at R17 million – with Zuma.

He departed after the Presidency had set up an inquiry to investigate his fitness to hold office because of his past brushes with the law.

But in newspaper reports Nxasana alleged that there was a smear campaign to get rid of him, in which he alleged Mrwebi and Jiba were involved.

In the NPA’s annual report which was recently tabled in Parliament, Nxasana, for the first time, has revealed that despite the steps he took to get Zuma and Justice Minister Michael Masutha to deal with the advocates and his concerns, nothing was done.

The saga began after a Pretoria High Court judge and the Supreme Court of Appeal made adverse findings about the advocates’ credibility related to their conduct in the decision to drop charges against suspended crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli.

Jiba was also criticised in the Durban High Court for her role in the so-called spy tapes case and the failed attempt to prosecute the head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal, Johan Booysen.

After the court judgments were made last year, the NPA approached a senior advocate, who is not named, to provide legal opinion on whether any action should be taken against the three.

The advocate recommended in July last year that Zuma suspend the three pending an inquiry into their fitness to hold office and that perjury charges be opened with the police.

The report states that these findings were sent to Masutha so he could bring them to the attention of Zuma, but when this did not happen, Nxasana took it upon himself to approach Zuma last September.

“The opinion was held that failure to bring these serious matters to the attention of the president is causing a credibility crisis within the NPA and that it was appropriate to urgently bring stability within the NPA.

“It was of utmost importance that the matter should be communicated to the president.”

He said a separate committee, headed by retired Judge Zak Yacoob, which was also tasked with looking into officials’ misconduct, also made findings against the three, and this report was also sent to the minister.

He said despite all the requests for intervention, “no feedback” had been received from the minister and president.

“It is important for the minister and the president to fulfil their constitutional mandate and to act as a matter of urgency,” the report states.

The NPA also recommended that the General Bar Council bring a court application to have the three struck off the roll of advocates.

Perjury charges have been opened against the three related to the handling of the Mdluli case and a separate perjury charge was opened against Jiba in respect of Booysen.

Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said on Tuesday that there was no question that the advocates should have been suspended.

“In terms of the NPA Act and the constitution, the president can remove or suspend officials if they are found to no longer be fit and proper people to be in the leadership of the NPA. There is a cloud of suspicion.”

The NPA, the Justice Ministry and the Presidency did not respond to requests for comment.

The Mercury