Maharaj vs. Grootes: Unspun by a spin-doctor

No fear No Favour No TKO's





STEPHEN GROOTES   SOUTH AFRICA  31 OCTOBER 2013  01:19

On Tuesday night STEPHEN GROOTES, who likes to think he can put people in a tight spot, found himself on the wrong side of the conversation. He'd invited Mac Maharaj to interview him about his new book, SA Politics Unspun. Unfortunately for Grootes, Maharaj accepted. This is Grootes' version of events. And he does not write it as a journalist. This is his subjective view of what it was like in the hot-seat.

The problem with finding yourself being interviewed by Mac Maharaj is that you are being interviewed by Mac Maharaj. It's a bit like being cross-examined by Wim Trengove. To quote Pierre de Vos' advice, “don't”. Most people probably knew this before Tuesday night. I, being pig-headed, had to find out the hard way.

The problem is not just that he is a spin-doctor. It's that he's much more than that. He is not only a politician in his own right, it's that he is one of heroes of the Struggle. This means that you are dealing with a personality who is not just good with words, but actually a political operator in the Gwede Mantashe mould. Someone who is able to convince people to do things by sheer force of words. And when the time came, he was happy and willing to put his body on the line too.

The idea of having a politician interview me, a journalist, was mine. Like the three errors Maharaj pointed out in my book, this choice was mine, and mine alone.

There's a certain luxury in being the media person conducting an interview. You control the airwaves, the on and off buttons, the entire format is yours. This, I found out, gives you a tremendous advantage. It also means that you are just playing a role. You are the inquisitor whose job it is to get the facts out of whoever is in front of you. So it's not about you, it's about them. They have a position to defend, and you have a fortress to attack. It's quite fun, really.

I don't know if Maharaj enjoyed doing the attacking, but from the way I felt, he certainly should have. Because when you write a book, it is about you. In the same way that your integrity or your political principle is on the line when the roles are in their usual position. So, when the tables were turned, I found it more than deeply uncomfortable.

Watch: SA Politics Unspun with Stephen Grootes - Constitutional Court

It started badly. Maharaj was able to set the terms of engagement, that he and I would shake hands and agree that facts are important. I should have known better. But the moment my public life really flashed before my eyes was during what came next. Maharaj pointed out that I was wrong about the amount of time between OR Tambo’s arrival home from exile and his death.

I was able to swallow that. It's important in these public encounters not to show emotion. If I've learnt anything from Gwede Mantashe over the years, it's that the person who looks the most confident often wins. It's a bit like a rugby match. Sometimes the team that piles on the most pressure at the start ends up losing, because the other team is able to soak it up. Not that I won this first encounter, mind you.

Then we moved on to what has been a consistent, and incorrect claim from myself about the history of Pravin Gordhan, Maharaj himself, and President Jacob Zuma. He pointed out that what I've written in the book about his relationship with President Jacob Zuma and Operation Vula is factually incorrect, or just wrong. It was impossible to answer back, because he was there, and I was not. He then said that he and Zuma "have never had a social meal together", the point being that they are not that close. I find that odd. It doesn't seem to make sense. Remember what Maharaj went through with the Hefer Commission, in what looked like an attempt to protect Zuma from that corruption investigation? Why do that for someone if they're not a friend?

But I owe you, dear reader, and Maharaj and Zuma and Gordhan, an apology. I accept that you were not all part of the same section of Operation Vula. It will be removed from any subsequent issues of the book.

I'm sorry.

Maharaj Two. Grootes Nil.

Looking at someone to whom you have given plenty of hell over the years when he's in complete control, and he's just pointed out two factual errors in your book, is not a sight from the happier parts of my psyche. To look at the large pile of paper he'd brought with him was almost to lose control.

But then again, like that rugby match, the balance does shift. Because he then moved to the Constitution. I was on stronger ground here, because my publishers had a lawyer specifically go through that section. Which means that we were going to have to argue around interpretation.

Maharaj says my interpretation of the Constitution is wrong on three main points.

Firstly, he denies that it was specifically designed to protect minorities. My answer was that the reason we have the Bill of Rights was to ensure that everyone is protected, which automatically includes minorities. In other words, this part of the Constitution protects us all, and it would not have been written like that, if there were not a reason to deliberately protect minorities. The point that it doesn't explicitly say this isn't really the issue, on my reading at least. It's implicit in the Constitution anyway.

Then there's the Property Clause, and my claim that this was part of the compromise, because whites wanted to keep their property. I have to say on this, that since the book went to print, both Valli Moosa and Tito Mboweni have said this was not the result of a compromise. But when Moosa first made those comments, Luthuli House itself would not publicly agree or disagree with him. The view I got from speaking to people there was that they in fact disagreed with Moosa, and they did not want to say that in public. Mboweni's comments appeared in BDlive on the morning of the launch, and he was not available to speak about them. I can't help but feel there may well be a debate within the ANC on this that's still underway. But remember, Maharaj was there, and I was not.

Maharaj's other main point on the Constitution was that somehow I was wrong to say the Constitutional Court was "fond of saying it was to protect us from the Tyranny of the Majority". We went more than six rounds on this. He says it's never featured in a judgment, and the research he's done proves this. My riposte, that I saw and heard Albie Sachs say it in court, did not seem to satisfy him. I'm certain other judges have said it as well.

His main point with all of this seemed to be that I believed that the majority is a tyranny. There must be racial subtext in here somewhere. But I can't quite see it.

It was then that I realised that the dynamic was moving. We'd been on the Constitution for quite some considerable time. And if he'd had a hundred factual mistakes in the book, he would have been well past point number thirty-five by now. Instead he wasn't racking up the points. Which meant he didn't actually have a hundred mistakes to point to.

There are several lessons in all of this. For me, as a person who generally does his journalism through interviews, it was a study in what it can be like when the pressure is on you. It is very, very different when it is you that is on trial. Not playing a role, you. And this means that it does feel very, very personal. Quite frankly, it feels super-kak.

But that's a superficial point. The main point that I do believe Maharaj succeeded in making, is that in South Africa there is a process of "myth-making" that goes on in our media, and that people who dabble in political analysis, like myself, are partially to blame for this. Why did I get that Operation Vula claim so wrong? Why had I just accepted it? Laziness, probably. [We take it you’ll be reading Padraig O’Malley’s book soon. - Ed]

And there will be some people who will quote it from what I've written on this site, and repeat it endlessly. Even though it's not true.

I could say that I speak to Maharaj often. It's a claim I've made several times before, and he's never corrected me. Perhaps he does lose some of this right to complain about that. But perhaps not. After all, I got the fact wrong.

But I do accept that "myth-making" is happening in our political analysis. Perhaps the ANC, perhaps government, have more of a duty to point out incorrect facts when they see them. Perhaps the slightly secretive nature of Zuma himself is part of this dynamic. But the onus should still be on people like me to get these facts right.

There is one other point that I feel, through sheer self-interest, that I must make. Maharaj didn't discuss anything about the current political situation. Which is what the book is about. It talks about our history up until 2013 and the Constitution up until page 31. So there over 200 other pages that he did not canvass at all. These are the sections about the ANC, Zuma himself, and the current controversies that we talk about all the time.

Why not? Probably because it didn't suit him to. And he was in control, because I'd let him be. He's Zuma’s spokesperson and his job is to protect him. That he succeeded in doing, by simply not letting the conversation get there.

Politics in South Africa is something of a spectator sport. It's fun to watch. But what I really learnt from Maharaj is that it's not a sport for the people involved. It's far more important than that. And to defend themselves in public, from people like me, as I had to on Tuesday night, is tough.

But that's politics. DM

Grootes' book SA Politics Unspun is out now. Mac Maharaj says it contains at least two errors about our political history. He hasn't yet mentioned any errors about our current politicians, Zuma himself, the ANC, the other parties, cabinet, and the controversies. When he's not being grilled by Maharaj, Grootes is happier doing the grilling on the Midday Report, and as the Senior Political Reporter for Eyewitness News. This is the last time he'll be interviewed by Maharaj. And he would advise everyone else to avoid a similar fate.

DAILY MAVERICK

COMMENTS BY SONNY

IF YOUR VENTURE INTO THE RING BE ASSURED OF YOUR FOOT WORK!

LUCIFER DOES NOT PULL PUNCHES!!

Blinding justice: Brickbats for Madonsela, bouquets for Phiyega

No Fear No Favour No Double Standards.......



Ranjeni Munusami   SOUTH AFRICA  1 NOVEMBER 2013 01:45

From the events of this week, it would seem that in the eyes of the ANC, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela can do no right and National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega can do no wrong. Madonsela is coming under intense pressure as she prepares to release her investigation report into the renovations at President Jacob Zuma’s residence at Nkandla. Phiyega is under investigation by the police watchdog for allegedly defeating the ends of justice. The ANC has accused Madonsela of seeking to try Zuma in the court of public opinion, and on the same day rallied to protect Phiyega. Why the double standard? By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

Thuli Madonsela and Riah Phiyega have absolutely nothing in common but both are charged with protecting the South African public. Madonsela, South Africa’s third Public Protector, is a human rights and constitutional lawyer with a passion for administrative justice.
Phiyega is South Africa’s fifth National Police Commissioner. She is highly qualified in the field of social sciences and business administration, and spent most of her professional career in the corporate sector. She had no experience whatsoever in security and policing when she became the country’s top cop in June 2012, but she was apparently appointed for her skills as an administrator.
The four years Madonsela has spent exposing maladministration, abuse of power and improper conduct in government has led her to become one of the country’s most trusted and respected public figures. The 16 months Phiyega has been in charge of the South African Police Service has seen a succession of disasters, blunders and scandals.
While Madonsela is held in high regard in society, she has faced criticism of her work from senior ANC leaders who accuse her of seeking glory and publicity by targeting ANC high flyers. She has also had running battles with members of Parliament’s justice and constitutional development portfolio committee, who accuse her of overstepping her mandate. She is constantly facing uphill battles to explain her work and her budgets. She has little political support and every nuance in her public statements comes under scrutiny.
Madonsela has recently come in for a lathering from MPs from across the political spectrum over her recommendation that Parliament decide the fate and take remedial action against Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairwoman Pansy Tlakula after she found her guilty of a conflict of interest.
A National Assembly ad hoc committee set up to consider the public protector’s report has decided that it would be unlawful and unconstitutional for them to act against Tlakula, as this would amount to political interference in the affairs of the electoral body. MPs accused Madonsela of being naïve in her recommendations and the committee has referred the matter to the IEC, Department of Home Affairs, the National Treasury and the Auditor General.
But Madonsela is facing an even bigger wall of fire over her investigation into the R206-million security upgrade at President Jacob Zuma’s private residence at Nkandla. She was asked to investigate the matter by Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko.
Madonsela has expressed her concerns publicly about where her reports involving the ethical conduct of the president should be submitted. She said she raised these concerns regarding the nonexistence of a competent authority to take action against the president when she first investigated Zuma for a breach of the Executive Ethics Code in 2010. At the time she recommended that Parliament amend the Executive Members Ethics Act to resolve the issue of which office or person to whom a report involving the ethical conduct of the president should be submitted.
Madonsela says she wrote to the Secretary of Cabinet a few weeks ago to enquire about the progress in amending the legislation in order to clarify where her Nkandla report should go. She says she has not yet received a response. Madonsela is obviously finicky about the procedure as she did not want to be hauled over the coals again after the criticism she received over the handling of IEC report. The Nkandla investigation is also the most high-stakes case she has undertaken and any slip-up over procedure will be used against her.
But the office of the ANC Chief Whip in Parliament Stone Sizani has accused Madonsela of seeking to “try the president and his executive in a court of public opinion”.
“Her inferences in the media regarding lack of oversight mechanism over the president and regarding her predicament have unfairly projected the president and his executive as law unto themselves who do not want to be held accountable. There is no doubt that the President’s dignity has been unfairly harmed by all these inferences in the media. This does not augur well for fairness and justice,” Sizani’s office said in a statement.
Speaking on PowerFM on Thursday evening, Sizani said Madonsela’s views that there were no adequate oversight instruments in Parliament to deal with matters involving the president was a “DA perspective”. He said he could not prejudge what Madonsela’s motives were but it seemed as if she wanted to embarrass Zuma.
And yet, if there has been anyone who has been embarrassing Zuma and his government, it is Phiyega.
Under her watch, the police shot dead 34 mineworkers at Marikana and injured 78 others. They then proceeded to harass and torture some of the survivors. They were also caught torturing taxi driver Mido Macia who then died of his injuries. The police service was also shamed by bungling in the high-profile murder case of paralympian Oscar Pistorius.
Phiyega’s performance at the Farlam Commission on Inquiry investigating the Marikana massacre was shocking and disgraceful. She was captured on camera giggling when grieving family members were overcome with emotion over the horrific manner the mineworkers were killed. Her testimony to the commission was a charade aimed at concealing the truth.
Two months ago, Phiyega was left humiliated when she announced the appointment of a new provincial commissioner for Gauteng and had to backpedal a few hours later when it emerged that her nominee Bethuel Mondli Zuma was facing criminal charges.
This week the police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), confirmed it was investigating Phiyega for tipping off Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer about a crime intelligence probe against him. Last week, Phiyega announced that she was placing acting crime intelligence head Major General Chris Ngcobo on special leave over alleged discrepancies in his qualifications.
Days later, it emerged that there were crime intelligence recordings of conversations between Phiyega and Lamoer in which she tipped him off that he was being investigated. Her motives for suspending Ngcobo appear suspect and the incident lifts the lid further on the turbulence in the police management and lack of confidence in Phiyega’s leadership.
In the face of a public outcry and calls by the opposition for Phiyega’s suspension, the ANC sprang to her defence. Sizani’s office said in a statement that this was “a sensitive matter” which required “political circumspection and maturity”.
“The call for the suspension or resignation of the national commissioner is plain politicking devoid of any sound factual foundation,” the ANC statement read. It said it was pleased with the national commissioner’s “dignified response and cooperation” with the Ipid investigation.
Concluding the statement, the ANC said: “The national commissioner has done an excellent work in uprooting wrongdoing and pursuing criminal elements within the police. We are hopeful that these allegations are not a backlash from those facing the heat of her anti-corruption drive.”
It is astounding that the ANC can be so aggressive in its treatment of a person as trusted and respected by the people of South Africa as Madonsela is, while being so tolerant of Phiyega’s clumsy, unprofessional and ill-informed conduct. Madonsela’s good work should be a triumph of the ANC government and its commitment to upholding good governance and fighting corruption. It is not as if Madonsela gets any morbid pleasure from exposing the misdemeanours of others. And it is clear that the Nkandla investigation is weighing heavily on her.
Yet instead of providing support for her work of maintaining the integrity of the government and health of our democracy, the ANC treats her as an enemy and questions her motives.
On the other hand, the person who is constantly bringing the ANC government into disrepute is treated with kid gloves and given political protection. Shortly after Phiyega’s blunder over the Gauteng police commissioner appointment, Zuma said at a meeting with editors that he thought she was “competent” and “absolutely wonderful”.
Sizani’s praise of Phiyega this week in the face of serious allegations of defeating the ends of justice, which again call into question her suitability for the position of national police commissioner, shows that the ANC does not judge those who serve in public office through merit and good performance. Tony Yengeni, Gwen Ramokgopa, Angie Motshekga, Dina Pule, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Bheki Cele, Humphrey Mmemezi, Lulu Xingwana, these names are but a beginning of a long list of the ruling party cadres who did not show merit and good performance - far from it. And yet they are embraced and remain in the fold.
Protecting and covering up the failings of those who are supposed to uphold the pillars of its government undermines the ANC itself. While the pool of goodwill that brought the party into power was indeed a massive one, it is also a finite reservoir.
Of the two women who have the responsibility to protect the South African public, only one takes the people she serves and who pay her salary seriously. The other is unworthy of such an important position of public service and trust. DM
Photo: Thuli Madonsela (Greg Nicolson/Daily Maverick), Riah Phiyega (Sapa)


DAILY MAVERICK



COMMENTS BY SONNY


IS THIS HOW SOUTH AFRICA HAS DEVELOPED (UNDER DEVELOPED) IN THE PAST 20 YEARS?

ZUMA AND HIS CRONIES CANNOT BULLSHIT ALL THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME!

HIS LIES AND THE PEOPLES PATIENTS IS RUNNING OUT FAST!!

THE ACHIEVERS WITHIN THE ANC - NIL.

“Dirty tricks” place question mark over Boeremag trial

No fear No Favour No Dirty Tricks please.........




Submitted by jeannevdm on October 15, 2012 – 10:03 am

JACQUES PAUW

A controversial police general headed the crime intelligence unit’s dirty tricks campaign to plant evidence and evesdrop on the Boeremag treason accused and their lawyers, a former officer claims in sworn statement.
The statement claims General Mark Hankel specially flew to America to purchase the bugging devices which were used to unlawfully monitor the conversations between the accused and their legal teams.
The revelations of Deon Loots, a former captain in the crime intelligence unit, about the alleged police conspiracy to frame the Boeremag plotters were first broken by Media24 Investigations on October 7.
But Loots’ affidavit – which he has confirmed – goes further and names individual officers which he charges are at the centre of the conspiracy.
His statements are separately supported by other affidavits by former officers which are in the possession of a Pretoria attorney.
If his claims are true it could lead to the Boeremag trial – the longest, at nine years, in South African history and which cost more than R100m – being declared a mistrial.
Loots, who made his statement in August, has finvestigated the Boeremag for years and was also the handler of the main agent who infiltrated the organisation.
Constitutional expert Prof Pierre de Vos said Loots’ allegations could result in the trial being declared null and void and having to be heard from scratch again.
Twenty Boeremag members were found guilty of high treason in July and August. The trial will re-commence in January next year when they could be sentenced to life behind bars.
Hankel made news headlines last year when he headed the crime intelligence unit for a short while after Lt-Gen Richard Mdluli was suspended.
Mdluli appointed family members as senior officers in the unit and bought luxury vehicles for himself with money from the secret fund, according to statements by investigators.
It has also been reported that in 2002 Hankel failed two polygraph tests for his security clearance. He denies it.
This was during the period when Hankel headed the investigation of the Boeremag project.
Loots was married to an officer who also worked on the right wing investigation and who was Hankel’s right-hand.
In his statement Loots identified a number of police officers whom he claimed worked under Hankel and were responsible for manipulating the investigation.
“The Boeremag was driven, managed, orchestrated and all the planning had been done by these [crime intelligenceï members,” said Loots.
He said he had been extremely upset by the “provocation role” played by the police.
“Innocent people had been inflamed, used and compromised. I had nowhere to complain as the top structure of police intelligence drove and managed these things,” Loots said.
Loots said evidence had been fabricated by crime intelligence in order to “make things look much worse.”
He said police officers told their agent to organise right-wing meetings.
They were instructed what to say at the meetings which would inflame Boeremag members.
“I told Hankel continuously that they were busy inciting a crime hoping to involve innocent people. This was laughed away. They were obsessed with the idea to involve as many right wingers as possible,” Loots charged.
Loots said the police wanted to know what was discussed between the accused and their legal teams, so that they could counter the defence.
He claimed Hankel flew to America to buy the latest in phone hacking and video equipment.
This was allegedly planted in the cells of the accused. Similar equipment was also planted in the consultation rooms where the accused consulted with their legal teams, he claimed.
Loots said the visual and audio recordings were beamed to the crime intelligence head office in Erasmuskloof where a so-called “war room” had been established which contained monitors and loudspeakers.
“I personally from time to time watched videos of the accused in their cells. Hankel and others made jokes and laughed. From the start the trial was never fair,” said Loots.
He claimed none of the witnesses for the prosecution ever drew up their own statements and that police wrote them so that they corroborated each other.
“Thereafter it was returned to the witnesses for it to be signed. They (the witnesses) had to learn it off by heard like parrots,” he said.
Hankel this week said that he was not allowed to talk to the media.
The police’s national spokesperson, Colonel Tummi Shai, undertook to respond to the allegations but at the time of going to press she had not responded.
The police also undertook to respond to the allegations aired in Rapport last week and did not reply then either.

m24i

COMMENTS BY SONNY

THIS TRIAL AND ITS CONVICTIONS SHOULD GO ON APPEAL.

IT WOULD APPEAR AS IF THIS JUDGE WAS ABOUT TO GO ON PENSION AND DID NOT WANT THE TRIAL DONE OVER!

THE NPA HAS A LOT OF QUESTIONS TO ANSWER REGARDING THE USE OF "DIRTY TRICKS" DURING THE TRIAL AND THE BUGGING OF THE ACCUSED AND THEIR LEGAL COUNCILS WHILE IN DETENTION.

THIS COULD ONLY HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN A "POLICE STATE!"

History Reports - Special Investigations

EXPOSED: The drug dealer SA’s cops paid R300k a month to work for them



Submitted by admin on April 15, 2012 –
Jacques Pauw, Adriaan Basson and Paddy Harper

The police’s scandal-hit crime intelligence division paid a convicted drug-dealer R300 000 a month to “influence” General Bheki Cele and to rent his properties as “safe houses”, the Hawks found.SA's embattled police commissioner General Bheki Cele

City Press can reveal that Durban businessman Panganathan “Timmy” Marimuthu is the mysterious “prominent KwaZulu-Natal person” referred to in a secret crime intelligence report that was submitted to Advocate Faith Radebe, the Inspector General of Intelligence (IGI), last year November.

Marimuthu’s alleged role in the looting of a crime intelligence “slush fund” is further explained in two affidavits by Hawks investigators that were submitted to the Germiston Magistrate’s court. The statements were made in an application for search warrants against suspects in the now-aborted Hawks investigation into the crime intelligence “slush fund”.
Marimuthu was convicted of dealing in Mandrax in 1992 and sentenced to an effective three years’ imprisonment. His appeal failed.

But he never served a day of his sentence. Evidence was produced at the Jali Commission in 2002 that Marimuthu bribed officials to avoid going to prison.

The affidavit by Colonel Kobus Roelofse, one of the Hawks investigators on the crime intelligence case, reveals that the Hawks had also established Marimuthu’s family members were appointed to crime intelligence.

The Roelofse affidavit reveals that Marimuthu was registered as a crime intelligence agent and paid R50 000 a month.
City Press understands that Marimuthu was lobbied by crime intelligence because of his close relationship with Cele, the suspended police chief and former transport MEC in KwaZulu-Natal.

He was appointed by Major General Solly Lazarus, the chief financial officer of crime intelligence.

It appears from all the documents in the possession of City Press that Marimuthu’s sole role was to lobby Cele in favour of crime intelligence, and thereby secure a steady cash flow to the police’s spy unit.

In return, Marimuthu was rewarded royally, the Hawks found.

Apart from the R50 000 per month, Marimuthu leased several properties to crime intelligence for which he earned another R250 000 monthly.

When the police visited two of Marimuthu’s premises in KwaZulu-Natal, they found them in no state for occupation, Roelofse’s affidavit states.

Lazarus, a close confidante of crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, appointed five family members of Marimuthu as police officers, the affidavits charge.

Marimuthu’s wife, Neermala Moodley, was appointed as a colonel, his son-in-law as a lieutenant colonel, his daughter as a captain, his brother as a colonel and his niece as a captain. Two of his “girlfriends” were appointed as clerks.
The Hawks concluded that Marimuthu’s family members did not perform any crime intelligence work and there were not even files for them.

This is corroborated by the secret report submitted to Radebe by senior crime intelligence officers, Majors General Mark Hankel and Chris de Kock.

They wrote: “It is alleged that especially the family members of the prominent person in KwaZulu-Natal go about their ‘normal private lives’ with no benefit to the SA Police Service. They were allegedly employed as a favour or as part of a pay-off to the prominent person, in return for consultancy services rendered to crime intelligence in respect of the national commissioner (Cele)”.

According to Roelofse’s statement, Lazarus instructed crime intelligence to rent through a front company a “safe house” in Boksburg on Johannesburg’s East Rand for one of Marimuthu’s girlfriends. Marimuthu used the house whenever he visited Johannesburg.

“Lazarus in turn received various gifts from Marimuthu,” wrote Roelofse. “This includes payments for overseas trips and jewelry. One such item is a gold chain containing various precious stones and with an estimated value of R250 000.”
The Hawks detectives say in their affidavits that crime intelligence agents are “fearful” of Mdluli. They are scared of victimisation and their fears “are not unfounded”.

They conclude: “Information provided by members of crime intelligence (about the allegations of theft, nepotism and corruption) had been evaluated and proven to be reliably correct.”

Contacted for comment, Marimuthu first claimed that the “prominent person” was someone else and that he had no links with crime intelligence. He said his brother was a policeman.

Marimuthu then demanded that City Press provide him with the Hawks affidavits outlining the allegations against him before he could comment on a list of questions.

His attorney Reg Thomas said Marimuthu would only comment if given more time and the Hawks affidavits.
Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela declined to comment on the matter.



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Riah Phiyega ‘lacks experience -’A dysfunctional SAPS intelligence division has severe implications for reducing crime

Riah Phiyega ‘lacks experience’
31 October 2013 13:56


A lack of experience and a police service in crisis has marred General Riah Phiyega’s term as national commissioner, the Institute for Security Studies has said.

“It is Riah Phiyega’s lack of experience and understanding of (the) police and its responsibilities and on top of that the huge problems police have been facing for many years now,” senior researcher Johan Burger said today.

“It is too big for one person to solve all on their own.”

Burger said the SA Police Service was a unique organisation with unique responsibilities, which Phiyega did not seem to understand.

After a month in office, Phiyega was faced with the Marikana shooting, where police shot dead 34 people, mostly striking mine workers, wounded 70, and arrested 250 on August 16 last year during violent protests at the Lonmin Platinum mine near Rustenburg in North West.

In February this year, Mido Macia, a taxi driver and Mozambican national, was tied to the back of a police van and dragged along a street in Daveyton.

An eyewitness filmed the assault. Macia was found dead in the local police station’s holding cells several hours later.

In addition to the controversial behaviour of police officers, Phiyega had made a few questionable decisions as national police commissioner.

In August, she announced the appointment of the new Gauteng provincial commissioner.

But she had to withdraw the appointment hours after making the announcement when it emerged that Lieutenant General Bethuel Mondli Zuma was facing a criminal investigation.

Burger said the police service was in crisis.

In October, Phiyega announced that acting head of crime intelligence Major General Chris Ngcobo had been put on special leave and criminal investigations and disciplinary action against him were going to be initiated.

This was because discrepancies were found between the declaration made by Ngcobo and official records pertaining to his qualifications, she said.

Now Phiyega herself is facing criminal charges for defeating the ends of justice.

She is accused of tipping off Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer about investigations against him.

Burger said this alone was an example of Phiyega’s lack of understanding.

“What she is now being accused of shows she has no understanding of how criminal investigations are conducted.

“What is her understanding of the Criminal Procedure Act? It’s the basic act that guides the police service, I wonder if she even looked at the Police Service Act,” he said.

It would be in Phiyega’s best interests and the interests of the police service for her to step aside while the probe into her conduct was pending, said Burger.

This was provided for in sections eight and nine of the Police Service Act. Pending the outcome of the investigation, President Jacob Zuma should consider suspending Phiyega, he said.

“If you want a completely independent investigation with no risk or suspicion of undue influence, you need to remove the person who is under investigation.

“It is also important for the person being investigated. It must be incredibly difficult to carry on with your daily work when everyone knows you are being investigated.”

Phiyega, as national commissioner, was also the only person who could suspend a provincial police commissioner.

“How does she now apply her mind when she is facing allegations?

“For that reason alone, it should be considered to remove her temporarily, and appoint an acting commissioner who is not at the heart of any allegations, who can take a decision to suspend the provincial commissioner,” said Burger.



-Sapa



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A dysfunctional SAPS intelligence division has severe implications for reducing crime
8 October 2013

The Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Police Service (SAPS) is currently in a shambles and is unable to function effectively and efficiently. This is largely the result of years of in-fighting, poor leadership and maladministration caused by inappropriate political interference. Fortunately, the national commissioner of the SAPS, General Riah Phiyega, is fully aware of the problem, and admitted before parliament on 18 September 2013 that the SAPS’s Crime Intelligence Division was ‘ailing’.

In a subsequent interview with Eye Witness News on 30 September she further conceded that Crime Intelligence needed ‘cleaning up …because policing without intelligence is not going to take us anywhere’ [own emphasis].

The recently released 2012/13 crime statistics support the national commissioner’s concerns. Crime intelligence is crucial if the police are to reduce the more organised types of crime that require planning and are supported by networks dealing in stolen goods. Virtually all such crimes experienced an increase in the past financial year:

House robberies (where people are attacked by armed gangs in their homes) increased by 7,1% to 17 950 incidents, representing an additional 1 184 households compared to the previous year.
Business robberies increased by 2,7% to 16 377 incidents. There were an additional 426 armed attacks on businesses in 2012/13 as compared to the previous year. This crime type has increased by 345% in the past eight years.
Vehicle hijacking increased by 5,4% to 9 990 incidents. This means that 28 motor vehicles were hijacked every day on average.
Figures released by the South African Insurance Bureau indicate that for the 2012/13 period some insurance companies reported increases of up to 47% in house robberies (in addition to a 7% increase the previous year) and up to 25% in business robberies (in addition to a 34% increase the previous year). The Consumer Goods Risk Initiative reported even more concerning increases in aggravated robbery attacks in the retail industry during 2012/13:

Shopping centres experienced a 60% increase in robberies (from 274 incidents in 2011/12 to 438 in 2012/13) and a staggering 88% increase in financial losses.
Jewellery stores saw a 63% increase in robberies (from 38 to 62 incidents) and a 30% increase in financial losses.
Retail members of the Consumer Goods Council of SA in general experienced an overall increase of 36% in aggravated robberies and a concomitant increase of 67% in financial losses.
The impact of these figures is also reflected in the Grant Thornton International Business Report’s quarterly surveys among business people in South Africa. In the survey the question is asked whether they, their staff or their family have been affected by serious and violent crime. Since this survey was first undertaken in 2007, responses have revealed a decrease in criminal victimisation. However, in 2012 victimisation rates started to increase, from 46% to 52%. By the second quarter of 2013 victimisation rates had risen to 61%. This means that by mid-2013 15% more business people in South Africa had been affected by serious and violent crime than in 2011.

The only sub-categories of aggravated robbery that showed persistent decreases in the past five years were bank and cash-in-transit robberies. However, these decreases can largely be attributed to the measures implemented by these industries to protect their assets.

The police’s Crime Intelligence Division derives its mandate primarily from section 205(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, and the National Strategic Intelligence Act (Act No. 39 of 1994). Section 1(vii) of the Act defines ‘crime intelligence’ as: ‘intelligence used in the prevention of crime or to conduct criminal investigations and to prepare evidence for the purpose of law enforcement and the prosecution of offenders’. The Crime Intelligence Division describe its functions, inter alia, as:

The collection, collation, analysis, coordination and dissemination of crime intelligence to ensure the neutralisation, prevention and combating of crime by providing accurate intelligence for the purpose of strategic and tactical utilisation
The rendering of an effective and efficient counter and security intelligence service
Crime Intelligence officers perform their functions by conducting ‘network’ operations and undercover or ‘covert’ projects. Network operations generally refer to information that is gathered through a network of informers, electronic surveillance and other sources. ‘Undercover projects’ refers to operations involving agent infiltration and the recruitment of sources (informants) within target organisations such as crime syndicates. In addition, this division is responsible for analysing crime statistics and other information so as to direct visible policing operations.

According to the SAPS’s Annual Performance Plan for 2013/14, Crime Intelligence conducted an annual average of over 25 000 network operations in the past three years. For undisclosed reasons, 2011/12 appears to have been an exceptional year with more than 49 000 operations undertaken. The number of covert projects is classified and therefore not reported on.

Given that the approximately 8 000 police officials in the Crime Intelligence Division are clearly busy, the obvious question is why they are not effective against organised crime.

The simple answer is that the ‘ailing’ state of the Crime Intelligence Division can mainly be attributed to a combination of large-scale fraud and corruption within the division, and the struggle for political control of this powerful intelligence institution. The previous head of Crime Intelligence, Mulangi Mphego, was forced to resign in 2009 after he was accused of interfering with state witnesses in the corruption case against former national commissioner Jackie Selebi. Mphego’s successor and current head of Crime Intelligence, Richard Mdluli, was suspended in May 2011 after being arrested on a number of criminal charges, including murder, attempted murder, intimidation, kidnapping, assault and defeating the ends of justice. Both these appointments were primarily political in nature.

In November 2011 more criminal charges against Mdluli followed and he was charged with fraud, corruption, theft and money laundering. A number of other senior Crime Intelligence officers were implicated in the latter criminal charges and were either suspended or transferred. In June 2012 Major General Chris Ngobo, from the Protection and Security Division, was appointed acting head of the now joint Division for Crime intelligence, Protection and Security Services.

In late 2011 and early 2012 there appeared to be an orchestrated attempt to reinstate Mdluli as investigations against him were halted and all the charges were withdrawn. That this was as a result of political interference emerged after acting national SAPS Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told the police parliamentary committee that ‘forces beyond him’ were responsible for this shameful state of affairs.

This apparent political interference was quashed when Freedom Under Law (FUL) on 23 September succeeded in its application in the North Gauteng High Court to force the National Prosecuting Authority to reinstate all criminal charges against Mdluli, and the national commissioner of SAPS to reinstate disciplinary proceedings against him. The judge found that the decision to withdraw the charges despite hard evidence was unlawful and irrational.

The Mdluli debacle means that a number of highly skilled and experienced Crime Intelligence officers were removed, as they posed a threat to him. This also means that the division relies primarily on the dedication of lower-ranking officers who cannot trust their leaders to do the right thing. The results speak for themselves.

For further information and analysis on the latest 2012/13 South African crime statistics see the ISS Fact Sheet: Explaining the official crime statistics for 2012/13.

Johan Burger, senior researcher, Governance, Crime and Justice Division, ISS Pretoria

Media coverage of this ISS Today:

DefenceWeb

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SAPS cleans house, twenty members suspended

Sapa | 29 September, 2013 19:21

Twenty members of the SA Police Service have been suspended in the past two months, the police said on Sunday.



“The actions of the employees were investigated and, based on prima facie evidence, disciplinary action was taken against them,” spokesman Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale said. The suspended employees include eight police officers and 12 administration officials, said Makgale.

Makgale said that over the past two months 191 members of the police were arrested for their alleged involvement in various crimes such as murder, rape, corruption and fraud.

“An instruction has been issued to make it compulsory for members of the SAPS to regularly declare when they are facing criminal investigations.” Makgale said that police management was also in the process of verifying the academic qualifications of employees.

“Employees whose academic records differ from what they have declared to SAPS will be dealt with and may be investigated criminally depending on the circumstances,” said Makgale. Agang SA has welcomed the decision by the police to verify the qualifications of all policemen and women.

“The levels of public trust and confidence in the capabilities of the South African Police Service are so low,” spokesman Thabo Leshilo said in a statement.

Leshilo said Agang SA urged the police leadership to speed up the probe to verify the qualifications, especially those in leadership positions.

Makgale said the police has dismissed 930 of its members over the past 17 months.

Cape Town chaos : Where were the cops ?

Cape Town chaos: Where were the cops?

October 31 2013 at 07:58am
By Kieran Legg

Cape Argus
Looters throw cans after a housing protest in the Cape Town CBD turned violent. Photo: Henk Kruger
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Cape Town - They descended on his stall in St George’s Mall and started tearing it apart. As vendor Mohamad Farah and his brother tried to fend off the countless looters around their stall, they were pelted with their own goods - including full cooldrink cans and lumps of ice.

Vendors on St George’s Mall are in shock after they were left to fend for themselves when a group of breakaway protesters tore through the mall on Wednesday afternoon. They are now asking where police and security guards were when they were being robbed.

Sitting breathless and traumatised in the foyer of Newspaper House, where he had taken sanctuary with some of his salvaged inventory, Farah clutched his back as water dripped from his brow where a hard lump of ice had hit him.

Moments earlier he had been in the middle of an angry mob.

“Why are you still open?” they shouted at Farah and his brother, while throwing packets of Nik Naks, chocolates and torn cartons of cigarettes. He said for every item they threw, the mob snatched and fled with three times as much.

“When we tried to fight them off, they were throwing cans at us. They hit me in the back, the neck, legs… all over,” he said, wincing.

Copy of ca p3 wale st HK done.JPG
Thousands of protesters in Wale street during a housing protest. Photo: Henk Kruger
Cape Argus
Farah’s first attempts to escape from the looters were difficult. The 33-year-old Somalian is an amputee, who makes do with a rigid prosthetic leg. He slipped and fell twice among the pushing crowds.

“We asked the police before, should we pack up the stall, but they told us ‘no, no, it’s fine’,” said Farah. “Then when (the protesters) started running down here it was too late.”

He was not the only vendor who questioned how police had managed the protest. Frank Masina, who sells wooden sculptures and novelty chessboards from his stall, said there was no one to help him when the mob began destroying his goods.

“They were throwing my stuff around, smashing my chessboards and chess pieces.”

Brandishing a carved wooden cane, he described how he had desperately swung it at the looters.

“My shop is still standing but I have lost R3 500. I don’t understand. I pay to be here, but nobody looks after us.”

Other vendors said all they could do was stand by as their stalls were plundered. One vendor, who did not want to be named, said a group of looters grabbed handfuls of cigarettes, with some even lighting up as they casually walked away.

As protesters continued to rush through the mall, some shopkeepers picked up the steel poles that held up their stalls and brandished them as makeshift weapons.

Abdisalani Samatar, a South African citizen from Somalia, said his stall was raided three times in the space of one hour by running mobs.

Police officers stepped in the first time he was being looted, dispersing the angry crowd around his stall. But as soon as the police left, his stall was looted again.

According to the vendor, a police vehicle even passed his stall as it was being plundered, and the officers inside chose to ignore it.

“I lost R25 000 in merchandise,” he said.

He questioned why police seemed powerless to stop the looters, and why they had not anticipated the breakaway protest and warned vendors to pack up shop.

Police spokesman captain FC van Wyk said he was not going to comment on claims by vendors that they were left to fend for themselves.

“I will say this, I’m going to ask those shopkeepers to go to the nearest police station and lay charges so we can start investigating.”

The city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said the police were unable to handle the situation alone, and metro police and Law Enforcement were dispatched to help contain the breakaway protests.

“The breakaway march was illegal. Therefore police did not have enough staff to deal with it.”

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

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‘Cops stood by while looting took place’

October 31 2013 at 12:35pm
By Botho Molosankwe


The Star

Foreign businessmen say police turned a blind eye when locals in Duduza township attacked and looted their shops. More than 100 foreigners were displaced after the attacks. Photo: Adrian de Kock

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Johannesburg - Xenophobic attacks have flared up in Duduza, with foreign businessmen accusing police of turning a blind eye when locals attack them, loot their stores and drive them out of the Ekurhuleni township.

One senior Duduza police officer is alleged to have told foreigners fleeing from a mob looting their shops to “go and eat grass” when they asked for help on Tuesday night.

Displaced foreigners who have since fled the area said on Wednesday police just stood and watched as a raging mob stormed their shops, looting and damaging their property.

Homeless and sitting around under trees at a park in Dunnottar, Springs, on Wednesday, they said they had slept in the nearby church. Others had slept in their cars as there was not enough space in the church.

A 30-year-old Somali man whose eyes were red from lack of sleep said that at around 1am on Tuesday he was trying to help a fellow countryman when they decided to ask Captain Thembi Nxumalo for help.

Nxumalo is a member of a task team that was established two months ago to deal with the violence against foreigners.

However, she allegedly told the man that he’d better go away from Duduza.

“She told him that he could go wherever he wants and eat grass.

“How can someone say someone must go and eat grass? Are we animals? I was so shocked by what she said,” said the man, with those around him confirming they had heard Nxumalo telling the businessman off.

Nxumalo and her colleagues denied this, inviting those with complaints to come forward and make an affidavit.

“How can I do that if my duty is to protect people? I was there, helping them and working with representatives from different countries. They are angry and frustrated, and talking too much,” she said.

A 31-year-old Ethiopian said that when about 50 people stormed his shop and started looting it, he had asked for help from police officers.

“I asked them: ‘Why are you not protecting us? If you don’t protect us, who will?’ But they said they don’t have the powers to chase the looters.”

Another businessman said police left looters who were busy emptying his shop and started searching him and other foreigners instead.

“Some of the looters were even giving the police some of the looted stuff. We asked the police why they were not doing anything but they said the looters had many rights,” said the 26-year-old man.

The acting station commander for Duduza police station, Captain Bheki Mhlungu, said he did not know anything about the allegations and that no one had been arrested because, as soon as police arrived at the scene, the looters would flee.

“Understand that these are aggrieved people and this is the second time this is happening to them and they work very hard for their money.”



botho.molosankwe@inl.co.za

The Star

AWB claim ‘will not stop Griquatown trial'

AWB claim ‘will not stop Griquatown trial’






October 31 2013 at 01:17pm
By Sapa
Copy of Copy of DF cornelia 3010 a
SUPPLIED
Cornelia de Wet, a member of the AWB, has claimed that she played a role in the murder of three members of the Steenkamp family in the Northern Cape last year.
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Bloemfontein - The trial of a minor accused of murdering Griquatown farmer Deon Steenkamp and his family will continue next week despite another person confessing to the killings, the NPA said on Thursday.

The boy faces three murder charges, one of rape, and one of defeating the ends of justice for the murder of Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christelle, 43, and their daughter, Marthella, 14, at their farm Naauwhoek on April 6, 2012. Marthella was also raped.

Northern Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Mashudu Malabi said they were aware of claims made by an apparent rightwing female farmer Cornelia de Wet in media reports.

In an exclusive interview with Diamond Fields Advertiser De Wet, a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, confessed to her alleged role in the murders of the Steenkamps.

The report said the 37-year-old De Wet, in custody for possession of explosives and ammunition, alleged the Steenkamp murders were part of a plan to attack white farmers in an attempt to instil fear and incite racial hatred.

The report, carried on IOL earlier on Thursday, said the boy's lawyer and his guardian met De Wet at the Kimberley prison this week.

Malabi said the prosecuting team would nevertheless proceed with the case next week.

The trial was expected to continue throughout November, with additional dates in December if required. The boy was out on bail and in the care of a guardian.

Meanwhile, people on Twitter expressed shock and scepticism at De Wet’s claims. @MissVASmith asked ”Can a person be SO racist that they arrange the murder, rape & torture of their OWN race solely to promote racism? #AWB “

@DabigB tweeted: So these #awb people are killing other whites to instill fear and racial hate, #stevehofmeyer must be pissed #redOctober

He was not the only one asking Steve Hofmeyr to comment on the article. Hofmeyr eventually tweeted “...Toemaar. Klink my soos 'n Eugene Terre'blanche-se-seks-met-sy-minderjarige-moordenaars tipe stront storie.”

On IOL’s Facebook page, one person wrote: “This is an obvious attempt at disinformation and psychological warfare by NI (and a very feeble one at that), following the success of #RedOctober at highlighting the scourge of farm murders and the sadistic and brutal nature of those attacks. Anyone remotely familiar with the Steenkamp case and the evidence presented so far, will see right through this. The woman has been arrested for possession of explosives etc and will say anything in mitigation. Surely the timing following right after the Boeremag conviction is grounds for suspicion alone? Unless of course, you can't or prefer not to...” - Sapa, IOL


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We killed Griquatown family - AWB member

October 31 2013 at 07:58am
By Norma Wildenboer

Supplied
Northern Cape farmer Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christel, 43, and daughter Marthella, 14, were killed on their farm, Naauwhoek.
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Griquatown -

In a shocking development, a well-known right-wing female farmer, who is currently in custody, has claimed that she was part of a “hit squad” responsible for the murders of three members of the Steenkamp family in Griquatown.

In an exclusive interview with the DFA, Cornelia de Wet, a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), on Wednesday confessed her alleged role in the murders of three members of the Steenkamp family, who were gunned down on their farm Naauwhoek outside Griquatown, in April last year.

From inside a Kimberley prison, the 37-year-old De Wet on Wednesday spoke openly about what, according to her, transpired on the morning before Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christelle, 43, and their daughter, Marthella, 14, was found dead, saying she was present during the murders and even remembered Deon’s last words.

She also explained her role in the execution of the attack, saying an amount of R100 000 was paid “for the hit”.

The names of the three men, who she claimed were involved in the killing, are known to the DFA.

Copy of Copy of DF cornelia 3010 a
Cornelia de Wet, a member of the AWB, has claimed that she played a role in the murder of three members of the Steenkamp family in the Northern Cape last year.
SUPPLIED
She also implicated the owner of a security company as being the mastermind behind the attack, and claimed that he had initiated numerous attacks on white farmers in an attempt to “instill a sense of fear and force farmers to make use of their security services . . . it (the attack) was also aimed at inciting racial hatred”.

De Wet further admitted that she also worked as an officer in the Leeuwag and the Boere-beskermingsforum (BBF), both militant right-wing movements in which the alleged mastermind had been a “general”, adding that his company “was nothing but a front to train right-wingers for war and terror”.

De Wet on Wednesday met with the defence team representing the teenager, who is currently facing charges of murdering the Steenkamp family. The legal delegation, who were seen leaving the Kimberley Prison, included Stoffel de Jager and Advocates Willem Coetzee and Sharon Erasmus, as well as the guardian of the 17-year-old accused.

She provided them with a statement that, according to her, will be used in the defence’s case.

She said she also gave an affidavit to the police in Middleburg, where she is currently incarcerated while awaiting trial for possession of explosives and ammunition. She will appear in the Carolina Magistrate’s Court on November 28 on these charges.

She said she was transferred to Kimberley so that she could meet the accused’s defence team.

She also claimed that “this was not the first farm attack that we were involved in”. Pressed for time in the interview, she did not give details of the other attacks, but provided a detailed account of what allegedly happened on the Naauwhoek farm when the Steenkamps were murdered.

“We were sitting in the car in the veld, watching the house for about half an hour to an hour.

“We saw Don (Steenkamp) come out of the house and walk into the veld. We waited for a little while and then we stormed into the house. We instructed Deon to go into his room and open the safe. We took two weapons, a .357 revolver and a .32 rifle, out of the safe.

“Deon and Christelle were then shot.

De Wet did not say who shot them, but claimed that she was “only a spectator”, while two men were “responsible for all the shooting”.

“I then watched as (one of the attackers) grabbed Marthella and raped her. After this I went outside and heard two shots. I knew they had shot her.

“I went back into the house and saw Marthella lying next to her mother. We took the weapons, and returned to the car where (one of the three men) was waiting for us and drove off.”

“We threw the weapons out of the car at the gate of the farm.”

She added that they deliberately did not shoot Don, the only surviving member of the family.

De Wet recalled that the family was extremely petrified during the ordeal. “I could see the shock on their faces when they realised that they were being killed by white people.”

She added that Deon’s last words were . . . “God forgive them”.

Responding to a question why there were no fingerprints found at the scene, she said “we were wearing gloves”.

“After this I had no further contact with any of the three men involved.”

She said she decided to come out with the real story because “the truth was haunting me and I know that (the accused) was never guilty of the murders”.

De Wet said that from the age of 15, she had been involved with the AWB and received training from the organisation.

“On April 27 last year (shortly after the Steenkamp farm attack), I myself was the victim of a farm attack in which I was almost killed. I still believe that this was an attempt on my life because they (the men she named as the murderers of the Steenkamp family) wanted to keep me quiet.”

She said she was arrested on May 29 2012 on 40 charges, including high treason, terrorism and possession of ammunition and explosives.

“All these charges have been dropped with the exception of the possession of ammunition and explosives, which belonged to (one of the men allegedly involved in the Steenkamp attack).”

“All three of my bail applications have failed and I fear for my life. Even inside prison I fear for my life because of my involvement in the Steenkamp murders.”

Stoffel de Jager, lawyer for the defence in the Steenkamp murder trial, on Wednesday confirmed that he, together with Erasmus and Coetzee, as well as the accused’s guardian had met and “consulted with a witness” at the Kimberley Correctional Services. He declined to give any further comment.

Diamond Fields Advertiser
IOL News

Griekwastad-moorde: Seun erf R23 miljoen - Griekwastad-verhoor uitgestel tot 4 November 2013

Griekwastad-moorde: Saak wéér uitgestel tot 4 November 2013
Deur Suné van Heerden - Oktober 2013
Deel met ander:

Deon, Christelle en Marthella Steenkamp
Die hofsaak van ʼn 17-jarige seun wat van die moord op ʼn boer en sy familie van Griekwastad verdink word, sal uitgestel word, het die Nasionale Vervolgingsgesag Donderdag gesê.

Ná gesprekke Woensdag het regter president Frans Kgomo, en die verdediging- en die aanklaerspan ooreengekom om die saak tot Maandag, 21 Oktober uit te stel, het Mashudu Malabi, woordvoerder vir die provinsie, in ʼn verklaring gesê.

Geen redes is hiervoor verskaf nie. Die saak sal op 4 November in die hooggeregshof in Kimberley hervat.

Deon Steenkamp (44), sy vrou Christel (43) en dogter Marthella (14) is op 6 April 2012 op hul plaas Naauwhoek vermoor.

Malabi sê die hofsaak sal na verwagting die hele November-maand lank duur met ekstra datums in Desember indien nodig.





Deur Suné van Heerden op 24 April 2013
Deel met ander:


Deon, Christelle en Marthella Steenkamp.
Don Steenkamp, die seun van Deon Steenkamp, ‘n vermoorde boer van Griekwastad in die Noord-Kaap, is die enigste erfgenaam vir ‘n boedel van bykans R23 miljoen.

Die ouers se vuurwapens, insluitend die wapens wat vermoedelik in die moord gebruik is, is ook aan hom bemaak, het Beeld Woensdag berig.

Deon (44), sy vrou Christelle (43), en hul dogter Marthella (14) is op 6 April 2012 op hul plaas Naauwhoek doodgeskiet.

Beeld berig Deon en Christelle het ‘n gesamentlike testament gehad. Die bates in die boedel is R22 999 307 werd en die laste op ‘n enkele verband beloop R620 779. Ongeveer R6.7 miljoen kom uit Deon se lewenspolisse. Daar is ook ‘n Naauwhoek-trust met plase ter waarde van R7.6 miljoen en vee ter waarde van R1.2 miljoen wat Don sal erf.

Sy suster, Marthella, sou die Edelweiss-trust erf wat uit plase ter waarde van R6.4 miljoen bestaan, vee ter waarde van R960 150 en haar ma se juwele. Don sal nou ook haar deel erf.

Don sal die boedel erf sodra hy 21 jaar oud word.

‘n 16-jarige seun is vir die moorde in hegtenis geneem en het onskuldig gepleit. Die moordsaak sal na verwagting op 2 September hervat.
-SAPA

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Griekwastad-verhoor uitgestel
Griekwastad-moordtoneel glo “ongewoon”
Griekwastad-moord: Jeugdige het glo sielkundige gesien
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Griekwastad: Kameras het glo nie gewerk nie
Boer vertel van Griekwastad-moord
Griekwastad-moorde: Hof besoek moordtoneel
Griekwastad: Vingerafdruk ‘n raaisel
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Griekwastad-moorde: Verdagte kry borg
Griekwastad-moorde: Meisie nie seksueel aangerand
Griekwastad-moorde: Koelbloedig en vooraf beplan
Forensiese toetse lei glo tot inhegtenisname
Griekwastad-moorde: Familielid vas
Griekwastad-moorde: Polisie ondersoek selfmoordpakt
Ouers wil Don glo nie by skool hê
Griekwastad-moorde: Seun is bewus van gerugte
Tiener glo verdink van Griekwastad-moorde
Foto’s: Drie van Steenkamp-gesin roerend gegroet
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Sussie sterf in sy arms
Drie van gesin op plaas doodgeskiet

Gepubliseer in Hoofnuus, Nuus, Suid-Afrika | Sleutelwoorde erf