Reservist hero died 'with a smile on his face'

2011-06-17 08:45


Related Links

Joburg shoot-out 'like wild west show'
Shoot-out near Joburg school
Two die in shoot-out outside Joburg primary school

Amanda Roestoff, Beeld

Johannesburg – Four years ago he was grateful that hijackers missed when shooting him and that he could shoot two of them.

On Wednesday, criminals shot dead this police reservist hero, but he died with "a smile" on his face.

"When I got to him, he was smiling…had a grin on his face," said reservist constable Cliff Bond from the Honeydew police station on Thursday about the death of his commander, lieutenant colonel Marc Ishlove, 60, after a gunfight in Northcliff, Johannesburg, on Wednesday.

Ishlove and two criminals died in Wednesday’s gunfight after police noticed a suspicious Mercedes-Benz in Northcliff which sped away. Five suspects tried to flee on foot. One was caught at Northcliff Primary School, another committed suicide at a house nearby and another of the suspects and Ishlove died in a gunfight.

Another policeman, a warrant officer whose name was not yet made public, was shot in the right arm and was in a stable condition in hospital.

Ishlove made the front pages of newspapers in November 2007 when he saved Dr Elmarie Wypkema, a Wilgeheuwel Hospital gynaecologist, from being hijacked.

Wypkema stopped at Fir Drive shopping centre during her lunch hour to pick someone up, when two hijackers wanted to steal her Porsche Carrera.

Ishlove, then still a captain in the reservist force, sat at the Dam-a-tra restaurant and saw how the hijackers attacked Wypkema.

He shot dead one hijacker while he was sitting on Wypkema, demanding her ring, and shot the other who was behind the steering wheel.

At the time, he said he was lucky that the hijackers missed when they shot at him and that he didn’t miss.

Bond described Ishlove on Thursday as an experienced marksman who "played an inspired role among reservists and police members in the development of marksmanship as sport".

“We had talked a lot about death. I don't think he would have wanted to die without a fight. In the fight against criminals, you rather want to die while fighting back," said Bond.

Bond and Ishlove had been good friends and colleagues over the past six years.

Ishlove in 2008 was a finalist for the Debis award for hero of the year.

Bond informed Ishlove's two daughters, Marcia and Juliet, who lived overseas and were in their 30s, of their father's death on Wednesday night around midnight. They were expected back in the country soon.

Police spokesperson lieutenant colonel Lungelo Dlamini said on Thursday that the three suspects were expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday.


- Beeld

Comments by Sonny

Yes, I have known MARK for over 30 years and we had some fun together along the way.

Pity he had to die from the bullet out of a stolen SAPS pistol, while in the prime of his life!

Mark, at the going down of the Sun and in the Morning, I will remember YOU!

R.I.P.

Arms Deal still not resolved - WHY?

Scopa swoops on Hawks
CAIPHUS KGOSANA | 13 June, 2011 16:09


Image by: Halden Krog / The Times


EMAILPRINT

Parliament's public finance watchdog Scopa is taking on the Hawks, the elite police unit, over its decision to shut down an investigation into the arms deal.

public finance watchdog Scopa is taking on the Hawks, the elite police unit, over its decision to shut down an investigation into the arms deal.

Scopa chairman Themba Godi wants a written explanation as to why the investigation has been halted.

But the Hawks say they have complied with all requests from Scopa for information.

Godi is supported by the DA, which has accused the unit of undermining parliament by refusing to co-operate. He said he had written several letters to the Hawks but had not received a response.

"We wanted them to respond in writing and give us the exact reasons why the investigation is no longer ongoing. They didn't bother to respond despite a commitment to do so," he said.

Last year Anwar Dramat, the head of the Hawks, told Scopa R480-million in bribes might have been paid to top figures to secure a slice of the R43-billion arms procurement package.

Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said they had complied with all requests from Scopa for information related to the arms deal. He said the last request was in November and they had provided the information.

"If they want to engage, they are welcome to send an invitation. We have nothing to fear about appearing before Scopa," Polela said.

Times Live

Two cops die in dramatic shootings

A police reservist and a suspect died, and an officer was shot and killed, in two separate incidents in Johannesburg yesterday.

16 June 2011 | MUSA MOHAMED, STEVEN TAU, EMMAH NGOMANE and SAPA


JOHANNESBURG - A police reservist and a suspect died, and an officer was shot and killed, in two separate incidents in Johannesburg yesterday.

In Northcliff a dramatic shootout ensued between police and five suspects.

A 61-year-old reservist, whose name had not been released, was killed in the shootout, while the suspect shot himself in the head after police cornered him in a house.

According to provincial police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini, Sophia- town officers were on patrol when they stopped a suspicious-looking Mercedes-Benz with five occupants.

“They sped off but crashed the car and they ran. Some ran into the houses and into the primary school nearby in hot pursuit by the officers,” said Dlamini. “At one house, a police reservist who had joined the chase was involved in a shootout with a suspect who had run into a Wendy house. Both died.”

He confirmed that another officer had been wounded but was in a stable condition in hospital.

A witness, Floris Esterhuizen, said that it had been like a “Wild West show”. He had heard shots from the back of his property, and then the domestic worker next door screaming “Help, help help”.

“They were trying to break in to get away from the police. She phoned me and I told her to lie down. I grabbed my own firearm and locked myself inside the house,” he said.

Dlamini said the four suspects, now under arrest, faced several charges including attempted murder.

In an earlier incident yesterday, Warrant Officer Humbulani Mthego, 47, died at his home in Alexandra after he was shot with his service pistol by his 26-year-old son early yesterday. The pair had reportedly been quarreling when the son pulled out a pistol and shot his father dead.

The son had handed himself over to police.

– musam@citizen.co.za

Comments by Sonny

He died for a CAUSE!


Rest in Peace Mark

Load, lock and come to standby…..
Ready, GO!

Tap-tap tap-tap tap-tap
Mag change…
Tap-tap tap-tap tap……
Two point Naught Five seconds…….

Make safe….
Hold for inspection.

REMEMBER targets don’t shoot back!
Especially with stolen SAPS pistols!

(c) Copyright 2011 William E. Cox

Past incidents


Hijackers missed, he didn't - cop shoots two

Police reservist who saved woman tells his dramatic story
He is my guardian angel, says the doctor who wrestled attacker

He had to make an instant life-and-death decision as he stared at the man and woman wrestling on the ground.

The man was holding a gun to the woman's neck, shouting he'd kill her.

Mark Ishlove decided. He pulled out his gun and shot the man.

"The man turned over onto his back (and) pointed the gun at me," Ishlove explained yesterday.

"I obviously had to do what I had to do." Ishlove shot him dead.

Then the police reservist captain, stationed at Fairlands, heard a shot on his left.

"I turned to my left and there was a guy shooting at me. He missed and I didn't. And that was it," he said.

The second gangster was also dead.

Ishlove told his dramatic story to John Robbie on Talk Radio 702 yesterday morning after he foiled the hijacking at the Fir Drive Centre in Northcliff, Joburg, on Wednesday afternoon.

Yesterday morning the victim, Elmarie Wypkema, met her saviour and gave him a hug, saying: "My guardian angel."

Wypkema, a gynaecologist at Welgehuiwel private hospital in Honeydew, did not look like someone who had probably been a second away from death.

She told The Star she had driven to the centre with a friend, Elsbe Annandale, and her daughter Daniella, in her Porsche, when they were approached by two armed men.

"I was going to give Daniella a lift home, when all of a sudden this man was by my side wearing gloves," she said.

She was composed and smiled broadly as she spoke about the incident. "I did everything wrong," she giggled.

Wypkema said she had been standing next to her car when the man came and shouted: "Give me your f*****g ring."

"I kicked him to get him away from me. It was just a reaction."

After that she wrestled with the man as he tried to pull off her diamond wedding ring.

"I told him: 'Wait, I'll take it off for you' but he just continued trying to take off my ring. As we wrestled I was trying to keep his gun away from me.

"He put the gun on my neck and shouted nervously: 'I'm going to f*****g kill you'. We pushed and shoved each other until I fell to the ground," she said.

"I was lying on the ground and he was sitting on top of me.

"I heard shots being fired and I thought I had been shot but I did not feel anything. After he was shot, he fell off me," she explained.

"Then I heard a voice shouting: 'Get away', then I got up and ran."

Wypkema believes she was lucky. "I felt that there were angels around and one of the them was Ishlove."

Wypkema said she had mixed feelings after the incident. "I felt very relieved emotionally when I saw that the suspects had been shot and were dead but I was very upset for a while because I think I could have been dead.

"It's not a nice thing to see bodies lying there - even though it's bad guys," she said.

Agnes Majola, who works at the centre, saw the two men walk up to the women - and probably saved Wypkema's life.

"I started to scream," said Majola.

This alerted the off-duty Ishlove, who was at an Italian restaurant about 20m away, and he went to the carpark to investigate.

In the meantime, the second would-be hijacker had climbed into Wypkema's Porsche and was trying to start the car.

Said Annandale: "I was behind a pillar, my daughter was hiding behind a car … (ejected) bullet shells were hitting my legs.

"The policeman came around the car and that was when he saw Elmarie wrestling with the hijacker."

During the interview yesterday, Robbie asked Ishlove: "How do you make the decision to shoot, when a guy has a gun at a woman's throat?"

Ishlove replied: "I've been involved in the police for 30 years. It all clicks in. In terms of the law of self-defence, you don't have to wait until you are attacked before defending yourself. If there's a threat of attack, you have the constitutional right to defend yourself.

"The way I train my people … the moment you see a gun in the hand of a perpetrator, you don't wait for the perpetrator to shoot you because he might kill you."

Robbie then asked: "Was it a clear shot?"

"Oh, ja," he said, "the thing is, I've been involved in this for a very long time … If we don't do what we have to do, they're gonna take us out.

"Those who have been in that situation will know what I'm talking about. Everything slows down. You go into a really clear mode, if I can put it that way, and you see exactly what you have to see.

"It was very clear and I had no choice. He was a very clear target, if I can use that terminology, and there was no chance of her being shot, otherwise I would not have shot," he said.

Ishlove said the victim was traumatised "but she handled it quite well. She was a bit bruised in the struggle.

"Had the guy not wanted to go for the ring on her finger, they probably would have got away.

"But he took time to get the ring on her finger, as I found out afterwards, he couldn't get it off and she struggled with him."

Ishlove said he was going to go for counselling yesterday.

The men's modus operandi was unusual, said police spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.

"Usually hijackers don't target such luxury vehicles … normally they prefer BMWs and VW Golfs.

"We will investigate to see if they have been involved in any other crimes."

Two 9mm pistols were recovered.

By Solly Maphumulo & Shaun Smillie The Star 30/11/07e1

Click here to respond to this article - Your responses will get vetted and printed on "Have your Say"

Al-Qaeda head had SA passport – report

June 14 2011 at 09:12am
By Peter Fabricius

Independent Newspapers
Fazul Abdullah Mohammad was reportedly carrying a South African passport under the name Daniel Robinson and the passport had a recent exit stamp from South Africa. Photo: Independent Newspapers
The Department of Home Affairs is investigating media reports that the suspected head of al-Qaeda in East Africa was carrying a South African passport when he was killed last Wednesday.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammad was shot dead by Somali government forces at a roadblock in Mogadishu.

He was reportedly carrying a South African passport under the name Daniel Robinson – and the passport had a recent exit stamp from South Africa.

The Department of Home Affairs said it was trying to establish if he had been issued a South African passport. If so, “those implicated will be brought to book and will face disciplinary measures”, it said.

Spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said the department was also trying to confirm that he had recently been in South Africa.

Mohammed was the alleged mastermind of the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and was also suspected of plotting the Kampala bombings a year ago by al-Shabaab, a Somali affiliate of al-Qaeda.

DA home affairs spokeswoman Annette Lovemore called on the Minister of Home Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to investigate the possible connection between the fraudulent procurement of South African passports from the Department Home Affairs, and international terrorism.

“Passport and ID fraud continues to pervade the Department of Home Affairs. It is of deep concern that the failings of this department may be helping to facilitate international terrorist activity,” she said.

“This is not the first time a terror suspect has been found to be in possession of a South African passport.

“In 2004, a Tunisian al-Qaeda suspect, Ihsan Garnaoui, told German investigators he had a number of South African passports.

“British-born Haroon Rashid Aswat, supposed ringleader of the 2005 London bus bombings, lived in South Africa and travelled to the UK on a South African passport.

“In 2006, Mohammed Gulzar entered Britain with a fake South African passport under the name Altaf Ravat, allegedly with the intent of blowing up transatlantic airliners in mid-flight.

“The DA urges the minister to investigate this matter urgently to determine whether Mr Moham-med’s passport was bona fide, and, if so, how he came to obtain it and what steps the department plans to take to tackle fraud of this nature.”

US embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the US was gravely concerned with the security of travel documents. The US commended South Africa for its efforts to improve the security of its travel documents.

“The US will continue to work with the international law enforcement community “to encourage strict international protocols for these documents”. – Foreign Editor

IOL News

Zapiro back in ANC's sights

Zapiro back in ANC's sights
MATTHEW BURBIDGE - Jun 13 2011 14:53
28 Comments and 50 Reactions


South Africa's best-known cartoonist, Zapiro, could again be facing legal action by the African National Congress (ANC) following the publication of a new cartoon of President Jacob Zuma.

In Zapiro's latest cartoon in the Mail & Guardian newspaper, published on June 10, Zuma is portrayed with his belt unbuckled, while ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe holds a woman depicting press freedom. "Lady Justice" is also drawn, and shouts: "Fight, sister, fight!!"

The cartoon is a comment on the ruling party's Protection of Information Bill and the proposed media appeals tribunal.






In the original "Raping Justice" cartoon -- which appeared in the Sunday Times on September 7 2008 -- Zuma was shown loosening his trousers standing over a female figure representing the justice system, while ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande and Mantashe, who are holding down Lady Justice, look on, saying: "Go for it, boss."






Zapiro and the Sunday Times are being sued for R5-million for that cartoon.

'Disgusted'
ANC spokesperson Brian Sokutu told the M&G on Monday that the party not only thought the cartoon in the M&G was in bad taste, but it brought down the dignity of the president.

"We are disgusted by the cartoon," he said. "We believe in the freedom of the press and freedom of expression and we can't stop people expressing their opinion. It is the [cartoon's] depiction more than the message."

He said the party would be seeking legal advice on how to deal with the matter, "considering it's not the first time".

"We think it borders on defamation," he said, adding that the ruling party was not seeking to muzzle the press.

Sokutu was quoted as saying in the Die Burger on Sunday that Zapiro, whose real name is Jonathan Shapiro, should rather focus his attention on practising his profession within the boundaries of ethical journalism.

Ironic
Speaking to the M&G on Monday, Shapiro said he felt Sokutu's comment was ironic because he, along with many other people, was deeply concerned about the ethics of the current government.

He also said the last thing he wanted to do was to deliberately offend women.

"That's the one concern I had in 2008. I sent a rough draft [of the cartoon] to a couple of women journalist friends of mine -- to try to figure out if they thought it worked, and they saw what I was trying to do.

"I wasn't worried about offending the people I portrayed as aggressors in the cartoon. My sense was that women and rape survivors saw what I was trying to do. The majority of people I encountered on radio and in other comments thought I was showing empathy and understood the metaphor. This is a metaphor which is also a very appropriate one in South Africa, where there is so much violence against women."

Mail & Guardian

Comments by Sonny

Zuma has overstepped the last line......

There is someone waiting to take over as the 'new president!"

No, not Malema!

Al-Qaida´s East-Africa Leader Killed in Somalia

Posted on 2011/06/11 by ojihad| Leave a comment
by Florian Flade


One of the most-wanted al-Qaida figures was allegedly killed in Somalia on Wednesday. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a terrorist commander born in the Comoros Islands in 1974 , was a al-Qaida veteran who joined the organization in the 1990s after traveling to Pakistan. He was trained at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan and was allegedly sent to Somalia in 1993 where he took part in the famous incident known as “Black Hawk Down” in which two US military helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and 18 US troops were killed.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed is thought to be a mastermind of the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania as well as a suicide bombing on a luxury hotel complex in Mombasa (Kenya) in 2002. The US placed a bounty of US$ 5 Million on the terrorist whom the counter-terrorism officials say speaks five languages including French and English.

Since 2006 the US has been hunting Abdullah Mohammed as a main al-Qaida target in East Africa. In January 2007 a US airstrike on a al-Qaida training camp in Somalia failed to kill him. Back then, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed had joined the Islamic Courts, a militant group that later became Al-Shabaab. Allegedly Mohammed established several training camps in Southern Somalia and was bringing foreign fighters into the country.

When in November 2009 US special forces carried out a raid in Somalia and killed al-Qaida´s East-Africa leader Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was chosen as his successor by the al-Qaida leadership in Pakistan. “I will honestly perform my duties following my appointment to this new big position by Sheikh Osama bin Laden”, the new al-Qaida East-Africa commander said in speech that was recorded as an audio message.

According to intelligence reports, Mohammed was suspected of traveling in and out of Somalia. He holds a Kenyan passport which led those hunting him believe he would occasionally slip into neighboring Kenya.

On Wednesday last week Somali government troops opened fire on a “Toyota Surf” SUV heading towards a checkpoint in Somalia´s capital Mogadishu. Two terrorists were killed. The soldiers searched their bodies. One of the two militants carried a South African passport bearing the name “Daniel Robinson”. It was issued in April 2009 and showed that the man had entered Tanzania March 19 and was granted visa there. Additionally US$ 40,000 in cash found in the car.

Initially Somali media reported a Canadian national had been killed by government troops in a firefight. A Al-Shabaab fighter named “Abdurrahman al-Kanadi” was tought to be the one who was shot dead.

Today Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation quoted Somali security sources as saying Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was one of the terrorists killed in Mogadishu on Wednesday. Kenya Television Network (KTN) claimed police chief Matthew Iteere confirmed Mohammed´s death.

The US State Department would not comment on the reports coming out of Somalia. Pictures published by Radio Mogadisho of the terrorist´s car and one dead body seem to indicate that it was indeed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed who has been killed.

Jih@d

Comments by Sonny

Where did this terrorist get his SA Passport.

Was he possible based in Fordsburg, JOHANNESBWURG before returning to Somalia?

Does SA Home Affairs issue SA Passports to terrorists at random?

Info bill 'needs complete rethink'

Info bill 'needs complete rethink'
The protection of information bill will be struck down by the Constitutional Court unless the ANC removes controversial clauses, an expert says.
Info bill 'needs complete rethink'
2011-06-08 07:26


Read more stories about
Info bill 'will hurt foreign investment' - 07 Jun
Info bill will lead to 'super ministry' - 02 Jun


Cape Town - Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos on Tuesday called for a complete rethink of the protection of information bill, warning that lawmakers' minor concessions would not save the draft law from being struck down by the Constitutional Court.

"I don't think tinkering on the margins in Parliament is going to save it because the whole premise is problematic," De Vos said at a panel discussion on the bill in Cape Town.

The talks were organised by the Right 2 Know campaign, which is driving public opposition to the so-called "secrecy bill".

"I said last year the bill was unconstitutional... I maintain that. The very bedrock of the bill is problematic - that secrecy exists to protect the national security," he said.

De Vos said it was a fallacy that the bill limited only rights that were "nice to have", but not essential and the Constitutional Court did not hold that view.

'The very heart of democracy'

"The Constitutional Court has made it clear that these rights are very important... it goes to the very heart of democracy, because if there is no freedom of expression and if there is no free flow of information, it is impossible for each individual person to make decisions about their political beliefs, about who they want to vote for, about whether they want to go toyi-toyi."

He said the court had also made it clear that transparency protected personal dignity by allowing people to make informed choices about their lives.

"The Constitutional Court also says it is important not only because of democracy or for political rights, but also for an individual person's dignity.

"It takes away your dignity if somebody else, the state security minister in this case, tells you that certain things are not allowed to be known. You then become a lesser human being."

De Vos said the bill was doomed unless the ANC agreed to narrow a flowery definition of national security and removed a clause enabling more than 1 000 organs of state to classify information, a category ranging from state departments to the SABC to municipalities and museums.

"Unless you take that thousand organs of state out, there is a problem.

"It is extremely broad and I cannot imagine that any court is going to say this is constitutionally valid."

De Vos shared the stage with cartoonist Zapiro, the Congress of SA Trade Unions' (Cosatu) parliamentary representative Prakashnee Govender, Human Rights Commission deputy chairperson Pregs Govender, and Imam Rashied Omar from the Western Cape Religious Leaders' Forum.

Protests

Protest against the bill initially focused on the threat it posed to media freedom, but opponents have increasingly pointed out that it would deny the poor insight into the workings of government, and deter workers from exposing corruption by introducing prison sentences for publishing secret information.

Govender said the draft law was an attack on the right of the poor to know how those in power spent state resources.

"They want to know what happened, who is benefiting where million rand tenders are awarded and where bridges collapse and children drown.

"Ordinary South Africans want to know what happened with the arms deal, they want to know what state policies resulted in them losing their jobs."

Pressure on lawmakers mounted last week when ANC alliance partner Cosatu threatened to launch a Constitutional Court challenge if the bill were rushed through Parliament in its present form.

ANC MPs subsequently called for an extension of the looming June 24 deadline to complete the bill.



- SAPA