fashiong4, Author at fashiong4 ⋆ Page 111 of 194

Dros rapist’ Ninow planned to harm his victim, says NPA after seven-year-old testifies

Nicholas Ninow at the Pretoria High Court, September 10 2019, a day after admitting he raped a child aged seven, a year ago at a Dros restaurant.

The seven-year-old girl Nicholas Ninow admitted to raping at a Dros restaurant in Pretoria last year contradicted his version that she walked into the bathroom cubicle while he was in it.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane provided the media with an overview of the child’s testimony on Wednesday. This after the young victim testified in-camera in the Pretoria high court on Wednesday. No one was allowed in the courtroom when she testified.

Mjonondwane said the child was called to disprove Ninow’s version of events.

“The accused in his version said the child found him in the bathroom, so it was important for the state to then call the child to come and testify about the sequence of events – that in fact the accused person followed the child to the bathroom,” said Mjonondwane.

“By doing that, we wanted to prove to the court that by following the child he had intention to harm the child.”

Immigration’ issues leave Nigerians stranded as flight home gets delayed

Nigerian nationals are being repatriated this week following a wave of xenophobic violence in SA. Families boarded buses in Johannesburg on September 11 2019.

A flight from Johannesburg to Lagos that was arranged to evacuate Nigerians who fear xenophobic attacks in SA was delayed on Wednesday because of problems experienced at check-in.

Prince Ben Okoli, president of the Nigerian Citizens Association SA, said the chartered flight by Nigerian airline Air Peace was due to leave with the first batch of Nigerians at 9.10am on Wednesday.

“However, a number of people were singled out by immigration as they were about to board the flight. This has led to a delay in the flight leaving SA. We are currently looking at solutions to the problem.

“Some [Nigerian nationals] were identified as having problems with immigration. Authorities are attending to the problem. By now they should have left,” Okoli said at 3.30pm on Wednesday.

The first evacuation was planned for Saturday, September 7, but was postponed until Wednesday to address the issue of expired paperwork of some Nigerians.

The Nigerian foreign affairs ministry said on Wednesday that 649 Nigerian nationals had registered with Nigerian missions in SA for the free flight offer.

The ministry had expected the first 313 nationals to leave Johannesburg on Wednesday on the first of charter flights offered by Air Peace.

Okoli said the consulate-general had promised to issue travel documents free of charge to those who were without valid documents after they had been authenticated by Nigerian authorities to be from that country.

Mugabe’s body brought home to Zimbabwe, burial place still a mystery

The body of Zimbabwe’s founder Robert Mugabe arrived at the country’s main airport on Wednesday, but his final resting place remained a source of mystery amid a dispute between some family members and the government.

Mugabe, one of the last “Big Men” of African politics who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years until he was ousted by his own army in November 2017, died in a Singapore hospital five days ago.

He is proving as polarising in death as he was in life, as the fight over where he will be buried threatens to embarrass his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and deepen divisions in the ruling ZANU-PF party.

The former president’s body arrived at Harare’s Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport shortly after 1330 GMT. A military guard of honour stood at attention as the casket was removed from the aircraft, draped in the national flag and accompanied by security chiefs.

“The entire nation of Zimbabwe, our people, across the board are grieved and are in mourning because the light which led us to independence is no more, but his works, his ideology will continue to guide this nation,” Mnangagwa said.

“On the day we shall lay him to rest, on Sunday, I appeal to you in your hundreds, in your thousands, in your millions to show your love of our great leader who has left us,” he added.

Mugabe’s wife Grace, dressed in black with a black veil, was next to Mnangagwa at the airport. Also present were Mugabe’s daughter Bona and Savior Kasukuwere, a former Mugabe cabinet minister and staunch ally who has been living in self-imposed exile in South Africa since early this year.

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, the former general who led the coup that overthrew Mugabe, was conspicuous by his absence at the airport. He has been receiving treatment in China since July for an unknown illness.

Crowds had gathered at the airport well before the scheduled arrival time, with some wearing T-shirts bearing Mugabe’s face and others with Mnangagwa’s image, while music blared from loudspeakers.

A convoy of 4×4 vehicles with number plates bearing the letters “RG Mugabe” and the former leader’s signature were also on the runway.

BLUE ROOF

Leo Mugabe, a nephew and family spokesman, declined to say where Mugabe would be buried.

Mnangagwa said the body would be taken to Mugabe’s palatial home in the capital, known as Blue Roof, after a detour to a military barracks for prayers.

On Thursday, ordinary Zimbabweans and supporters are expected to pay their last respects to Mugabe at a Harare soccer stadium, where the body will lie in state before being taken to his rural home in Kutama, 85 km (50 miles) from the capital, he added.

Police confiscate R10m in counterfeit goods, arrest 15 in Fordsburg raid

Police raided Dragon City shopping centre in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, on Wednesday in the latest attempt to stop counterfeit goods.

Police and other law enforcement agencies pounced on Dragon City in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, on Wednesday, seizing counterfeit goods worth more than R10m and arresting 15 people for various offences.

Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Capt Mavela Masondo said the police, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, the SA Revenue Service and fashion brand owners raided Dragon City following intelligence information that several stores or shops were selling counterfeit goods.

Masondo said the raid was a continuation of operations that have been carried out in and around Johannesburg central, where goods worth millions have been confiscated and several undocumented people arrested.

Masondo said police were targeting more areas in Johannesburg and surrounding towns.

“As goods were being removed from the shops, some of the owners locked storerooms and police had to break them open to seize the goods. Confiscated goods were removed and taken as exhibits,” he said.

“More information is being followed to deal with the influx of counterfeit goods from abroad and locally manufactured goods.”

Masondo added that some people were detained for being in the country illegally.

City Power also disconnected some illegal electricity connections at the shopping centre.

Gauteng Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela praised the involvement of various roleplayers in dealing with the sale of counterfeit goods, which he said affected the country’s economy.

It’s time to pay for services and settle debts, Mabuza tells South Africans

Deputy President David Mabuza called on South Africans to adopt a new culture of paying for the services they receive – particularly debts owed to municipalities.

Mabuza revealed that government departments, its entities and ordinary citizens owe billions of rands to municipalities – and warned that this was negatively impacting the municipalities’ ability to continue rendering required services.

The aggregate municipal consumer debts stood at R165.5bn as of June 30, he told the National Council of Provinces on Wednesday.

Mabuza said that due to the escalating consumer debt, many of the affected municipalities have been struggling to meet their own payment obligations.

“Of particular concern is the municipal debt to Eskom. According to Eskom’s 2019 integrated report, the total municipal arrears debt has continued to escalate to unacceptably high levels, amounting to R19.9bn,” he said, adding that this represents 71.7% of total invoiced municipal debt (including interest).

Mabuza said the top 20 defaulting municipalities constitute 81% of total invoiced municipal arrears debt, with total arrears debt of more than R100m each.

“However, indications are [that] these figures have increased significantly over the past few months,” he said.

Furthermore, according to the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, over R9.7bn is owed by national and provincial government departments to municipalities. This remains a major challenge for municipalities to provide required basic services to the people.

“Part of the challenge that we must confront as a nation is a culture of non-payment, especially with regard to consumer debt,” he said.

Mabuza called on those South Africans who earn an income to play their part by paying for services they consume, to lessen the burden faced by municipalities.

“We must engender a culture of paying for services that have been rendered or services that have been consumed. It’s a good culture that we must teach ourselves: pay for services that you have consumed.”

He said he would take it upon himself to make sure that all government departments in the country honoured their debts – not only to municipalities but all unpaid invoices to other service providers.

“When I leave here, I am going to ensure that all government departments do comply. I am going to insist. I am going to write to each and every minister to do that. I am going to take it upon myself to help the president to ensure that those who are owing, they must pay. And if they don’t pay, they must explain to the president why they are not paying,” he said.

It’s a duty that I am prepared to do because that is stipulated in our law.”

Mabuza accused government departments and municipalities of procuring services from small businesses with money they don’t have. “They procure a service while they don’t have the money. They wait for a period of adjustments where they may find money to go pay. By that time, the small business is dead,” he said.

He also called on politicians who may have led consumer boycott campaigns in the past to now go back to communities and campaign for payment.

“It’s time to go back and say to our people: It’s time to pay now. The struggles are over because at that time we were fighting a system and wanted to pull down a system, so we encouraged everyone not to pay,” he said.

“So let’s stand up with the same vigour and in the same push and tell our people to pay.”