Province’s drug abuse escalates

RESIDENTS of Sinoville in Tshwane have declared zero tolerance against drugs in their community by organising an upcoming mass march. The organisers of the April 25 march, said drug abuse among children has been escalating at a rapid pace because no random drug tests have been conducted at public schools throughout Gauteng for the past two years. However, the Gauteng department of education denied these allegations. Continue reading Province’s drug abuse escalates

Grieving granny tells of sorrow as her house collapses‚ killing her daughter and grandchild

In the pitch dark – moments after the deafening sound of cracking Tears run down Pinky Chili's cheeks after the roof of her home collapsed, killing her daughter Mpume Chili and her granddaughter Sbahle, 2, on June 15, 2018.pine trusses and shattering roof tiles roused her – grandmother Pinky Chili clawed desperately at the rubble trying to save her family‚ who was trapped underneath.

Her desperate search came too late. Her daughter‚ Mpume‚ 27‚ and her two-year-old granddaughter‚ Sbahle‚ were dead under the debris.

The mother and child were killed when the roof of the Chili family home gave way in the early hours of Friday morning.

The home that Pinky Chili was building was a project to realise the dreams of her late husband and was meant to be a place of refuge for her family.

Chili‚ a domestic worker‚ had been slowly adding on to her modest home‚ a project which had been delayed by years.

“I wanted to fix the house for my kids but the builders I have been getting are playing with me and taking my money and not doing a good job.

“Last night the kids went to sleep in the dining room. The builder had told us not to sleep in the other side [of the house] because the house might collapse. Our previous builder left the roof incomplete‚” she said.

Reliving the moment when the collapse had spurred her from her bed‚ Chili said that she’d rushed to the living room‚ which looked like a maze of timber and rubble.

“I tried to pull them out from the rubble and I managed to find three of them who were still alive‚ but injured‚” she said.

“The two had already passed away when I found them‚” she cried.

The roof collapsed on this house in St Wendolins, Durban, on June 15, 2018 killing Mpume Chili and her two-year-old daughter Sbahle.

JACKIE CLAUSEN

Dudu Chili holds her nephew Mfanafuthi, 4, who was injured along with his brother “Boy” when the roof collapsed on their home on June 15, 2018. His mother, Mpume Chili and sister Sbahle, 2, were both killed.

JACKIE CLAUSEN

Now‚ surrounded by her grieving family and as her neighbours sorted through the rubble‚ Chili will forever blame herself for the death of her daughter and grandchild.

“Their [her children’s] father passed away in 2006 and I focused all my energy on them. Everything I did‚ I did for them‚ and I ended up killing them‚” she sobbed.

 

‘Matric does not define me’ – Hlaudi Motsoeneng

Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Motsoeneng was being cross-examined by the SABC at the Commission for Conciliation‚ Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Friday where he is challenging his dismissal from the public broadcaster.

Motsoeneng was dismissed in June 2017 after being found guilty of bringing the SABC into disrepute when he held a press conference.

Motsoeneng‚ during cross examination on Friday‚ took issue with a statement made by former SABC board member Krish Naidoo on December 9‚ 2016 when‚ accusing Motsoeneng of squatting at the broadcaster‚ said he could not understand how so many professionals were afraid of a “high school dropout”.

Motsoeneng told the commission that Naidoo knew very well that after 1994 the government recognised that experience counted as part of a person’s qualifications.

Motsoeneng said that Naidoo had even approved the SABC’s annual report which contained his qualifications. “How can I then be a dropout‚” he asked.

During his testimony earlier this week‚ Naidoo said he was considering suing Motsoeneng for defamation for referring to him as a sell-out.

Motsoeneng said the meaning of the word “sell-out” did not have the meaning it had in the past.

“Mr Motsoeneng called me a sell-out when he did a public address in April last year‚ and in political terms a sell-out has a very particular connotation.

“It means that someone sold out‚ can’t be trusted and you’re a traitor‚ so I have been contemplating over the last few months whether I shouldn’t sue him for this‚” Naidoo told the commission on Tuesday.

On Friday‚ Motsoeneng explained that a “sell-out” in the present context meant a person with whom you had agreed with on something at a meeting‚ who then went out and said something different in public.

Girlfriend, cop, getaway-driver: Constable arrested along with ‘heist kingpin’s’ gang

Cash-in-transit vans line up along Beyers Naude Square in Johannesburg. File Photo.

Cash-in-transit vans line up along Beyers Naude Square in Johannesburg. File Photo. 
Image: Masi Losi

An alleged cash-in-transit kingpin and six of his accomplices have been arrested in Limpopo after police foiled an armed robbery.

The girlfriend of one of the suspects has also been fingered in the planned crime. Initial investigations revealed she was a police constable.

“The Limpopo and Mpumalanga Tracking Teams acted swiftly after they received information about seven suspects who were scouting the route where a cash-in-transit vehicle would pass in the Marble Hall policing precinct‚ Groblersdal Cluster‚” the police said in a statement.

The police said they found the suspects waiting to ambush a cash-in-transit vehicle in the bushes next to the road.

“On confrontation‚ the suspects tried to flee the scene and also attempted to dispose of their cell phones‚ but they were cornered and apprehended on the scene.

“Preliminary investigations led the team to police barracks where one of the arrested suspect’s girlfriend‚ allegedly a 37-year-old police constable‚ had parked the get-away vehicle for the suspects.

“The arrested suspects are known CIT (cash-in-transit) accused and some of them are currently on bail for CIT cases across the country.”

The police recovered four stolen vehicles‚ gloves‚ balaclavas‚ 21 cell phones and false vehicle registration number plates.

The suspects will appear before Marble Hall magistrate’s court on Friday on a charge of possession of a suspected stolen motor vehicle.

The National Commissioner Khehla Sitole has commended the police on arresting the suspects.

“On the 4th of June 2018‚ we launched the National intelligence-driven multidisciplinary high visibility stabilisation operation and it is beginning to turn the tide against crime. This arrest stopped alleged cash-in-transit robbers in their tracks‚ basically foiling a planned CIT robbery‚” said Sitole.

‘Explosives kingpin’

Meanwhile, an alleged “explosives kingpin” suspected to have links to cash-in-transit heists has been arrested in Mpumalanga‚ the Hawks said on Thursday.

“The Hawks’ Firearm Control And Priority Violent Crime Unit‚ Technical Operations Management Section‚ TRT‚ NIU and K9 conducted an intelligence-driven operation in Barberton and arrested a 31-year-old kingpin from Pienaar for illegal dealing in and possession of explosives‚” they said in the statement.

“At least 18 blasting cartridges‚ 15 detonators‚ ammonium nitrate pills and detonating fuses and cash were seized during the operation.”

He is expected to appear at the Barberton Magistrate’s Court on Friday.