A KZN court sentenced two brothers to lengthy jail terms for killing an elderly couple they had accused of witchcraft.

Durban - The Pietermaritzburg High Court has sentenced two brothers to lengthy jail terms for killing an elderly couple they had accused of witchcraft, Kwazulu-Natal police said in a statement on Thursday.

Sifiso Freedom Mncwango, 29, was on Wednesday handed a sentence of two life terms, while Sanele Thembinkosi Mncwango, 24, faces twenty four years behind bars.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said the siblings killed an elderly couple in the Zwelisha area in 2012.

“On 19 December 2012, Bhekuyise Mthabela, 84, and Ntombini Mazibuko, 66, were brutally killed whilst asleep at their home in Zwelisha. They were stabbed and assaulted”, he said.

Naicker said the brothers were arrested after an intense investigation.

The KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni praised the investigating officer in the case.

“His thorough investigation led to the accused receiving life sentences for the murder,” she said.

African News Agency

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A man was killed and three people were injured when their car rolled off the Asiphephe Bridge in Newcastle.

Durban - A man was killed and three people were injured when the carthey were in rolled in Newcastle on Thursday.

ER24 spokesman Russel Meiring said the car rolled off the Asiphephe Bridge near Albert Wessels Road in Newcastle’s Madadeni township.

Meiring said that the man, who was found lying a few metres from the car wreck, had died before paramedics arrived at the accident scene.

Two of the injured were described as being in a critical condition. All three were taken to the Madedeni Provincial Hospital.

Meiring said he did not know why the car had rolled but that local authorities were on scene investigating the accident.

African New Agency

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As municipalities stringent water restrictions, the Durban metro hopes technology will help stem its massive losses.

Durban - As municipalities across the country begin stringent water restrictions in the face of a crippling drought, the Durban metro hopes technology will help stem its massive water losses.

The city will roll out “early warning” water leak detection monitors on its bulk water trunk mains because of non-revenue water losses which cost ratepayers more than half a billion rand a year.

New figures from the eThekwini Water and Sanitation department (EWS) revealed that the city’s known water losses had shot up to 40% at the end of September.

eThekwini Municipality spokeswoman, Tozi Mthethwa, said the city would spend millions on real time monitoring and would include all bulk water meters.

“It is only cost effective to install monitoring systems on trunk mains. This programme is being rolled out and we aim to have full visibility of the strategic infrastructure by June 2019,” she said.

Mthethwa said water loss was caused by vandalism, illegal connections and ageing infrastructure.

“The water loss figure is reported annually. In February 2015 for example, the non-revenue water loss was 29.8%. At the end of September 2015, this average was 39.6%… The city has the largest non-revenue water budget of all the metros in South Africa and was actively tackling the problem on many fronts,” she said.

From 2008 to 2011, the city invested R2.1 million to replace old water mains that were failing, but about R300m per annum needed to be spent on replacing distribution mains.

Earlier this year, head of water and sanitation, Ednick Msweli, told the executive committee the city needed R1.5 billion over the next five years to address the infrastructure upgrade and replace old pipes.

Msweli said the city had lost more than R600m a year because of water losses.

Much of the 237 million litres of water lost each day was because of ailing infrastructure, which accounted for 26% of the lost water that “just goes into the ground”.

According to the city, EWS staff repair between 200 and 400 faults a day and 95% of leaks were repaired within 24 hours, with priority given to larger leaks.

The 103 plumbers employed by the city repair major leaks within six to eight hours.

The challenges faced in reducing water losses are compounded by the mushrooming of informal settlements - which grew from 550 in 2011 to more than 800 this year - some of which are illegally connected to the water supply.

“More than 30% of dwellings in informal settlements have illegally connected to the water mains. This is one of the contributing factors to the water loss.

“EWS is in the process of awarding a contract through the normal supply chain management processes to install water meters in informal areas. This will assist the city in monitoring the situation and control the demand,” Mthethwa said.

In the meantime, Mthethwa urged communities to exercise their “civic duty” and report water leaks immediately, saying it was impossible to patrol the 12 000km stretch of water mains daily.

“The quicker eThekwini Water and Sanitation is informed about a leak, the quicker they can respond and address the matter to prevent further water loss.”

She said all reported cases were attended to and residents should contact the 24-hour contact centre at 080 131 3013.

People reporting leaks should be given a reference number for updates regarding the status of their complaint and or query.

Water Faults can also be reported via sms at 083 707 3013 to or e-mail to eservices@durban.gov.za

lee.rondganger@inl.co.za

Daily News

Muziwokuthula Madondo, accused of killing four people in the United States, has pleaded guilty to two of the murders.

Durban – Muziwokuthula “Muzi” Madondo, the theology student accused of killing four people in the United States has pleaded guilty to two of the murders.

An official from the office of district attorney Tim Rose told ANA that Madondo had pleaded no contest on Tuesday to the double murder of father and son, Bobby Gonzales, 57, and Gabriel Baca, 37.

The official said a press statement would be issued shortly.

A clerk in the Quay County District court also confirmed Madondo’s plea.

It is understood that Madondo pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree murder and a count of tampering with evidence.

According to the State of New Mexico court records seen by ANA, Madondo will be sentenced on December 14.

The plea comes four years after Gonzales and Baca were gunned down in a Tucumcari Motel. It follows a protracted legal process that saw the Supreme Court of New Mexico rule that Madondo’s rights were violated when he made the confession

During his arrest and initial detention by Texas Rangers in Texas in March 2011, Madondo is alleged, not only to have confessed to the Tucumcari murders, but also to the murders of FirstMerit Bank executive Jacquelyn Hilder and Maritzburg College old boy Zenzele Mdadane in Ohio.

It is likely that Madondo will be sent to Ohio after sentencing in December to account for those two murders. There he could face the death penalty if convicted.

African News Agency

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Violence at schools in KZN had reached a level where teachers were afraid to teach for fear of being assaulted by pupils.

Durban - Violence and bullying at schools had reached a level where teachers were afraid to teach for fear of being assaulted by pupils, the provincial secretary of Sadtu, Nomarashiya Caluza, warned on Wednesday.

A 12-year-old pupil at a Newcastle school stabbed two of his peers to death last week and a stabbing incident at a KwaMaphumulo school left three students wounded in a flare-up of school violence in the province in recent weeks.

Earlier this year, a teacher and a pupil were shot dead in front of pupils in class when three armed men stormed into a school in Nquthu.

Now, Sadtu, working with an educational non-profit organisation, the Themba Njilo Foundation, is piloting a programme to help improve the safety of pupils and teachers at schools by extending meaningful support to pupils’ families beyond the classroom at Sizinda Secondary in Kwa-Santi, near Mariannhill.

“We have teachers who are afraid to teach. How do you teach when you don’t know if a pupil has drugs or a weapon in his bag?” Caluza said.

“It is so difficult because when kids stab each other and you try to intervene as a teacher, you don’t know what they will do to you.”

School principal, Jabulani Zungu, said the problems the schools faced mirrored society, but the intervention had already borne fruit. Three weeks ago, during a special school prayer to rid the school of drugs and weapons, pupils voluntarily surrendered knives and drugs after a local pastor delivered a sermon, he said.

Themba Njilo, a Pietermaritzburg businessman who runs the foundation, said he would donate funds for the salaries of monitors, who would work through his foundation to reach out to troubled pupils, as well as a vehicle to the school to help with the pilot project. Monitors overseeing the programme were trained in child development, child management and first aid, he said.

“We are here to make education possible. We know the problem is not with the pupils. It is a problem from outside, the society we live in. We have kids in primary school bringing drugs to school. We have kids who get introduced to drugs because their parents send them to buy drugs for them,” he said.

Njilo said the foundation would create an extensive database of all the pupils at the school and would aim to eradicate absenteeism and strengthen parents’ participation in their children’s lives.

“When you are absent from school and you say you are sick, the monitors will come to your house and check up on you. If you are sick we will take you to a clinic or hospital and, if you are not, we will take you to school,” he told pupils.

Yesterday, during another sermon at the school, the local pastor had a vision and called out about eight pupils who had personal problems. At least three girls were on the brink of suicide and one of them had attempted to hang herself. Another girl, an orphan, was called out for using her circumstances as an excuse to “play with her life” with older men.

Another pupil was called out for feeling hopeless about school and life and for negatively influencing his peers because of a terrible family history. The pastor prayed for all of them.

Daily News

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The Jewish Board of Deputies wants to stop a Durban man from sending out “extraordinarily offensive” racist, anti-Jewish propaganda by e-mail.

Durban - Hate speech versus free speech was on trial in Durban’s Equality Court on Tuesday in the first day of evidence in an application by the Jewish Board of Deputies for an interdict stopping “an anti-Semitic” man from packaging “extraordinarily offensive” racist, anti-Jewish propaganda and distributing it widely by e-mail.

“People may say we should dismiss what he does as the actions of a crazy person,” Mary Kluk, the board’s national chairwoman, said of Snowy Smith in her evidence before magistrate Aletta Moolman.

“But history has taught us we cannot ignore hatred in this form. It is deeply hurtful and provocative.”

Smith – who runs an organisation called Fair Civil Law which offers legal advice – has been sending out the e-mails since at least 2010. In them Jews are described as “the enemy”, responsible for all wars and the 911 terrorist attacks. Reference is also made to “billionaire Jewish bankers” and their “dirty little fingers”.

Kluk said it was this kind of “racism” which, if left unchecked, could end up in the murder of Jews, as happened during the Holocaust.

“That did not begin in the gas chambers. It began with how people were spoken about and spoken to.

“It doesn’t start with murder. It starts with words.”

She said not everyone “thought critically” and some people, bombarded with such “vulgar propaganda”, might start to believe it was true.

“The diatribe of hatred is endless.

“Not only are we labelled as undesirable. We are labelled as money-grabbers, terrorists and murderers,” she said, reading from a wad of e-mails which are exhibits before the court.

But Smith – who is representing himself – was unrepentant.

He said he was only distributing what was already on the internet and YouTube, most of it posted by “the Jews”.

“Even YouTube is owned by the Jews,” he proclaimed, reciting a list of “experts” – mostly Holocaust denialists – whose work he had “researched” and established to be “the truth”.

He skipped over the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he had once threatened might be a witness.

He argued that he could not be accused of being anti-Semitic because he supported the Palestinians and they too were “Semites”.

He sent e-mails only to “his friends and those on his mailing lists” and he questioned how they had ended up in the hands of “the Jews”.

Kluk accepted that some of the information in the e-mails was available on the internet and Smith was not the author.

But, she said, the board was objecting to Smith “packaging unreliable sources”, distributing the information and adding his own “hate-filled” commentary.

“It is clear, even from what has been said today, that he does not like us.

“We acknowledge free speech, but he has crossed the line,” Kluk said.

“But it (the information) all comes from the Jews,” Smith insisted.

He asked Kluk how many people had died in the Holocaust, saying there was respected authority that “nobody got murdered and the gas chambers are a fraud”.

Kluk’s advocate, Paul Jorgensen, objected, saying the question was irrelevant.

“I think this court can also take judicial notice of the Holocaust and how many people were killed,” he said.

The hearing is continuing.

The Mercury

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Eight years after a Durban woman vanished her boyfriend has finally been charged with her murder.

Durban - Eight years after a Durban woman vanished, her boyfriend has finally been charged with her murder.

Faieka Esop Ali, who would have been 49 this year, was with her boyfriend Sateesh Isseri in February 2007 when he was going to take her to a clinic, but she was never seen by her family again.

Esop Ali’s family believed that she had been murdered and last year offered a cash reward for information. On Thursday they said they were pleased the case was finally before court and thanked senior police officers for reviving the matter.

The case has had several twists and led to the arrest of a senior Hawks officer, Brigadier Simon Madonsela, accused of soliciting a bribe from Esop Ali’s family, who had been desperate to keep the investigation active. Instead, the investigation stalled.

The family, believing she was killed, have applied to have her legally declared dead.

At the time of her disappearance, Isseri told police he had been driving with Esop Ali in the Parlock area when they had been attacked by “three suspects” who had assaulted him and taken Esop Ali.

When his case was called before the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, Isseri was not present.

His attorney, Vishal Junkeepersad, told the court that Isseri, 53, had been admitted to the Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre on November 10, the day of his arrest.

Junkeepersad handed in a medical certificate by a Dr Sudhir Mohun, a specialist physician at the hospital, which said Isseri had been booked in for “unspecified medical conditions and was unfit” to attend court.

Junkeepersad said his client had been booked into the hospital for a “medical emergency” and was undergoing tests including a biopsy and angiogram. According to sources, the State intends to have Isseri indicted to stand trial for the murder in the high court.

Last year Esop Ali’s family brought a civil application, which is still pending, in the Durban High Court to have her declared dead.

In her affidavit before the court, Esop Ali’s daughter Fehmida said she had last seen her mother on the night of February 9, 2007.

“My brother and I have had no personal or telephonic contact with her since.”

She tried to call Esop Ali at 8.30pm the same night, but the call went to voicemail. Later that night she got an SMS from her mother’s cellphone telling her to stay in the house and “lock all the doors”.

The next day she got an SMS from the same number ordering her to pack her things and wait to be fetched.

She said Esop Ali, who had worked with Isseri, had had a “difficult relationship” with him.

She said they had also been told by a private investigator that her mother’s cellphone had been activated with three other cellphone numbers since her disappearance.

In an affidavit before the court, Isseri vehemently denied the allegations against him and said he had information that Esop Ali was “alive and well” in Cape Town.

He said his relationship had been tarnished by the allegations.

In a statement on Thursday, the police admitted the case had gone cold for several years but had been revived at the insistence of Esop Ali’s family.

Madonsela has appeared in court on two counts of corruption for allegedly trying to solicit a bribe from Esop Ali’s family who had approached him to investigate the case.

Isseri’s case was adjourned to next week for him to appear in court.

The Mercury

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A severed head found in a gumtree plantation in KwaZulu-Natal is believed to be that of Nawaaz Khan.

 Durban - Police in KwaZulu-Natal have recovered the head of a 23-year-old man whose headless body was discovered earlier this week.

The headless body of a 23-year-old man who was reported missing last month was found in a forest in Isonti in KwaZulu-Natal and on Thursday night, police from the Umzinto detective unit and forensic experts recovered the head in a gumtree plantation in Ellingham, adjacent to the N2 freeway in Park Rynie

Nawaaz Khan was reported missing on October 31 and it was only after being interviewed by detectives over the weekend that a close friend - reportedly the last person Khan was seen alive with - broke down and led police to a forest where the victim’s headless body was found lying in bushes.

According to police, it is alleged that Khan’s friend had consulted a traditional healer who had requested a human head so that he could help resolve his problems.

It is alleged that the traditional healer and the friend allegedly lured Khan to the forest, where he was attacked with a bush knife and beheaded.

The friend was arrested after making a confession and police launched a manhunt for the traditional healer, who was on the run.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said on Friday that on Tuesday at about 4:30pm, investigators were informed that the community of the Msholozi temporary housing settlement in Umzinto had surrounded a house that the wanted suspect had visited.

Naicker said: “A 31-year-old man was arrested and detained. Investigations led detectives to the scene where the head was recovered. The head, which was in an advanced state of decomposition, had been placed in several plastic shopping bags and buried in the ground.

“It has been removed to the Park Rynie State Mortuary where tissue samples would be obtained for forensic analysis to confirm that it is indeed that of the deceased Nawaaz Khan.”

The arrested suspect, who resides in Malangeni, was due to appear in the Umzinto Magistrate’s Court soon.

Naicker had earlier said the 21-year-old friend had made a full confession to a commissioned police officer about the attack in which Khan’s two cellphones, clothing and takkies had also been taken.

Two more people, one from Msholozi Informal Settlement in Umzinto, and the other from Dumisa, were taken in for questioning on Sunday night after they were found in possession of the deceased’s cellphones, which police said were allegedly bought from the two suspects in Khan’s murder.

Police thanked the communities of Umzinto as well as the Community Policing Forum (CPF) for their support and assistance in apprehending the suspects and helping to solve the crime.

African News Agency

KZN police have discovered a second headless body in Umzinto only days after the news of Nawaaz Khan’s death.

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal police have been led to a second beheaded body in Umzinto on the South Coast.

This follows the arrest of a third suspect in connection with the abduction and beheading of Nawaaz Khan last week.

According to police, they tracked down a security guard in the Umzinto CBD who led them to the headless body of a woman in bushes opposite the Gandhinagar area.

When questioned about the woman's head, the suspect led police to another location in the vicinity where a plastic shopping bag containing decomposed crushed bones was recovered.

The plastic bag, containing what is believed to be the remains of the victim's head, was taken to the Park Rynie State Mortuary.

Forensic tests will be performed to determine if the bones in the bag are indeed that of the deceased woman's head.

The suspect is being held in police custody pending his first appearance in the Umzinto Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

IOL

The eThekwini Municipality is vetting its entire staff to determine if employees are fit to hold their positions.

Durban - The eThekwini Municipality is vetting its entire staff to determine if employees are fit and qualified to hold their positions.

The was revealed by councillor Nondumiso Cele, the chairwoman of the municipality’s governance and human resources committee, during a recent meeting.

She told councillors the audit was being conducted by the city’s municipal academy.

But opposition parties have questioned the process, saying the audit had to be done independently for its outcome to be “taken seriously”.

Cele was responding to a section 17 rule of order question by DA councillor Eureka Singh, asking if the municipality had undertaken an exercise to verify staff qualifications.

This was in the wake of a series of media reports exposing public servants who had falsified their qualifications.

Cele said although the municipality’s human resources department had not previously audited its staff, an internal process was unfolding.

However, she insisted, “all appointments are verified and where qualifications are not in order, the candidate is not appointed”.

“There is a qualification audit that is currently done by the eThekwini municipal academy… HR and internal audit will use the collated information for verification.”

She said the process had already vetted senior staff and “no manager has been found to have falsified their qualifications”.

“The audit is currently under way. The first phase, for the executive, has been completed. The next phase will be for the rest of the staff. It will take six months. Once finalised, the municipality will be in a better position to say what skills are available,” she said.

The city has on several previous occasions been caught napping, in appointing officials with unscrupulous pasts.

It botched the appointment of a deputy city manager, for the same post, twice. The position has been vacant since 2012.

DA provincial and eThekwini caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango lambasted the “lack of transparency” in the process. He said what Cele said could not be verified.

“There is no transparency. We always get reports that an audit is being done. I remember that the city manager said a while back that there would be a skills audit in the municipality. But nobody knows what’s happening. After doing a skills audit, the least they can do is bring it to the executive committee,” he said.

“I will respect the credibility of the process the day they make the findings public.”

He said there were several senior officials deployed “through political connections and not because they meet the qualifications”.

The IFP’s Mdu Nkosi was just as apprehensive but said an audit was crucial.

“People are getting away with murder. They cook CVs and lie in interviews but fail dismally to perform,” he said.

He was concerned about the audit being conducted in-house.

“It worries me when an investigation of this magnitude is in-house. If you want a true picture, you need to get someone from outside. I do believe it is expensive, but the thing is, are you getting the intended results if you are doing it in-house? I doubt it.”

The Mercury

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Three armed men were shot by a neighbour who saw them enter a house in a plush Durban suburb, according to police.

Durban - Three armed robbers were shot dead by a neighbour as they held up a house in Durban’s plush Glen Anil suburb, police said on Friday.

Police spokesman Brigadier Jay Naicker said that the three men allegedly arrived at the house on Thursday evening, broke in, and then confronted the owner.

However, a neighbour who had witnessed the men arrive then came to the assistance of the home owner and a shoot-out ensued.

Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said: “Paramedics worked fervently to stabilise the third victim and after placing him on a ventilator, they transported him to a specialised facility for the care that he required.”

However, Naicker said that the third suspect later succumbed to the wounds sustained during the shoot-out.

Naicker said that the three had arrived at the house in a car that had a blue light and which had been seized during a hijacking.

Police recovered the car as well as three firearms. Naicker said that an inquest docket had been opened.

ANA

The first of nine Durban-built tugboats was launched, and a bottle of champagne was smashed on its bow.

Durban - The first of nine Durban-built tugboats - part of a R1.4 billion Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) contract - was launched on Thursday amid much fanfare and tradition when a bottle of champagne was smashed on its bow.

The tugboat, named Mvezo after the Eastern Cape village where former president Nelson Mandela was born, was built by Durban’s Southern African Shipyards (SAS), one of the biggest shipbuilding companies in Africa.

According to observers, the delivery of Mvezo is part of a revitilisation of shipbuilding in the city, which, at its peak in the late ’80s, employed more than a half a million workers.

“This is the largest single contract TNPA has ever awarded to a South African company for the building of harbour craft,” TNPA chief executive, Richard Vallihu said.

“The building of Mvezo and the eight other tugs in this project, demonstrates that this country has the expertise to compete in the global shipbuilding industry and to use the maritime economy to unlock the economic potential of South Africa, in line with the government’s Operation Phakisa initiative,” Vallihu said.

A total of about R2bn will be spent over the next five years as part of Operation Phakisa, which aims to refurbish existing repair facilities at South Africa’s ports.

An estimated R13bn to 15bn will be spent to create new repair facilities at South African ports.

In line with maritime tradition, the duty of officially naming the vessel was carried out by a Lady Sponsor, Lauriette Sesoko, general manager of commercial and marketing at TNPA.

Mvezo is expected to be handed over to the Port of Port Elizabeth in February, followed by handovers every three months until the last one is launched in early 2018.

Two tugs each will be allocated to the ports of Durban, Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth, while Saldanha, which handles the largest carriers, will receive three.

Vallihu said TNPA required bigger, stronger tugboats as bigger commercial vessels were calling at South African ports more frequently.

“These nine tugs are 31 metres long with a powerful 70 ton bollard pull, so this is a big step up in power from our older tugs with 32.5 to 40 ton pulls.

“The new tugs feature latest technology, including Voith Scheider propulsion which makes them highly manoeuvrable and able to change direction and thrust almost instantaneously while guiding large vessels safely into our ports.”

SAS also built TNPA’s previous 12 tugs.

Prasheen Maharaj, chief executive of SAS, said the company had created 500 direct and 3 500 indirect jobs during the project.

“We have also committed to ensuring that each tug has a minimum of 60% locally manufactured components, while partnering with international companies on the remaining aspects that cannot be manufactured here, for example, the engines and propulsion units,” he said.

Maharaj said the intention was to maximise local content and spread the benefits of the project to black suppliers, women- and youth-owned businesses.

“Ultimately South Africa will achieve a socio-economic benefit of more than R800 million as a result of the supplier development plan attached to the contract,” he said.

Daily News

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Another outspoken Glebelands hostel dweller who knew that he was “marked for death”, has been killed.

Durban - Another outspoken Glebelands hostel dweller who knew that he was “marked for death”, a phrase he used when he spoke to the Daily News last year, was murdered on Thursday night.

Bongani Mthembu, a leader of Ubunye Bamahostela (Unity of Hostel Dwellers), escaped with a bullet wound to the leg from a hail of shots fired at him and friends on August 18 last year, while sitting in the same corrugated iron garage where he was killed, at about 7pm, while parking his car.

His body was riddled with bullets and, said a fellow hostel dweller, “maybe” his ancestors had decided to “relieve” him of the hostel suffering.

“None of us are cowards, and none of us are brave in this hostel. But when wrong thrives at the expense of those who stand for truth and fairness, we begin to doubt our endeavour to survive.

“We also start looking back where we come from and see no future, and look at where we are, and see no future. We are stuck in the middle of hell,” said the resident.

The resident said he had just returned from work and was preparing supper when he heard an explosion of a firecracker from his third floor flat.

He said he “wondered about the ignorance” of residents who allowed “crickets” (fireworks) in the hostel.

“I told my apartment mate that it was not a smart idea to allow children or even adults to light firecrackers at the hostel.

“Within two minutes after that, a succession of bangs followed and I told my mate that the noise was not from crickets. We could hear it was from the ground floor outside and we peeped through the window.

“That didn’t help because it was dark and we stepped outside, cautiously though. Neighbours were doing the same thing and we discovered that the noise was from the garage,” said the resident.

He said they walked down after more people gathered.

“When we got there, a number of people had started to gather around the car (Mthembu’s) and it was only then that we realised that the second noise was gun fire.

“Since April last year, there’s been 53 deaths including this one. How many people must die before politicians and the government realise that this is a crisis?” the resident asked.

“As soon as these police officers who have just cordoned off the crime scene leave, we don’t know where the next shots will be fired, aiming at whom. The man who just got killed has children and two of those stay with him here, a boy and a girl between 16 and 18,” he said.

In last year’s incident, Mthembu was shot at several times by four gunmen carrying R-5 and AK-47 assault rifles.

About 20 bullets were fired and two people sustained minor injuries when they took cover.

At the time, Mthembu said: “This is the life we live here and the police are not serious about bringing peace and stability in the hostel. If they were, they would be following on the leads given by witnesses in some shooting incidents in the area.”

He said he had lived at the hostel since 1993.

In September last year, eThekwini municipal manager S’bu Sithole told the Daily News that hostel issues were complex.

“Fuelling the violence are broad political matters which require political intervention. Once that happens, then it will be easy for us to play our administrative role.”

The hostel complex has nine blocks comprising single-sex and family units and is home to more than 20 000 people, including children.

Daily News

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Diwali turned into a “hellish experience” for a Ballito family when their neighbours forcefully tried to stop them from lighting fireworks.

Durban - Diwali celebrations turned into a “hellish experience” for a Ballito pharmacist on Wednesday when neighbours allegedly stormed his home trying to stop him and his family from lighting fireworks because the noise was distressing animals.

Amith Singh said his family started lighting fireworks just after 8pm and after a while his wife called him to the front of the house saying there was a commotion outside.

“There was a loud banging on the front door and as I got closer I could hear the voices outside. They were shouting at me that the fireworks were disturbing their dogs,” Singh said.

Singh claimed the tyres of one of his vehicles had been deflated. He said stones were thrown on to his property and his 6-year-old daughter, Seneca, was hit on the head and hand.

“She is traumatised. My wife took her to the GP and luckily she had no cuts.”

He sent pictures showing rubble strewn in his garden and one of the men he claimed to have caught on camera deflating his tyres. The pictures were of poor quality and unpublishable.

Police and security guards brought the situation under controlled.

A Mega Force security guard posted at Singh’s house confirmed he called for back-up after he had failed to stop the crowd from entering.

The guard’s supervisor, Doctor Dlamini, said they arrived and removed the crowd from the property.

Ballito Ratepayers’ Association chairman, Dave Charles, said there was no malice intended nor was there an intention to stop them from celebrating Diwali.

“Initially it was not a hostile gathering. The purpose was to ask the family to tone down the level of noise with fireworks. The neighbourhood was concerned because it seemed they were lighting military explosives. This was not an attack on their religious belief at all.”

Charles said he had heard about the stone-throwing allegation.

“We cannot condone such behaviour. It was a disaster zone last night but this should not have escalated to that level,” he said.

Provincial police spokesman, Brigadier Jay Naicker, said a case of malicious damage to property had been opened.

“No arrests were made,” he said.

Meanwhile, a resident from Morningside was punched to the ground by a neighbour for lighting fireworks.

Koogen Moodley said he had applied for a restraining order against the neighbour and was seeking legal opinion on how to handle the trauma and humiliation he had faced in front of his family.

Reverend Anton van Deventer, moderator of the Full Gospel Church of South Africa, said the incidents were intolerance by those of different religions.

“Attacks like these cannot be condoned.”

Daily News

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The sister of murdered Durban Metro cop Innocent Chamane says his death has left his family without a pillar of support.

Durban - The sister of murdered Durban Metro police senior manager Innocent Chamane, 52, says his death has left his family without a pillar of support.

“We still don’t believe this, we are in denial about his death,” Zanele Chamane said on Thursday.

Chamane was not only her brother, she said, but her best friend and a father figure to the rest of his siblings.

“He solved any problems I had. Even at my workplace they called him and asked him for advice.” Chamane was the only son among six siblings.

Zanele, an operations manager at an Inanda clinic, recalled how, when the clinic was inundated with people injured during New Year celebrations two years ago, her brother organised a bakkie to take patients to other clinics and hospitals.

Being supportive was something he had done since he was a child, she said.

He would often come to his sister’s aid if she was being harassed when they were growing up.

“He was a strong fighter. And those who killed him would not have done so if they had to fight him head on. His killers are cowards,” Zanele said.

Chamane was shot outside his home in KwaNgcolosi in Inanda this week.

Among his achievements was being the first black teacher at Durban High School (DHS) where he taught Zulu, she said. Zanele said after leaving DHS, he worked at the KwaMuhle Museum.

Her brother, an Umbumbulu College of Education graduate, was constantly studying and researching.

His violent death reminded the family of how their father died in 1964. Their father was assaulted by people who he believed to be his friends.

On her brother’s death she said: “It was his strictness and no-nonsense attitude that took his life.

“He would fire people for coming to work drunk, for coming late and consistently not meeting deadlines. If he had done nepotism or favouritism I would understand. But for him it was just work, work, work.

“He would admonish me for letting some workers come late and say that I was lax.”

Chamane is to be buried at his home in KwaNgcolosi on Sunday.

Daily News

The alleged mastermind of the failed hit which left Grant Jones paralysed is free, while Grant's family are in hiding.

Durban - After an alleged attempt on his life that led to him being paralysed and his vocal chords damaged, Kloof businessman, Grant Jones’s three children have not yet returned to school.

The Jones family said they had gone into hiding, fearing for their lives. The family and their supporters were visibly upset in court on Thursday when charges were withdrawn against Jones’s former business partner, Dain Neveling, as well as Johannes Hendrik Nunez and Kristian Jorgensen following instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions Office.

“This stinks,” the family said outside court. “I don’t feel safe. I can’t walk or talk any more. I can’t work to support my family,” an emotional Jones said.

The State had alleged Neveling had hired two men, Nunez and Jorgensen, in July to kill Jones for a R24 million insurance policy payout.

Jones was shot five times in what was initially thought to have been a botched hijacking.

All three men, from the Bluff, were arrested by Hawks investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Deena Govender, and his team from the Serious and Violent Crimes Unit in October after Nunez and Jorgensen allegedly made payment to an undercover policeman who had posed as a hitman.

The Director of Public Prosecutions had authorised a staged murder by an undercover Hawks police officer, who then posed as an assassin for hire.

In court on Thursday, senior public prosecutor Barend Groen told magistrate Vanitha Armu the DPP’s office had since instructed that the charge of conspiracy to commit murder for the July incident be provisionally withdrawn against all three men.

He said the DPP’s office also instructed that the charge of conspiracy to commit murder for the October incident be withdrawn against Neveling, but still stand against Nunez and Jorgensen.

Neveling currently only faces a charge of being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. He was arrested at his home, where police found an unlicensed Black HK Compact pistol.

“According to the deputy director of public prosecutions, there are also no grounds to object to bail (against all three men),” said Groen.

The State had indicated at each of the previous court appearances that it was opposed to bail and the matter had been adjourned until on Thursday for a bail application.

Groen said the matter had been sent to the DPP’s office in the meantime.

Asked why the charges were provisionally withdrawn, the office of the DPP said: “This office is of the view that there is insufficient evidence at this time to warrant the continued prosecution in respect of the said charges.”

It added that the investigating officer had also been instructed to complete further investigations, and once this had been done, the matter would be considered “and, if appropriate, placed back on the (court) roll”.

All three men were granted bail of R5 000 each and were ordered not to contact Jones or his family and other State witnesses.

They have to report twice weekly to the Brighton Beach police station; are not allowed to leave the province without written notification and permission; are to inform the investigating officer should their address change, and must hand over their passports and firearms.

The gallery reacted angrily to some of the charges being withdrawn.

Jones, his wife, Debbie, and their three daughters were present in court and later told the Daily News they feared for their lives and asked who was going to protect them.

noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za

Daily News

Relatives of a KZN man who was paralysed in an alleged hit, were shocked when the ‘mastermind’ was let off the hook.

Durban - Relatives of a Durban man who was paralysed in an alleged hit reacted with shock and anger when charges against the man alleged to be the mastermind of the plot were withdrawn.

Dain Neveling, Hendrik Nunez and Jorgen Jorgensen were arrested two weeks ago after a Hawks police officer posed as a hit man who would kill Neveling’s business partner Grant Jones.

The charge sheet had referred to Jones as Grant Webb, but that was corrected on Thursday.

The police staged Jones’s “murder” and arrested the three men on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, after payment was made. Neveling also faced a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

They were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder for an earlier attempt on Jones’s life in July, in which he was shot five times and left confined to a wheelchair.

On Thursday Jones, his wife and three daughters watched in disbelief as charges against Neveling related to the alleged hits were provisionally withdrawn, and he and his co-accused were granted bail of R5 000 each.

Neveling would only face illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition charges, and the other two were charged with conspiracy only related to the October incident.

Explaining the change in the case, prosecutor Barend Groen said he had received a letter of instructions on the docket from the deputy director of public prosecutions.

The letter stated that there was “no legitimate grounds to oppose bail” and to provisionally withdraw certain charges.

Groen stressed that this was a provisional decision, and that the charges could be reinstated at a later stage.

Magistrate Vanitha Armu questioned whether the State was not concerned about the safety of Jones, but Groen said he was bound by the instructions from the deputy director.

Armu granted the bail and warned the men to comply with strict bail conditions.

As part of the conditions, they were warned to stay away from Jones and his family, and not to leave Durban without getting consent from the investigating officer.

They also have to report to the Brighton Beach police station twice a week.

Reacting to the court’s decision, a friend of Jones’s commented in court: “Come on, the guy is sitting here in a wheelchair. What’s next?” He was warned by a court orderly while other members of Jones’s family were visibly upset.

The case was adjourned to January for further investigation.

The Mercury

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While Carlos Duarte was cleaning up blood and cartridges, Durban residents celebrated the killing of a gang of armed robbers.

Durban - Visibly shaken and upset, Carlos Duarte spent on Friday cleaning up smeared blood and spent cartridges around his home, while Durban North residents celebrated over the killing of a gang of hardened armed robbers.

Duarte was away at his company’s year-end function at Sun City when the four men in balaclavas stormed into his Welwitchia Avenue home on Thursday night, which ended in a furious gun battle between the gang and a neighbour.

Standing Friday morning amid the shattered tiles and bullet-riddled pillars on his verandah, Duarte said the gang had simply derailed his automatic gate and parked in the driveway.

“The first thing my wife knew was the men bursting into the room, pointing guns at her. They pulled her off the treadmill and kept asking for the keys to the safe,” said Duarte.

Meanwhile, the Duarte’s neighbour, a former policeman who wishes to remain anonymous, had heard a noise outside and on investigation saw a man standing at the front door holding a weapon.

According to a SAPS release, the armed intruder starting firing his weapon when the neighbour shouted at him.

Bullets flew and within a matter of minutes two of the suspects were dead, while a third lay injured in the house. He died in hospital. The fourth suspect fled.

“Apparently the phones belonging to the suspects kept ringing as they lay there. It may have been the fourth suspect looking for them,” said Duarte, who caught the first flight back to Durban on Friday morning.

Another neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said they thought the gunshots were Diwali fireworks, and only realised something was amiss when they saw all the emergency vehicles arriving at the Duarte home.

Duarte said his wife Veronica was still traumatised by the incident and was resting at his son’s house.

Yesterday social media was abuzz about the incident, with residents jubilant over the shooting of the criminals. The like button went into overdrive.

“The only thing they understand is a bullet. Well done, shooter,” wrote Michele Smargiassi.

“Awesome cleaning. All three of them dead. Like it,” wrote Sekgothe Makunyane.

“Well done. Our tax money will not be spent on a trial and free food for them in jail,” wrote Avinash Rambaras.

Even KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni said: “We applaud the commitment of the community member who assisted a fellow neighbour, which shows the success of community policing.”

While the Greenwood Park CPF could not be reached for comment, chairman of the Durban North CPF Hayden Searles said: “This was an awesome job by the neighbour. He put his life at risk for his neighbour.”

He added that the forum believed the suspects were hardened criminals.

Dave Campbell from Marshall Security said his officers recognised one of the suspects at the scene from a prior armed robbery, and the blue VW Golf GTi in which the gang had arrived had been hijacked in Chatsworth.

A blue light and housebreaking implements such as crowbars and bolt cutters were found in the car.

Blue Security also arrived on the scene. Their operations manager, Brian Jackson, said the car had been parked in reverse in the driveway for a quick getaway.

The neighbour’s lawyer, Jacques Botha, also said two people at the scene had identified the suspects as being linked to other robberies.

“This incident is a fantastic example of the positive aspects of lawful gun ownership. My client did society a favour.

“I have seen repeat offenders arriving back in cells, and when I ask them why they are back in the cells, they start laughing.”

But SAPS Brigadier Jay Naicker said the suspects had not been identified or linked to any previous criminal activity as yet.

The fourth suspect remains at large.

Independent on Saturday

Jadene Naidoo's family are demanding R8 million after staff at St Augustine's Hospital allegedly ignored her pain.

Durban - The family of a 19-year-old Durban girl who died at St Augustine’s Hospital, allegedly from medical negligence, is suing the hospital for R8 million for the suffering she endured prior to her death.

A high court application has been brought against the hospital, and two doctors, Dr Sudarshan Naidoo and Dr Bala Govender.

The deceased, Jadene Naidoo, was involved in a car accident on September 9. She sustained minor injuries but was admitted to the hospital’s ICU for treatment and observation. Her parents, Trevor and Pathmavathy Naidoo, said she complained of severe abdominal pain. But despite this, she responded well and doctors assured them she was in good health and recovering well.

“She had minor injuries to her face and underwent surgery. On the same day, she was certified fit by the doctors to be transferred to a surgical ward. This is where the challenges started to unfold when she was neglected by doctors and nursing staff.

“She was not taken seriously when she complained of the severity of her abdominal pain. She would activate the buzzer frequently for assistance and the response was far delayed and often ignored. When we visited her, she complained profusely and cried with pain,” said Trevor Naidoo.

He said that they took the word of the doctors, encouraged their daughter to be strong, and asked nurses to give her pain medication.

“She was force-fed by the staff despite screaming with pain. On the doctor’s next visit he maintained there were no issues with her abdomen and he insisted she get up and walk. She was still in severe pain and we couldn’t stand to see her that way.”

The family insisted that the surgeon should be changed. “They promised but they didn’t. The next day the same doctors arrived to assess my child. They again maintained she was okay. They stressed her by telling her to stop whining and start walking.”

Hours later, the Naidoos were told Jadene was critical and needed surgery. They said she would be put into a medically-induced coma so they could investigate the cause of the pain. The parents were devastated after they met the team of doctors after their daughter’s surgery. They were told Jadene’s small bowel had ruptured and toxins had entered her body. She remained in ICU on a ventilator fully sedated while doctors tried in vain to save her from the rising toxin level in her body.

“Our days became darker; we could not bear to see our girl suffer.”

Different doctors were brought in, but the family claims it was too late.

“Our child died on September 20, thanks to the negligence of the doctors and nursing staff at the hospital,” said the emotional father.

“No words can describe the feelings we are going through. My wife and I have been dependent on medication to see us through the days since the incident. We have constant flash-backs from the time of the accident to her time of passing. We have been for counselling but this can only help to a certain extent. The pain and stress is beyond imagination.”

The family is claiming R8m for funeral expenses, medical costs, counselling, therapy and loss of support.

Naidoo said: “Jade was an intelligent girl who had eight distinctions in matric. She was career orientated. She was studying towards her chemical engineering degree at UKZN and changed to clinical technology at DUT. Nothing can fill the void that her death has left. While we can’t do anything to get our child back, it is our responsibility as parents to ensure that justice is served and that nobody should ever go through such unbearable pain because of negligence.”

Dr Augusta Dorning, general manager of St Augustine’s, said the hospital regretted the passing of Jadene Naidoo.

“We wish to convey our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones. As this is a legal matter, we are not in a position to comment further.”

Sunday Tribune

South Coast community rallies to provide water to those in need, writes Nabeelah Shaikh

The community of Port Shepstone rallied together last week to prove that charity really does begin at home.

Following the water crisis in the Ugu District, where the taps ran salty, the community, along with the local business forum, joined forces to solve the problem last Monday.

Some prominent businessmen in the area went as far as to open their private boreholes to the public.

The South Coast community woke up to undrinkable, salty tap water as the drought tightened its grip on the province.

The towns and resorts affected included Port Shepstone, Margate, Hibberdene and inland to Bhoboyi.

Most local shops had run out of five-litre bottles of water before lunchtime as customers raced to stock up.

One good samaritan, Yunus Moosa, of the Lucky’s Group of Companies, opened his borehole to the public at the Harbourview shopping centre.

Worried that the underprivileged would be ignored, he hired three 18 000-litre water tankers to meet the water needs of nearby rural areas.

Moosa did not stop there – he also hired a tanker to service local hospitals along with Selvan Chetty and a Mr Naidoo who also helped with distribution.

“These tankers supplemented the local water authority’s tankers, which could not meet the demand. The community needed to come together to help out wherever we could, and we did this. Water was also distributed to old-age homes, the SPCA and shelters. The community was very grateful for our efforts.”

A local, Moulana Ismail, put a 2 200-litre JoJo tank on his trailer, filled it with pure drinkable borehole water, and began dispensing it in front of his store free.

The water was supplied by businessman Moosa Manjra, who also opened his borehole to his entire neighbourhood at no charge and no restrictions.

Some businessmen in the area dropped their five-litre bottled water price to R10 (net cost).

A business called the Multiwood Group of Companies shut operations last week so that staff could help to distribute thousands of litres of water to some townships.

The group’s director, Yusuf Bux, installed a water tank outside his business for free water distribution to factory workers in the Marburg industrial district.

One Port Shepstone resident, Cheryl Gamble, said the community came to the rescue of residents.

“They really did come to our rescue and helped to solve the water crisis. What they have done for the people of Port Shepstone is amazing and they will for ever be remembered for this.

“Some actually went door to door distributing bottled water. This speaks volumes of their efforts,” she said.

The Port Shepstone Business Forum, headed by Dr Ayoub Bux, facilitated all distribution efforts and helped the local government to communicate with the public.

“The forum – together with Ugu, religious organisations, NGOs and the business community of Port Shepstone – initiated and co-ordinated the supply of drinking water to as many people as possible.

“Large quantities of bottled water were also supplied to commuters at the taxi rank, and to communities in the rural areas,” said Bux.

He said that in the last 10 days more than 1 million litres of drinking water had been distributed in the region.

“Affected communities were highly appreciative of this generous act of kindness in their hour of need. Some communities were without drinking water for more than two days.

“Many factories and other businesses had to close shop because of the high concentration of salt in the water. Boilers and other equipment could not function with salty water.

“Many employees were also laid off work because businesses had to close. We will be taking up these issues with Ugu so that we do not find ourselves in a similar situation in the future,” said Bux.

He said the business forum would like to extend a big thank you to Ugu and all those who worked tirelessly to supply drinking water to as many people as possible.

“We are also grateful to the youth that participated in the delivery of the water. May God bless you all. It was a remarkable community effort… and a positive sign for the future.”

Sunday Tribune