It would have been known by now if a matric exam paper leaked in Limpopo had been circulated to other provinces, a spokesman said.

Durban - A matric exam paper has been leaked in Limpopo, but it would have been known by now if it had been circulated to children in other provinces, Basic Education Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said on Tuesday.

Two pupils at a Limpopo school had access to the life sciences paper II before the exam on Monday, he said.

The finger points to provincial Education Department officials as the colluders.

While social media did pose a risk in the leaking of exam papers, whistle-blowers had alerted the department to the leak rather than circulate it, Mhlanga said.

The Limpopo provincial Education Department was allowed to run its matric examinations last year, after an order that it be placed under administration was lifted.

The department was placed under administration in 2011 for mismanagement and a lack of financial administration, among other irregularities.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga revealed that the life sciences paper II was leaked in the Vhembe district.

She admitted that going into the exams, the province had problems.

She said problems detected while checking exam readiness included:

* Limited exam staff at the head office in Polokwane and the districts, which had placed the exam officials under pressure.

* Exam offices in Polokwane did not have telephone lines, fax lines or internet connectivity.

* The storage and packing area for scripts was not secure and did not meet the minimum norms and standards for security, required for printing, packing and distribution sites.

She said a letter from quality assurer Umalusi, in October, also raised similar concerns about the department’s ability to run credible exams and asked the national department to assist Limpopo with the administration.

As part of their intervention, 26 monitors were sent to the department.

Despite the intervention, the department was alerted on Monday morning that candidates were given the life sciences paper II question papers an hour before the exam time.

Motshekga said the department had initiated a task team to probe the leak, find how widespread it was and make recommendations on the credibility of exams in the district.

Depending on the outcome of the investigations, candidates in the whole province might be required to rewrite the exam.

Earlier this year, Motshekga forgave candidates – mostly from KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape – who were implicated in last year’s group copying.

She nullified their marks and allowed them to sit for the current matric exams.

About 3 000 matric candidates were implicated in 153 exam centres.

Motshekga said in the Eastern Cape results at seven centres had been nullified, and seven others had been rescheduled.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the results at 11 exam centres had been nullified and 11 had been rescheduled.

The DA’s basic education spokesman, Gavin Davis, said Mostshekga needed to be held accountable all the more because the crisis went beyond matric.

Matric exams conclude on November 27.

The Mercury

Irregular expenditure continues in the eThekwini Municipality, with some tenders being approved with “blank cheques”.

Durban - Irregular expenditure in the eThekwini Municipality carries on unabated, with revelations that the city continues to award tender contracts through the controversial section 36 regulation.

To rub salt into the wounds, some of these contracts are being approved with “blank cheques”, with the total value not divulged.

About eight such contracts were tabled before the city’s executive committee (exco) on Tuesday, but the committee deferred five of them, “noting” or accepting three.

A report by the city’s audit committee, tabled before Tuesday’s exco meeting, had flagged the issue of the flagrant practice to councillors and officials.

The former chairman of the committee, Peter Christianson, who presented the report with new committee chairwoman Londiwe Mthembu, said the concern had been raised before but had evidently fallen on deaf ears.

This comes during an investigation by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela of the city’s alleged abuse of section 36. The investigation will probe all such contracts awarded in the past 10 years.

When he was accused early this month of not co-operating with the public protector’s office, city manager S’bu Sithole said the request for contracts dating back 10 years was “ridiculous”, and he had asked that investigators be “specific with documents they required”. He told The Mercury he would co-operate with the investigation.

Madonsela’s office, frustrated by delays, has asked the KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, to “intervene”.

Section 36 of the procurement regulations allows for deviation from normal tender processes in the awarding of contracts in situations deemed emergencies, but there have been ongoing concerns that city officials are abusing these regulations.

In the report, the audit committee says it noted an “alarming increase” of section 36 “procurement transactions”.

“These transactions include tenders awarded with no value,” the report reads, adding that this “promotes irregular expenditure”.

The report urged the management to pay urgent attention to the problem.

However, it was not all doom, with the committee noting “a significant decline” - in rand value - in the abuse of the regulation.

“The real test is in proper procurement planning and only legitimate use of section 36 as intended by the legislature,” the report reads.

In the same report, the audit committee recommended that the municipality set up a “centralised contract management unit”, as the management of contracts was a concern.

“The lack of proper contract management… increases the risk of non-compliance with SCM (supply chain management) requirements,” the report reads.

The establishment of the unit would “reduce/minimise the risk of irregular expenditure and misuse of section 36 by auditee”.

Seeking clarity, DA provincial and eThekwini caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango asked: “We always get these reports for noting with no amounts. Are you suggesting to exco that if a report does not have an amount, we reject it?”

Christianson responded with a nod and a “Yes”.

Mayor James Nxumalo warned that if the problem persisted, “the city should forget about the clean audit we always complain about”.

“If you can check in the agenda today, there are a number of section 36 contracts. While we are busy with the issue, we are bringing more section 36 contracts. It’s a concern,” he said, adding that exco previously agreed to “prioritise” contracts on merit.

“The audit committee raises these issues, yet we keep bringing them. We said we don’t have a problem applying our minds on section 36, but we said any department official bringing a section 36 matter, there must be convincing reasons why it has to go through and not the other sections. If we don’t do that, it will keep coming back.”

IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi pleaded with the executive committee to be “seen to be taking seriously the advice we get”.

“It looks like we form these bodies for the sake of forming them. We are not implementing (recommendations). Right now we have so many section 36 contracts with no value. Let us be serious,” he said.

ANC councillor Fawzia Peer welcomed the report.

The Mercury

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Niren Ramsaroop was promoted to warrant officer on Friday, only to be gunned down in broad daylight the next morning.

Durban - Empangeni policeman Niren Ramsaroop was promoted to warrant officer on Friday, only to be gunned down in broad daylight the next morning while trying to apprehend a robbery suspect in the town centre.

Ramsaroop, 40, who was born and raised in Glencoe, was shot in the chest and died at the scene. He had been a policeman for 21 years.

His mother, Nadeera Ramsaroop, wiped away tears as she praised her son’s heroism.

“No matter what happens, I know I cannot get my son back but I want justice to be served. My son never harmed anyone but helped people. He was an angel,” she wept.

The grieving mother said a policeman’s job was to serve and protect his country and while officers knew the risks involved with their jobs, drastic measures were needed to curb the escalating crime.

“Policemen and women are losing their lives in the fight against crime and I don’t want anyone else to go through what we are going through. Crime is getting worse and government needs to do something to tackle it!” she said.

According to police, the incident happened at around 10am.

Ramsaroop was on patrol in the town centre with colleagues, when three women approached them. They reported that they had been robbed of a bag containing R110 000 in cash by two men. The women claimed they had withdrawn stokvel money from a local bank and were accosted by the men shortly after leaving the building.

Ramsaroop spotted one of the alleged suspects and managed to grab hold of him.

The man pulled out a gun and shot Ramsaroop in the chest but he was able to return fire and shot the suspect in the leg.

The 41-year-old suspect was taken to hospital and remains under police guard. His firearm, a 7.65mm pistol, with its serial number erased, was recovered at the scene.

The second suspect escaped with a bag containing the cash. A manhunt is underway to find him.

KZN Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, said they would not rest until the second suspect was caught.

Nadeera, 57, said she last spoke to her son on Friday when he officially became a warrant officer. “Normally, when I call him when he is on duty, he asks me to call back. But on that day he was so excited about having signed the paperwork to officially become a warrant officer that we ended up talking over the phone for about 30 minutes.”

She continued: “While speaking, I told him Christmas was around the corner and he needed to look after himself because it was more dangerous around this time of the year. He told me not to worry…”

Around 11am the following day, one of Nadeera’s other sons told her that Ramsaroop had been shot dead.

Ramsaroop’s fiancée, Sharon Naidoo, whom he was planning to marry in June next year, described him as a man with a wonderful heart.

“We knew each other for 12 years and I fell in love with his personality. On that morning, a friend who works in town called and told me Niren was shot. I live nearby and was at the crime scene about five minutes later. The area was cordoned off and three female officers ran towards me and hugged me. When they placed me in the police car, I knew something bad had happened.

“They said Niren had been shot and was being taken to hospital. They ended up taking me home and broke the news to me that he had died.”

His younger brother, Yudhveer, said that while at ML Sultan Glencoe Secondary, Ramsaroop often spoke about becoming a policeman. “Our great-grandfather, Spider Ramsaroop, was a policeman in Glencoe and Niren wanted to follow in his footsteps. To us, my brother is our hero. Without thinking of his own safety, he helped the women who were robbed.”

The Post

The eThekwini municipality plans to pump more than R72m into securing the troubled Glebelands and KwaMashu hostels.

Durban - As the residents of Glebelands hostel prepare to bury its 54th murder victim this week, the eThekwini Municipality has revealed plans to pump more than R72 million into securing and upgrading Glebelands and KwaMashu hostels.

According to a report presented to the city’s executive committee on Tuesday, more than R5m would be spent on installing high-definition CCTV cameras at the violence-plagued hostels. This would include building a communications control room to monitor the CCTV cameras that would be located at the metro police stations in the precinct.

Musa Gumede, deputy city manager for community and emergency services, said they planned to call a mass meeting with residents of the hostels to inform them of the city’s plans.

In the meantime, the city was finalising the process of installing a perimeter fence around Glebelands and lighting up the dark corridors of the 48 buildings.

Gumede said it would cost R200 000 to light up one block. “We have done nine so far. Forty-eight is a lot, so it is a process,” he said.

He said while police, metro police and private security had been able to keep peace inside the perimeters of Glebelands for a few months, the recent killings could be a result of retaliatory attacks that occurred outside the hostels.

He said two hours before the latest victim, Frank Khuzwayo, who was gunned down last Saturday, they discovered that fibre cables to the CCTV cameras had been cut.

“It shows that (those behind the attacks) are interfering with our infrastructure,” he said.

According to the report, R27.7m had been set aside to upgrade Glebe Stadium, R26m to rehabilitate the swimming pool and R2.1m to resurface the tennis court as a combi court. An amount of R530 000 had been set aside to cut and prune trees, while R10m would be used to construct a ClearVu perimeter fence, and for electrical installations.

Mayor James Nxumalo said the killings at Glebelands were worrying. “These are human beings and this must concern all of us,” he said.

A high-level provincial government delegation, including King Goodwill Zwelithini, were planned to visit the hostels in the hope of bringing peace.

DA councillor Heinz de Boer said police who had been deployed to the hostel needed to tell the city what they were doing to stop the bloodshed.

“We need to know how many arrests they have made, how many guns they have confiscated and what ever else they are doing from a law enforcement point. From where we sit, the police are not doing their jobs there,” he said.

Daily News

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The issue of young victims giving evidence through intermediaries has become a ping-pong match between judges in KZN.

Durban - The issue of young victims of crime giving evidence through intermediaries has become a ping-pong match between judges in KwaZulu-Natal with two ruling that they have to be younger than 18 to qualify and another saying they don’t.

In a recent judgment handed down in an appeal by a man convicted of raping his own daughter, Judges Trevor Gorven and Sharmaine Balton effectively set aside a 2011 decision of their colleague Judge Dhaya Pillay who found the legislated age limit of 18 was “merely a guideline”.

The two appeal judges said this was not so, “and the legislature had intended to exclude adults” for whom there were other protections - such as the use of closed-circuit television - to reduce any potential trauma.

The issue came before Judge Pillay in a review application brought by Durban businessman Stewart Hewitt who, at the time, had been convicted in the Durban Regional Court of indecently assaulting a friend’s daughter from the time she was 8 until she was 12.

Although not raised during the trial, Hewitt changed lawyers and they took issue with the fact that the alleged victim had given evidence through an intermediary even though she was already 18.

Judge Pillay asked for submissions on the constitutionality of the legislation and whether it was a limitation to the rights of a child victim who testified only after she became an adult.

She then ruled that the age limit could not be inflexible and that a child aged 17 years and 11 months who was fearful of testifying would be “no less fearful a month later when she turns 18”.

She granted Hewitt leave to appeal against her ruling because it raised “important constitutional issues”.

But the matter never went any further. Stewart’s conviction was subsequently overturned by two other judges who found the presiding magistrate had been biased throughout his trial and in insisting on sentencing him to 15 years’ imprisonment in the absence of his legal team.

But it has now raised its head in the appeal by “ZF” (he cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter), who in 2010 was convicted of indecently assaulting and raping his daughter and sentenced to an effective 17 years behind bars.

The victim was 20 when she gave evidence through an intermediary, and again the accused raised no objection to this until he appealed.

In their ruling, the judges said the section was designed only for the benefit of children, and Judge Pillay’s ruling “was contrary to the principles of interpretation”. Case law dictated that the words in a statute be given their ordinary grammatical meaning “unless to do so would result in an absurdity”.

In this case, the ordinary grammatical meaning, that it applied only to those under the biological or mental age of 18, could not be absurd.

They said that Hewitt’s case had been “wrongly decided and should not be followed”.

They said, however, that while the use of an intermediary in the matter before them was an irregularity, it was not so severe to render the evidence inadmissible or to find that the accused had been unfairly tried.

“The answers given were hers. The reframing of questions was not said to have effected her evidence in any way,” they said, confirming the convictions.

The Mercury

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People living in areas where water is supplied by Hazelmere Dam, are now facing further water restrictions.

Durban - People living in areas where water is supplied by Hazelmere Dam, face further water restrictions with the recent rains having done nothing to ease KwaZulu-Natal’s worst drought in decades.

As of next Monday, Umgeni Water will impose a 50% water restriction on areas within the eThekwini and iLembe District municipalities as well as those served by Semcorp Siza Water.

Umgeni spokesman, Shami Harichunder, said the decision to limit the water flow to Verulam, Waterloo, La Mercy, Ballito, Ndwedwe, Groutville, Umhlali and Westbrook, among others, was because of the situation at Hazelmere Dam, which is only 25.8% full.

This was to stretch the water supply so that it could last to March/April next year - hopefully by which time the rains would have come.

“If the water is to last until the time rains are expected, we have to reduce the demand and this is done through water restrictions. We don’t want a situation where the dams run dry. Water restrictions are imperative to ensure this,” he said.

These areas were already living with 30% water restrictions.

If the dam were to reach 5%, this would mean the water was untreatable and tantamount to the dam being dry, said Harichunder.

Although the province has had some rain since the weekend, this had made no difference.

“The weekend’s rain was mostly absorbed into the ground. The reality is we would need above-average rainfall for at least four days before there can be any significant impact on dam levels.”

Head of Water and Sanitation at the eThekwini Municipality, Ednick Msweli, said Umgeni would control water flow from their waterworks, but city maintenance teams would also have to go back out to tighten restrictors on water meters of the about 20 000 to 30 000 homes in the affected areas.

Manager of Water Services at the iLembe District Municipality, Elias Bhengu, said this additional restriction would mean water was available for fewer hours in the day and pressure would be decreased.

Bhengu urged consumers to conserve water as much as possible by using it sparingly, reporting leaks and collecting whatever rain water they could.

As part of the provincial government’s emergency response strategy, various MECs - led by premier Senzo Mchunu - are meeting in uMkhanyakude for the weekly cabinet meeting to formulate a strategy to address the “enduring” drought.

According to a press release, they are expected to “unveil a comprehensive work plan to be implemented as a matter of urgency to mitigate the impact of water shortages and the resultant collapse in the agricultural economy as well the threat to wildlife which is a tourism magnet for KwaZulu-Natal”, as the “prolonged drought continues to wreak havoc in the province”.

How to make a difference

* Turn off the tap while brushing teeth, shaving or soaping hands.

* Take shorter showers and use less water when you bath.

* Sweep outside areas instead of hosing with water.

* Use eco-friendly soaps and cleaning products.

* Fix leaks at home and report public water leaks to the municipality.

* Always use a plugged-sink or bowl instead of a running tap.

* Insulate hot water pipes to reduce time waiting for water to heat up.

* Install aerators and flow-reducing valves on your taps.

* Install water-saving devices on taps, toilets, showers and sprinklers.

* Install a water meter and monitor your use.

* Install an instant water heater at your taps for immediate hot water - source: http://forloveofwater.co.za

Daily News

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A KZN man who claimed he could not remember what happened the night his girlfriend was killed, has changed his tune.

Durban - An Underberg man on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, who originally pleaded not guilty, claiming he could not remember what happened that night, has changed his tune, confessing to the shooting.

Sifiso Ngubo, 29, had initially pleaded not guilty to the murder, committed on December 14 last year, claiming amnesia.

Ngubo had shot himself in the head in an attempt to kill himself immediately after killing Zinhle Ndlovu, 25, and told the court on Monday that he could not remember what happened.

But it seems Ngubo’s memory was significantly jogged overnight, because on Tuesday he made formal admissions before Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Nkosinathi Chili, detailing why and how Ndlovu was shot.

Ndlovu worked and lived at the popular tourist destination, Umzimkhulu River Lodge, in Underberg, while Ngubo was employed as a security guard in the area.

In his admissions, read out in court by his legal aid advocate, Xolani Sindane, Ngubo revealed that he and Ndlovu were involved in a relationship for many years and had a child.

The relationship deteriorated when Ngubo discovered that she was having an affair. However, he said that he approached her about the issue, and after she admitted her infidelity, the couple resolved their differences and decided to remain together.

The problem arose when Ndlovu fell pregnant with her second child.

“I had reservations about whether the child was mine, and did not believe she was telling the truth about the paternity,” Ngubo said.

He said on December 14, he called Ndlovu at her home and asked her about the child’s paternity.

He said Ndlovu admitted that the child was not his, and told him to visit her later that night so they could talk about it.

Ngubo said on that afternoon he was participating in a pool competition with his friends, and they drank alcohol.

Later that night, he became very angry at Ndlovu’s admission that he was not the child’s father, and decided to kill her.

He said he went to the lodge, armed with his firearm, and shot her several times as he entered her home.

He then turned the gun on himself after realising what he had done.

He survived his suicide attempt with severe injuries and woke up in hospital several days later.

According to police reports, they recovered 10 spent cartridge cases from the scene.

In the light of Ngubo’s admissions, both the State and the defence closed their cases on Tuesday.

Judge Chili was to deliver judgment on Wednesday.

Daily News

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A judge has ordered that KZN Hawks boss Major-General Johan Booysen's suspension from the SAPS be set aside.

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Major-General Johan Booysen was on the phone to his wife and children on Wednesday outside the Durban High Court sharing the good news that he intended getting a locksmith to regain entry to his offices and going back to work.

This was after Judge Johan Ploos van Amstel handed down a judgment on Wednesday on behalf of Judge Anton Van Zyl, who ordered that Booysen’s suspension from the South African Police Service be set aside.

Van Zyl also ordered that, pending the outcome of any disciplinary proceedings instituted by the police against him, Booysen could not be suspended.

The national head of the Hawks, Lieutenant-General Mthandazo Ntlemeza, was ordered to pay the costs of Booysen’s application on an attorney and client scale.

Speaking to the Daily News afterwards, Booysen said this had been the seventh time he had been to the Labour and High Courts and, while he was “naturally happy” about the outcome, he felt sympathy for the taxpayer who had to pay the costs of these applications.

As soon as he made a copy of and read the judgment, he planned to return to work – on Wednesday, he said.

It was reported earlier that Booysen claimed his suspension, over a typographical error on a document he did not write or sign, was another attempt to stop him investigating corruption involving senior police officers.

He said the facts contained in the document were all correct, but the author, Lieutenant-Colonel Willie Olivier, had mistakenly used an eight (representing the month August) instead of a nine (September) in the CAS number.

Booysen said because he was a potential recipient of the award – R10 000 – he did not sign the document, but instead sent it to his boss, assistant commissioner Pat Brown, who signed it.

The award was for the work of his now disbanded Cato Manor Organised Crime Unit in 2008, for tracking down the killers of taxi violence investigator, Lieutenant-Colonel Zethembe Chonco.

On Wednesday, Van Zyl agreed that Ntlemeza’s information, on the amount of the award and that it was Booysen who made the recommendation for the financial award, was mistaken.

He found that nothing sinister could be inferred from incorrect docket numbers in the recommendation.

The judge said there was “not a shred” of evidence that Booysen was involved in formulating the contents of a recommendation for the financial award.

He said Ntlemeza’s conclusion to the contrary was “at best, entirely speculative”.

He also said the claim that the police suffered reputational damage was without merit, “particularly since there is no suggestion that awards of this nature are ever published for general information”.

Van Zyl found there was a strong suggestion that there was an ongoing move, “possibly even a campaign to unseat the applicant”.

But, he said, there was insufficient evidence before the court to draw firm conclusions in this regard.

“What is noteworthy is that the respondent (Ntlemeza) had embarked, for reasons unclear, upon a course of action as against the applicant (Booysen) which was unsustainable upon information at his disposal. When the applicant responded with detailed and motivated submissions to the notice of intention to suspend him, the respondent effectively ignored these and proceeded with the suspension in any event. When the applicant instituted the present application to set aside the suspension, the respondent doggedly opposed the relief,” read the judgment.

On the issue of costs, the judge found that an order for costs against Ntlemeza personally would be justified. He said Ntlemeza’s conduct “nevertheless deserves censure and as a mark of the court’s disapproval I consider that costs on the scale between attorney and client would be justified”.

Daily News

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Six medical negligence claims against the KZN MECs for health and social development, totalling more than R76m were heard this week.

Durban - Six medical negligence claims against the MECs for health and social development, totalling more than R76 million, came before the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday.

The claims, arising from 2006 to 2011 cases, were similar in nature and the Health and Social Development departments had been cited because both controlled and operated the health-care facilities the women had gone to, to give birth, according to court papers.

In five of the claims, the mothers had endured several days of labour in circumstances in which a Caesarean section was needed.

The procedures were eventually performed too late, or the mothers gave birth naturally when the Caesareans ought to have been performed.

As a result, the babies suffered from cerebral palsy, mental retardation and epilepsy due to a lack of oxygen during labour. Each mother was suing the department for R12.8 million.

Two of the women had given birth at Charles Johnson Memorial Hospital in Nqutu; one at the Gunjaneni Clinic, Hlabisa; another at the Rietvlei Hospital, near Umzimkhulu; and one at the Kwadabeka Community Health Centre Hospital, in Clermont.

In the last claim, the mother, from Port Shepstone, attended the Murchison Hospital to give birth. She visited the hospital for check-ups from February to May 2010 and was treated and examined by nursing and medical staff.

On her first visit, she was diagnosed as being anaemic and, on the last visit, of having high blood pressure.

On May 20, she was admitted to the hospital to give birth. While in labour, she was not given oxygen or medication to decrease the intensity of her contractions while being prepared for a C-section.

Her blood pressure had also not been properly monitored. As a result, the child suffered brain damage. The woman was suing for R12.2 million.

In all of the cases, the child’s medical conditions were allegedly caused as a result of medical negligence by hospital staff. The claims were for estimated future, hospital, medical and related expenses; future loss of earnings and employment; and pain and suffering.

All the matters were adjourned for more papers to be filed.

It had been reported last month that medical negligence claims in the province had rocketed in the past eight years. There was more than R5 billion in pending claims and the number of cases had risen from 50 in 2008 (more than R3 million in claims), to more than 350 this year.

The article said that, according to a confidential document, the highest number of claims came from obstetrics and gynaecology, with the second-highest number from paediatrics.

A Health Department senior official quoted in the report said fewer doctors wanted to train for specialities such as obstetrics and gynaecology as they were considered “high risk” for malpractice claims.

“A lot of claims have to do with the quality of care, attitudes and unavailability of medicines and when it comes to children people will not back down,” said the source.

The Mercury

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A "traditional healer" allegedly advised Nawaaz Khan's friend that an Indian head could help solve his problems.

Durban - A man accused of attacking a friend with a bush knife and decapitating him for muti to mend his broken relationship with his girlfriend, visited the victim’s mother a week later, promising to help find her missing son.

But hours later, the 21-year-old – a friend of promising Umzinto cricketer Nawaaz Khan – allegedly broke down in tears and led an off duty policeman to a field in neighbouring Isonti where the cricketer’s headless body was found.

It would only be three days later that Umzinto detectives and forensic experts were able to recover Khan’s head at a gumtree plantation in Ellingham, adjacent to the N2 freeway in Park Reynie.

It is believed the accused, Thandowakhe Duma, consulted with a traditional healer, Elias Sihle Mchunu, 31, (nicknamed ‘Maak ’n Plan’) who requested an Indian human head to help solve his problems with his girlfriend and his family.

Both men allegedly lured Khan, who was intellectually impaired, to Isonti, attacked him with a bush knife and beheaded him.

His cellular phone, sneakers and clothing were taken.

Duma, who visited Khan’s mother a week later and promised to help find her son, was arrested and charged with murder. He appeared in the Umzinto Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday and the case was adjourned until Thursday.

Mchunu was also arrested and investigations led detectives to where the buried head was recovered. It was placed in several plastic shopping bags and was in an advanced stated of decomposition. The head was taken to the Park Reynie state mortuary where tissue samples were obtained for forensic analysis, and released to the family on Monday.

A third suspect, a security guard, was arrested in Umzinto last Thursday after he led police to bushes opposite Gandhinagar, the area where Khan lived, and pointed out the headless body of a woman.

He then led the police to another location in the vicinity where a plastic shopping bag containing decomposed crushed bones was recovered. Forensic tests will determine if the bones in the bag are those of the deceased woman.

The suspect, Mveliso Eric Nqini, 36, appeared in court on Monday and the case was adjourned to November 23. Police are investigating all three men in connection with Khan’s killing.

Khan’s mother, Zakia, put on a brave face when POST visited her on Friday. She spoke proudly about her cricket-loving son, his disappearance, Duma’s visit and learning how Khan had died.

“Nawaaz was humble and soft spoken. He was intellectually challenged, which meant he was a slow learner.

“After attending an Islamic school, he was enrolled at Schola Amoris school for children with special needs. What he may have lacked in the classroom, he made up for on the sports field,” she said with a smile.

“Nawaaz loved cricket and when he was little, he would give advice to others on how to play better. He lived and breathed the game.”

According to reports, Khan played cricket at a social level until 2003, when he was enrolled at Schola Amoris. In 2005 he started playing professional cricket for Saints Cricket Club and at provincial and national level for KAZNA-II.

He found himself playing a developmental role in the South African squad from 2010 until 2013, when he made the SA team.

She said Khan was a patriotic South African supporter.

His favourite cricketer and hero was Proteas Durban-born batsman, Hashim Amla. “In 2013, while at a national awards function in Johannesburg, not only did he win Cricket South Africa’s Intellectually Impaired Cricketer of Year trophy, but he met Hashim, who presented him with the award.

“The function was screened live on television but I was unable to watch it. I remember Nawaaz called me later and said ‘Mummy guess what, I met Hashim Amla’. He was on top of the world. It’s only then that I realised how talented he was. I felt so proud.”

She said a teacher who accompanied Khan to the function took a cellphone video of him receiving the award.

Zakia said Khan was selected to play at the Cricket World Cup in Australia for the intellectually impaired but was unable to attend due to financial constraints. His dream was to play for the Proteas.

She said that after Khan matriculated, he struggled to secure a job.

“It was hard for him to think and read invoices. But he found a job putting up fences, which he did for a year. Then there was nothing until he got a job six months ago as a conductor for a trucking business. He would travel to Umtata, Kokstad and Richards Bay with the driver. They were away a few days in the week. Although he enjoyed his job, he told me he feared for his life because he spent so much time on the road.”

Zakia last saw her son on Friday, October 30. “He was at my mother’s home. I arrived in the afternoon with cakes and he said he wanted a slice with cooldrink. My sister’s daughter took it to him outside. I thought it strange that he preferred to sit by himself than with us inside.

“Normally he would tell my mother he was leaving but he finished eating and left. When I arrived at my home at 9pm he was there watching TV. He said he needed money for ground fees for cricket.”

She said the following morning (Saturday, October 31), he left the house, while they were asleep. He visited a family friend briefly around 6.45am and told her he was going to meet a policeman at the nearby shopping centre and they were going to Durban.

“The friend said Nawaaz was wearing pants, a striped shirt and takkies. It was strange because he generally wore shorts and T-shirts.” She tried calling him over the weekend to find out where he was, but there was no response. “I assumed he went to work.”

She said she met one of the drivers Nawaaz worked with on Monday (November 2). “He said he had not seen Nawaaz and that’s when I began to worry.”

She continued to call his cellular phone, which went unanswered.

“Nawaaz received a disability grant, which he collected on the first of the month. So I called the offices on Thursday (November 5) to see if he picked up his money, but he had not. I then began to panic.

“Early on Friday (November 6), I went to the GJ Crooks Hospital. I thought he was in an accident. I went to the state mortuary in Park Reynie and called other hospitals. That’s when I reported him missing.” She said the driver she spoke to visited her home on Saturday morning.

“He said his colleague saw Nawaaz’s friend (Duma) in Port Shepstone trying to sell a pair of takkies (the same brand Khan wore). His face was apparently scratched.

“He told the driver he was in a fight with his girlfriend and needed money to return to Umzinto. But the driver went somewhere and when he returned, Duma was gone.”

Later that day, Duma arrived at Zakia’s mother’s home.

“He asked me what happened as the police were looking for him. He said he last saw Nawaaz on Saturday (October 31) from 9am to noon at the grounds in Gandhinagar and that Nawaaz did not go with him to Port Shepstone.

He even told me ‘don’t worry aunty, I will help you look for him’.” That, said Zakia, was the first time she had spoken to Duma.

She said an off-duty policeman, Khan’s friend, questioned Duma later that day and he (Duma) ended up crying. He allegedly told the policeman he would take him to where the body could be found.

They went to a reservoir in Gandhinagar. “But then he (Duma) refused to show the policeman the body. That’s when the officer called for back-up.”

Khan’s body was found.

Zakia was in Umkomaas at the time looking for son. “I got a call that a body had been found and was badly decomposed. I started crying because I knew it was my son.”

She only found out the following day (November 8) that her son’s head was severed from his body, and that a ‘traditional healer’ allegedly advised Duma that an Indian head was required to solve his problems.

Khan’s head was found on Tuesday evening (November 10).

“What kind of a heart did these people have to have done this?” she asked. “I want justice and that they get a life sentence. My son did not deserve to die like this.”

She believed a woman, whose headless body was found last week, was linked to her son’s case.

Khan was buried at the Umzinto Cemetery.

Local councillor Shamila Sookhraj said the incident had “shocked the entire community”.

The Post

Neren Bhagwandass is lucky to be alive after he was stripped, taken on a terror ride, stabbed and left for dead.

Durban - Hijack victim Neren Bhagwandass is lucky to be alive after he was stripped down to his underwear, taken on a terror ride, stabbed and left for dead in a sugar cane field in Esenembe on the North Coast.

A week after his ordeal, Bhagwandass, pictured, is recovering at St Augustine’s Hospital.

He now believes it was his faith in God that kept him alive during the 12 hour saga.

The 46 year old had left his Gandhi’s Hill home in oThongathi (Tongaat) on Friday night around 9.30pm to go to a garage to buy bread and cigarettes. He was travelling in an Opel Corsa.

When he failed to return home his wife Nirasha and children Alona, 21, and Akshay, 17, became concerned and alerted family who searched for him, but to no avail. In the meantime Bhagwandass had been hijacked at a stop street on Main Road in oThongathi minutes after leaving the garage.

Describing his attackers as merciless and callous, Bhagwandass said he clearly remembered the coldness of the pistol against his head and a deep voice telling him to move to the passenger’s seat.

As he began to move, another accomplice jumped into the car and on to the same seat Bhagwandass had occupied.

“I was squashed between the two men,” he said. “I was afraid, so I told them to take the car, my money and my cellphone and leave me alone, but they refused. They started assaulting me with the butts of their guns and threatened to slit my throat.”

Bhagwandass said the men drove for 20 minutes before stopping to pick up a third accomplice.

“I was instructed to remove all my clothes except for my boxers (underwear). Using my belt, they tied my hands and shoved me to the back of the vehicle.

“I was made to sit on the floor in a kneeling position with my head down. The third suspect sat on top of me. He beat me on my head throughout our journey.”

Bhagwandass said he knew he had to escape and when the men stopped the vehicle for the second time he planned to make a getaway.

“We all got out of the vehicle and I managed to break free from the belt. The men saw this and stabbed me in the chest. I fought back and was stabbed twice on my back. I was bleeding profusely and could not move. The men sped off in my vehicle.”

Certain he was going to die, Bhagwandass started to pray.

“I could not move. I was hurt so badly. I just prayed for help. The next day at around midday I was found by a man who lived nearby. He called for assistance and a number of people came to assist me.”

He said a towing vehicle transported him to hospital.

“By this time my family, who had been searching the area and different hospitals and morgues, were alerted. I am so thankful to be alive. This was a terrible experience, I would never wish it on anyone.”

Head of Reaction Unit SA, Prem Balram said that during the night his officers had searched everywhere, includ-ing hospitals, but to no avail.

“During the early hours of the morning a passerby found Bhagwandass lying on a dirt road with stab wounds to his back and chest. Bhagwandass managed to give the person his family’s telephone number,” said Balram.

He said the victim was in a critical condition and was rushed to hospital. He was now reported in a stable condition.

Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said a case of hijacking was being investigated. No arrests had been made.

Chairman of the Tongaat Policing Forum, Moses Mabaso, said as the festive season was approaching, hijackings and robberies were increasing in the area. The forum would be educating people on safety. He advised motorists to be vigilant, lock all doors and keep windows closed.

The Post

A court ruling has nullified two marriages a popular radio DJ entered into without the knowledge of his first wife.

Durban - In a victory for women married in terms of customary law, a Durban High Court ruling on Wednesday nullified two marriages that a popular radio DJ and television presenter, Ngizwe Brian Mchunu, had entered into without the knowledge of his first wife and contrary to the law.

Provisions of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act – which sets down the rules for men wishing to take more than one wife – are rarely adhered to and observers believe Wednesday’s order will cast fresh light on what is legal and what is not.

In particular, the act stipulates that any man wishing to take another wife must first make an application to court to approve a written contract regulating the future matrimonial property system of the marriages.

In the matter which came before Durban High Court Judge Johan Ploos van Amstel on Wednesday – and which The Mercury has previously reported on – Siphelele Nxumalo complained that Mchunu, an Ukhozi FM DJ and Roots presenter, whom she married in May 2012, had entered into another customary marriage the following year with Lindiwe Khuzwayo.

She then discovered that he had married a third time, in a civil union in October last year, when wife number three – Nqobile Mthimkulu, sent her a text message telling her about it.

In her affidavit before the court, Nxumalo – who was 25 when she married – said she was heavily pregnant when she heard from her sister-in-law that Mchunu had married again “without my knowledge and definitely without my consent”. This was the marriage to Khuzwayo.

She said she had been forced to attend the traditional official family handing over and welcoming “as if I had given my consent” and she had been belittled and embarrassed because it had been widely covered in the press.

She said her husband had never submitted the required contract to court and she was “terribly unhappy” but powerless to do anything about it.

She then learnt of this third “civil marriage” to Mthimkulu, for which she too had not given permission and which was illegal because the law stated that a civil marriage could not co-exist simultaneously with a customary marriage. It meant this marriage effectively superseded the two customary marriages.

“When I married under customary law I always considered it a possibility that he would want to take a second wife. I did not, however, expect and nor can I accept that he would flaunt our custom, customary law and the law of the country,” she said.

When the case first came before court last month, Mthimkulu attended and said she needed time to seek legal advice. She did not file any opposing papers.

On Wednesday Khuzwayo was at court and said she did not oppose the application.

A spokesman for the Legal Resources Centre, which handled the matter, said both “traditional wives” were “extremely excited” by the outcome of the case.

Mchunu did not oppose the application and has agreed to fulfilling all legal requirements from now on. Contacted on Wednesday, he did not want to comment further.

A BLOW TO PATRIARCHY - By The editor of the Mercury

When The Mercury first ran the story on Siphelele Nxumalo taking the matter to court asking that the marriages her husband, Ngizwe Brian Mchunu, had entered into without her knowledge or permission be annulled as a front page lead, some of our readers called in and others wrote letters complaining that we had taken a gossip tabloid turn.

We believe that the reaction missed the point of the story, which was to highlight how customary marriages can negatively impact on women.

It is for this reason that we have taken the unusual approach of writing a front page editorial to go with the story.

Our choice of the story, then and now, was not about the sensation pertaining to the lead character in this drama being a popular entertainment industry figure, but rather to highlight an ongoing gender injustice that many other women probably suffer in silence and endure in the name of culture and tradition.

We hope that those readers who complained about our first story will have a deeper appreciation of what the issues are and, whether or not they know of, or are interested in, the personalities involved, see this, as we do, as a matter of human rights and striking a blow against patriarchy and male privilege.

If you are still not convinced, our letters pages are yours for your input and engagement or use IOL’s Facebook and Twitter pages to comment. See links below.

The Mercury

The Education Department has backed down and agreed to scrap this year's Annual National Assessments for schools.

Durban - The Annual National Assessment (ANA) of schools has been scrapped this year.

Instead, schools will decide if and when they wish to assess pupils in a manner appropriate to the school.

The school will also mark the tests and the results will be for the school’s own internal diagnostic purposes – and it will not be compulsory.

This is the core of an agreement between five teacher unions and the Department of Basic Education, overseen by the Education Labour Relations Council – and which was due to be signed on Thursday.

The unions and the Education Department have been at loggerheads for months over the assessments, with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga insisting children write the exams on December 1. Unions swore this would not happen.

The Education Department has now stepped back and agreed that a sample of ANA tests will be administered by an independent agent at 2 100 schools across the country. Dates for these are to be released within five days.

These sample tests will be marked by an outside agency – not teachers.

Basic Education spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said Motshekga was to meet the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) – the nine MECs – on Thursday morning before issuing a statement, because the mediation process was to conclude on Thursday.

“The mediation process is still ongoing. They met on Tuesday and they will meet again on Thursday. The minister is also meeting the CEM, so there will be a statement issued after that meeting,” he said.

The department is to announce the criteria for the selected schools, and the criteria used to select independent “agents” by next week.

The teacher unions – Sadtu, Naptosa, SAOU, Natu and PEU – vowed in September that none of their members would administer the ANAs, while Motshekga insisted the assessments would be written.

She had agreed with unions weeks earlier that the ANAs would not be written this year, before being swayed by the MECs.

The draft agreement reads: “The agent will be responsible for the administration and collection of the tests, marking of the tests and the final resulting and reporting.

“Teachers will not be involved in this process. In the selected schools the writing of the ANA as described will be optional for learners who are not part of the sample.”

It is understood that the sample for each selected school is only 25 pupils per school.

“The department is reluctant to issue the names of the schools until the test is written, to minimise the risk of the sample being compromised by prepping,” the agreement reads.

A union member, who spoke to the Daily News on Wednesday, said they were happy to put the ANA issue behind them.

He explained that the sampled ANA was to make sure the department met its obligations with the Treasury, because more than R200 million had been allocated for the writing of the assessments this financial year.

“The mediation has run its course after weeks of behind-the-scenes discussions and debates. We meet again today when we will put a final proposal on the table which is based on the inputs of the last few weeks,” he said.

“The passage of time has caught up with us, there was no way we were going to be able to write in December, and the minister has realised that trying to force the issue puts her up against the unions and teachers, and it is the principals who would have been the easiest target in all of this because they would have clashed with teachers,” he said.

Education analysts welcomed the compromise, saying it was a step in the right direction.

Dr Vijay Reddy, head of the research programme on Education and Skills Development at the Human Sciences Research Council, said it was a “reasonable compromise situation” that could benefit schools

“Everybody was sceptical about the extent to which national assessment would be carried out. Given the timing of the assessment, when schools had finished exams, it was very difficult to get pupils into the mode of studying for something after their exams. Some don’t come in to schools after exams, so you are not going to get a a fair assessment,” Reddy said.

Dr Nick Taylor, of JET education services, said: “The primary use of these tests should be for teachers and schools themselves so that they can improve their teaching.”

Principals and their deputies at six Durban schools admitted confusion and frustration over the ANA issue.

The principals and schools are not being named to protect them from being sanctioned by the department.

One south Durban high school principal said they were prepared to write the assessments despite the tensions it could possibly cause.

“We have to divorce ourselves from union matters once we are principals, we have to apply the rules of the employer that are sent to us. As a school we have had no discussion with teachers, but we have a loyal staff complement, we are hoping that although the timing of the ANAs is terrible this year, that they will administer the exams,” said the principal.

Another principal said “everything is up in the air” and said they had to carry out their duties.

“It’s tough because nobody wants to be sanctioned by the department, so we have to go ahead with it.”

A Morningside primary school principal said they were ready to administer the exams.

“We are in the dark with a lot of the information, but until anything changes we are writing,” he said.

A Chatsworth principal said the situation was tense because most of the teachers at the school were part of unions and had already insisted they would not oversee exams.

A Shallcross principal said they were told they would not write until next year.

Daily News

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A bus and car collided in a rural area near Newcastle killing a girl and a man, emergency medical services said.

Newcastle – A bus and car collided in a rural area near Newcastle, Kwazulu Natal, on Thursday morning, killing two people and injuring eight, emergency medical services said on Thursday.

EMS spokesperson Robert McKenzie said the accident happened on the Madadeni/Osiweni road in the Amajuba district.

Eight people, travelling in the bus were being treated for injuries. Four were in a serious condition, while the other four sustained minor injuries, he said.

All of the victims were stabilised on the scene and taken to local hospitals for further treatment.

McKenzie said the bus landed on top of the car and rescue crews had to lift the bus to get to a girl, aged between 6 and 8 years old, and a man aged about 60 years old. He could not confirm whether the two occupants of the car were related. Both died at the scene.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

ANA

A physically-challenged Durban man has shown determination by writing his final examination with his toes.

Durban - A physically-challenged Durban man has shown what grit and determination can accomplish… by writing his final examination with his toes.

Nkosinathi Duma, 28, on Wednesday completed the three-hour economic management science paper at the Hope Adult Education Centre in Wentworth.

Duma was born with his arms folded behind his back and cannot use them.

Instead he balances on his hands on a piece of cloth, while seated on the classroom floor.

When the examination invigilator placed the question paper before him, Duma gently flipped through the paper with his toes.

After a minute, he wrote his name and examination number on the top of the page before answering the questions.

Duma also uses a calculator with his toes. He walks without the aid of crutches.

He grew up in foster care until he found a home at Merewent Cheshire Home.

The Hope Adult Education Centre uses the Stella Hill Memorial Trust dining hall complex at the Merewent Cheshire Home to teach students.

They use a few old woodwork and dining room tables as desks even though the height of these desks makes it difficult for the students to reach.

For the exam, they used the Internship Fellowship school classroom, but Duma was unable to find a suitable chair and table, and sat on the floor.

The school principal, Mandisa Radebe, said the students wrote the Adult Basic Education and Training level four examinations, which were equivalent to matric. She has 10 students in the level four class.

“Duma is intelligent and we are trying to build his self-esteem to do even better. His situation is very different to people, so he is shy. He has been with us for two years. He uses a computer efficiently,” she said.

Duma, who talks very little, has already written the English, life orientation, maths literacy, and travel and tourism examination papers.

On Wednesday, he was given an additional 15 minutes to complete the exam.

“He has all the information but not enough time to write. If we had a computer and printer for pupils, it would make it easier. They can type the answers and we can print them all under the watchful eye of invigilators,” she said.

If they pass, these students will join the national senior certificate for adults at the Technical Vocational Education Tech, for skills development, next year.

Radebe said the school needed desks that were “wheelchair and physically-challenged friendly”. They also needed computers and a printer. The school has five teachers who teach 10 students each on different levels for two hours a day.

“Adult centres never recognise disabilities, so there is a lack of equipment. There is a small chair and desk that could be provided to people with these challenges, but we cannot afford it. We also don’t have wheelchair ramps.

“We need more time with the learners. We appeal for donors from businesses or individuals,” Radebe said.

Nkanyezi Cele, co-ordinator of the uMlazi District of the Department of Higher Education Training (DHET), said Duma did not sit back because of his disability – he was self-motivated.

S’bongile Phakathi, acting principal of community college DHET, said it was amazing that Duma had managed to train himself through self-motivation.

Phakathi was monitoring the exam on behalf of the provincial education department.

Daily News

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A major restructuring of the police is in the making because the current one is “too expensive.”

Cape Town - A major restructuring of the police is in the making – splitting recently merged divisions, removing crime intelligence from direct accountability to the national commissioner, and establishing a new management intervention structure to deal with problems at provincial and station levels.

This emerged on Wednesday before Parliament’s police committee, where the IFP and Freedom Front Plus questioned whether these proposals meant suspended national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega was out of a job – regardless of what a pending inquiry into her fitness for office may find.

However, ANC MPs rallied around the police top brass and Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko and his deputy, with ANC MP Leonard Ramatlakane pointing out that an acting police national commissioner had the same powers as a permanently-appointed incumbent.

Nhleko told MPs there was no governance which relied on one individual. “The danger we face as government today is the question of personality cult,” he said, adding authority did not follow an individual.

And acting national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane added the current structure was “too expensive”: the previously created divisions required a lieutenant-general in charge, two major-generals and more offices. The proposed structure was informed by the police’s needs, overcame current “dysfunctionalities” and was effective and efficient. “It was critical for us to split policing (into two divisions),” said Phahlane. “The proposal is informed by our need to improve on our efficiency and effectiveness.”

The proposals are effectively the third restructuring in five years from 2010 under then national police commissioner Bheki Cele and the changes introduced last year by Phiyega. This year’s proposals include:

- Establish a new division – national management intervention – under a deputy national commissioner to deal with challenges and priority areas, with three regional commissioners who will each be responsible for three provinces. This division will include the police’s inspectorate.

- Four other deputy national police commissioners for policing (including visible policing, operational response services and protection and security services), crime detection (crime intelligence will be moved here alongside detectives and forensics), human resources, asset and legal management (including supply change management, facilities, information technology and a centralised legal and policy division).

- Presidential protection services, internal audit and the crime registrar remain directly accountable to the national police commissioner.

Phahlane said this was a “flat” structure, which would enable police to make an impact. However, there are no deadlines for implementing the restructuring. Labour and others still needed to be “engaged”.

In 2010 there were five deputy national commissioners: operational services, crime detection, physical resource management, human resource management and a chief operations officer. Last year the chief operations officer post was abolished and the number of deputy national police commissioners reduced to three by various mergers: policing, resource management and corporate services. Crime intelligence was moved to directly account to the national police commissioner, to whom communications, internal audit and presidential protection services directly reported.

Police committee chairman Francois Beukman said effective policing was key: “This structure deals with this very directly – back to basics. We will monitor it”.

Cape Argus

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A man who shot his girlfriend 13 times after discovering he was not the father of her child, has been sentenced.

Durban - A man who shot his girlfriend 13 times after discovering he was not the father of her child, has been sentenced to 25 years for her murder.

Sifiso Ngubo, 30, who had pleaded not guilty to the murder, committed on December 14 last year, later confessed before Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Nkosinathi Chili to shooting Zinhle Ndlovu.

 Ngubo had initially pleaded not guilty to the murder claiming amnesia.

He had shot himself in the head in an attempt to kill himself immediately after killing Ndlovu, 25, and told the court on Monday that he could not remember what happened.

But on Tuesday he made formal admissions before Judge Chili, detailing why and how Ndlovu was shot.

Ndlovu worked and lived at the popular tourist destination, Umzimkhulu River Lodge, in Underberg, while Ngubo was employed as a security guard in the area.

In his admissions, read out in court by his legal aid advocate, Xolani Sindane, Ngubo revealed that he and Ndlovu were involved in a relationship for many years and had a child.

The relationship deteriorated when Ngubo discovered that she was having an affair. However, he said that he approached her about the issue, and after she admitted her infidelity, the couple resolved their differences and decided to remain together.

The problem arose when Ndlovu fell pregnant with her second child.

“I had reservations about whether the child was mine, and did not believe she was telling the truth about the paternity,” Ngubo said.

He said on December 14, he called Ndlovu at her home and asked her about the child’s paternity.

He said Ndlovu admitted that the child was not his, and told him to visit her later that night so they could talk about it.

Ngubo said on that afternoon he was participating in a pool competition with his friends, and they drank alcohol.

Later that night, he became very angry at Ndlovu’s admission that he was not the child’s father, and decided to kill her.

He said he went to the lodge, armed with his firearm, and shot her several times as he entered her home.

He then turned the gun on himself after realising what he had done.

He survived his suicide attempt with severe injuries and woke up in hospital several days later.

Chili said on Wednesday that while he accepted that Ngubo was angry at Ndlovu for lying to him, there was no justification for killing her.

Daily News

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A traditional healer and his accomplice, accused of beheading a KZN cricketer, have abandoned their bail application.

Durban - A traditional healer and his accomplice accused of beheading an intellectually impaired cricketer abandoned their bail application in the Umzinto Magistrate’s court on Thursday.

The tiny court room was packed to capacity with people peering through the courtroom windows to get a glimpse of Elias Mchunu and Thando Duma.

Legal Aid lawyer Mongezi Dimba told Magistrate Veliswa Dube that neither of the accused were proceeding with their bail application.

They each face a charge of murder and theft in relation to the death of Khan.

It is alleged that Duma, a friend of Khan, lured Khan from his home in Umzinto’s Gandhinagar area to a secluded area in a forest where he and Mchunu then hacked him to death before beheading him.

The headless body of Khan, who was reported missing on October 31, was found on November 9 in the local Isonti woods. Khan’s head was found at a gumtree plantation in Ellingham near the N2, next to the coastal town of Park Rynie.

About 100 people gathered outside the court to protest against the killing with some carrying placards.

The matter was postponed to December 14 for further investigation.

Prosecutor Nandumio Cele told the court that police were still awaiting various reports, including photos from the two crime scenes as well as DNA evidence.

Mchunu also appeared in the same court on a kidnapping charge.

Police spokesman Brigadier Jay Naicker said that after Mchunu was arrested another person came forward, claiming he had been kidnapped by Mchunu, prior to Khan’s disappearance. The victim, also from the Umzinto area, managed to escape.

A third suspect, a security guard, has been arrested in connection with the Khan case.

Naicker said that Mveleso Nqini, who appeared briefly in court on Monday, led police to the headless body of a woman, located in some bushes near the Gandhinagar area — the same area where Khan lived.

He is also alleged to have led police to another area where crushed bones were recovered. Police have yet to determine whether these bones belong to the deceased woman, identified as 39-year old Albertina Gambushe.

ANA

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KZN's top cop is under fire for appointing her "under qualified" former PA to the position of lieutenant-colonel.

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, came under fire on Wednesday after a newspaper report that she had appointed her “under-qualified” former personal assistant to the position of lieutenant-colonel.

This was not well received in some quarters of the police service, said at least one senior officer, who asked to remain anonymous.

“Officers talk in hushed tones about this appointment and that’s dangerous for this field. People must be free to talk about things. How would you feel if you were overlooked for promotion, while an under-qualified and inexperienced person gets the pat on the back?” asked the officer.

Ian Cameron, spokesman for AfriForum, said he had written to the acting national police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane, on Tuesday to request a review of the appointment.

“This appointment is tarnishing the image of the police service. That she is under investigation from two fronts, commissioner Ngobeni is trying to create a structure of loyal people around her, people that will stand by her should she be hauled before inquiries on the two investigations against her,” Cameron said.

The DA and the NFP also threw in their weight for the review of the appointment.

Both parties said the appointment was likely to destroy the morale of “hard-working” officers.

The Witness reported on Monday that Agatha Nozipho Sikhakhane, Ngobeni’s assistant while she was area commissioner in Ulundi, had a Grade 10 certificate.

When the position was advertised, minimum requirements were Grade 12 and a driving licence.

“We want answers. Lieutenant-General Ngobeni needs to be treated in the same manner as Riah Phiyega,” Cameron said.

Ngobeni is under investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for her relationship with controversial Durban businessman, Toshan Panday.

She is also being investigated for her open support of suspended national commissioner, Phiyega.

Phiyega was suspended pending an investigation into how she handled the Marikana unrest in 2012 where 34 miners were shot dead.

Ngobeni could not be reached for comment and she did not return messages sent to her phone.

Her spokesman, Brigadier Jay Naicker, said the appointment was made after a panel made the recommendation and sent it to the national office.

He said the matter was referred to the national office for arbitration after a dispute was lodged, and that the matter was now sub judice. Questions about the appointment process and Sikhakhane’s qualifications were not answered.

National police spokesman, Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, said: “We don’t dispute recommendations made for such positions, so the province must respond to all your questions.”

Daily News

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Scrap metal dealers attacked a group of metro police in Springfield Park, hurling petrol bombs and stones at them.

Durban - Scrap metal dealers attacked a group of metro police in Springfield Park on Wednesday, hurling petrol bombs and stones at them, which ended with two policemen in hospital and a metro police vehicle burned out.

About 10 of the metro policemen who went to deal with the dealers were unarmed when Wednesday’s incident happened at the Bisasar Road landfill site.

The SAPS rushed to the scene, with officers from Sydenham station as well as the Public Order Police unit responding, spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said.

About 30 people were behind the attack.

They set a metro police vehicle alight after officers tried to prevent them from collecting scrap metal at the dump site, Zwane said.

Police were originally dispatched to the scene because the dealers, who were harassing vehicles approaching the site and people passing by, were posing a danger to the public.

According to an officer at the scene, the police were attacked with petrol bombs and stones.

The SAPS are investigating public violence and malicious damage to property.

One official, who asked not to be named, said the incident was “sheer negligence” on the part of those in charge of the operation.

“And it was not an emergency response kind of thing, the operation was well planned,” he said. “But there was no back-up plan, no evacuation plan. One wonders if there was any sort of operational plan in the first place.”

The hospitalised officers suffered minor injuries and were discharged the same day.

Daily News

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