PDF

SEXUAL ABUSE at PMB school: readers share their views
PAGE 6
THE ISSUES SA women care the most about PAGE 14
90 and still teaching PAGE 3
I BUY
cars and BakkIes
old or new
Phone ajaY
082 966 2384
The Witness
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2016 R6,50 (incl vat)
Man found slain in car
Taxi driver with bullet wounds found at N3 crash site
THE closing date for entries to The Witness True Stories of KZN is at 3 pm on Wednes­
day, August 24, leaving just days to send us your story that proves KwaZulu­Natal is unique, more special and infinitely more in­
teresting than the rest of South Africa. Now in its 18th year, the competition has
four categories: Open — with a prize of R12 000 for stories of 1 500 words or fewer, and Snapshot, Schools and Opinion, which have a prize of R4 000 each and are for sto­
ries that are under 800 words. The winners will be announced in November. All stories must be true and have a strong link to KwaZulu­Natal.
RULES
• State clearly which category you are enter­
ing.
• Stories may be submitted via e­mail or post. Send your entries to: The Witness True Stories of KwaZulu­Natal Competition, P.O. Box 362, Pietermaritzburg, 3200, or e­mail trues­
[email protected] quoting “True Story com­
petition” in the subject line.
• Do not enclose visuals.
• Please include your contact details in any e­mail attachment; not just in the message field.
• Be sure of your entry before you send it — “improved” versions won’t be accepted.
• Editing is at the discretion of The Wit­
ness.
• Manuscripts will not be returned.
• The competition is not open to salaried employees of The Witness.
CHELSEA PIETERSE and FUNDO MAJOZI
AN accident on the N3 resulting in the
discovery of a dead Pietermaritzburg
taxi driver with four bullet wounds in
his head at the weekend has so far raised
more questions than answers. Sobantu metered taxi driver Bon­
gani Simelane (50) was found on the
back seat of a white Toyota on the N3
just after the Ohrtmann Road off­ramp
on Saturday morning.
Mountain Rise police spokesperson
Captain Gay Ebrahim said yesterday
that the Toyota was seen speeding
down the off­ramp onto the N3, fol­
lowed closely by a grey Corsa bakkie.
As the Toyota joined the freeway, it
hit the back of a truck, before spinning
and crashing into the roadside barrier.
Ebrahim said the truck driver whose
vehicle was hit by the Toyota reported
having seen a man climbing out of the
crumpled car after it hit the barrier.
“The man climbed out of the Toyota
and ran across the road. He then ran
back to the Toyota before the Corsa
bakkie stopped next to the car and then
sped away.”
Ebrahim said the truck driver, along
with another truck driver who stopped
at the roadside as the incident unfold­
ed, approached the Toyota where they
found a man with four bullet wounds
to the back of the head curled up in a
foetal position on the back seat of the
car.
Police and traffic officers swarmed
to the site, cordoning off the scene and
reducing the N3 southbound highway
to a single lane for a few hundred me­
tres.
There were blood stains visible on
the front passenger door and the back
door.
Police combed the area and proc­
essed the vehicle for fingerprints and
any other evidence that might explain
the mysterious circumstances behind
Simelane’s death.
It is believed that Simelane was
found in possession of his wallet and
his cellphone, and nothing appeared to
have been stolen from the vehicle.
One police source close to the inves­
tigation said that it was suspected that
Simelane’s death was possibly the re­
sult of a hijacking, but this could not
be confirmed.
Simelane’s family members mean­
while told The Witness they believed his
murder was linked to tensions within
the metered taxi industry.
A relative of Simelane, who asked not
to be named, said the metered taxi driv­
er was last seen by his mother and other
relatives early on Friday morning be­
fore heading to work.
Simelane, who was the breadwinner
in his family, would always come home
after work. However, that day he did
not return and the family did not re­
ceive any calls or texts from him, the
relative said.
“We believe he was hijacked in town
SEND US YOUR TRUE STORIES OF KZN ENTRIES
Contact us Distribution: 033 355 1366
General: 033 355 1111
Fax: 033 355 1122
Website: www.witness.co.za
Letters: [email protected]
16822
Cast in gold
South Africa’s Caster Semenya smiles after winning the gold medal in the women’s 800 metre final at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday. After the race Semneya wrote on Facebook: ‘To my fellow South Africans. Here is OUR medal. WE made it!’. Complete coverage of the race and aftermath: page 20
PHOTO: AP
9 771023 525009
Not a great Olympics for Maritzburg­linked athletes
THE 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games was not a happy hunting ground for athletes with links to Pietermaritzburg, with Gillan San­
ders perhaps showing the best per­
formance in the women’s triathlon.
The Johannesburg­born Sanders,
who grew up in Pietermaritzburg, was one of two South African women in the triathlon that saw Mari Rabie finish in a very credible 11th place.
Maritzburg United’s Deolin Mekoa
was another local who took part in Rio. And he will not be happy with how the national under­23 football side fared as they finished bottom of their group and failed to qualify for the knockout stages.
However, their campaign did have
one highlight, in that they held eventual gold medal winners Brazil to a goalless draw, with Mekoa do­
ing well to keep Manchester United and Chelsea target Gabriel Barbosa quiet on the night. Mekoa started all three of those games, and his form in Brazil helped him earn a call­up to the senior national squad announced last week.
Kwanda Mngonyama, Mekoa’s team­mate at United last season, was also a part of the squad, al­
though his involvement was limited to 72 minutes against Denmark in the second game. The defender, who has now returned to parent club Mamelodi Sundowns, was an unused substitute in the games against Brazil and Iraq.
Also on the football front, Rox­
anne Barker was part of Banyana Banyana’s disastrous campaign that saw them also finish bottom of their group with just one point from three games. The former Pep­
perdine University star started all three games, despite being blamed for a very costly error in their open­
ing game on August 3, which they lost 1­0 to Sweden.
Marc Mundell took part in the men’s 50 km walk and finished in a credible 38th place out of the 80 athletes who started the race.
— Compiled by Lunga Biyela.
“We believe he was hijacked in town after work on Friday night. “We think these men drove him around town ...”
after work on Friday night,” said the rel­
ative. “We think these men drove him
around town and that he had already
been killed by the time the vehicle hit
the truck.”
The relative added that the family
believed Simelane’s death may have
been related to enemies within the taxi
industry.
However, Ebrahim said it was un­
clear at this stage what the motive for
Simelane’s murder was.
She added that it had not yet been
confirmed yet exactly when Simelane
was shot, or who was driving the vehi­
cle when it hit the back of the truck.
She said the investigation is ongo­
ing.
• [email protected]
BONGANI SIMELANE’S MOTHER REACTS — PAGE 5
LG 408 IP PBX
CANON 628 COLOUR MULTIFUNCTION
PRINT COPY SCAN FAX
FREE
FREE
LEADERS IN INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY, COMMUNICATIONS
AND OFFICE AUTOMATION
Postnet Suite 68, Private Bag
X9118, Pietermaritzburg, 3200
033 394 2791
[email protected]
CELERON
DESKTOP
COMPUTER
4 PORT CCTV
BOTH FULLY
INSTALLED
• 4 LINES
• 8 EXTENSIONS
• 1 SWITCHBOARD PHONE
• 5 DESK TOP PHONES
• 2 CORDLESS PHONES
R799.00
PM
• 41 PAGES PER MINUTE
• MONTHLY VOLUME 10 000 COPIES
• USB PRINTING
• AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER
• NETWORKABLE
R499.00
PM
WE WON’T MATCH ANY QUOTE… WE WILL BEAT ANY QUOTE… PHONE US FOR AN OBLIGATION FREE QUOTATION… PMB’S LARGEST IT SPECIALIST COMPANY... EST 1978
SUNRISE: 6.21 am | SUNSET: 5.35 pm | HIGH TIDE: 5.59 am | LOW TIDE: 12.07 pm
MOON
What’s the weather like?
Area
Today
Tomorrow
Newcastle
4 | 25
4 | 17
11 | 21
8 | 19
Partly cloudy.
Ulundi
Early fog, then partly cloudy to cloudy.
Ladysmith
4 | 22
3 | 18
Partly cloudy.
Richards Bay
15 | 22
12 | 20
Chance of morning drizzle, then partly cloudy. Galeforce wind.
Mooi River
0 | 16
1 | 15
Partly cloudy to drizzle. Partly cloudy evening.
Pietermaritzburg
7 | 17
5 | 19
Chance of morning drizzle, partly cloudy later.
Durban
13 | 19
10 | 20
Chance of morning drizzle, partly cloudy later.
Underberg
­1 | 15
­1 | 16
Partly cloudy, chance of drizzle. Partly cloudy evening.
Kokstad
­3 | 14
­3 | 16
Chance of morning drizzle, partly cloudy later.
Margate
12 | 20
10 | 17
Chance of morning drizzle, partly cloudy later. Strong wind.
Hawks confirm tender fraud probe
KZN WEATHER
HOTLINE:
083 123 0500
SA WEATHER SERVICE
(DURBAN OFFICE):
032 436 3820
LAST QUARTER: August 25
NEW MOON: September 1
FIRST QUARTER: September 9
FULL MOON: September 16 Fire Brigade: 0800 033 911 Flying Squad: 10111 Crime Stop: 08600 10111 Traffic Mpimpa Hotline: 086 221 1011 Aids Hotline: toll­free 0800 012 322 Gift of the Givers Careline:
0800 786 786
Alcoholics Anon: 086 143 5722 Al­Anon and Alateen: 083 415 1717
Famsa PMB: 033 342 4945 Famsa DBN: 031 202 8987
Lifeline and rape crisis (24­hrs) PMB: 033 394 4444 Lifeline and rape crisis (24­hrs) DBN: IN AN EMERGENCY AMBULANCE
DAM LEVELS
10111 10177
031 312 2323
Childline: 0800 055 555 Gay & Lesbian Helpline: 086 033 3331 Gamblers Anon PMB: 033 387 5462 Gamblers Anon DBN: 031 463 1616
Forest Fires PMB: 0861 KZNFPA
Safe City report crime via SMS PMB: 083 767 7233
911 Control Centre, PMB: 033 391 1911
SPCA PMB: 033 386 9267 SPCA DBN: 031 579 6500
Albert Falls Dam
26,67%
Inanda Dam
65,79%
Mearns Dam
35,81%
Midmar Dam
45,61%
Spring Grove
55,96%
Hazelmere Dam
53,85%
NSRI: 031 361 8567
MSUNDUZI MUNICIPALITY
Call Centre: 0800 001 868 Water: 033 392 2128 Electricity: 033 392 5098/ 5096/5029 After­hours number: 033 392 5098 Traffic lights: 033 392 2205 Roads damage: 033 392 2047, 033 392 2059 EMERGENCY CHEMISTS
Information supplied
by Umgeni Water.
Scottsville: 033 386 1029 Central: 033 342 1200/
033 346 0550
Northdale: 033 387 1681 LOTTO
15 24 34 43 46 48 + 39
LOTTO PLUS
7 10 21 25 27 34 + 46
‘The Witness’ IN YOUR POCKET
News, sport, photo galleries, videos and more.
www.witness.co.za
Farmers fix local road
Frustrated residents use their own money to re­gravel ‘neglected’ road
CHELSEA PIETERSE
CAPE TOWN — The
Hawks have confirmed an
investigation of fraud and
corruption linked to tend­
ers for Nelson Mandela
memorial services, award­
ed by the Mpumalanga
government.
Brigadier Hangwani
Mulaudzi said the investi­
gation started as an inquiry
after people came forward
with information early this
year.
“Everybody is being in­
vestigated. We are looking
at a holistic approach. We
are not going to name any
names,” he told News24
yesterday.
“The docket is with the
prosecutor and we are
awaiting the NPA [Nation­
al Prosecuting Authority]
to give us further gui­
dance.”
According to the Sunday
Times, the provincial gov­
ernment paid the Carol
Bouwer events manage­
ment company R39 mil­
lion to organise the servi­
ces across Mpumalanga in
December 2013. The com­
pany apparently sub­con­
tracted politically connect­
ed businessperson Ma­
bheleni Ntuli to provide
infrastructure at a cost of
R18 million.
The newspaper reported
that Ntuli made a payment
of R55 000 to one of Presi­
dent Jacob Zuma’s wives,
Nompumelelo Ntuli­
Zuma.
Her lawyer was quoted
as saying that the money
was a gift and that there
were many others.
— News24.
FED­UP Dargle farmers took it upon
themselves to fix their district road,
claiming their pleas for help went unheard
by the KZN Transport Department.
The farmers said they had to pool their
money together to fix a district road that
had not been properly maintained by the
department for several years.
Sanctuary Farm owner Robin Barnsley
said that whenever the farmers com­
plained about the district road, called D17,
people from the Transport Department
came with graders but did not shale the
road.
“Every time they grade the road, they
remove a layer of gravel, leaving the origi­
nal clay road exposed,” said Barnsley.
“During the summer when it rains it
is almost impossible for vehicles, includ­
ing trucks, to travel along this road be­
cause of the mud.”
Barnsley said several commercial
farms, businesses, residents, a school and
a wedding venue are situated along the
road, which therefore experiences high
volumes of traffic.
“This is the second year that we have
not been able to get trucks in or out on
the road,” said Barnsley.
He said the residents, farmers and busi­
ness owners had spent a lot of money on
vehicles damaged by the road.
The grading also dug up large stones
that made driving in smaller vehicles ex­
tremely difficult, he said.
“There are 25 landowners along this
road and it is a busy road because of the
farms down here. Trying to transport
half­a­million eggs along this road is al­
most impossible. The road is too rocky
and the eggs are very fragile.
“As a community, we all reached a point
where we could not continue this way, so
we put money together and bought
R25 000 worth of commercially obtained
stone to harden the road,” he said.
Barnsley’s brother, Kevin, also a farmer
along the D17, said they hired tipper trucks
to lay down the stone and used eight loads
of stone at R1 800 a load.
SHOW AND TELL KZN ABOUT YOUR HERITAGE
ON Heritage Day, get dressed
up, take a picture, send us your photograph and start writing! South Africa cele­
brates Heritage Day on Sep­
tember 24, and The Witness would like to publish a good selection of readers’ photo­
graphs, depicting their heri­
tage. Get your friends, fami­
ly and children together, snap a picture and send it to [email protected] with the names of the pho­
tographer and the people pictured. Pictures of small groups are preferred. The Witness also invites readers to send us written submis­
sions of not more than 500 words on what heritage means to you in your daily life. E­mail submissions to [email protected]. The closing date for the submis­
sion of the photographs and written pieces is Septem­
ber 20. — Witness Reporter.
Six buses torched at university Farmers Kevin (left) and Robin Barnsley stand out on the D17 road in Dargle, which has just been re­gravelled using money from the farming community’s own pockets.
PHOTO: IAN CARBUTT
He said the community had to use their
own tractors and staff to fix the road even
though it was the responsibility of the de­
partment to maintain the road.
KZN Transport Department spokes­
person Nathi Sukazi said the department
had re­gravelled the road in September
2014 and had done routine assessments
on the road since then.
“Owing to the weather conditions dur­
ing the summer, some sections are diffi­
cult,” said Sukazi.
“Part of our assessment is that we plan
to do a full re­gravelling of the road, which
will be 4,47 km.
“It is in the pipeline and we will start
with the re­gravelling in the next two
weeks.”
• [email protected]
A tractor hauls a truck that was stuck on a muddy section of the D17 road in Dargle earlier this year. Farmers in the area have complained that the KZN Department of Transport has not maintained the road, forcing the farmers to do it themselves.
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Student leader in hospital after stabbing
KAVITHA PILLAY and FUNDO MAJOZI
PROTESTS at the University of KwaZulu­
Natal (UKZN) Pietermaritzburg campus
turned violent last week, and a member
of the Students’ Representative Council
(SRC) was stabbed and hospitalised.
SRC president Siphelele Nguse took to
Facebook to comment about the attack
on SRC secretary­general Ntuthuko Ngu­
bane, who was stabbed in his left arm.
“He [Ngubane] sustained stabbing
wounds as he was trying to shield himself
… he lost a lot of blood,” Nguse posted.
“We remain loyal to our course of free
quality education,” the post added.
He said this course was “being hijacked
by people who have their own agendas”
and spread propaganda “to divide stu­
dents and shift attention from the main
objective”.
SAPS spokesperson Sergeant Mtokozi­
si Ngobese confirmed that police are “in­
vestigating a case of assault with the in­
tent to do bodily harm”.
“We have arrested two suspects for
public violence,” he said.
This brings the total number of arrests
made during last week’s UKZN protests
to six, including two for assault and two
for alleged possession of dangerous weap­
ons.
In another violent incident following
last week’s SRC elections at the Durban
University of Technology in Pietermaritz­
Soldiers’ bus crash probed
BLOEMFONTEIN — Accident recon­
struction experts were sent by the Road
Traffic Management Corporation
(RTMC) to investigate the crash which
saw 11 soldiers die and several others
injured when a military bus overturned
on the winding R712 road near the Gold­
en Gate Highlands National Park nature
reserve.
The South African National Civic Or­
ganisation (Sanco) has expressed sad­
ness at the deaths of the soldiers. In a
statement issued on Saturday, spokes­
person Jabu Mahlangu said the death
of the soldiers “put a damper on Wom­
en’s month”. Mahlangu called on road traffic law
enforcement authorities to increase vis­
ibility in order to reduce the carnage on
public roads. The bus was transporting the SA Na­
tional Defence Force employees to Baso­
tho Cultural Village for an event. Those who died were based at the De­
partment of Defence Demob Centre in
Bloemfontein, except for two victims,
who were based at the Free State Signal
Unit.
Funerals were still being arranged.
The department said a joint memori­
al service was planned for Wednesday.
— News24.
burg, student Lungisani Mhloyani was
rushed to Edendale Hospital on Friday
afternoon.
He was in a stable condition yesterday.
This was after students belonging to
Nasmo (National Students’ Movement)
were reportedly involved in a fracas with
Sasco (South African Students’ Con­
gress) members.
Mhloyani sustained multiple head inju­
ries and broken ribs, and other students
were reported to have sustained similar
injuries.
Sergeant Ngobese said that no arrests
had been made in connection with this
incident and that police are still investi­
gating the circumstances.
• [email protected]
MEC VISITS KZN’S VIOLENT VILLAGE KWAZULU Natal’s MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Mxolisi Kaunda, visited Swayimane in the Wartburg area yesterday in connection with the recent murder of a young girl.
Bongeka Ngcobo (15), a Grade 11 pu­
pil at Masijabule high school, was shot and killed while studying at home last Thursday evening. The MEC met with the victim’s fami­
ly, with police management as well as the community leadership to discuss the murder and 24 other murder cases that had occurred in the area since 2013. — WR. DURBAN — The Mangosuthu Universi­
ty of Technology is investigating an inci­
dent of vandalism after six buses belong­
ing to the Gcaba brothers were torched
on Friday night. The Gcabas have close links to Presi­
dent Jacob Zuma and are well established
in the taxi and transport industry. MUT spokesperson Zwelakhe Shan­
gase said that the motive for the attack
was unclear. “The university has been
locked in meetings with the service pro­
vider to come up with a solution. “On Friday night, six buses that were
parked outside the Faculty of Natural
Sciences campus were burnt,” he said.
He said that the buses were usually
parked outside the Natural Sciences
campus to cater for the morning rush
of students. “Management is urging any
persons with information to come for­
ward and shed light on this unfortunate
situation.” The operator has assured the universi­
ty the service to ferry students to and
from campus will not be disrupted. “The service provider has assured the
institution and its students that there
are additional buses that will be made
available due to the unfortunate inci­
dent,” he said. — News24.
DA promises councillors jobs for vote
JOHANNESBURG — The Democratic
Alliance yesterday offered to sweeten the
deal for opposition parties in order to
gain the mayorship in Ekurhuleni. Mayoral candidate Ghaleb Cachalia
said neither the ANC nor DA can form
a majority local government and both
require the support of other parties.
“We are therefore publicly making the
following offer to all parties, including
the AIC … [but] excluding the EFF who
have elected to remain in co­operative
and supportive opposition.”
Cachalia said if DA candidates were
elected speaker and executive mayor in
Ekurhuleni, the party would provide all
elected councillors of the opposition
parties a role on the mayoral committee
and/or chair positions on oversight and
standing committees.
Cachalia said that, as it stood, there
were 224 council seats in Ekhurhuleni,
and 113 seats would ensure a majority to
elect the local government.
“For the DA and EFF to jointly unseat
the ANC in Ekurhuleni, we need the vote
of nearly all of the remaining parties to
obtain 11 of the remaining 13 seats. The
opposition parties the DA is now appeal­
ing to include the AIC, which holds four
seats, the IFP and FF Plus, which each
hold two seats, and Cope, PAC, PA,
ACDP and Irasa, which are holding one
seat each.” — News24.