Category Archives: South African News

News24.com | Hlongwa was ‘selfless and humble to the end’ – tributes pour in for deputy minister

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Tributes have poured in from political parties and colleagues following the death of Mineral Resources and Energy Deputy Minister Bavelile Hlongwa.

Hlongwa was assisting a motorist who had overturned when a truck ploughed into them, News24 earlier reported.

The accident, which claimed Hlongwa’s life, together with three other people, happened on the N1 at Maubane Bridge near Carousel Plaza, Hammanskraal. 

Hlongwa was returning from the 75th anniversary celebrations of her organisation and political school, the ANC Youth League the ANC said on Saturday.

READ: Deputy minister of mineral resources Bavelile Hlongwa dies in car crash

The event was held at the University of Limpopo.

“As a movement, we are filled with a great sense of grief and shock, to lose such a dynamic, educated, intelligent, fearless and selfless young woman who gave so much of herself, skills, time and life to the service of the people of South Africa and the ANC,” spokesperson Pule Mabe said.

Mabe said Hlongwa was a true embodiment of a new cadre who joined the party to serve.

“She was prepared to place her own life at risk in order to ensure that the plight of the poor and the downtrodden are taken care of.”

He said Hlongwa was more concerned about people’s trials and tribulations, and less about her own interests and personal comfort.

‘A rising star’

He described her as an epitome of excellence, adding that she lived with these attributes of selflessness and humility to the end.

The EFF also conveyed it condolences to Hlongwa’s family, close friends and the ANC.

“There is no bigger pain in life than [the loss] of a young, talented, vibrant young black woman. Hlongwa was a rising star who certainly had a bright future in our politics,” EFF said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that Hlongwa would be afforded a category 2 official funeral in line with the government’s state, official and provincial funeral policy, News24 earlier reported.

Ramaphosa described Hlongwa, who joined his new Cabinet in May, as a “talented leader who, alongside minister Gwede Mantashe, was playing an important and dynamic role in an important sector of our economy”.

Mantashe also conveyed his condolences, saying they were beginning to “gel” while considering ways in which to deal with the challenges facing their ministry and the country.

“This is, indeed, an untimely end to a young, promising prospect”, he said. 

ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said: “As one of the youngest members of the executive, the untimely passing of comrade Hlongwa leaves an immense void within structures of the ANC Parliamentary Caucus and the ANC as a whole.

“With her departure, South Africans have truly been robbed of one of its most committed public representatives.”

Secretary General of the South African Communist Party Secretary, Blade Nzimande said:”I’m completely shocked and saddened by the sad news of the passing away of Cde Bavelile Hlongwa and four others in the accident.” 

Nzimande said Hlongwa was one of the young promising leaders of the future.

The ANC national youth task team has also conveyed its condolences saying  at the time of her passing, Hlongwa was pursuing a Masters Degree in Public Administration at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“Her dedication to education was further demonstrated by her election as the deputy president of the UKZN convocation.

“The mass democratic movement is without a doubt poorer, we have lost a shining star, a dynamite packaged into a young woman with the capacity to drive South Africa forward.

“As an organisation we are at a loss for words to fully describe the magnitude of this remarkable comrade”

News24.com | Northern Cape serial rapist sentenced to 43 years in prison

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A 29-year-old Northern Cape man who raped young girls in bushes in 2016 has been sentenced to 43 years in prison, according to local police.  

Olebogeng Thukwi, who targeted young girls between the ages of 11 and 14, was sentenced by the Northern Cape High Court on Friday, on four counts of rape, spokesperson Captain Olebogeng Tawana said.

“During the commission of the crime, he targeted unsuspecting girls in Sedibeng, Bankhara villages near Kuruman in the John Taolo Gaetsewe Cluster,” Tawana said. 

“He grabbed and dragged all his victims into the bushes and raped them. Subsequent to raping the victims, he would leave them in the bushes and run away.” 

Tawana said Thukwi was on the run for almost two years until he was arrested in April 2018. Forensic evidence linked him to all four counts of rape. 

News24.com | PICS | Patients, staff evacuated as fire guts parts of Mitchells Plain Day Hospital

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Patients and staff at the Mitchells Plain Day Hospital were evacuated on Friday morning after a fire broke out, the City of Cape Town’s fire and rescue services said.

“We currently have six firefighting appliances, a rescue vehicle [and] an aerial appliance with a total of 28 staff on scene,” said spokesperson Jermaine Carelse .

“The quick reaction time of the fire crews resulted in the fire being contained to the theater section of the hospital.”

The fire was brought under control just before 14:30.

“It will take a considerable time to extinguish the fire and ensure that the area is safe.”

Photos showed that a section of roof had been destroyed and many rooms were gutted.

(Supplied)

(Photo: Supplied)

(Supplied)

(Photo: Supplied)

News24.com | #SandtonShutdown: Here are the demands

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Civil society groups taking part in the #SandtonShutdown march on Friday against gender-based violence, handed over a memorandum to Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) CEO Nicky Newton-King.

“I salute you all for bringing your voice to the heart of business,” Newton-King said after accepting the memorandum. She added that it would be taken to all relevant parties for consideration.

AS IT HAPPENED | #SandtonShutdown: BLSA supports the idea of a tax to fight gender violence

However, after the crowd heckled her, Newton-King left the protest.

“This is your team and you need to control them,” she told organisers, as the crowed continued to chant.

Organisers eventually managed to convince her to return to address the protesters.

The civil society groups decided to take their fight against gender-based violence and femicide to the JSE, as this was where the country’s wealth was housed.

“Not only are we here to get money, we want corporate South Africa to take some accountability. They don’t allow us to occupy boardrooms; women are not paid the same as men, and we want it to end.

“Our bodies are not your crime scene, corporate South Africa. Because you have the money to fight GBV, do it,” activist Mandisa Khanyisile told protesters outside the JSE.

READ | Police probe social media posts accusing men of rape, after threats made

‘Tolerance is akin to approval’

The march follows a series of protests under the hashtag #AmINext, following the tragic deaths of young women in South Africa, including Uyinene Mrwetyana, Leighandre Jegels, Meghan Cremer and Ayakha Jiyane and her three siblings – all acts of gender-based violence, News24 reported.

In the memorandum, the protesters have asked that corporate work environments, characterised by sexual harassment, be brought to an end: “This behaviour must be eradicated, tolerance is akin to approval.”

READ | Bathabile Dlamini snubs News24 at #SandtonShutdown march

The memorandum also notes that only 3.3% of the JSE-listed companies have women as CEOs. Activists called for measures to be put in place to end the “effective discrimination against 52% of the population”.

This includes a change in the JSE listing criteria to include a 2% levy on profits to help fund the fight against GBV and femicide.

In addition, activists have demanded that all JSE-listed companies contribute to a fund to resource the National Strategy Plan on GBV and femicide.

Demands

The memorandum also asks that woman-centred industry standards/policies are put in place to protect women from GBV, sexual harassment and exploitation.

They ask that employees who work night shifts or after hours be provided with transport.

They want workplace mechanisms to be established to provide support to GBV survivors, as part of employee wellness and prevention programmes to assist in making workplaces safe spaces for all women.

Protesters also want support for their call for the review of CCMA dispute resolution mechanisms related to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Another demand is that salaries and bonuses to CEOs and directors be capped and that the money be used to equitably distribute profits among those who assist in making businesses successful.

Civil society groups want businesses to confirm their commitment to the establishment of a national living wage for all workers, building on the national minimum wage within the next five years.

The Chivas Venture is back

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Whisky brand Chivas Regal, a Pernod Ricard brand, is calling on South Africa’s brightest change-makers to enter The Chivas Venture 2020, its global competition that affords local social entrepreneurs (SE’s) the chance to win a share of $1 million funding for their business.

D2/2019: Reporting of material information technology and/or cyber incidents

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Publish Date: 2019-09-12
Category: PA Deposit-takers Banks: Directives

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News24.com | WATCH | Former Bok James Dalton brawls with guard outside Cape Town restaurant

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Cellphone footage has emerged of former Springbok hooker James Dalton in a fight with a security guard outside a Sea Point restaurant in Cape Town. It’s believed the incident occurred on Saturday night.

In the video, Avenue Response guards can be seen attempting to restrain the former Bok; he then gets into a scrap with another patron before Dalton and a guard fall to the ground.

According to eyewitnesses, the dispute between Dalton and the patron began inside the venue and the scuffle spilt out onto the street.

They also claim it is the second such incident involving Dalton at the same venue in as many weeks.

Dalton, known as “Bullet”, played for the Boks from 1994 to 2002. He was part of the 1995 World Cup winning squad, although he only played in a pool game against Canada, before he was suspended for the rest of the tournament.

Two of Dalton’s teammates from 1995, wingers James Small and Chester Williams, have died – Small in July and Williams last week.

‘It’s all sorted. It’s done.’

Dalton declined to comment on the video. When News24 approached him, he said the matter had been sorted out.

“It’s over, it’s done, it’s nothing, it’s all sorted. You can verify that. It’s a storm in a teacup.

“There’s no story but you guys like to embarrass celebrities even after they are dead.

“It’s nothing. It’s done,” he added. He was referring to media reporting after Small’s death. Writing in SA Rugby Mag after Small died, “Bullet” said Small, like himself, was a “misunderstood individual”.

“Perhaps that’s a nice way of putting it when we’re guilty of silly behaviour – and while there will always be controversy surrounding him off the field, he was never a rebel in a team environment. He was a brilliant rugby player, an icon and somebody I considered a dear friend,” he wrote.

James Dalton

James Dalton. (Photo: Jaco Marais)

Dalton threatened that he would take action if the video was published: “Decide if you want to do anything and if you do, I will come for you and I will come for you in your personal capacity.”

An Avenue Response director said the matter had “been sorted out amicably”. It’s understood “there were charges, but the parties have met and it’s all sorted now”.

The security guard involved has not commented but is reportedly doing fine.

Dalton’s run-ins with the law

Dalton has had numerous brushes with law enforcement over the years. In 2017, he was arrested in Sea Point and charged with assault, reckless or negligent driving, crimen injuria and resisting arrest. At the time, he said there was “something not lekker” about the arrest.

He also appeared in court in Pretoria several times.

In June 2010, it was reported that a charge of attempted murder involving his former wife Andrea was withdrawn in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court after they reached a settlement. Dalton was accused of trying to suffocate her in a bath in November 2007. He was also charged with assault.

In 2008, Dalton claimed R1.2m from then police minister Charles Nqakula for wrongful arrest.

That year, the Community Court in Hatfield, Pretoria, found him not guilty of firing a weapon in a public place and malicious damage to property. He was alleged to have fired shots at a car opposite Menlyn Park Shopping Centre.

In 2001, News24 reported that Dalton and his brother-in-law faced three charges of assault for allegedly attacking a Meyerton businessman and his family.

Dalton owns a telecoms company in Cape Town and has spent time working as a forwards coach at the Belhar Rugby Football Club in Cape Town.

The president of the club is alleged Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome “Donkie” Booysen.

News24.com | Buthelezi takes on Cele in Parliament debate about xenophobic violence

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Veteran IFP MP Mangosuthu Buthelezi used a debate on the wave of violence to defend himself and his party against Police Minister Bheki Cele’s criticism that they contributed to Sunday’s violence in Johannesburg.

News24 earlier reported that a group of men, some of them wielding sticks, pangas and tree branches, marched through the city centre after disrupting a meeting which Buthelezi addressed following last week’s deadly xenophobic violence.

One person was stabbed on the corner of Bree and Plein streets.

As the violence split over to Malvern, another person was shot dead on Sunday night.

Cele on Monday told SABC’s On Point that the planned meeting was called off and that he was “taken aback” to learn that the meeting continued with Buthelezi. 

“To us, it was a political party meeting, and unfortunately it came up with this upswing of the violence after the meeting,” Cele told the SABC.

Buthelezi, in whose name Tuesday’s debate in the National Assembly was introduced, took exception to Cele’s remarks.

“In the midst of a crisis, leaders must act,” Buthelezi started.

“We are in a crisis. As our nation grapples with the horror of gender-based violence, a new wave of xenophobic attacks has washed over South Africa. Lives have been lost and property damaged. There has been looting and burning and violence.”

He said he went to Johannesburg on Sunday to speak to his fellow South Africans, “not to take sides, but to quell the tensions with the voice of truth”. 

“I stated very clearly that I was there, not as a politician, but as an elder. I was there for the sake of my country.”

He said the night before the meeting, bottle stores were looted and “several angry township and hostel residents arrived still inebriated”. 

“They were in no mood to hear a message of peace or to be reminded of our Constitution.”

According to Buthelezi, he informed Cele that he will be going, and Cele offered to arrange security. 

“So I am dumb-struck by the minister’s comment yesterday that he is ‘taken aback’ by my visit to Johannesburg, as though what I did was political posturing,” Buthelezi said.

“The insinuation is there that, had I not gone to Johannesburg, the looting and violence that took place on Sunday would not have happened.”

Buthelezi said he wasn’t there to score political points.

“I am too old for political games,” Buthelezi said. 

“I have been vilified for too long to speak diplomatically. I am sick of the IFP being cast as responsible for violence, either obliquely or directly.”

Cele closed the debate. 

He said Sunday’s meeting was originally planned as a government meeting and he liaised with indunas at the hostel, but after he received a complaint from King Goodwill Zwelithini that he wasn’t consulted, but only indunas, he cancelled the meeting.

“It’s not that I’m looking down on you,” Cele said to Buthelezi.

News24.com | Xenophobia: Agony, grief and fear stalks shelter set up for foreign nationals in Katlehong

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Agony and grief are visibly stamped on the faces of displaced foreign nationals at a temporary shelter in Ekurhuleni, a week after they fled their homes in Katlehong.  

When News24 visited the Tsolo Community Hall in Katlehong on Tuesday, scores of homeless migrants sat around in groups, while young children chased after soccer balls. A few women plaited each other’s hair as others tried to get their toddlers to take a midday nap.

The DH Community Hall in Katlehong is also being used as a temporary shelter. 

Xenophobic attacks led to 624 adults and 227 children fleeing their homes as violence and looting aimed at foreign nationals took a foothold in the suburb last week. 

“My life if priceless. I am not prepared to die for nothing,” Zimbabwean national Lawrence Dondo told News24.

Dondo fled the backroom he was renting in Mandela Section in Katlehong last Wednesday after a mob ordered all foreigners to leave.

READ: Two more burnt bodies discovered in Gauteng

“I was with my wife and our one-year-old daughter when the mob arrived armed with guns, sticks and other dangerous weapons. They ordered us to leave Mandela Section for good because we are not wanted in Katlehong. We then fled to a nearby bush, where we were joined by other foreigners.

“We spent the night in the bush, praying for our safety. It was cold and wet, and there was nothing we could do because South Africa is not our home. The following day, my wife and child went to Leondale, where they are staying with her father,” he said, wiping away tears.

Aida Chisi

Malawian Aida Chisi at the centre in Katlehong with her daughter Precious. (Ntwaagae Seleka)

The following night, Dondo added, they moved to a safe place, also in the bush, where locals spotted them and launched an attack.

“Fortunately, the police arrived and opened fire on the group, chasing them away. On Friday morning, we moved to this hall. Here our movements are monitored for our safety.

“We are not allowed to walk far from this shelter, there is a fear that the locals will attack us again. We are prisoners here and we can’t go back to our homes in Mandela Section. As soon as the situation is calm, I will go back to Zimbabwe and return to South Africa in January next year, find a safer place in South Africa to stay and find employment,” he said. 

Dondo’s friend and fellow Zimbabwean, Ephraim Yezo, is looking for his uncle, Obvious Matereke, who was last seen on Wednesday night.

Mob gave us three hours to vacate

“We had both returned home from work when a mob gave us three hours to vacate the area. While trying to grab our belongings, they opened fire with guns and we fled empty handed.

“That was the last time I saw my uncle. I don’t know whether he is alive or dead. His cellphone is off and I don’t know where he fled to. I hope he was not killed and is somewhere safe waiting to reconnect with me,” said Yezo.

Inside the hall, Aida Chisi from Malawi sits alone, holding her one-year-old daughter, Precious. She said September 4 will remain with her forever. 

“We have lost everything, including our papers. I think we are safe here for now because the police are patrolling outside. I don’t know if my company will take me back again. I need to make money to feed my daughter.

“My husband has been informed that some of our colleagues don’t want to work with foreigners again. We are not wanted here in this country. I am afraid to go back to work because they will kill me,” Chisi said.

READ MORE: Gauteng violence: Death toll rises after two burned bodies found in Alexandra

Harriet Phiri from Malawi told News24 she and her friends spent the night at Katlehong police station last Wednesday after their homes were attacked.

“We have lost everything we owned. They even stole all the items I had prepared to take home to Malawi to sell. I am not worried about everything I have lost because they can’t replace my life. My life has no price.

“All the things I have lost, I will replace them one day but my life is irreplaceable. I could have been killed for being a foreigner who has not committed any offence,” said Phiri.

Displaced foreigners

Foreign nationals sleeping at a shelter in Katlehong. (Ntwaagae Seleka)

Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson William Ntladi said it was offering shelter, food, water, security and medical attention to the displaced.

Ntladi said Home Affairs officials, various embassies, Doctors Without Borders, the International Organisation for Migration, local paramedics, police and Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department have joined hands to assist them.

He added some of them were being assisted with documentation to return back to their countries.

“We are assisting with everything we can, and there are some that we have taken to hospital for medical attention upon inspection by our paramedics,” said Ntladi.