Category: Crime & Corruption News

Cabinet has reiterated its determination to fight gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) by strengthening the law, and providing psychosocial support and advocacy programmes within communities.

Based on data obtained through the South African Police Service (SAPS), government has identified 30 GBVF hotspots around the country.

“Cabinet has assured the affected communities that working with the police, intervention measures will be strengthened to ensure the protection and safety of women and children,” said Cabinet in a statement.

Cabinet has welcomed the R50 million donation from the United Kingdom, which will extend the Solidarity Fund’s ongoing efforts to counter the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds, Cabinet said, will focus on projects that support and promote women.

Cabinet also expressed concern at disturbing reports of human trafficking involving women and children in the country. Police are following up and investigating all reported cases related to these crimes.

Cabinet has appealed to the public to report these heinous crimes to the police immediately instead of using social media platforms, which makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to respond quickly and adequately.

Cabinet urged the public, however, to refrain from peddling fake news, which may cause unnecessary panic, inflame emotions and incite violence in society.

Anyone with information should contact the SAPS on the Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or use the free MySAPS Application, which can be downloaded on any iPhone or smartphone.

Cabinet has welcomed the recent arrests of suspects in Johannesburg and Cape Town allegedly involved in the theft of copper cables and train signal cables.

Police also acted swiftly in arresting people involved in the destruction of the main road in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal.

Last week, five suspects were arrested in two separate incidents for tampering with essential infrastructure.

One man was arrested after being found in possession feeder cables with a market value of R380 000 as well as copper cables worth R150 000.

The 48-year-old was arrested during a joint operation of a multidisciplinary team consisting of members from the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

A bakkie and tools that were allegedly used in the commission of the crime were seized.

In another incident, four men were arrested after being found tempering with infrastructure in Germiston. They were found in possession of copper cables worth a market value of R14 483.

In a post-Cabinet statement issued on Thursday, Cabinet commended this breakthrough in the theft and vandalising of rail infrastructure a serious crime, which resulted in some instances in the loss of innocent lives due to train collusions.

“Public infrastructure remains the cornerstone of driving our economy. It remains a critical component in our drive to grow the economy and create the much-needed jobs. Cabinet calls on all South Africans to report these criminal activities to the police,” said Cabinet.

Limpopo Education MEC Polly Boshielo has commended a learner who has invented a device to help curb human trafficking and gender-based violence (GBV).

Bohlale Mphahlele, a 16-year-old Grade 11 learner from SJ van der Merwe Technical High School in Lebowakgomo Circuit, Capricorn South District, invented the device, which is known as an “Alerting Ear Piece”.

It is able to track victims of human trafficking and GBV.

The small device can be inserted in earrings and capture photos of perpetrators, enabling the police to quickly identify them.

The device was recently showcased at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in the category for Engineering-electronics and embedded systems.

Boshielo noted that the past few weeks have been difficult on the provincial education sector, as the province has been experiencing the tormenting pain of gender-based violence on learners.

“It is a difficult thing to go through as a mother and a leader. We are always looking for answers and ways to protect our children, and this invention by our learner gives me hope that we shall overcome.

“I am firm believer in technology and its capacity to address some of the challenges we encounter. It is a proud moment to see that all our efforts towards improving technical schools in the province are yielding results,” said Boshielo on Tuesday.

The MEC has also expressed her appreciation to Bohlale’s peers and a team of educators rallying behind her in this technological endeavour.

A 19-year-old man will appear in the Kabokweni Magistrate Court on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a teenage girl.

This after the body of the 14-year-old was discovered in a pit latrine in Mpumalanga.

According to the police spokesperson, Brigadier Leonard Hlathi, the girl was last seen on Wednesday.

“The family only realised that something bad might have happened to her the next day after they received threatening messages via cellphone demanding a ransom in exchange for her release,” said Hlathi on Tuesday.

The family reported the matter to the police, who then opened a case of kidnapping and an investigation began.

The girl’s body was discovered by a family member inside a pit toilet at her residence over the weekend.

“The police worked tirelessly in search of her killers and made a breakthrough today by arresting a suspect, who has been fingered in the case,” said Hlathi.

It is believed that the girl may have been drugged before she was killed. However, a post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

“Police cannot rule out a possibility of adding more charges upon the suspect,” said Hlathi.

A community in Harrismith, Free State, now sleeps easier after a serial rapist and murderer was handed a sentence that will see him languish in a jail cell for a long time after an eight-year reign of terror.

Muzi Wiseman Sithebe Twala, 34, was on Tuesday found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Bloemfontein High Court sitting at the Thabo Mofutsanyane Secure Justice Centre.

In a statement, Free State SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said Twala was convicted of committing a series of rapes, murder and thefts between 2011 and 2018.

“Twala was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment each for four counts of rapes, 12 years for murder and three years each on seven counts of theft. Therefore, he will spend life term imprisonment sentence, as count 2 to 14 runs concurrently,” said Makhele.

During the trial, it was discovered that between the period of August 2011 and February 2018, Twala threatened complainants when fetching cattle from grazing field, armed with a panga and knobkerrie, in Intabazwe near Harrismith.

“He finally raped two boys and took their cell phones,” Makhele said in the statement.

In a separate incident, Twala encountered two friends in Tshiame. He appeared from behind and offered to carry their bags. He demanded money from them and took their property, and raped the woman while holding a knife.

It was further discovered that in January 2018, a minor was en route from school near the Tshiame graveyard. Twala again appeared from behind, grabbed and threatened the girl with a firearm. He raped her and took her cell phone.

In February of the same year, a victim was with a companion (who was killed in the incident) in a car parked in an open space in Intabazwe, near the N3 in Harrismith. The woman told the court that while sitting in the car, they heard a gunshot and they ran in different directions. While running, the woman heard another gunshot. She was later grabbed by Twala, who took her back to the car where he raped her before taking her cellphone.

The victim ran home and called the police and an ambulance.

Twala was positively linked through DNA in all of the above cases.

The Hawks on Tuesday conducted a simultaneous search and seizure operation at 15 Durban premises belonging to various officials from the eThekwini Municipality’s Water and Sanitation Unit, as their fraud, corruption and money laundering investigation advances.

Some of the properties searched belong to service providers implicated in the probe.

This comes after the National Clean Audit Task Team of the Hawks in June 2020 discovered that R200 million was allegedly siphoned from the municipality. It has now also been determined that a further R500 million has been embezzled from the department.

“It is alleged that R700 million is proceeds of crime derived from service providers who were supposed to be rendering services for the Water and Sanitation Unit and claimed to have provided such services while they were not carried out,” the Hawks said in a statement.

It is alleged that misrepresentations were made to the municipality and in some instances, no authorised signatures, as per the requirements for approval, were endorsed on the invoices.

Despite the alleged falsification of documents, said the Hawks, payments were approved and significant amounts of monies were allegedly channelled to officials for their own benefit.

During the operation – which also included the Hawks Digital Forensic Laboratory, Priority Crime Specialised Investigation, SAPS Crime Scene Management and the National Intervention Unit – various items, including a number of laptops, desktops, hard drives, cell phones, bank cards from different banks, company details, invoices and company registration documents, were seized for analysis.

No arrests have been made as yet, as investigations are still continuing.

The Limpopo government has welcomed the ruling against Ntiyiso Xilumani, who killed his girlfriend, Dr Shongile Pretty Nkhwashu, in January this year.

Xilumani, 26, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday.

Limpopo High Court Judge President, Ephraim Mokgoba, meted out the sentence after a two-day trial.

The perpetrator told the court that an argument ensued over the interference of Nkhwashu’s father in their relationship, IOL reported.

“She bit me on my finger,” Xilumani said.

He then told the court that he grabbed Nkhwashu, 25, by the throat, threw her on the bed and strangled her until she stopped moving. Xilumani used Nkwashu’s stethoscope — which the deceased at some stage had shown him how it works — and found that she had stopped breathing.

It was also heard that Xilumani had a history of abusing Nkhwashu, who was also the mother of his child.

Limpopo Health MEC, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, said she was pleased with the sentence handed down by the high court.

“This will send a clear message to all the men out there, who still think they can continue to abuse, kill and rape our women and children, and walk free.

“Dr Nkwashu was also our daughter as the department, whom together with her family, we were still expecting a lot from her.

“We are happy that justice has prevailed and the fight against gender-based violence has received a boost after this judgment,” said Ramathuba.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described GBV as a pandemic, as cases of women and children dying at the hands of men continue to rise exponentially during the COVID-19 crisis.

The President has been calling on the men of South Africa to do and be better.

“Patriarchy is practised and exercised by men, and men think that they’re superior to women. Some men believe that they own women and therefore, they can order them around, beat them up, rape them and kill them. It is this patriarchy that prevails in men that we need to break down,” said the President earlier this year.

The Johannesburg Magistrates Court has granted amendments to bail conditions to accused number one and denied bail amendments to accused number six of seven Chinese nationals arrested for alleged human trafficking and the violation of South Africa’s labour laws.

Delivering a ruling in the application for amendments of bail conditions on Monday, Magistrate Basimane Molwana granted Kevin Tsao the right to fulfil his business obligations during the week.

The magistrate also granted him permission to leave his residential complex without hindrance save for signing at a police station three times a week.

However, the other accused Dai Junying was denied amendments to her bail conditions because she failed to submit corroborative evidence.

Tsao and Junying were part of a septet of Chinese nationals arrested on 12 November 2019 for alleged human trafficking and violation of South Africa’s labour laws.

The other accused are Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao, and Zhang Zhilian.

The four males and three females were arrested in a joint operation by the Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) branch in Gauteng together with the South African Police Services (SAPS), Home Affairs and the Hawks Unit.

The seven accused first filed for bail in November last year following their arrest. The bail was initially was denied on 20 March 2020.

The defence then decided to lodge a second bail attempt on new facts, and on 25 May 2020, the Magistrate ruled that there were grounds for the defence to apply for second bail.

The prosecution had earlier dismissed the submission by defence of a second bail attempt as the “reshuffling of old arguments as new facts”.

On 24 June 2020, the court granted bail with strict endorsements to the seven in the long-drawn bail hearing.

Tsao, a naturalised South African was on Monday granted R70 000 bail with conditions to leave his place of resident only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Hui, who is the second accused and has a previous conviction was granted R55 000 bail, while the rest of the accused were granted R30 000 bail each with strict conditions attached to their movements.

Accused two to seven are expected to stay at the place of resident of Tsao and they are not allowed any movement beyond their complex.

They are only allowed movement out of their premises only to sign at the Cleveland Police Station between 6am and 6pm, and when they attend to court proceedings.

The accused will face charges ranging from human trafficking, violation of Immigration Act, debt bondage, kidnapping and the pointing of a firearm.

“The Department of Employment and Labour has since joined in the matter to press for the prosecution of the accused for violating South Africa’s labour laws.

“Prosecutor Advocate Dube [on Monday] served the accused with an indictment. Magistrate Molwana has transferred the matter to be heard at the Johannesburg High Court,” said the Department of Employment and Labour in a statement.

The accused are expected to reappear in court on 16 October 2020.

Five suspects have been arrested for tampering with essential infrastructure.

In a statement on Tuesday, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said the five were arrested in two separate incidents.

In the first incident, a 48-year-old man was arrested for tampering with essential infrastructure, distribution of critical infrastructure and theft of copper and electrical feeder cables.

The suspect was arrested during a joint operation to address theft and damages of critical infrastructure in the rail environment by a multidisciplinary team consisting of members from the SAPS and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

The suspect was found in possession of feeder cables worth a market value of R380 000 as well as copper cables worth a market value of R150 000.

A bakkie and tools that were allegedly used in the commission of the crime were also siezed.

The suspect has been detained at the Hercules police station and will appear before the Pretoria Magistrates Court soon.

In another incident, a team in Germiston responded to reports that unknown persons were tampering with essential infrastructure.

The team followed up on information and found four men in possession of copper cables worth a market value of R14 483.

Tools that were utilised in the commission of the crimes were also seized.

The four suspects have been detained at the Germiston police station and will appear before the Germiston Magistrates Court.

“Communities are warned against the tampering of essential infrastructure as this often leads to thousands of commuters stranded and in some cases may cause loss of life due to train collusion and derailment,” said the SAPS.

The State Security Agency has noted reports about an alleged plot to assassinate the United States (US) Ambassador to South Africa, Ambassador Lana Marks.

“The agency has noted the rising public interest on the matter and would like to assure all South African citizens and interested parties that the matter is receiving the necessary attention,” the State Security Agency said on Monday.

The agency is interacting with all relevant partners, both in the country and abroad, to ensure that no harm will befall the US Ambassador, including any other diplomatic officials inside the borders of the country.

State Security Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said South Africa has a duty to protect maximally all diplomatic officials who are on State duty in the country.

“It should be noted that the nature of the allegation and attendant threat doesn’t permit us to give any detailed updates on the investigations.

“Reports thereon shall be provided to all the relevant authorities, including the President of the Republic, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and relevant officials in the United States administration,” the agency said.