POLICE ACCUSED OF SHOOTING LIMPOPO TEEN

Police are accused of shooting a Limpopo teenager, bringing to six the number of people alleged to have been killed by members of the SAPS this year. Police said they were unable to confirm it was their bullets that killed the teen, who was on his way from the shops, Sapa reported. Guns belonging to the officers were confiscated. Protests broke out in the Relela village near Tzaneen after the mutilated body of a young woman, Kgomotso Rakgolane, was found last week. Members of the community torched the homes of two boys believed to have been involved, as well as the home of the victim’s boyfriend, who has since fled.

SECURITY GUARD DIES, POLICEMAN CRITICAL AFTER CAPE TOWN ROBBERY

A critically injured policeman is fighting for his life in hospital and a security guard was shot dead in an armed robbery at a liquor store in Nyanga, Cape Town. Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said four men, regarded as “armed and dangerous”, robbed the store in Phillippi Plaza before escaping the scene in a hijacked car. Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lemoer told Eyewitness News the Hawks were investigating the incident and would not rest until those responsible are arrested. He said it was the first time t his year an officer had been shot while on duty.

AMCU, MINING HOUSES START TALKS – WITHOUT HIGH LEVEL DELEGATES

Government-brokered talks between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the world’s top three platinum producers began on Monday in a bid to end a strike that has hit half of global output of the precious metal. But hopes for an immediate resolution to the strike remained dim given AMCU’s uncompromising approach to negotiations and with the two sides poles apart over wages. The delegations for the talks at a Pretoria hotel were also low level, with no ministers or chief executives from Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum or Lonmin. AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa was also absent. Under the populist battle cry of a “living wage”, AMCU is demanding minimum entry-level pay of R12,500 rand a month from the three platinum producers – a more than doubling of current levels.

JUDGE POSTPONES ANCYL CASE AS NEW PAPERS FILED

A judge in the Johannesburg high court has postponed a liquidation case against the ANC Youth League after a new claimant brought a fresh application against the economically challenged organisation. A Bloemfontein hotel, trading as Palanquin Hospitality Management, is claiming R1.5 million, Sapa reported. The original application was brought by 22 Presentations, an events company in Bloemfontein, which landed up being R15 million out of pocket when the ANCYL didn’t pay it’s bills for its 2008 conference. Judge Boissie Mbha has postponed the case to 24 March.

APPOINTMENT OF NEW SPEAKER IN MADIBENG AN ‘INSULT’ TO VICTIMS

The appointment of a “convicted fraudster” to the position of speaker of the Madibeng local council is “ill advised” says Agang SA’s national field director. Sam Njela said the ANC should recall Douglas Maimane, who pleaded guilty to defrauding parliament and the government of R18 million in 2006. “Widespread corruption is at the centre of the Madibeng council’s failure to provide clean water and other basic services to residents. Had this not happened, residents of Mothutlung would have had no reason to march last week, and nobody would have died or been injured,” Njela said. Maimane’s appointment was an “insult” to the memories Michael Tshele, Lerato Theodore Seema, Enoch Seimela and Osiah Rahube who died during the protests.

SANPARKS EMPLOYEE ARRESTED FOR RUNNING ILLEGAL HUNTS

Environmental crime investigators at South African National Parks (SANParks) have arrested an employee implicated in illegal commercial hunting activities. Acting head of communications, Reynold Thakhuli, said the suspect was based in the Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site in Limpopo. “He has been implicated on a number of illegal commercial hunting activities on state land involving a number of hunting professionals and game meat operators,” Thakhuli said. He said the illegal hunts happened in the farm Den Staat which is a state owned property and has an open system with Mapungubwe National Park as no fence exists between the two properties. Thakhuli said as many as 16 hunting groups would visit the area on certain days. He said one of the hunted animals was the leopard, a schedule three protected wild animal under the Limpopo Environment Act.

ANC MISLEADING SA ON CORRUPTION, SAYS MAZIBUKO

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe should stop misleading South Africans that the party is tough on corruption says DA parliamentary leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko. She said Mantashe’s insistence that the party won’t withdraw candidates facing charges of corruption “reaffirms that Zuma’s ANC is not serious about the fight against corruption”. Mantashe earlier said candidates convicted for 12 months without an option of a fine don’t qualify to go to Parliament. But Mazibuko said the ANC’s actions were “both hypocritical and disingenuous”. She said the party, by its own admission, admitted to having failed to root out corruption.

STUDENTS PROTEST IN DURBAN, JOHANNESBURG

Protesting students at the Durban University of Technology have pulled others out of lecture rooms, as they demanded to be re-registered despite not having paid fees. Ayanda Ngidi, president of the Students Representative Council, said DUT management had not responded to or acted on their demands. They handed a list of grievances to Vice Chancellor Ahmed Bawa last week. Meanwhile students at the University of Johannesburg have also started demonstrating outside the university in a protest against financial exclusion. They claim they’re unable to register to study as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) cannot adequately cover the costs of their studies. DM

Photo: Gwede Mantashe (REUTERS)