Cop’s Brutal Force

Cele’s brutal force

March 20 2011 

South African police are becoming more brutal by the day, with civil cases against them pushing the contingent liability budget to a whopping R7.5 billion in the last financial year.

The Sunday Tribune reveals today that the sharp spike in brutal action by the police has prompted the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) to investigate three times more severe assault cases last year than in 2001.

These revelations come as the country celebrates Human Rights Day tomorrow and against the backdrop of a recent case in which the police were accused of using excessive force on civilians.

Last month the police stormed a restaurant in Melville, Joburg, in the early hours and assaulted patrons. The incident was captured on closed-circuit TV cameras inside the Catz Pyjamas and it shocked the nation.

Police researchers and lawyers who specialise in litigating against the police have warned that anecdotal reports of giving electric shocks, suffocation and other apartheid-style torture methods have become more prevalent.

• Since 2001/02 the number of assault investigations conducted by the ICD has trebled from 255 to 920 in 2009/10.
• Attempted murder cases it investigated have gone up over seven times from 43 in 2001/02 to 325 in the last financial year.
• The number of fatal shooting investigations was at an all-time high over the past two financial years – at 556 in 2008/09 and 524 in 2009/10. 

And policing researchers say the spike in fatal shootings can be traced back to KwaZulu-Natal, where there has been a 173 percent increase in five years – from 75 in 2005/06 to 205 in 2009/10.

“These statistics raise the question of whether sections of the police in KwaZulu-Natal may have adopted an approach which is defined by the belief that extra-legal methods are not only justified, but in fact necessary to address violent crime.”

Meanwhile, the courts are flooded with civil cases against the police that have pushed the contingent liability budget to R2bn more than the 2005/06 financial year when the police were prepared to pay R5.3bn for assault, damage to property, shooting incidents and other “police actions”.

The Tribune has found a number of civil cases lodged in the Joburg and Pretoria High courts in which the applicants claim the police assaulted, gave electric shocks or suffocated them, and they demand compensation.

The taxpayer carries the burden of paying for the police’s excessive use of force.

“These acts cannot be tolerated in a constitutional democracy."

“Policing in 2011 should be totally different from the apartheid past that we come from.

“Police officers should uphold the rule of law and not be the ones accused of breaking it,” said ICD executive director Francois Beukman.

The outcry came after video footage emerged of police Tactical Response Team (TRT) members barging into Melville bar, the Catz Pyjamas, and assaulting patrons.

The ICD says it is investigating the incident along with another, also involving TRT members, which took place at CJs Pub in Hillbrow.

Wits Law Clinic lawyer Peter Jordi says: “There is a level of criminality within the police much higher than the police will admit.”

He believes there could be hundreds more incidents of common assault at the hands of the police that are not being reported. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/cele-s-brutal-force-1.1044575 

Love me tenders...

It's party time for high-rolling former cop and his wife, who coined it with questionable government contracts

Mar 20, 2011

A couple who made millions from building low-cost government houses - with some of the projects now under investigation - are splashing out R1-million to renew their wedding vows. 

 

Durban's Sibusiso Mpisane and his wife, Shawn, who over the years have been investigated by the disbanded Scorpions and the Special Investigating Unit, this week revealed that money was no object for their five-day bash to celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary and 20 years of being together.

Sibusiso will also celebrate his 40th birthday at the party.

The couple plan to light fireworks on Wednesday in Lamontville, a township south of Durban. This will be followed by traditional ceremonies at their R15-million mansion in La Lucia, in the northern suburbs.

The main party will be attended by a host of celebrities and politicians and will be held at the five-star Fairmont Hotel & Resort in Zimbali next Sunday.

The various traditional cere-monies will include "slaughtering of cows and goats".

On Thursday, Sibusiso, who was a policeman until recently, said he could not "divulge the amount" they were spending. However, conservative calculations and people close to the couple estimated the bill at a minimum of R1-million.

Sibusiso said: "Planning (the event) has taken three months ... and different companies are involved in implementing it."

The entertainment on Sunday will include Grammy award-winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Kora award winner Thandiswa and SA Music Award winner Judith Sepuma.

The more than 200 guests will also be entertained by Stimela, the Jazel Brothers and DJs Muntu and Happygal.

Other details of the "Egyptian royalty-theme party" at the Fairmont Hotel are a closely guarded secret.

Even the menu is under wraps. "It's the element of surprise," said Sibusiso.

But the couple were prepared to reveal they would be wearing Egyptian-style outfits identical to those worn by pharaohs. "We are a couple who like class," he said.

Four years ago, shortly after spending R12-million on their three-storey La Lucia mansion, the Mpisanes bought an adjoining property for R3.5-million.

They flattened the house on the property and built a garage for their luxury cars, which include an Aston Martin, a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, a Porsche Turbo, a Maserati Pininfarina and a BMW 750i.

In March last year, the SA Revenue Service attached the couple's Rolls-Royce Phantom convertible, valued at around R7-million, and two Lamborghinis - one worth R4.5-million and the other R5-million.

Through their businesses, the couple allegedly owed about R50-million in back-taxes, but the matter was later settled and the cars were returned.

SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay said: "The Income Tax Act places a specific obligation on SARS to treat the affairs of all taxpayers confidentially."

Sibusiso could not be reached for comment on this matter.

Once labelled a "fugitive state witness", he has also been the subject of a preliminary probe by the now defunct Scorpions after disappearing for a year and failing to testify in a murder case against a notorious taxi boss, Mandla Gcaba, and his brother.

About 13 years ago, the former constable with the eThekwini Metro Police Dog Unit was a key state witness in the case against the wealthy Gcaba brothers, who were allegedly responsible for a shooting outside the High Court in Durban. Three people had died and six had been wounded by the time the guns fell silent.

With no other evidence linking the Gcabas to the shooting, Sibusiso's disappearance ahead of their trial virtually secured their acquittal.

Another investigation into Sibusiso's lifestyle was launched three years ago after the Democratic Alliance demanded a probe into how a constable, who earned R15000 a month, could afford to own a Lamborghini, which he often drove to work, and the La Lucia mansion.

"I do a lot of things other than being a policeman," Sibusiso said at the time.

He recently said: "Some people were shocked that I drove a Lamborghini while I was a policeman. They thought because I'm black, I must have made my bucks illegally."

Sibusiso resigned from the police after the furore and joined his wife, who owns Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport. The company had by then secured millions of rands' worth of tenders from the eThekwini municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal government.

Recently, Sibusiso was the chief lobola negotiator for police commissioner General Bheki Cele.

The police chief and President Jacob Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse, attended the Mpisanes' New Year's Eve party in 2009.

This week, Sibusiso said he had a secret gift "which will be unveiled on the day" for his wife, who is the daughter of the late Florence Mkhize, a former eThekwini councillor.

 http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article976657.ece/Love-me-tenders...

A mansion to die for 

How did a cop in the Durban Metro Police come to be lord of a R17-million manor?

The identity of the person living at 88 Addison Drive, La Lucia (a spectacular resort made famous by the Oppenheimers many decades ago as a seaside destination for the rich and famous) has in recent months been the subject of intense speculation amongst the locals: is he/she a rock star? A rap artist? Arms dealer? Oil baron? It had to be someone flash who took up residence in the mansion bought last year – at auction – for R17m. It has since been extensively renovated.

http://www.noseweek.co.za/article/1702/A-mansion-to-die-for 

Zuma dumps Shaik

President advised to have nothing to do with former backer....

Mar 20, 2011 

THE close relationship between President Jacob Zuma and his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, is over. 

The two have not seen or spoken to one other since Zuma's inauguration as president on May 9 2009.

Before that, Zuma had publicly supported the convicted fraudster, even visiting him four times while he was in prison.

A senior Zuma aide told the Sunday Times this week: "That was then; this is now."

Shaik spent two years and four months in Westville Prison and in various Durban hospitals before his controversial parole on March 3 2009 owing to a "terminal illness".

He was convicted on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud relating to his relationship with Zuma.

A Sunday Times investigation has established that:

�Zuma last spoke to Shaik before the 2009 election;

�Shaik had expected to be pardoned two years ago after Zuma had become president, but nothing happened;

�Shaik has tried contacting Zuma numerous times since May 9 2009, but to no avail;

�Top ANC leaders have strongly advised Zuma to have nothing to do with Shaik; and

�The president's financial adviser has become increasingly bitter at being abandoned by his former comrade-in-arms, and has complained to senior ANC leaders about being left out in the cold. He now leads a solitary life with little contact from ANC members.

Yesterday, Zuma's spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, said there was no relationship at all between the two. Asked to elaborate, he said: "The answer I have given is sufficient."

The president's lawyer, Michael Hulley, rejected "with contempt" claims that Zuma had promised to pardon Shaik.

As to allegations that Zuma had abandoned Shaik, Hulley said: "Because of the demands of the presidency, in particular, and government, in general, many of the president's personal relationships have suffered. The president's schedule simply does not permit him to call on friends and acquaintances, much as he may like to do so, and in Shaik's case, the president has done so as and when his schedule permits."

He said that before Zuma became president, Shaik had rendered support and assistance to him and "the Zuma family, in general, in the conduct of the president's financial affairs".

"As part of this assistance, Shaik made payments for and on behalf of the president in respect of various agreed expenses. At all times, the president understood Shaik to have willingly offered his services, which were graciously accepted in the context of the relationship which existed between the Shaik and Zuma families."

The Sunday Times has established that Shaik now wants nothing more than his pardon - after which he wishes to move overseas, away from the incessant scrutiny of the media and the public.

Yesterday, Shaik declined to comment.

The fraudster is estranged from his wife, Zulheikha, and gets to see his young son, Yasir, several hours a week.

He has been described by associates as frustrated, angry and depressed.

This, they say, contributed to him losing his notorious temper and allegedly attacking a journalist and a fellow worshipper at a Durban mosque in two separate incidents in recent weeks.

His relationship with his brothers is also said to be strained.

Shaik ran almost every aspect of Zuma's financial affairs for almost a decade, bankrolling him and his family.

In April 2008, about six months after being jailed, Shaik applied unsuccessfully to then president Thabo Mbeki for a pardon.

In December 2009, Zuma's office issued a statement saying the president was "considering a number of applications and Shaik's is among them".

It insisted Shaik's "application is not enjoying any special consideration".

Nothing came of the application.

News of the collapse of Shaik's relationship with Zuma follows a dramatic week in which the former businessman was arrested early on Monday and investigated for allegedly violating his parole conditions.

This after the Sunday Times reported how he had allegedly punched and assaulted Mohamed Ismail outside the Masjid al Hilal mosque in Overport, Durban, on Friday last week.

Ismail left the mosque after doctors had called him to attend to his ill five-year-old daughter.

The altercation was apparently sparked because Shaik's vehicle allegedly blocked Ismail's exit.

Two hours after the incident, Ismail said that he and his wife had decided not to lay charges.

Shaik declined to comment on the incident. He was later quoted in a Durban newspaper as asking for a meeting to be arranged so that he and Ismail could "pray in peace and not as enemies".

On Tuesday, prison officials visited the offices of the Sunday Times in Durban and requested contact details for Ismail.

The Sunday Times contacted Ismail, but he rejected the request.

Ismail, who has avoided all calls since Shaik's arrest, said he wanted to be left alone.

On Wednesday, KwaZulu-Natal correctional services spokes-man Hlaziya Mtolo said investigators could not find proof that Shaik had violated his parole, so the former businessman was released. 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article976913.ece/Zuma-dumps-Shaik 

 

Office 'still waiting' for Shaik file

2011-03-20

Johannesburg - Three weeks after Schabir Shaik allegedly assaulted a journalist on a Durban golf course, it was still not clear whether the convicted fraudster would face criminal charges, the Sunday Tribune reported.

An official at the prosecutor's office in Pietermaritzburg said on Friday they had still not received a docket from the police.

"We hope it will reach us before close of business. Once the director receives it, he will evaluate its contents before making a decision," Natasha Ramkisson was quoted as saying.

Tribune journalist Amanda Khoza last heard from police on March 4, via an SMS. It informed her that the case had been transferred to provincial level and that she would be informed of the prosecutor's decision within a fortnight.

Shaik allegedly slapped and throttled her on the Papwa Sewgolum golf course on Saturday, February 26 while she was covering his playing golf while out on parole.

Meanwhile the man Shaik allegedly punched outside a Durban mosque two weeks ago has declined to report the assault, the Sunday Tribune reported. Mohamed Ismail was allegedly punched when he complained that Shaik had parked him in, preventing him from getting to his daughter in hospital.

Shaik was released from prison on Wednesday afternoon after being arrested for allegedly violating his parole conditions.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Office-still-waiting-for-Shaik-file-20110320 

Director General gets R1.5 million - for doing nothing.

DG gets R1.5m – for doing nothing

2011-03-20 

Johannesburg – One of South Africa’s top-paid government officials is earning a salary of R1.5m while he is sitting at home, doing nothing.

Another official’s salary has been described as a “state secret” because should it become public knowledge, it could undermine national security!

The director generals of South Africa’s state departments earn astronomical salaries but they are not keen on sharing this info with taxpayers.

Rapport gained information about the DGs’ salaries in accordance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). 

Siviwe Dongwana, 

The Director General of the Department of Public Works.

The man, who is getting his remuneration package of R1.5m a year while sitting at home, is Siviwe Dongwana, the director general of the department of public works.

He has not been working since December 2010 because he is being investigated for alleged misconduct and dereliction of duty.

He was suspended only seven months after his appointment.

The man whose salary has to be kept secret, apparently in the interests of national security is Siviwe Dongwana, the director general of state security.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/DG-gets-R15m-for-doing-nothing-20110320 

Prison boss was bribed....

What's so shocking about this? Its just another day in SA ...

Linda Morris Mti

 

 

Chief Security Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee

South Africa, Government & Public Administration

Birth Details

Date of Birth: 02-11-1954      Place of Birth: Port Elizabeth

Current Position(s)

Chief Security Officer, 2010 Soccer World Cup, (2007 - present)

Chair, South African Students Movement, (1974 - present)

Previous Position(s)

Commissioner, Government of South Africa (2001 - 2007)

Co-ordinator, Intelligence (DG Post), National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC) (1996 - 2001)

2011-03-20

A shock report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) claims a mansion was built for former prisons boss Linda Mti by a company that received tenders worth R1.5 billion on his watch.

The report nails facilities management group Bosasa, headed by the politically connected businessman Gavin Watson, for bribing Mti and the former chief financial officer of the prisons department, Patrick Gillingham.

City Press is in possession of a copy of the report that has been kept under wraps after it was handed to correctional ­services minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula by the SIU in September 2009.

The SIU found the existence of an ­“improper and corrupt” relationship between senior correctional services officials and the Bosasa group, which has received massive tenders since 2004 to provide ­catering services, security equipment, televisions and modern fencing to prisons.

Bosasa has links to senior government and ANC officials, including National ­Intelligence Agency boss Gibson Njenje, who was one of the company’s founding members and a former chairperson.

The group also benefits from massive transport and justice department tenders, and is running the Lindela repatriation camp for the home affairs department.

The SIU report claims that:

•  The department of correctional ­services (DCS), under Mti, used savings from the fund for the compensation of prison staff to pay for the Bosasa tenders;
  
• Gillingham received cash, cars, a ­kitchen and payments towards a house from Bosasa;
  
• Gillingham carried business cards indicating he was a “consultant” to a Bosasa affiliate while he was working for the DCS;
  
• Bosasa was involved in drafting tender documents for contracts it won in a way that gave it a clear advantage in the awarding of these tenders; and
  
• Mti, who was head of security for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, appointed Gillingham as acting chief financial officer in 2004 shortly after allegations surfaced that he (Gillingham) submitted fraudulent subsistence and travel claims, had an affair with his secretary and intimidated staff.

The SIU concludes that there was an “improper and corrupt relationship” ­between Gillingham, Mti and the Bosasa group of companies.

Bosasa has previously denied acting illegally and brought a court challenge against the investigation. The SIU undertook not to “interrogate material witnesses” (including Bosasa officials and the company’s auditors) until the court case was finalised.

Mti and Gillingham previously denied taking bribes. Mti said in November 2009: “I can tell you that there’s no money that went into my own pocket.”

How the SIU did it
In 2006 various allegations surfaced in the media relating to the alleged irregular awarding of multimillion-rand contracts by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to the Bosasa group of companies.

Later in 2006 the Public Service Commission and the Auditor-General referred specific allegations relating to the Bosasa contracts to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for further investigation.

In November 2007 former president Thabo Mbeki issued a proclamation authorising the SIU to investigate tender irregularities at the DCS.

The SIU employed a multi-disciplinary team of forensic lawyers, forensic accountants, forensic investigators and cyber forensic experts to conduct the investigation.

The SIU obtained 28 affidavits, the majority from correctional services officials.

A former Bosasa employee, who is unnamed in the report, provided the SIU with a crucial affidavit, describing how Bosasa influenced tender processes.

In December 2008 the SIU made mirror images of Bosasa’s computer servers and the laptops of Bosasa employees Angelo Agrizzi, Andries van Tonder and Frans Vorster.

The SIU discovered that a data deletion utility had been used to wipe data from the servers, but the unit managed to retrieve data by employing advanced data-recovery techniques.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Report-Prison-was-boss-bribed-20110320

Tutu criticises Zuma

Tutu criticises Zuma, govt

2011-03-09 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Wednesday passed wide-ranging criticisms of President Jacob Zuma and his administration.

Delivering the annual Desmond Tutu Ecumenical Lecture at the University of the Western Cape, the former cleric, who turns 80 later this year, strayed far in his speech from the strict definition of ecumenical.

"I am very fond of President Zuma. He is affable and warm. But I do believe it would have been better for him to have been pronounced innocent by a court of law weighing the evidence, rather than through a dubious administrative act," Tutu told his audience.

He then turned his attention to South Africa’s controversial arms deal.

"And, if indeed there is nothing to hide, the government surely has nothing to fear from a judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal. It is an unnecessary albatross to carry the huge doubts."

Dragged backwards

On corruption, he warned the country was being dragged backwards.

"Our country with such tremendous potential is going to be dragged backwards and downwards by corruption, which, in some instances, is quite blatant."

Tutu criticised Zuma’s relationship with Schabir Shaik and the Gupta family.

"It may be that there is nothing to worry about with the parole of [Schabir] Shaik, but it must raise eyebrows when someone who was said to be at death’s door is shown playing golf. It is worrying when his close relationship to the president is put in juxtaposition.

"Perhaps the Gupta family would make all those lucrative deals and it is merely coincidental that the president’s son is a beneficiary."

Coincidences

He described these relationships as worrisome.

"It may all be above board, but it is worrisome. I am sure it is all in order, but it is disturbing that there are these seeming coincidences."

Tutu called for a return to a constituency-based electoral system.

"I think the party lists for selecting our representatives have served their very important purpose of ensuring representation for every conceivable grouping in the transition years.

"But we really do not want kowtowing sycophantic voting figures who are always ready to change their principles in order to stay on those party lists.

"We must revert to the well-tried constituency system," Tutu said.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Tutu-criticises-Zuma-govt-20110309 

Man sets Boss Alight

Angry employee sets fire to boss....

Modimolle - The co-owner of the Kranskop fuel station next to the N1 highway in Modimolle in Limpopo is fighting for his life after an aggrieved petrol attendant threw a petrol bomb into his office.

Jaco Rossouw, 34, is in a critical condition after sustaining 95% burn wounds in the incident, which took place at about 09:00 on Sunday morning.

The petrol attendant sustained burns to his own arms in the process. He is being treated in hospital under police guard.

Shocked motorists at the garage put out the flames on Rossouw's body with a fire extinguisher. He was treated by paramedics and rushed to Warmbaths provincial hospital in Bela-Bela before being transported by helicopter to Muelmed Hospital in Pretoria on Sunday afternoon.

A friend, Mark Harper, said late on Sunday night that "he is not doing well at all. The doctors only bring bad news but we hope and trust that God will perform a miracle".

Disagreement

The petrol attendant and Rossouw had apparently had a row. It is not clear what it was about, but some of the other petrol attendants said Rossouw had fired him.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said after the row, the petrol attendant threw petrol into a bottle, set it alight and threw it through the window of the office building.

Natasja Kotze was heading back to Meyerton from Polokwane on Sunday morning when she stopped at the fuel station. "You never think you will experience something like that. It was awful to see."

Kotze said they saw how the badly burnt Rossouw was treated by emergency rescue workers outside the office section of the fuel station. They also saw the petrol attendant in a police van.

Kotze said some of the petrol attendants told them their colleague had threatened to throw petrol through Rossouw's office window earlier on Sunday morning. "They then stopped him and said they didn't see him pouring petrol in the bottle later."

Stopped breathing

Trompie Jonker of the private Tromar ambulance service said the fire extinguisher that bystanders used to put out the flames on Rossouw's body, caused him to inhale some of the substance sprayed by the extinguisher. It also badly damaged his lungs.

Rossouw stopped breathing while emergency workers from Tromar as well as the provincial ambulance workers treated him. "His hair, eyelashes and almost all his skin was burnt off. His lungs and windpipe were also damaged by the smoke he inhaled," said Jonker.

Ledwaba said the attendant would appear in court this week on charges of attempted murder, arson and theft of petrol.

Rossouw and his wife, Edna, live in Bela-Bela. They have two young children, Ruben, 4, and Emma, 2. His wife was with him in hospital on Sunday evening.

She wrote on her Facebook page on February 7: "Seven wonderful years together, my husband! You are a gift from God to me and the children! Couldn't have asked for a better man!! Love you lots." 

Man who set boss alight arrested

Johannesburg - A man accused of setting a petrol station manager alight at a Kranskop service station was discharged from hospital on Tuesday after being treated for minor burns, Limpopo police said.

He is in police custody and due to appear in court soon facing charges of attempted murder, arson and theft of petrol, said Colonel Malesela Ledweba.

The employee allegedly set Jaco Rossouw alight on Sunday minutes after an argument.

"At about 10.30, the suspect went and filled petrol in a container and after a while he went to the manager and poured it on him and set him alight," Ledweba said at the time.

The 34-year-old manager was taken to a local hospital and later transferred to Muelmed Hospital in Pretoria.

Hospital spokesperson Maida Heydenrych told News24 on Tuesday afternoon that Rossouw is still in a "very critical condition".

"He is being treated for 95% burn wounds and associated injuries," she said, adding that his family had requested privacy at this time, and will make a statement should his condition change.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Man-who-set-boss-alight-arrested-20110308

Murder victim’s heart cut out

March 14 2011

Three men were expected to appear in the Vryheid Magistrate's Court on Monday following the murder of a woman whose heart had been cut out, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

“Vryheid detectives arrested three suspects on Friday. One... is a 40-year-old traditional healer,” Brigadier Phindile Radebe said.

Forty-year-old Buyi Xaba was found naked at the Mooiplaas farm near Vryheid earlier this month. Her chest had been cut open and her heart removed.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/murder-victim-s-heart-cut-out-1.1041603

SA painter disappears mysteriously

2011-03-06 11:07

Pretoria – Friends of the painter Cornelius Bosch, 55, are worried because he has been missing for ten days.

Bosch's neighbour in Buffelsdrift outside Pretoria, was the last person to have seen him.

Karen Loots, a friend of Bosch's said on Saturday night they were especially worried as there was no sign of him having left of his own free will.

His white Cago double cab bakkie (XJC187GP) and cellphone were missing.

"His razor, toothbrush and Bible are still in his home. Everything that is important to him, is still there."

Bosch also didn't tend to his 85-year-old mother like usual.

"It's just not like him," said Loots.

Bosch attained international renown for his expressionist paintings of flowers and dramatic landscape scenes.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/SA-painter-disappears-mysteriously-20110306

Artist's body burnt beyond recognition

2011-03-10 08:12

Pretoria - Artist Cornelius Bosch, who went missing two weeks ago, was shot in the head and then burnt so badly that dental records had to be used to identify him, police say.

Bosch family spokesperson, Lee Lerm, said police had told them on Wednesday that Bosch's body had been positively identified.

Bosch, 55, who lived in Buffelsdrift in northern Pretoria, disappeared without a trace on February 24.

Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Katlego Mogale said a passer-by had found a burnt body near the Zambezi Mall in Derdepoort in the Kameeldrift area northeast of Pretoria, last Tuesday.

"A post-mortem was held. It was found that the body had a gunshot wound to the head.

Dental records

"With the help of Bosch's dental records, it was confirmed that the body was Bosch's."

The dental records corresponded 99.99% with the remains of the body.

Bosch's white double cab bakkie with the registration number XJC 187 GP and his cellpone are still missing.

Lerm said none of Bosch's works which were still in his possession can be sold.

"Police are still closely monitoring the trade in Cornelius Bosch's paintings.

"It is normal practice when an artist dies. If something disappears now or is sold, it is theft."

Paintings

Bosch was best known for his expressionist paintings of flowers and dramatic and classical landscapes.

For more than five years up until 2009, he donated a painting which was auctioned for charity at the annual Beeld Children's Fund's Valentine's Dinner.

Alice Bester of the Alice art gallery in Roodepoort, Johannesburg, said Bosch was the kindest and gentlest person.

"He was hopelessly too young to go, but he went straight to heaven," said Bester.

The police said a case of murder is being investigated, but it is not yet clear what the motive could have been.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Artists-body-burnt-beyond-recognition-20110310 

Mom raped in front of her kids

Pietermaritzburg - A woman was raped in front of her 2-year-old twins and her 2-week-old baby in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Monday.

“It is alleged that at gunpoint the suspect ordered the 42-year-old mother [of the victim] to cover her face with a blanket, to which she complied. He then ordered the 18-year-old victim to lie on the floor and thereafter raped her whilst her 2-year-old sons watched,” said Warrant Officer Joey Jeevan.

The incident happened on Saturday night in a place called France phase five in Pietermaritzburg.

Jeevan said the 18-year-old woman and her mother were asleep when they were awoken by a man who had a firearm with him.

The man demanded money from the family which they did not have.

“He ransacked the house and took a Samsung cellphone, two Nokia cellular phones and a Motorola cellphone and fled from the scene,” said Jeevan.

The woman and her mother were afraid that the suspect may still be in the area so they locked their house and remained inside until morning when they contacted the police.

“The victim was taken to a clinic in the Northdale area for treatment. It is believed that the suspect gained entry by forcing open the bedroom window. No arrests were made.”

Police are appealing to anyone with information on the incident to contact the investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Bheki Langa, on 033 845 7724 or on 078 712 4199.

People wishing to remain anonymous could contact the Crime Stop number on 08600 10111.

- SAPA

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Mom-raped-in-front-of-her-kids-20110307

Pandora's Box 12

Mike Smith's Political Commentary

Where the truth hurts

Opening Pandora’s Apartheid Box – Part 12– The Architects of Apartheid 

By Mike Smith
11th of May 2010

Today when one asks, “Who was the Architect of Apartheid” one would almost unanimously get the answer of “Dr. H.F. Verwoerd”. It is today taught in schools and all over the internet as “fact”...

The saying goes that when you want to beat a dog, it is easy to find a stick. Today the Afrikaners, the decedents of the Boers, are bearing the brunt of this accusation as “”The Creators, and or the Monsters of Apartheid”.

Now some Afrikaners would proudly accept that title as the inventors of a system of segregation called Apartheid and as I have said, they might even try to patent this model, but do they actually have a claim to it?

When one does the proper research one will find that the segregation policies that eventually became known as “Apartheid” was actually not started by the Boers/Afrikaners but by the British High Commissioner Lord Alfred Milner between the end of the Second Anglo Boer War and unification of South Africa in 1910.
Milner started a group called his “Kindergarten” made up of civil servants close to him. Why, you ask?

In those days and especially in 1905 the subject of “The Native” question and the “Asian menace” first came up when the Cambridge Anthropologist, Alfred Haddon, addressed a meeting between the “British Association for the Advancement of Science” and The South African Associations. (Source, A Commonwealth of Knowledge, Science, Sensibility, and White South Africa 1820-2000, Saul Dubow)

Sir Godfrey Langdon, author of “The South African Native Affairs Commission report”, urged Howard Pim to outline an overall scheme of racial segregation.

The official report from those days is called, “Report of the 75th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 1905 (London, 1906”).

Lord Milner was an arch racist who had some serious dualistic problems. He described himself as a “Race Patriot” in a letter to Haldane, 21Jan. 1901, “Very Confidential”, in Headlam(ed.), Milner Papers, ii.206.

Milner had no time for the Boers and many times tried to slight them on their characteristics – for example he said that the Boers can continue to fight a guerrilla war for a while, “just as low types of animal organisms will long survive injuries which would kill organisms of a higher type outright...” (M van Wyk Smit, Telling the Boer War”)

Milner could not synchronise his hatred for the Boers, their “Backwardness” as he described it, with the countless defeats of the British and the superiority of the Boers on the battlefield.

In those days the post Anglo Boer war British Government of South Africa were hoping to erase differences between Boers/Afrikaners and the English speaking South Africans. They thought it would be only a matter of time before these two groups would fully merge.

The “Selbourne Memorandum” of 1907 opens and speaks of these two principal races of South Africa - British and Dutch – to overcome their historical differences. The memorandum declared that both groups were “Teutonic in origin” and that the fusion between them would only be a matter of time as it was with the Saxons and the Normans who were distantly related.

The Selbourne memorandum said that there were more differences between the people of Ireland or Canada than there were between the Boers and the British of South Africa.
Basically, the idea before the Unification of South Africa in 1910 was to unite the two white tribes and separate them from the blacks.

Two of Milner’s “Kindergarten” group, Lionel Curtis and Patrick Duncan confided in each other,

“The fact is that we have all been moving steadily from the Cape idea of mixing up white, brown and black and developing the different grades of colour strictly on the lines of European civilisation, to the very opposite conception of encouraging as far as possible the black man to separate from the white and to develop a civilisation, as he is beginning to do in Basutoland, on his own lines.” (Patrick Duncan Papers BC294C23.3.8, University of Cape Town, Manuscripts and Archives, Curtis to Duncan, 26 Nov 1907).

The term applied to this British strategy was called “Segregation”. The Afrikaans word for it would be “Apartheid”

As can be seen so far, the idea of Apartheid came from various sources. The Whites of South Africa, whether it be Boer or Brit had an intimate knowledge of the Blacks of South Africa. It was basically a common consensus that Whites and Blacks have to be separated.

We ALL ...black and white...wanted Apartheid. This can be seen from the aspirations of the Sothos and the Swazis who wanted their own kingdoms where they could preserve their own culture, language, religion and where they could rule themselves. The Tswanas who got Botswana is another example. Therefore we are all guilty of the so called “Crime of Apartheid”.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any nation who wishes to secure and preserve their way of life. There is nothing wrong with any nation wishing to live in peaceful harmony with their neighbours.

Segregation, Apartheid or Separate and Equal Development was a unique concept, wished by all South Africans, both Black and White. Nobody has to feel guilty about it today. It was OUR country and we had to find a solution where we could all be happy with and live with each other.

Today the critics of Apartheid are numerous, yet nobody have produced a better model for the unique South African situation. The current “Rainbow Nation” model has proved to be an abject failure.

The need for people to rule themselves and have a national identity is the most natural system on earth. It is called Nationalism. We have seen this need amongst the Basks and the Catalonians of Spain, the Croatians, Serbs, Montenegros, etc of Yugoslavia, The Irish and the Scots of the UK, The Kurds of Syria and Turkey, The Ibos of Nigeria, The Hutus and Tsutsis of Rwanda, the Muslims in Chad, The Tamils in Sri Lanka, The Greeks and Turks in Cyprus, The Walonians and the Flemish in Belgium....

This need to be separate is a worldwide phenomenon. Maybe Apartheid was not perfect, but show me a political system that is.

In South Africa we came upon a system that kept the peace and where we lived happily alongside with each other until the Communist agitators entered and disturbed our peace, where they played us off against each other after we have already fought all our battles and made peace with each other. We found our own solution. We found our own peace that was called “Apartheid”, but the communist wanted the riches of our country and made us enemies again.

South Africa will forever be a unique situation and only us...The Blacks and Whites of South Africa will be able to find a solution we can all live with in the end.
The solution for our problems will come from us who have shared this beautiful country for hundreds of years, not from outsiders who just want our gold and minerals.

Let me finish with a quote....

“You do not want any reforms; You want my country”
(President Paul Kruger to Lord Alfred Milner - 31st May1899, shortly before the outbreak of the second Anglo Boer war)

9 comments:

Andrea Muhrrteyn said...

wow... thanks I have been educated! thanks.

May 14, 2010 4:27 PM

DestuctionByOmission said...

All I can say is Wow, blown away yet again!

May 14, 2010 7:07 PM

tonymcgregor said...

"In South Africa we came upon a system that kept the peace and where we lived happily alongside with each other until the Communist agitators entered and disturbed our peace, where they played us off against each other after we have already fought all our battles and made peace with each other." - which history have you been reading? Apartheid was itself a breach of peace, a brutal subjection of people without their consent. Apart from a few leaders deliberately set up by the apartheid regime I know of no black political leader who accepted the subordinate position which whites wanted them to live under. Please read Jabavu, Soga, Plaatjie, Dube, and many7, many others, and then tell me that only "outsiders" were against "apartheid." 

Mike Smith said...

Tony all the black leaders of the independent homelands such as Transkei, Bophuthatswana, venda and Ciskei accepted their independence and had good relations with SA. Many got very rich through casinos etc. Again I challenge you, as in a previous post to show me one country in Africa where it went better with Blacks than in Apartheid SA. Maybe you can think of Ethiopia under Mengistu with his Red Terror where he killed hundreds of thousands or the Congo where 3 million has died or Uganda under Idi Amin, or Mozambique under Machell...Explain to us why these blacks from Mozambique fled into "Racist" Apartheid SA, risking their lives against a double electrified fence on the Kruger Park border and facing wild animals such as lions and heyenas when Apartheid was so bad. I think you should stop reading all that poison propaganda and start thinking for yourself.

June 1, 2010 1:21 AM

Sonia said...

So, what has tonymcgregor have to say in response to Mike's reply? Jabavu, Soga, Plaatjie, Dube etc. can all be expected to show a "victim" mentality because they have all chosen to believe the myriad of deceptions of the ANC and their allies, everything other than what Mike Smith has dug up. So much for what they have to say. Thank you Mike Smith for truth that WILL PREVAIL!

June 18, 2010 12:31 AM

Anonymous said...

Next we shall separate the blue eyed whites, from the brown eyed whites, and then the people under 5ft 6 inches from those taller and then big noses from...etc. Stupidity. Their is only ONE planet for us all- so you'll just have to learn to get along. A.R.Lockhart

August 11, 2010 3:49 AM

Anonymous said...

Yes AR. Lockhart and with that in mind surely we should be able to choose your friends, or should we all be political correct and mix against our will. Political correctness is nothing more than anti-white racism

August 25, 2010 1:35 AM

tonymcgregor said...

Well what I have to say to Mike Smith is to ask again which history he (and Sonia) has been reading? If apartheid was so great, how come it had to be propped up by brutal laws and a brutal system of repression of any opposing voices? People were killed for opposing apartheid. Those "homeland" leaders were corrupt and accepted so-called "independence" because they knew they could get rich by doing so. I agree that apartheid was not the invention of the nationalist party - the racists of the British Empire had been as much complicit in it, as were the governments of the Boer republics. Apartheid was certainly not "wished" by most blacks. And apartheid was not at all a way to "live in peaceful harmony with their neighbours." There was also no justice in it at all. The Land Act of 1913, followed by other Acts like the Group Areas Act robbed blacks of their land. That is not living peacefully, that is simply a criminal act of theft. As for the victim mentality that Sonia mentions, none of the writers I cited could even remotely be accused of having such. As for ANC propaganda being responsible I think the boot is actually on the other foot - the most powerful propaganda machine was that of the apartheid regime - and that's why so many will still try to minimise the effects of apartheid. Apartheid killed, apartheid caused untold suffering, apartheid was evil, however it is looked at. It had nothing whatsoever to do with fairness, with respect. It was plain and simple racism of the worst sort. It rivalled Nazism in its evil, and in fact many of the supporters of apartheid were also Nazi supporters. Birds of a feather? Just an aside to Sonia - Jabavu was actually not an ANC supporter and was most certainly not suffering from a "victim" mentality. I would challenge you to think of what it must have been like to live as a black person under apartheid - to have to carry a pass with you at all times, to be subject to a curfew, to be forced to live in a place not of your choosing, to be unable to get a job for which you might have the skills and intelligence because it was white man's work, and so on and on. And then talk about a "victim" mentality. And by the way, I do think for myself, which is why during the apartheid years I opposed it, as I still do, and why I no longer support the ANC as it is now going the way of most nationalist parties and starting to become an authoritarian government which does not easily accept opposition. Just like the Nats. But let's not fall into the trap of trying to whitewash apartheid because of the failings of other parties.

November 9, 2010 11:29 PM

Mike Smith said...

Tell me something Tommy McGreggor…? Are you aware of Godwins-Law? Look it up…It means that if you pull the Nazi invective that you lose the argument. You say Apartheid was “plain and simple racism“ So please enlighten us to what your definition of „Racism „ is. You liken Apartheid and Nationalism to National Socialism…it is clear you have no idea what the difference between Nationalism and National Socialism is. Nevertheless, you forget to mention that about 80,000 White South Africans died in the Second World War fighting Nazism, which blows your unsubstantiated drivel to pieces. I tell you what…Institute exactly the same laws against whites and give us a homeland. You can even request us to carry a pass when we come and into your country and we will gladly wear it. Please separate us as far away from blacks as possible. That is all we actually want. We never wanted to oppress blacks; we never wanted to rule blacks. We wanted blacks to rule themselves. We simply wanted nothing to do with blacks. It is fine if blacks today want to do the same to us. Please…I beg you to do the same. But no, you want to sponge on our tax money. You want to suppress us and oppress us. Blacks are the biggest racists. “You bleat, “Apartheid killed, apartheid caused untold suffering, apartheid was evil, however it is looked at. It had nothing whatsoever to do with fairness, with respect. It was plain and simple racism of the worst sort. “ How many did Apartheid kill? More than the 3000 white farmers to date? More than the 18,000 people per year? Here is a fact for you Sparky. More Blacks today are dying under the ANC than ever under Apartheid. About 500,000 die of AIDS alone every year purely due to the HIV AIDS policies of the ANC who believes garlic and beetroot will cure it or like Zuma believe a shower…hehehe But hey…if you want to believe Apartheid was the most evil system then don’t let me stop you. Just spare a few moments for the 20+ million people who died under Stalin’s Communism or the 70+million who died under Mao Ze Dong and hiss „Great leap Forward“. Not sure what history YOU are reading and whether it is history at all. Sounds more like you have been indoctrinated through ANC and Communist propaganda.

November 11, 2010 9:35 AM 

 

http://mspoliticalcommentary.blogspot.com/2010/05/opening-pandoras-apartheid-box-part-12.html 

 

Pandora's Box 3

By Mike Smith
26 April 2010

Many white South Africans feel guilty about Apartheid, they feel as if they actually did something evil or bad, but that is totally wrong.

Ex president De Klerk apologised for Apartheid and so did the Dutch Reform Church Dominee, Swanepoel who also started pulling out his intestines about Apartheid and apologised on behalf of the entire church without any mandate from anyone of the congregation. Ds Swanepoel se derm uitrygery oor Apartheid

So when such “leaders” tell us how wrong we were, then we tend to believe them. But let us look at the truth.

Anyone who knows the history of South Africa will know that nobody suffered more on the soil of South Africa, no one has bled as much as the Afrikaners and their descendants the Boers. The Whites of South Africa and specifically the Afrikaners have nothing to be sorry for. In fact the Blacks owe them a tremendous gratitude and a gigantic apology for the way they treated Whites in the last 350 years.

The Afrikaners have a song that is taught to all Afrikaans kids from the crib and that every Afrikaner today knows. The name of this song is called, “Siembamba”. The lyrics are so heavy that I almost do not want to repeat it here. But it goes like this,

“Siembamba, mama se kindjie,
Siembamba, mama se kindjie
--draai sy nek om, gooi hom in die sloot;
trap op sy kop dan is hy dood.”

For our international readers I will freely translate and then explain.

“Siembamba, mommies little child,
Siembamba, mommies little child,
--Wring his neck, throw him in the ditch,
Step on his head, then he is dead…”

Believe it or not…this is a song Afrikaans people sing to their children while rocking them to sleep!

It records the brutality of the Xhosas who would indiscriminately kill white women and white babies during the nine Kaffir wars. Black men are mostly cowards who are only brave when in packs. They actually seldom engage in head on confrontation with White men. When they attack it is always in groups, while people are asleep. Their preferred targets are the elderly, women and children.

A common myth amongst foreigners and South Africans alike is that they think that before the White man came to Africa, Blacks lived in peace and harmony with nature and with each other.

This harmony with nature is not entirely wrong. It is the perception of “In harmony with nature” that is misunderstood.

People want to believe that nature is pure and good and that the lion lies with the lamb, but reality is far removed from that. When one sees how hyenas tear a live animal apart, how a praying mantis bites the head off her mate after copulation how the Streptococcus bacteria can destroy human flesh, one is left with a feeling that nature can be very cruel.

Nature amongst African blacks have always been very cruel. Blacks who supposedly lived in tune with nature were regularly eaten by lions, crocodiles, bitten by snakes, stung by scorpions and their numbers controlled by insects like the mosquito (Malaria) or the Tsetse fly(sleeping sickness). Yellow fever and Cholera were other forms of nature to control the numbers of Blacks...

But it has to be said that before the white people came to Africa, the most effective way Blacks controlled their own populations were with genocidal tribal wars...and cannibalism.

Let me point out some of the psyche of the Blacks in order to try and understand his petty jealousy and envy.

Amongst the Black communities it is not allowed for individuals to show ingenuity or individualistic prosperity. The moment one Black person starts to rise a little above the others, he will be the first one to be hammered down by the community like a nail in a wooden floor. Those who do prosper are ostracised by their black tribes and it will be said of them that they are not real blacks that they are whites with a black skin...

That mentality still persists to this day, but this petty envy is accompanied with an inbred, inextinguishable, brutality that the whites of Africa came face to face with and learned about the hard way.

Ever since the white man set foot on South African soil, he has been shocked and horrified at the brutality of the blacks. No matter how much the whites wanted to believe in the “equality of man”, they were sadly confronted only with the brutality and reality of Stone Age savages.

Blacks of central Africa sold other blacks they have conquered into slavery to Arabs, other black tribes and also to whites. The moment one tribe had a bit more than the others, they would be prone to a nocturnal raid by neighbouring tribes who would kill all the men, rape the women and children, steal the cattle and incorporate the women and children into their own tribes.

Tribes who were not strong enough would flee the area. In sub Saharan Africa it meant that nobody wanted to flee north, because they knew it was a desert where they could not survive. So the only way was to flee south. The weakest of the weakest tribes were right in the front, followed by a slightly stronger tribe, followed by ever increasing stronger tribes further north, driving the weaker ones south.

Roundabout the same time that whites first settled in South Africa, black tribes first entered South Africa. They were contemporary settlers of the area now known as South Africa. In some areas whites were the first and in others, blacks were the first.

Blacks moving South and Whites moving north looking for better grazing for their cattle eventually met at the Fish and the Kei rivers around 1770...About 120 years after the Whites first (permanently) settled at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 . To put it into perspective, it was about the same time as New York was founded in the USA.

Who were these Blacks they met at the Fish River? They were the Xhosa. The Xhosa were fleeing from the Zulus who murdered them en masse. Even until today the word or name “Xhosa” in Zulu is synonymous with the word “coward”.

The animosity between the Xhosas and the Zulus goes back hundreds of years. Mandela and Mbeki, the two previous presidents were both Xhosas, but the current president, Jacob Zuma is a Zulu. Zulus and Xhosas hate each other more than they hate whites and that says a lot.

But why do the other Blacks of South Africa hate the Zulus? It goes back to “King” Shaka. Note I put “King” in inverted commas. Blacks can never be kings of any kind...before one can be a King, one should first be a MAN.

Shaka was a sadistic psychopath who committed genocide on a larger scale than Rwanda has ever seen. The Zulus wiped out entire tribes, entire cultures in what is today known as the Mfecane or Dfecane (Annihilation). Shaka’s terror was so great that Mzilikazi, the chief of the Matabeles fled BACK NORTH...direction where Zimbabwe is today.

Amongst all this chaos arrived the White man in the region of the Xhosas. They fought nine “Wars” against the Xhosa between 1811 and 1879. The Frontier Wars, Kaffir wars or Xhosa wars

Everytime the wars were about Xhosas stealing cattle and other livestock, burning down homesteads, killing not only white farmer families in the most horrific torturing ways, but also the coloureds who worked for the whites.

It was at the time of the sixth Kaffir war that Piet Retief decided to trek with the other Voortrekkers.

Piet Retief and his party thought they could negotiate and buy land from the Zulus, but they were massacred on a hill at the kraal of the Zulu King, Dingaan when they respected the wishes of Dingaan to leave their weapons outside.

Every man and boy, around 100 in total, were clubbed to death. Retief was the last to be killed, so as to witness the death of his comrades.

Dingaan then ordered all Voortrekker laagers to be attacked along the Bushman’s River. An orgy of violence started. Families were camped at Bloukrans, Dorinkop, Moordspruit, etc. Cowardly blacks would attack them during the middle of the night, killing everyone in the most horrific ways. Women were brutally gang raped and pregnant women were cut open, their babies killed in front of them while they still lived. Small children and babies were picked up by their feet and their heads smashed against the sides of the wagons.

Among the Voortrekkers , 41 men, 56 women and 185 children were killed. In addition another 250 or 252 Khoikhoi and Basuto that accompanied the Voortrekkers were killed. A girl called Johanna van der Merwe (12 years old at the time) sustained 21 assegai wounds, but managed to survive.

The Voortrekkers built the town Weenen (meaning wailing) at the site.

The Bloukrans Massacre
Throughout the following decades up until the present day the whites of South have experienced this petty envy and brutality at the hands of blacks. Examples are legion. Boers retaliated at Makapansgat where blacks savagely murdered whites in the most horrific ways. Hermanus Potgeter was tied down to a rock bed and skinned alive like an animal while still conscious, he died while the blacks ripped his organs out.

More lately we saw the brutal black on black murders with the necklace method . We saw blacks storming into white churches with AK 47’s and hand grenades, opening fire on the unarmed congregation such as at the St James Church massacre. We have seen everything from brutal Muti murders to the evil torture preceding the brutal killings of White farmers and their family members in Rhodesia, Namibia and also in South Africa, most of the time nothing stolen. More than 3000 White farmers and family members murdered to date since the ANC took over in 1994.

It is necessary to reiterate that this violent nature of blacks are not directed at whites only, so the black behaviour apologetics who claim that this behaviour is retribution for wrongs committed by whites against blacks, have no leg to stand on, because most often than not this black violent nature is directed at their own kind as we have seen with Shaka’s defecane, Muti murders and necklacing.

No, this brutality, this murderous, stealing and other asocial behaviour of Blacks could never and can never be reconciled with the behaviour of the deeply religious and pious Boers of South Africa.

This violent behaviour of blacks was one of the rationales for Apartheid. The other was cultural differences. More on that in the next edition. For now it is important to realise that whites in South Africa never wanted to rule blacks. Whites wanted to separate from blacks and stay as far away from blacks as possible.

.../ to be continued
Posted by Mike Smith at 11:27 AM