Wednesday, November 28 2018

Ninth man arrested over lion slaughter

A man handed himself over to police and joined eight others in court on Tuesday for alleged possession of lion bones, lion meat and tiger’s skin. Louis Fouche, 22, joined Lourens Pretorius, 24, Mguyel Huu Son, 30, Tuan, 33, Dao Chanh, 38, Pham Khur, 56, Chanh, 56, and Quol Thang, 60, and Michael Frederich Fourie, 42, in the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court. The case was postponed to December 5. Hawks spokesperson Captain Tlangelani Rikhotso said Fourie is renting a farm where the slaughter allegedly took place. Two vehicles had been intercepted on Sunday as they were headed to an unused farm in Mareetsane. Officers found gas cylinders and burners, a saw, knives and equipment suspected of being used to process lion bones. The suspects took the Hawks to another farm 30km from Klerksdorp, where the lions were allegedly slaughtered. They found a lion skin dumped in the bush and machines believed to have been used to cut the bones.

HHP’s ex-partner died of ‘natural causes’

While those close to Lerato Khanye, HHP’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of their son has called for privacy and have not officially divulged details of her sudden death on Monday, it’s being reported that she died of natural causes. According to Sowetan a close source said Lerato fell ill about a week ago and had died at Helen Joseph hospital. The news came as a devastating blow for HHP and Lerato’s 13-year-old son, Leano who is still mourning the death of his dad. HHP took his own life on October 24 after a lengthy battle with depression. Tsambo family spokesperson Nkululeko Ncana confirmed Lerato’s death to TshisaLIVE on Monday but said he was not at liberty to speak about the details or comment on how Leano was coping. He asked that the family be afforded privacy to deal with the loss.

E Cape officials rack up over R1m in fines

The Eastern Cape government has more than R1m in outstanding traffic fines for state-owned vehicles. Provincial transport MEC Weziwe Tikana revealed this in a written reply to DA member of the provincial legislature Marshall von Buchenroder on November 8. The fines from April 2016 to the start of November this year totalled R1.14m. The total for 2016/17 was R394,050, R406,737 for 2017/18 and R339,900 in 2018/19. On September 30 this year, the provincial government had 3,154 operational vehicles. Tikana said traffic officers could often not identify the drivers of the cars so fines would then be issued to the Government Fleet Management Services which would try to find the liable drivers.

‘Isis loyalists’ get bail in Verulam bombing case

Eleven men accused of orchestrating the bloody Verulam mosque attack and a wave of alleged Isis-inspired firebomb attacks were granted bail in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Farhad Hoomer along with Ahmed Haffejee‚ Thabit Mwenda‚ Mohamad Akbar‚ Seiph Mohamed‚ Amani Mayani‚ Abubakar Ali‚ Abbas Jooma‚ Mahammed Sobruin‚ Ndikumana Shabani and Iddy Omari were arrested in a coordinated Hawks raid on October 5. Hoomer, the man the state painted as the alleged ringleader of the group, was released on R200,000 bail. Haffejee will have to hand over R150,000 to the state to secure his release. Mwenda, Mohamed and Mayani were released on warnings while Akbar, Ali‚ Jooma, Sobruin, Shabani and Omari had bail set between R3,000 and R5,000. Magistrate Irfaan Khalil said that while reasonable suspicion had been raised by the state, its case was not watertight.

Mogoeng takes time on Mkhwebane costs decision

Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is already facing a R900,000 personal costs order over her disastrous legal battle with the Reserve Bank — now SA’s central bank wants her to personally pay the costs of her appeal against that order. Chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Tuesday reserved judgment in Mkhwebane’s challenge to the costs order granted against her, the first given against a public protector, as well as the Bank’s application for Mkhwebane to be found to have “abused her office”. Mkhwebane’s advocate Vuyani Ngalwana maintains that the costs order granted against her must be overturned, because Mkhwebane did not “act in bad faith” in her investigation into the apartheid-era bailout given by the Bank to Bankorp. Instead, he says, she “showed bad judgement” by failing to disclose certain meetings she had — including with then-president Jacob Zuma’s office — prior to the release of the report. Essentially, he says, Mkhwebane made “errors” in her investigation and report “but these should not be the basis of an adverse costs order against her”.

The New Age to go under the hammer

Once owned by the controversial Gupta family, The New Age newspaper will on Wednesday go under the hammer after its liquidation was finalised. In his testimony before the state capture commission on Tuesday, Mzwanele Manyi – who briefly acquired the newspaper from the Guptas through vendor financing – said his high court application to liquidate the newspaper had been finalised. The auction would take place on Wednesday. The application was lodged by Manyi’s AfroTone Media. Earlier this year, the high court in Pretoria placed the newspaper under provisional liquidation. Business Day previously reported that in his affidavit to the court, asking for the provisional liquidation, Manyi said that from February 2018 — when Zuma was replaced by President Cyril Ramaphosa — to June 2018, TNA’s revenue declined from R5,173,646 to R255,650.

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