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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Spate of mystery fires continues:
17:55 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
2 dead, 8 critical:
Eaglesvale IT-college, 101 Embassy Place, Joburg burnt out
2009-10-07 -- Johannesburg – SAPA – Two young women died, eight people are critical, all from a fire which started at 11:30am at the Eaglesvale computer-IT college, 101 Embassy Place at Breed Street, downtown Johannesburg. Students writing exams at the just-launched teaching facility had to be evacuated, as was a kindergarten and a legal-courier franchise which transports court documents. The blaze rapidly spread to higher floors.
thus far this week:
- Fire in downtown Johannesburg kills two women;
- two fires break out at Pretoria law court Monday and Tuesday;
- fires were doused at Nedbank in Randburg and the Holiday Inn in Sandton on Tuesday-
- and 7 Muslim family members died from charcoal-fire fumes in Strand on Monday
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Monday’s Pretoria law court fire caused a dramatic, high-speed evacuation of 400 employees and the public from the court rooms, however twelve trial-awaiting prisoners were somehow left behind while fire officials were frantically searching for that one missing police official with the cell keys. After two hours of sukkeling, the 12 prisoners could finally be rescued after sawing through their cell bars.
On Tuesday, the law courts caught fire again, SAPA reports at about 15:30 – when court was no longer in session -- this time on the 4th floor at Court One – underneath a magistrate’s chair… Pretoria official Tleane also confirmed the second fire – but said the courtroom was empty and no evacuation was necessary. This fire was doused within an hour. During the investigation, the possibility of arson would not be ruled out. said a Pretoria official. "Given the questionable nature of this whole thing, we cannot say it is arson, however we do not rule it out." The magistrate’s desk, chair and all the documents on the desk were burnt out.http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20091006181721846C643117
Holiday Inn, Nedbank basements also caught fire:
Beeld newspaper also reported other mysterious fires yesterday – Nedbank’s basement in Randburg caught fire, as did the basement of the Holiday Inn Sandton on Monday. Guests had to be evacuated.
And only the quick thinking of an employee from a neighbouring shop at Blackheath Mews, Darryn Browning of Full Throttle bike shop, saved the Nedbank building from going up in flames, reports The Star. He was one of the first people on the scene around 7.45am."I saw smoke, I opened the door, I saw flames and I grabbed a fire extinguisher," said Browning... http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=14&art_id=nw20091005113256827C984727
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Seven- member Muslim family dies from charcoal fire fumes
October 6 2009 – Yesterday, a seven-member ‘Afrikaans-Cape coloured’ Muslim family died in a mysterious fire-related incident in Strand, Cape Town. Die Burger journalist Jan Gerber reports that the bodies of Raeesha Shields, 9, Riyaaz Shields, 7, Mrs Ferial Adams, 52, Mr Mogamat Adams, 52, their daughter Ishaan 7 and son Zyaan, 16, and Abubakar Hendricks, 41 were found in the apartment. The only survivor was Mrs Nadia Shields who owned the apartment. She was rescued and taken to hospital in very serious condition. The inter-related Cape Muslim families moved in two months earlier and were apparently holding a ‘blessing ceremony’ for the new abode, said some relatives after their funeral. Police insp. Olebogeng Tawana of Strand said ‘it looked as if a charcoal fire was made in a konka, and the family could have succumbed to carbon-dioxide fumes.’ All the windows had been tightly sealed up, he said. http://www.dieburger.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1708/f9826b7d34d842a988c2ae3b706c633b/07-10-2009-02-07/Braai_eis_7_in_Strand
http://www.dieburger.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1708/cf4f17a7ac5d4ebc81f7888229a31958/06-10-2009-03-38/Sewe_mense_sterf_in_Strand
ER24- Based at Milnerton Medi-Clinic GPS co-ords: S33 51.53 E18 30.21 Tel: 083 232 7410
Email: er24westmetro@mediclinic.co.za
Shopping Centres crime-hotspots alerts http://www.sapoa.org.za/downloads/ShoppingCentreHotSpot_22082008.pdf
Labels:
Besieged citizens also demand right to shoot back
Public praise police over dramatic arrest of hijack-gang in high-speed chase through downtown Pretoria – because the cops fired back…
October 8 2009 - Pretoria News readers were full of praise over the dramatic arrests last night by the police ‘s diplomatic patrol units, after a high-speed chase through the streets of downtown Pretoria and Hatfield. Readers also wrote that they wanted the legal right to shoot back at armed criminals – with one Pretoria News reader writing:
“The war has escalated out of control, and every citizen should take up arms now. Cops are told to shoot to kill...Well we, the prey should by law also be allowed to do so to, take up arms…”
The four-member gang was spotted after hijacking an unarmed motorist ‘s BMW-1 luxury car just as the worker had left his Pretoria city-centre office. All but one of the gang were arrested after a high-speed chase and a fierce shootout with police. The fourth gangster was shot by a pursuing officer while fleeing and this man escaped down the Hatfield railway tracks – but is being sought in local hospitals as he is wounded.
Graham Hosken writes that the four attackers were chased by patrolling members of the diplomatic police units, who spotted the BMW racing past vehicles and through red traffic lights in Schoeman Street at breakneck speed. As these officers gave chase, three of the suspects opened fire at them with handguns -- while the driver of the hijacked car also tried to ram several pursuing police vehicles off the road.
Other diplomatic unit members in Hatfield then blocked off Schoeman Street at the Duncan Street intersection, while several of their colleagues also blocked off Duncan and School streets.
- Jumped off 5m Hatfield railway bridge – gets arrested:
- With the trap now set, the suspects swerved into Duncan Street, still shooting wildly at police. Police shot out the back window of the BMW, the driver lost control of the vehicle. Two suspects were arrested as they tried to get out of the car, a third was arrested on the railway line moments after he jumped off the 5m high Hatfield railway bridge and the fourth suspect, who was shot when he opened fire on a police officer chasing him on the railway tracks – has managed to escape.
Police said this gang was being sought for a number of hijackings in the city. "From the information we have, it appears as if they are the ones responsible for a number of attacks on city motorists," said an officer.
“We are not going to let them kill us or anyone else…”
An officer on the scene said when the gunmen started shooting he did not think twice about returning fire. "When those guns came out we thought this is it. We are not going to let them kill us or anyone else," he said.
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‘Police fear prosecution if they defend themselves against gunmen’:
Pictures left: Yesterday, high school pupil Theunis Smit, 18, son of police inspector Theunis Smit senior, published an open letter to SA President Jacob Zuma, pleading with him to amend the laws so that police officers would be allowed to shoot back when gunmen pulled out their guns. Smit wrote his letter in response to the murder of police captain Carl Scheepers on October 4, 2009, shot dead when he confronted an armed suspect and ordered him to drop his gun –as required by law.
The Afrikaans youth, best friend to Jean-Jacques Scheepers, the 18-year-old son of the murdered police officer. wrote: ‘Police officers (like our dads) worry that they will be prosecuted for murder when defending themselves against armed suspects:’ “My father and his colleagues are constantly talking about their rights. ’ he said.
Last night, Pretoria’s police officers didn’t hesitate to shoot back at the four-member gang they were pursuing. Police spokesman Inspector Duane Lightfoot confirmed the hijacking and said that the men had attacked the motorist as he’d his office. He said the unarmed owner of the BMW was not injured in the attack.
- Lightfoot said the suspects “constantly shot at the pursuing police officers: the chase began moments after the hijacking -- when officers spotted the driver swerving dangerously between vehicles as he raced along Schoeman Street. When the motorist did not stop when ordered to, the officers began radioing for back-up," he said, adding that while the driver tried to force several police cars off the road, his accomplices opened fire on the officers.
He said the suspects would appear in court soon on charges of attempted murder, armed robbery and reckless and negligent driving. Lightfoot said that police were now searching the city's hospitals and clinics for the wounded suspect -- who they were confident of catching. View page 3, edition 2, Pretoria News, October 08, 2009
Readers were jubilant: writing comments such as:
- We are fighting a war… we also want the right to shoot back…
- “Do me a favor IOL, send our comments to all these crime stories to Zuma, each day we face murder and mayhem, violence and deceit, corruption on the highest level, government's greed, reckless spending, we are fighting a WAR people, terrorists are all around us, the war has escalated out of control, and every citizen should take up arms now. Cops are told to shoot to kill...Well we, the prey should by law also be allowed to do so to, take up arms, arms yourself heavily, so that when these heartless beasts descend upon you and yours, fire on them with every piece of lead you have, let their families mourn and bury them by the thousands, let their blood flow, have no mercy and have no compassion, and F*** apartheid, I too am black and them devils who want a free car and money and cellphone will die at my hands. Enuff said I have no pity for scum. “
- “Don’t Kill them...cut piece by piece off their bodies!
- … “This goes to show with a coordinated effort, and properly equiped vehicles our police force will win the battle against crime on the streets - it's unfortunate the same cannot be said for our courts ..hence we call for the shoot to kill approach, but well done - now can we please see these scumbags on IOL and all affiliated newspapers so that we can recognise them in future ..
- “Well done SAPS, great job, but I wish these thugs were dead instead of sending them to jail (should I say to a hotel).”
- “You see, it’s no license to kill after all! Well done to you officers. We owe our peace of mind and safety to you... “ and much more of the same on:
- http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20091008042856197C915060
Police reports Oct 8 2009
20091008 Theo Beukes, Falcon Ridge survives attacker’s head-shot – nothing robbed
2009-10-09 Reporter: Sonja van Buul, Beeld, Vereeniging. – He felt the firearm’s cold barrelpoint against his neck. Seconds later, the bullet struck his head when the attacker of the unarmed Theo Beukes, 46, a father of two teens of Falcon Ridge, Vereeniging, pulled the trigger. And Beukes survived to tell the story from his hospital bed on Wednesday.
- They hijacked the Beukes car – but then abandoned it…
- He said when he opened his garage gate on Monday-evening, he heard a ‘loud bang’ behind him and thought it was one of the friends of 19-year-old son Christo bottoming-out a car while driving up the high driveway - ‘but it was an unknown silver Mazda 3 car with armed men who screeched to a halt, jumped out, and pushed Beukes down on the ground at gunpoint. “Take my car, leave me please don’t shoot me,’ he said with the barrel against his neck. They did ‘hijack’ the family car – but police found it abandoned in nearby Duncanville township, and nothing else was ‘robbed’. Police are describing it as a ‘robbery’ however.
Said Beukes: “One robber pleaded with his mates not to shoot me, but the gunman fired the shot into my head – but only after enquiring about the number of people inside the house.’ The Afrikaner family man’s terrified children and wife were inside. Christo said: ‘One man stayed inside the car, and two others were on top of my dad quick as a flash,’ while the youth was hiding inside with his mom Tina (44), and 14-year-old sister Cornél (14.
Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said Beukes’ life was saved because of the angle which the bullet had been fired into his head. He was shot behind his ear and the bullet went through his jaw, his tongue and front-teeth, exiting through his lip,’ he said. “The angle in which the bullet was fired, saved his life.’
Beukes said after the shot was fired, he ‘gave a few jerks and played dead to stop them from shooting me a second time.” The hijackers jumped into the Beukes family and raced off with their own car following behind – and after they’d left, Beukes got up and managed to walk to his wife who had rushed outside and was standing on the front-stoep. “My mom initially thought that someone had fired a cracker and she only noticed that my dad was injured when he came walking towards her, head bloodied,’ said Christo. The paramedics of Netcare 911 stabilised Beukes and rushed him to the Medi-clinic where he ‘s awaiting emergency plastic surgery.
“It wasn’t my time yet,’ said Beukes – adding that he hoped that the police would ‘catch these robbers fast’. Police captain Thivhulawi Tshilate said the ‘robbed’ car was found abandoned in Duncanville, Vereeniging by the Vaalrand Rapid-Reaction police unit. “The suspects are still being sought,’ he added. http://www.beeld.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1928/9e0cf3e6ef7046bcae47a18c3001cc9a/08-10-2009-07-32/%E2%80%98Vat_kar_en_los_my%E2%80%99_%E2%80%93_toe_volg_kopskoot
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Oct. 8 2009 – Newcastle, South Africa . Middleclass ratepayers protested against the soaring electricity accounts and the high rates raised by the local municipality during a peaceful protest today with creative posters reading: “You are milking a dry cow”: -- Picture by Beeld: Dries Liebenberg Read the article in Afrikaans
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20091008 Piet and Alet de Jager, Karoo Valley Farms smallholding, Oudtshoorn, found dead with head-shots
October 8 2009 at 12:33PM – OUDTSHOORN -- The bodies of Piet de Jager, 55 and his wife Alet, 44, were found in their bedroom at the Karoo Valley Farms smallholdings in Oudtshoorn on Thursday, Western Cape police said.
- Captain Louis Visser said a family friend contacted the police when the couple could not be reached.
- "Police broke into the house in Karoo Valley Farms and discovered the two bodies in the bedroom. They had gunshot wounds to their heads. A firearm belonging to Piet was found at the scene," Visser said.
He could not say exactly when the couple died. "The suspicion is that they died between 8pm on Monday and 6pm on Wednesday," he said. There were no signs of forced entry into the house. However -- police had opened murder and inquest cases. – Sapa http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20091008121801271C838722
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Shooting at student haunt, Stellenbosch: man injured
2009-10-08 Malani Venter reports in Die Burger that a shooting occurred in front of a popular student-haunt in Stellenbosch when a student allegedly tried to protect his girlfriend from ‘being slapped around’ by a group of unknown men. A 32-year-old man who tried to intervene in the fracas was injured in an ankle by a bullet. The suspects are being sought by Stellenbosch police. More details are not known at this time. http://www.dieburger.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1708/22daaa3a093d4d3292a0e735b5de88a6/08-10-2009-09-34/Skietery_voor_bekende_kuierplek_in_Eikestad
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Bank manager, colleague arrested with two ‘fake bank robbers’ in Taung
Taung, North West – A bank manager and his colleague were arrested, allegedly for faking a bank robbery on Wednesday 26 August 2009, at around 10:10 at the store-front Teba Bank, Taung -- located in the sparcely-populated North West province, which has a total population of 182,000, of whom 98.2% are black, often of mixed Khoisan-Tswana ancestry.
The Taung policing area, while sparsely populated, has as high a violent-crime rate as does the rest of the country. The area also has high levels of unemployment, AIDS/TB and poverty. Flooding in Taung also destroyed many homes and shops in 2006.
However Taung is probably best known worldwide for a local archeologist’s solving the world’s oldest death-mystery, that of the 2million-year- old ‘Taung child’ in 2006. The tiny child had been killed by a bird of prey, probably an eagle.
The equally eagle-eyed Klerksdorp Organised Crime Unit detectives who investigated the robbery interviewed the bank’s employees several times because they were rather suspicious of the tales told by witnesses. They then heard from bank clerk Bosealetse John Tuabeng (32) from Lokaleng Village, Taung, that he and the bank’s manager, Sakaio Patrick Itumeleng (37), also from Lokaleng Village, had allegedly masterminded the robbery and that they had ‘d had two accomplices.The accomplices had staged the fake robbery. One had a gun with two live bullet rounds in it…
Tuabeng allegedly said in his confession that they had been stealing money from the bank since 2008, and that they were short of some R170,000. They had hoped that they would be able to account for the money by faking a robbery. The manager Itumeleng then also confessed and both were arrested. They in turn pointed out their accomplices and arrested were faux ‘bank robber’ Ditshaba Isaac Seodigeng (37) from Modimong Village in Taung, with R33,400 in cash and a legal Norinco pistol with two live rounds were found in his possession. The firearm is registered in his name. The fourth suspect, Goaganediwe Christopher Tong (35) was also arrested on the same day in Setlhabeng Village in Taung. The suspects appeared in the Taung Magistrates' Court on Friday, 2 October 2009 and their confessions entered into the public record.
They have however not yet been asked to plead to any charges as they must first file a formal bail application, scheduled for Friday, 9 October 2009. They remain in custody until then.
Story reported by Constable A. Smit, (018) 299 7269 http://www.sapsjournalonline.gov.za/dynamic/journal_dynamic.aspx?pageid=414&jid=17018 - Taung Teba Bank: Hospital Rd, Taung Tel: 053 994 1804 http://www.tebabank.co.za/content.asp?PG_L1ID=1&L2ID=25
Background: The Taung area is slow to recover from very extensive flooding which destroyed many homes in 2006. The region is probably best known for the archeological find of the ‘Taung child’ . http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2006/06103112151002.htm
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Victim’s unique biltong supply leads Port Alfred police to theft-gang
Oc t7 2009 – PORT ALFRED. Four accused car-thieves were remanded to policy custody until 19 October at the Port Alfred Magistrates' Court facing a charge of attempted theft of a cellphone and a supply of bilting (beef jerky) from a car. And the gang now is also being investigated for other crimes in the area.
It was the biltong which led two police inspectors to the thieves, said police superintendent Butch Strydom, acting station commissioner, while commending them for their thorough police work. The detectives investigated the theft on 2 October from a motor vehicle at the Rosehill Mall in Port Alfred – and gathered information on the vehicle that the suspects were traveling in as well as their attire.
“They interviewed the complainant who informed them that biltong and a cellphone had been stolen from the car. After circulating the particulars to other vehicles in the area, the pair proceeded to patrol the town in search of the four suspects who were driving in a white VW Polo. They spotted the vehicle driving towards East London. They followed the vehicle at a safe distance and after stopping it, both the occupants and the vehicle were searched.
“During the search, five cellphones, sharpened instruments normally used to open locks and biltong on white hooks and in packets were found in the vehicle. These matched the description given by the owner. They immediately placed the men under arrest and detained them,” said Strydom. Source: M. Govender Cellphone: 0827797123
- http://www.sapsjournalonline.gov.za/dynamic/journal_dynamic.aspx?pageid=414&jid=17005
- http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2009/provinces/e_cape/pdf/easterncape.pdf
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4 men – one from Angola – arrested with explosives
On 6 October 2009 at about 7:30 two police units: namely the White River Dog Unit and the Crime Prevention Unit from Malelane who were conducting a stop-and-search roadblock -- arrested four suspects in possession of explosives – and also discovered 25kg of marijuana being smuggled from Swaziland by a taxi.
Their first arrests were carried out when they stopped a white Mazda 5 with four occupants, mounted with false Gauteng number plates. This vehicle was traced and found to have been robbed during a violent armed robbery of a family in Springs in May 2009.
They could have bombed 3 ATMs…
The police then instructed the explosives dog to search the vehicle. The dog reacted and the police retrieved six expogel and 17 detonator caps - enough explosives to bomb three ATMs. They also found a pair of gloves and two balaclavas. The four suspects were arrested and they were charged with possession of explosives and a stolen vehicle. Two of the suspects are from Mpumalanga, one is from Soweto and the fourth suspect is allegedly from Angola. The suspects are between 27 and 44 years. They appeared for their first remand date in the Malelane Magistrates' Court on 7 October 2009.
This is the vicious crime which police prevented with just one arrest:
Taxi transporting 25kg of marijuana smuggled from Swaziland:
While the police were still searching the four suspects, their colleagues also stopped a taxi from Schoemansdal near Malelane. When they searched this taxi, they found 25kg of compressed dagga with a street value of R25 000. The dagga was transported from Swaziland and was stashed between the luggage in the taxi. Three suspects, all South Africans, were arrested. They also appeared in the Malelane Magistrates' Court on 7 October 2009.
- Report by: Assistant-constable S.A. NYAKANE (013) 759 6801 076 973 6801 http://www.sapsjournalonline.gov.za/dynamic/journal_dynamic.aspx?pageid=414&jid=17010
ANC in spending orgy on luxuries
The new ANC-cabinet has embarked on an orgy of luxury-spending – R40,5m on luxury BMWs; the police minister wastes R250,000 at elite Table Bay hotel… and ever more shocking details keep emerging…
Pres. Jacob Zuma’s ANC-cabinet has plunged itself into an orgy of luxury-spending which could soar to R240-million, warns Lindiwe Mazibuko, MP for the Democratic Alliance and its national spokeswoman.
In her latest statement revealing ever-more details about the lavish spending orgy which the new ANC-cabinet has embarked upon, it is shown that ministers and deputy ministers in the new ANC-cabinet are wasting taxpayers’ funds on totally unnecessary luxury items – such as the police-minister’s two-month stay with 8 senior police colleagues at the most elite hotel of Africa while his own residence ‘was being renovated’; and millions more on a new fleet of luxury BMWs. The cost of the police minister’s residential renovation is not yet known - however all these facts now are all slowly seeping in. with the DA hammering at the ANC with parliamentary questions.
Taxpayers now are getting an increasingly clear picture of the Zuma-cabinet’s incredibly wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money.
This spending orgy is particularly shocking in a country where tens of millions of people of all races now are desperately homeless, unemployed and suffering from growing malnutrition with families forced to steal food and unable to afford more than one meal a week. A whopping 80% of al the children fed through Operation Hunger ‘s feeding programmes now suffer various degrees of malnutrition symptoms. Similar warnings are also issued at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s hospital in Cape Town – the only hospital in southern Africa with a specialist department for the rehydration of ill children.
80% of children suffer malnutrition: Operation Hunger
The majority-population’s physical health is rapidly deteriorating from poverty, homelessness, unemployment and physical neglect; the policing services are fighting a losing battle against armed crime gangs, have increasing criminality within its own ranks, suffer budget-cuts and massive staff-shortages -- yet its Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa chose to stay at the elitist Table Bay hotel for a whopping 66 days with his 8-member security squad - and this cost the tax-payers R250,0000. The Minister’s bill ran to R93,282.64, he didn’t even pay for his own booze bill which ran to R5,800+. In the job just a few months, he’s already plunged his Ministry into internal, warring factions due to petty squabbling with his own deputy-minister Fikile Mbabula. http://news.za.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=150030531
- Operation Hunger can provide soup kitchens to a daily 12,000 people for a year with that money:
- http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/10/hunger-stalks-millions-but-anc.html
Mazibuko revealed that deputy-Police minister Fikile Mbalula has spent R1.6-million on two new ministerial vehicles to which an extra cost of R83,879 was added for luxuries such as “ceramic surround controls, an off road package, media interface and a multi-contour seat package.”
He spent R832,700 on a new BMW 7 series, and R759,529 on a new Mercedes ML500.
email rossv@da.org.za ).
- “This is yet another act of gross self-indulgence from a member of the ANC's cabinet. All of the gesturing and rhetoric is clearly just window dressing - at the end of the day many ANC members appear to be interested in one thing and one thing alone: how to advance their wealth and lifestyles.
- http://www.link2media.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5844&Itemid=12
Earlier today another DA parliamentary question also revealed that deputy minister of water and environmental affairs Rejoice Mabudafhasi had spent close to R900 000 on yet another new ministerial BMW. This kind of expenditure is ridiculous. So far we have ascertained that a total of over R40.5-million has been spent;
- The ANCs total spending on luxury items could soar to R240-million…
- “However, with 4 ministers and 12 deputy ministers still to respond to Democratic Alliance parliamentary questions, and with details of the expenditure of most of the country's MECs still outstanding, it is likely that the final figure will be a great deal higher than that. Indeed, if every minister, deputy minister, premier and MEC
were to spend the full amount allowed by the government handbook, the total cost could spiral as high as R240-million.”
DA uses cars from existing government garage stock:
“Only in the DA's Western Cape administration, where no MECs have purchased any new vehicles, and the Premier is using cars from the existing government garage stock, is there a genuine commitment to austerity, and are funds genuinely being shifted away from luxuries, and towards delivering services and building infrastructure,” she pointed out.
“It is also quite absurd for the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, to claim that Mbalula's previous vehicle - a 2006 model Mercedes Benz E350 - needed to be replaced because its high mileage constitutes a "security risk". If the ANC thinks that a three year old car is a security risk, its members have clearly entirely lost touch with reality.”
Lindiwe Mazibuko MP - 072 805 2220, Ross van der Linde - 076 543 7254
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Police Minister’s R250,000 luxury stay at Table Bay Hotel…
Oct 07, 2009 at 05:20 PM Issued by: Democratic Alliance
STATEMENT BY DIANNE KOHLER BARNARD MP DA SHADOW MINISTER FOR POLICE related: HUNGER STALKS MILLIONS : http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/10/hunger-stalks-millions-but-anc.html
Last month the Democratic Alliance asked the Minister of Police the following question:
"Whether (a) he or (b) any other official stayed at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town in the months of May, June and July 2009; if so, (i) who stayed at the hotel, (ii) in each case, (aa) what were the dates of the stay and (bb) how many total days' accommodation at the hotel, (iii) what was the total cost for each person, (iv) what were the detailed costs for accommodation, minibar, meals and incidentals such as laundry, (v) what was the type of room accommodation per person and (vi) what was the reason for staying at the hotel?"
Today we got the full answer, a summary of which is as follows:
“- The Minister and eight Police officials stayed at the hotel.
- They stayed for a combined total of 66 days
- The total cost of those 66 days to the taxpayer was R234,875.67
- The Minister himself stayed in the hotel for 17 days, at a cost of R93,282.64
- The Minister spent a total of R5,843.00 on drinks during his 17-day stay.’
Barnard: “ It is apparent from the reply that the reason for the stay was that renovations were being done on the Minister's official residence and, presumably, those inspectors that stayed with him were there for his protection, as the reason given for their stays were also renovations to the official residence.
A copy of the reply is available upon request. The long and the short of the matter is that renovations to the
Minister's official residence have cost the South African taxpayer just under a quarter of a million Rand.
It cost that much because the Minister chose to stay at a five star luxury hotel, at the taxpayer's expense.
His decision to do so constitutes an act of complete self indulgence, at a time when the economy is suffering and the government is trying (albeit with little effect), to cut back on fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
In his state of the nation address in June, President Jacob Zuma made the following commitment:
"Since the implementation of our programme will take place in the face of the economic downturn, we will have to act prudently - no wastage, no rollovers of funds - every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully. We must cut our cloth according to our size."
In contrast to this, the Table Bay Hotel's website describes itself as follows:
"...you can expect nothing less than the highest level of service and enjoy a myriad of superior activities. In everything we do we aim to exceed your expectations, allowing you to escape into the romance and luxury of your journey....The Table Bay Hotel is part of The Leading Hotels of the World."
The only thing the Minister seems to have cut his cloth to is a Giorgio Armani suit. Clearly the Minister made absolutely no attempt to act prudently or in the public interest. His actions are a slap in the face of the average South African citizen. The DA will be asking a series of follow-up questions to the Minister to ask how the decision to stay at the hotel fulfils the President's commitment and, significantly, how much the renovations to his official residence cost, what they entailed and if they were necessary because the combined cost of that together with the Table Bay expenditure is actually the true cost to the taxpayer.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Dianne Kohler Barnard MP - 082 823 7047
Ross van der Linde - 076 543 7254
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links:
- PR-DA-POLICE SAPA PR -- DA - POLICE'S R250 000 LUXURY STAY AT THE TABLE BAY HOTEL
- Crime Stats briefing: http://dnaproject.co.za/blog/crime-statistics-20089-minister-of-police-briefing