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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Delmas farm wife survives two shots on infamous N-12
20:21 | 
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A Stuijt |
Infamous N-12 highway gang shot Leonora van Wyk twice – but she survived
2009-12-06 Beeld newspaper reports that Mrs Leonora van Wyk, a poultry farmer of Delmas, was attacked by a militia-gang on the N12 – this highwayhas become infamous for its many armed-militia attacks. Shot twice, Mrs Van Wyk was rushed by helicopter to the Unitas hospital trauma unit in Pretoria. She had been delivering eggs to Daveyton.
Police, as is their wont of late, also describes this attack as a ‘thwarted robbery’, because nothing was actually robbed. Mrs Van Wyk was enroute from Daveyton at the East Rand back to their Delmas poultry farm in their Toyota Hilux-bakkie after she’d gone with a farm worker to deliver eggs in Daveyton. Apparently the three armed males followed her from Daveyton – and they shot her at the Daveyton-onramp to the N12 highway and tried to hijack the vehicle.
SAPS censorship causes murky stories:
The exact circumstances remain murky, however because under the SAPS’ new censorship rules, the only police official able to comment on such crimes, the provincial SAPS spokesman, in this case Captain Julia Claassen, confirmed the shooting two days later. Nobody was arrested.
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Brits residents reject Magalies ANC-management
Also: Mystery death in Brits; and Magalies amongst most-targetted regions for black militiagangs
20091130 Tommy McClean, Elandsrand, Brits AH -- entrepreneur assassinated over patent-rights to pool-tables, juke-boxes
by Cynthia Dreyer, co-editor: Madibeng Pulse, Brits/Magalies:
Tommy Maclean, 55, left, was murdered in his Elandsrand driveway in Brits in an apparent revenge-killing. Mr Maclean together with his brother Colin (60) was installing an MP3 into the sound system of his car in the driveway of his Bamboeslaan AH home when agroup of armed black men arrived: one pushed Colin aside, another man cold bloodedly shot Tommy in the chest at point blank range. Nothing was stolen from the two brothers, not even their cell phones or wallets as if to leave the message that this had another motive than robbery. Tommy died on the scene. The black men who shot Tommy MacLean escaped in a white Mercedes which police believe could have been stolen the previous day in Elandsrand during a daylight robbery of an elderly couple. Tommy Maclean’s funeral was held yesterday afternoon at the Dutch Reformed Church in Brits.
Assassination over patent-rights…
The Afrikaner entrepreneur held lucrative patent-rights countrywide to supply pool-tables and juke-boxes to places of entertainment. A black-economic-empowerment consortium had applied to take over these rights as controlling agents, but MacLean’s rights were entrenched. His business will continue as before. Mrs Emmarentia Maclean, sister in law of Tommy told MadibengPulse that his wife, Stefanie, will be carrying on with the business. “She’s not yet thinking that far ahead,” Emmarentia told MadibengPulse on Tuesday. “But it’s her living and she’ll have to carry on. Her employees are happy to continue working in the business, so I’m sure she’ll continue.” The men who shot Tommy MacLean escaped in a white Mercedes which could have been the vehicle stolen the previous day in Elandsrand during a daylight robbery of an elderly couple. Police have not yet announced any arrests in these two cases.Tommy Maclean’s funeral was held Wednesday Dec 3 2009 at the Dutch Reformed Church, Brits. http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=29651&HeadingText=News+031209+tommy+mclean#killing
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Most targetted in the country by black armed robber-gangs are the white families living in Magalies, Sandton, Honeydew, Weirdabrug, Midrand, Douglasdale, Booysens…
2009-10-09 Gauteng residents, especially white families in Sandton, Magalies/Brits, Honeydew, Weirdabrug, Midrand, Douglasdale and Booysens, have twice as much chance of being victims in armed house robberies than households in other parts of the country.
Picture: the severity of the armed attacks against Pretoria families was brought home recently by this lone protestor in Kameeldrift, the hardest-hit smallholding region, warning that South Africa only was a land of opportunity ‘for murderers, rapists and thieves’.
Virginia Keppler, investigative and crime journalist at Beeld newspaper, attended the Institute for Security Studies’ crime-seminar on Thursday which analysed the latest published crime statistics – and quoted Gareth Newham, described as a ‘community safety advisor in the Gauteng legislature as saying that Gauteng families ran the highest risk in the country of being attacked, robbed, raped and murdered by armed robber-gangs targetting their homes.
White families in six Gauteng suburbs are the most targetted in armed home robberies:
And now it’s also been placed on record for the first time, namely that those suburbs which are mostly occupied by whites, whether working class such as those in Booysens, or wealthier ones in Sandton, or the mainly Afrikaans subsistence-smallholders in Honeydew, are targetted the most: Sandton, Honeydew/Randburg, Weirdabrug/Kameeldrift/Magalies/Brits around greater Pretoria, Midrand, Douglasdale and Booysens are at the top of the police list of places attacked the most. More than 8,100 armed robberies were carried out in Gauteng province alone in the reporting period of March 2008 to March 2009. The great Magalies/Brits region north of Pretoria also are targetted more than average.
- Armed robberies of families in their homes March 2008 – March 2009: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2009/categories/robbery_residential.pdf
Each day in SA: 140 armed robberies of at-home families…
Newham said the latest crime statistics show that, between April 1 2008 and March 31 2009, there were 140 home robberies per day in South Africa. "Firearms were also the most common choice of weapon used in the criminal activity, also in vehicle hijackings, cash-in-transit heists and business robberies. “
And there’s even more bad news: ".. And criminals won't stop until they are caught, since that's their livelihood," said Newham.
Nkoshilo Seimela of the police's research and statistics unit said that according to the top 20 police stations where the most home robberies are reported, 13 are in Gauteng, five in KwaZulu-Natal, one in North West and one in the Eastern Cape. Six of the top 10 police stations are in Gauteng (the white smallholdings/suburbs of Sandton, Honeydew, Wierdabrug/Magalies, Midrand, Douglasdale and Booysens) and four in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Out of each 100,000 persons living in Gauteng, 77 run the chance of being robbed with their defenceless families inside their own homes this year, robberies which are carried out mostly at gunpoint by black gangs averaging five members each, and who are described as ‘extremely dangerous and willing to kill’.
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1,200 residents demand removal of disfunctional and corrupt Madibeng/Brits/Magalies ANC-run municipality …
Thursday 12 November 2009 By Dolf Dreyer, Madibeng Pulse - During a large protest meeting in front of the Madibeng Municipal Offices in Van Velden Street, Brits, twelvehundredcommunity members handed over a petition demanding that the town be put under the management of an administrator. They all were well-organised: arriving from 30 townships in seven buses and 15 minitaxis. They were joinedby workers in Brits -- including municipal employees.
An eight page-petition was handed over to representatives of the ANC-cabinet’s Minister of Local Governance and Traditional Affairs, the MEC of Local Governance and the ANC Provincial Task Team (PTT).
The organisers of the protest are Messrs Obrey Molaane and Frans and Robert Sithole. their spokesman Obrey Molaane told MadibengPulse that they represented community members who have common interests in the efficient functioning of the Municipality for service delivery-- and they do not represent any of the political factions engaged in the power struggle in Madibeng.
In a memorandum, the recipients of the petition are given 14 days to respond, failing which the petitioners will take further action, although no specific steps are mentioned in the memorandum. MadibengPulse’s representative at the meeting, Riekie Eveleigh, said that the gathering was remarkably peaceful and orderly and the protesters blew whistles, sang and dispersed calmly after the petition was handed over.
Incompetence, fraud, corruption…
Services are deficient, the Memorandum says, because of incompetence, fraud and corruption in Madibeng Council. Charges for water and electricity as well as assessment rates should be reviewed. The Memorandum says that there was not proper consultation on the assessment rates and these should be reviewed. The budgets are implemented without pubic participation.
Poor communication of councillors with their wards, specifically when preferred residents are invited to meetings to the exclusion of others.
Councillors looting cash from sales of municipal properties:
• Sale of Oberon without community consultation; the Lethlabile library project which benefited certain councillors and has yet to be completed; waste collection which benefit councillors; incomplete Lethlabile mini hospital which benefited councillors; issuing of tenders to repair potholes when municipal employees are available for the task; RDP housing which remain incomplete for 5 to 10 years. http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=29329&HeadingText=News+121109+section+139#protest
Six more deaths on farms
20091204 Mr P M Cilliers, farm Loraine, Ceres, W Cape killed W Cape farmer killed
Cape Town – An Afrikaner farmer was shot dead in an armed attack on his farm outside Ceres in the Western Cape, the provincial agriculture department said on Sunday. Nothing was robbed at all, however that does not refer the SAPS from referring to it as a ‘fumbled robbery’ – although they didn’t arrest anyone, and thus could also not question these murderers about their ‘motives’.
"Mr PM Cilliers, from the farm Loraine, outside Ceres, was fatally shot on Friday in what is presumed to have been a fumbled armed robbery," said SAPS spoke sman Wouter Kriel. Cilliers, who age was not provided, had left the homestead and went outside because he’d heard a noise at the back door. His two children and two friends were inside the homestead. There were an unknown number of ‘men’ at the backdoor, and Mr Cilliers was gunned down. Four shots were fired. The children’s friends phoned their parents, who phoned the police. Cilliers died shortly after the police arrived. Nothing was taken from the house. Western Cape Agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said he was shocked and saddened by the murder, as well as the killing of three workers on a Beaufort West farm on Saturday, allegedly by a caretaker with a hunting rifle.http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/d4c1074eef764775afaba7c6f4207b46/06-12-2009-04-14/W_Cape_farmer_killed_
Unknown white woman’s body found torched near Orange Farm
2009-11-16 Johannesburg - A body of an unidentified white woman burnt beyond recognition was found in a field of the Orange Farm squatter camp outside Johannesburg on Monday morning, police said.Captain Johannes Motsiri said the woman, aged between 20 and 25, “was identified as a white person because one of her hands was not completely burnt.”He said a passerby saw the body still burning in an open field near Poortjie at 04:00.Motsiri said it was suspected that the woman could have been hijacked somewhere else before being set alight and dumped in the field. Orange Farm is a squatter area – however it is still registered as an agricultural area in the official SA land-registers. We will be registering this as farm murder because of the site where she was found. We await further details from the SAPS forensics experts. http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/a2ecdb8a90624e6eb0fdc80579dfa560/16-11-2009-09-08/Burnt_body_found_on_field
20091105 Jan Potgieter, 65, murdered, Limpopo farm. view details:
200911 Izak and Mariaan Janse van Vuuren, survive attack, Clanwilliam farm, Lephalale/Baltimore Limpopo
Johannesburg - A farmer was killed and two other people seriously injured in separate farm attacks in Baltimore near Lephalale in Limpopo, the Transvaal Agricultural Union's northern branch (TAU SA north) said on Wednesday. Mr Jansen van Vuuren was badly injured and will have to undergo extensive plastic surgery to his face," he said, also detailing two other farm attacks in the region in which farmer Jan Potgieter was murdered and Pieter Botha of Mokolo Safaris was injured. “This was indicative of the escalation of crimes targeted at farmers in the area”said the regional agricultural union chair Japie Spanio."http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/7bbc307538f749afae9345c95544e201/04-11-2009-12-01/Farm_attacks_may_be_linked
20091105 Pieter Botha, Mokolo Safaris, injured in farm attack
Mr Jansen van Vuuren was badly injured and will have to undergo extensive plastic surgery to his face," said Spanio.He said the attacks follows a similar one on October 24 in which Pieter Botha of Mokolo Safaris was also badly injured.Botha was attacked just three days after another farmer, 65-year-old Jan Potgieter was killed at his farm.
Attacks may be linked "It is indeed highly suspicious that [there were] three attacks in the same area in ten days,” Spanio said.He said TAU SA North has requested both the Limpopo police commissioner and the safety and security MEC to provide a special task team to investigate "the possibility of an organised attack on the rural community".
Commissioner Calvin Sengani and MEC Dikeledi Magadzi were invited to attend the union’s crime prevention operation."http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/7bbc307538f749afae9345c95544e201/04-11-2009-12-01/Farm_attacks_may_be_linked
Horrific triple-murder with assault rifle, Nooitgedacht farm, Beaufort West, WC – not a ‘farm attack’
2009-12-06 Beaufort West - Two elderly people and another man were shot dead in an argument on the Nooitgedacht farm outside Beaufort West, Western Cape police said on Sunday.Captain Bernadine Steyn said three farm workers, aged between 30 and 80, had an argument with a caretaker on Saturday afternoon. He walked away and returned later with an assault rifle.The man, in his 40s, allegedly first shot a woman in her 80s and a man in his 60s in the heads inside one of the houses on the farm. He then allegedly shot and killed a man in his 30s outside the home. All three died on scene. The unnamed caretaker was arrested and would face three charges of murder when he appeared in the Beaufort West Magistrate's Court. This horrific incident is however not classified as a classic ‘farm murder’ because there had not been any advance planning in which an armed attack by a large group of people was carried out. We await further details. http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/1f4ca1a2bb5b43229566cf6b0ab0cf7a/06-12-2009-10-52/3_die_in_farm_scuffleMystery-shooting of SA diplomat by Congo soldiers
Maryse Ash ‘s car was shot up after her farewell party in Kinshaha
Maryse Ash, a South African political secretary at its Kinshaha embassy, was shot and critically injured by Congolese soldiers just as her car was leaving the presidential residential compound. The SA officials refused to name her, however Congolese officials did. They said Maryse Ash, who works as the political secretary in the embassy, was traveling in a clearly marked diplomatic car when it was shot up at a roadblock by Congolese soldiers.
There are two differing versions of the shooting – with the South Africans saying that Ms Ash’car was shot up by Congolese soldiers at a road-block protecting the palace of president Joseph Kabila and other official residences in Kinshasa on Thursday at midnight; but Congolese government officials telling Reuters that her car was shot up at 2am – just after Maryce Ash had left herown farewell party celebrating the end of her official assignment to the country. South African spokesman Molobi said it occurred at midnight, and that she was just leaving the presidential residential area when the soldiers shot at her car. “We don’t know why. The Congolese government assures us they will find out exactly what has happened,’ he told SAPA. “She was injured critically by glass shards and shrapnel from the car while it was being shot up. He said ‘she hadn’t been visiting Pres Kabila but another residence in the same area. She was stabilised at a local hospital and plans are to bring her back to SA as quickly as possible”, he said.
Ms Ash ‘repeatedly drove through the guarded presidential gates…’
However Molobi’s story to SAPA rather conflicts with the version given to Reuters news agency by the Congolese ambassador in Sa, and a local Congolese government spokesman in Kinshasa, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba. Both said the shooting took place at 2am in the sprawling riverside capital's Gombe district, (home to most government ministries and diplomatic missions); and that Ms Ash had ‘driven repeatedly through a roadblock near the prime minister's office. This road was blocked off and leads to the presidency. She refused to stop despite being signalled to do so," the minister said.
He said “soldiers at the roadblock first fired warning shots but when Ms Ash repeatedly tried to go through the roadblock, the soldiers opened fire on the vehicle, wounding her..”Bene M’Poko, the Congolese ambassador in South Africa also confirmed this, saying “the shooting took place at the offices of the president. She repeatedly tried to drive through the guarded gates. The guards didn’t know who it was. They first fired warning shots but eventually were forced to fire on her car.”
As far as he knew, she had been at a party to celebrate the end of her official assignment to the country. “The relationship between the DRC and South Africa is excellent,this is a regrettable incident,’ he said.http://www.rapport.co.za/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/2315/71a2c4696bc64f2a80ce766ac8f7aaff/05-12-2009-10-30/SA_diplomaat_in_DRK_deur_soldate_geskiet_ A Google search shows that a Ms Maryse Diana Ash graduated from the upperclass Durban_Girls_High_School’s class of 1998. http://www.dghs.co.za/old_girls.html
Family: dad was tied to Baragwanath hospital bed, bruised, dehydrated…
Shock as Steven Masters’ family found him bruised, dehydrated at Baragwanath Hospital…
Dec 4 2009 - Bruised, dehydrated, tied to a bed, malnourished, his wrists chafed… This was the condition of Huntingdon’s sufferer Steven Masters, 55, when his traumatised family finally found him three days after admission to Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto with a suspected stroke. They had to search all the hospital wards to find him…
Steven Masters ‘ son Paul said they were badly traumatised when they got to the hospital, found him missing and were then told to look for him at the mortuary. Instead they searched for him throughout the hospital and finally found him in a ward -- tied to his bed, hungry, thirsty and with bruises all over his body. Paul claims his father told him he was beaten by hospital staff. The 28-year-old son they had to rush him to Milpark Hospital's intensive care unit for severe dehydration treatment.
"We were really shocked at Baragwanath hospital's treatment. They strapped him to the bed and he was badly cut in the wrists," he said.
On November 30 2009 Masters – resident at the Talisman Foundation Rehabilitation Centre in Rosettenville for the past five years as a Huntingdon Disease sufferer – had a stroke. Nursing sister Val Book told The Star they decided to take him to Baragwanath Hospital. Huntington's is a combination of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Paul said he called the Baragwanath hospital two days later, but was told that no person named Steven Masters was there. "We went to look for him, but when we got there we were told that he was never there. We were then told to go and look for him at the mortuary. We eventually found him in another ward, strapped to the bed. He was malnourished, had no drip and said he had last eaten two days earlier," Paul said.
Paul said that even though his father had been admitted for a stroke, he was being treated for diarrhoea, but had not been given a drip. What was worse, however, were the bruises on his father's legs, back, wrists and arms. "My dad won't get anyone into trouble deliberately, he has the mind of a child because of his disease. He just said he was pinched and pushed."
Val Cook, a nursing sister at the Talisman Foundation rehabilitation centre, said they decided to take Masters to hospital because he ‘could not stand, was falling about and his speech was difficult to understand’. Masters, she said, uses a walking stick. "We arranged transport and one of the nurses changed his shirt because it was a bit dirty. There was no mark on his body (when he left)," Cook said.
After seeing his father in that condition, Paul wanted him discharged, but there was no doctor to discharge him. "Unfortunately we had to leave him there. It was very traumatic, we could not even give him food. He was badly dehydrated and we could only give him water," Paul said.
- Conflicting statements from Bara: Initially Gauteng Health Department spokesman Mandla Sidu said ‘the man had bruises’ when he was admitted to the Soweto hospital. He said ‘the doctor who treated the patient said Masters has a tendency to bleed internally, hence the bruises. ‘ However – in a later statement, Sidu changed his statement, instead saying that ‘hospital management would probe the cause of the bruises and the outcome communicated to the family.” He also admitted that Masters was tied to the bed ‘because he had a history of running away, especially during medication time: the intention was to ensure that he takes all the medication prescribed to him by a doctor." Sidu also denied Paul's claim that Masters was treated for diarrhoea instead of stroke. "According to the hospital records, Mr Masters was never treated for diarrhoea. He received all the necessary treatment for his condition. Hospital management has, however, noted his family's concerns and are willing to discuss with them his condition, the treatment he is receiving, as well as to answer all other questions that they may have relating to his stay at the hospital," Sidu said. By journalist Botho Molosankwe http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3474592