Censorbugbear reports...: 10/22/10

Friday, 22 October 2010

Hartbeespoort officials use guerilla tactics…

11:25 |

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“The ANC has an inordinate lust for power driven by an obscene greed for money…” – Dolf Dreyer, editor, Madibeng Pulse, Brits.

HARTBEESPOORT, South Africa. Municipal public servants working in key agricultural towns along the shoreline of the 2,062 -hectare Hartbeespoort Dam are mainly responsible for keeping this crucial fresh-water supply for millions of people clean and safe for human consumption (map below). However - its overpaid, underperforming officials are so busy with self-enrichment schemes and ANC- power games that they ignore the dangerous public health hazards their ignorance and deliberate neglect have already created: the crucial Hartbeespoort Irrigation Dam now is so badly polluted with municipal sewerage and radioactive acid mine-sludge that Woolworth’s supermarkets issued a warning this month about dangerous e-coli pollution on fresh produce bought from farmers who irrigate their crops with Hartbeespoort water. The municipal purification plants of Hartbeespoort and Brits are so overburdened due to the massive influx of illegal immigrants that the government had to draw out R23,3m to urgently refurbish these plants. Meanwhile R400,000 was also handed out from emergency funds to rent water-tankers to help Brits residents get fresh drinking water every day. Basically the region just stumbles from emergency to emergency and takes stop-gap measures only after problems started showing up…

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Map above: The Hartbeespoort Gap water flows 1,770km across Southern Africa in the Limpopo-basin riverine system which borders Botswana and Zimbabwe and empties out into the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. Tens of millions of people in four southern African countries rely on this fresh-water resource for their survival. The Hartbeespoort and Brits – now renamed to Madibeng – has one of the largest irrigation schemes in the country. Started as the former Schoemansville by the National Party government during the 1930s, its irrigated vegetable farmlands cover about 130km² around Brits, with canalized water from the Hartbeespoortdam. Approximately 18,000ha of land is under irrigation with about 16,000ha from the Hartbeespoortdam Irrigation Scheme and 4,000ha from he Crocodile River (Beestekraal/Atlanta Area). Farm sizes vary between 11hectates to 200+ha and range from dry- and irrigated agriculture and tunnel production, to shade netting, and organic farming. The larger commercial farms in the area are primarily specialist groups in the production of vegetables for the Gauteng and surrounding markets. Details of products grown: http://www.madibeng.gov.za/Madibeng_home_files/Page864.htm

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Geyer: “ In the 15th year of ANC-rule, South Africa has overtaken Brazil as the country in the world with the greatest gap between rich and poor. Not even the “much-maligned and discriminatory” pre-1994 Nationalist Government had been able achieved this dubious distinction. The Spirit of 1994 merely produced an inordinate lust for power driven by an obscene greed for money. This has transformed South Africa into a plutocracy where much of the political energy and power are spent on becoming rich enough to rule over the poor.. One of the main causes of the bad state South African municipalities find themselves in, is the practice by the ruling ANC-party to ‘deploy loyal cadres to important positions with concomitant remuneration.”

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Below is a brief summary of the kind of power-games played by this small municipality’s (overstaffed) ANC-appointed civil servants:

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Civil servants, unions ‘will have to achieve change by guerilla tactics’…

Monday 18 October 2010, By Dolf Dreyer, editor, Madibeng Pulse

MAGALIES/BRITS - The municipal strategy in Magalies/Madibeng district is bogged down because it has “become highly politicised and it will only be successfully completed if the municipal unions continue objecting to unsuitable people being in key positions”. This was the message from local SA Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) official Jeremy Mokwena. He told MadibengPulse that the unions and the civil servants in this district have lost faith in their leadership:

”If the reformation of the municipalities is to be maintained it will have to be through guerrilla tactics at grass roots level. This includes industrial action and mobilising people on the ground to withhold their support from ‘unsuitable’ candidates in next year’s municipal elections,” he said at a meeting between SAMWU senior officials and deputy-Minister, Yunus Carrim of COGTA, (Cooperative Goverment and Municipal Affairs)

One of those ‘unsuitable’ civil servants is Ms. Nana Masithela – employed under contract by COGTA. Mokwena demands that COGTA cancel her contract – and gave the deputy-Minister 14 days ‘to get rid of Nana Masithela by Oct 21 2010.”

“We will not cease our demands until her contract is cancelled and she is sent packing,” Mokwena told MadibengPulse. “Before our deadline expires on October 21 we have arranged to meet with the Deputy Minister at this office to pursue the matter. He is sympathetic to our demands, although the Minister of COGTA, Sicelo Shiceka, is not. We have lost faith in his will and ability to achieve a turnaround in the municipalities,” Mokwena said.

… refuses to buy protective clothing for parks’ department workers:

Mokwena said: “we believe Masithela is incompetent, wastes money and obstructs the turnaround of the municipality. “On Tuesday 12 October 2010, workers of the municipal parks department held a protest meeting with the acting municipal manager because Masithela refuses to buy the protective clothing which they need to do their work. On Monday we held a meeting of all union members and Magalies Water for a programme of action.”

“Our voices are not heard by our leaders and all that is left now is to mobilise the people at grass roots level to not nominate nor vote next year for those people who are known to be corrupt.”

Does the Union merely front for Phillemon Mapulane’s political comeback - being ‘funded by deep pockets’ ?

MadibengPulse asked if Mokwena if he and his associates are not merely fronting for Phillemon Mapulane in his bid to make a political comeback, as was suggested in October 2009 when 1,200 protesters were mobilised for a protest march to the municipal offices in Van Velden Street, Brits.

(MadibengPulse estimated at the time that it cost at least R12,000 for transport to assemble that many people and the action ‘could only have been funded from deep pockets ‘ – Editor). However Mokwena denied this.

“As far as Mapulane is concerned, the processes should take their proper course, as it should for anybody else suspected of acting corruptly. But only certain suspects are being targeted and the whole municipal turnaround process has been politicised by the leadership. “It is widely known that Phillemon Mapulane still wants to make himself available as chairman in 2012 – however a certain deputy minister also has similar ambitions. So what would be easier than to remove an obstacle to such political ambitions by throwing the book at him, while turning a blind eye to others who might have been guilty of corruption.

Madibeng Pulse points out that the municipality’s head of technical services Mondo Juta also was suspended and awaiting an internal discliplinary hearing in November, but that it’s not known whether he would also be criminally-investigated:

‘341 officials in Madibeng had business dealings with municipality’

Geyer: “It is significant that while the head of the province’s Special Investigation Unit Willie Hofmeyr reported to the North West province’s premier Maureen Modiselle, that 341 officials in Madibeng were found to have had business interests with the municipality between 1 January 2005 and 10 November 2010, only two have thus far faced proceedings – Phillemon Mapulane and Mondi Juta., nearly a year after Pres. Zuma had announced this probe. This seems to support claims that it’s a ‘ political pick and choose affair’

Mokwena said they have already started their guerilla tactics with a meeting on Tuesday Oct 12 2010 in the township Lethlabile including a broadcast over Radio Lethlabile.”

Building up a war chest
Mokwena accuses a specific official – whose name Madibeng Pulse did not publish – of “building up a war chest to buy votes for the leadership-election of the Gauteng PEC in 2012. We do not have the money to take on these cadres, but we can mobilise the manpower to agitate against the deployment of unsuitable officials in important positions in the municipalities,” Mokwena said, “by doing this we ensure that the municipal administrations are in clean hands...”

Geyer writes that “one of the main causes of the bad state South African municipalities find themselves in, is the practice by the ruling ANC-party to ‘deploy loyal cadres to important positions with concomitant remuneration.”

Madibeng Pulse’s editor writes that ‘it seems as if the thrust of the criticism against the current system is against nepotism in the appointment of pliable persons to powerful positions followed by milking of the supply chain.”

Mokwena quoted several examples of alleged irregularities after 9 Nov 2009 – Zuma’;s cut-off date:

• A specific senior official, “who seems to be untouchable”, assists connections of a senior national and provincial politician to obtain lucrative contracts;
• A “huge tender” was put out with a 14-day expiry date recently. “This is not the way to handle contracts of that size, if one wants the most suitable applicant to be successful,” Mokwena said;
• In a previous MadibengPulse article, Jeremy Mokwena also said the practice of topping up contracts by doubling up the hourly rates paid still continues. “It led to coining a new phrase in local government; Mr Cash became Mr Three Percent who became Mr Double-It; “
• Nepotism in appointments of key officials “ who are expected to listen to their ‘master’s voice.’

The trade-unionist claimed that they ‘do not want to run municipalities - but we have the power to ensure that ‘unsuitable’ officials are not imposed on communities, either as officials or as councillors. There are going to be 72 Madibeng wards next year and we are already working to ensure that we’re strong enough to influence who the representatives for most of those wards will be,” he said.

Dreyer comments:
In the 15th year of ANC-rule, South Africa has overtaken Brazil as the country in the world with the greatest gap between rich and poor. Not even the “much-maligned and discriminatory” pre-1994 Nationalist Government had been able achieved this dubious distinction. The Spirit of 1994 merely produced an inordinate lust for power driven by an obscene greed for money. This has transformed South Africa into a plutocracy where much of the political energy and power are spent on becoming rich enough to rule over the poor. In the process, even the little the Constitution bestowed upon the poor - a standard of living worthy of a human being - has been denied. Until there is a complete moral realignment in the political consciousness of the ANC, those without power will witness a succession of Mr Cashes replaced by Messrs Double Up and Messrs Three or Nine Percent and the N4 Task Team will be replaced by the N1 Task Team – apart from such changes of role players, it will be business as usual for the ANC – Dolf Dreyer.

What do you think? Email Dreyer
Above was a summary. The entire article is at http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=31279&HeadingText=Madibeng+181010+unions

South Africa dismally unsafe for its citizens - World Justice Project: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article712482.ece/SA-a-dismal-next-to-last-on-world-citizen-safety-index

Entire Limpopo River basin affected by the water mismanagement at Hartbeespoort

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Woolworths food-giant issues health-warning about water-quality in South Africa – after identifying ecoli bacteria on fresh produce irrigated with Hartbeespoort Dam water…

”We have been finding more and more e-coli on fresh produce…”

2010-10-17 Vanderbijlpark. – Woolworths food-giant has raised the alarm about the unhealthy water-quality in South Africa over the past 18-months after their quality-control expects identify growing levels of e-coli bacteria on their fresh-food products. Woolworths ‘s Interfruit purchaser Noël van Zyl said it has become clear over the past 18 months that there has been a ‘drastic reduction in the quality of the country’s water-supplies. We have been finding more and more e-coli on fresh produce,’ he warned.

South Africa still exports food-products, especially to the Middle-East and the European Union. However Woolworths’ warnings will undoubtedly also have an impact unless the ANC-regime quickly intervenes by cleaning up these water-sources: mostly caused by the fact that more than 80% of all its municipal sewerage plants have collapsed from mismanagement. Also, in June 2010, the Environment and Conservation Association on the East Rand lodged a law-suit against SA’s Minister of Water Affairs and Pres. Jacob Zuma for ignoring Water Act requirements – by also still allowing some 600-million liters a day of radio-active mine sludge to be dumped into the Hartbeespoort dam – already grossly polluted with human sewerage overflowing from numerous municipalities in the vicinity of these water-resources. This affects the entire 1,770-km-long Limpopo River Basin: on which thousands of crop-farmers and tens of millions of people rely for their fresh-water supplies. Besides the high level of human faecal pollution, the Hartbeespoort water also is heavily polluted with radioactive mine-sludge being dumped there.

Hartbeespoort Dam water used for crop-irrigation by some Woolworth food-producers:

Van Zyl was quoted while holding talks with North West University’s water-dynamics researchers at its Vaal-Triangle Campus -- and specifically warned against the Hartbeespoort Dam water - sourced from the Crocodile and Vaal rivers – and which is used for crop-irrigation by some of their food-producers. He pointed out that Woolworths had to comply with international food-safety standards as laid down by GlobalGap *( (Global Partnership for Good Agriculture) - and this also meant that all the irrigation water had to be at the cleanest standards. Five years ago, they did not have such problems with e-coli pollution, he warned. “Back then the biggest problems with fresh produce were frost and chemicals, but water problems? Never. How could this possibly have happened?’ he asked.

Whenever Woolworths purchases fresh products they get tested by their quality-control department for amongst others, bacteria and certain chemicals. If these test positive – as recently happened when e-coli bacteria (which comes from the human gut) were identified, their contract with their suppliers immediately are cancelled. This in turn has a knock-on health-effect: such rejected fresh products usually end up in the ‘informal sector’s roadside stands and the contaminated food is then purchased by the poor – thus spreading diseases amongst the country’s most vulnerable people, he warned.

Thoms du Toit, spokesman for the non-governmental SAVE THE VAAL (SAVE) organisation, said the government will have to be ‘shocked to its senses’ – because the government is the guardian of the country’s water-resources, and it’s the government which allows their deterioration.

Van Zyl said Woolworths would not want to have empty shelves in their shops – however with the country’s water-quality deteriorating this rapidly, that ‘s exactly what will be happening to everybody. Woolworths does not want to import food because they want to keep their ‘carbon footprint’ as small as possible. “We try to purchase most of our produycts locally but the possibilities for doing so, due to the pollution and contamination of the water-sources – are becoming smaller and the number of food-producers are dropping’.

“The future for the country’s local food-supplies is very uncertain. We have never had to deal with such a problem before. My biggest worry is if things are this bad now, what will the situation look like five years from now?”

He said Woolworths does important fresh food such as asperagus from Peru and small sugar-maize and beans from Kenya – also because the changes in the weather patterns have altered the food-supplies over the past ten years. A decade ago, one could still plant pumpkins in winter at Musina – nowadays they freeze to death.”

http://www.volksblad.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Water-in-SA-kwel-koskettingreus-20101017
http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=30703&HeadingText=Environment+280610+mine+acid#n
Madibeng service-provider hands himself over to police: http://www.dplg.gov.za/index.php/news/1-latest-news/145-madibeng-municipality-service-provider-hands-himself-over-to-police.html
Radioactive and faeces-polluted water in Hartbeespoort, 2010:
http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2010/06/radioactive-mine-sludge-poisons.html
http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=30703&HeadingText=Environment+280610+mine+acid#n
Dangerous water pollution problems in 2009:
http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/03/south-africa-claims-water-is-basic.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartbeespoort_Dam
South Africa dismally unsafe for its citizens - World Justice Project: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article712482.ece/SA-a-dismal-next-to-last-on-world-citizen-safety-index

How Brits’ water-crisis arose…

Thursday 14 October 2010 By Cynthia Dreyer

The nightmare situation regarding acute water shortages and unacceptable water quality in both Brits and Hartbeespoort has led to emergency calls for help to the Department of Water Affairs & Environment, Magalies Water, the Department of Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality.

Madibeng’s Administrator Erick Matlawe wrote to the North West provincial premier giving her a progress report on the supply and quality of water and explaining the dire situation which has led to trickles or no water from taps all over Madibeng. What little water there was has often looked and smelt vile. Queues formed outside shops selling bottled water last week and mothers hurried to cook and to wash children while there was a trickle of water in the taps.

Algae blooms at Hartbeespoort Dam

Matlawe first reported the emergency situation at the Brits water treatment works to the North West Premier, Ms Maureen Modiselle on 6 October as originating at Hartbeespoort Dam. Hot and dry conditions have resulted in abnormally high levels `of algal blooms.

Turgid, discoloured water…
This in turn put the water treatment plant under tremendous pressure and meant that the water being discharged from the plant was turgid and discoloured. As a result, the supply of water flowing from the water treatment plant had to be reduced while the treatment of incoming water was adjusted. Appeals were made to Cogta and BPDM to help with water tankers to the affected areas and financial aid in cleaning the command reservoirs supplying water to various communities.

On Thursday 7 October an emergency meeting was arranged by Cogta between Madibeng, Department of Water Affairs, Magalies Water and Bojanala District Municipality to come up with an emergency plan to improve both the quality and the quantity of water in Madibeng.

Brits purification plant overburdened

1. Water Affairs was mandated to come up with alternative sources of raw water where the quality was better than from Hartbeespoort Dam and to upgrade the sluice gate in the canal from the Dam where Madibeng gets its water.
2. The DWAE is to furnish Madibeng Municipality with water quality profiles in the catchment areas and to inform the municipality of any changes or early warning signs in the readings of water quality in the catchment area.
3. Matlawe explained to the Premier that the Brits water purification plant is currently overburdened with an aging plant and that extra capacity is urgently needed. He says that discussions on increasing capacity by 40 megalitres to 100 megalitres are underway.
4. The Administrator also says that Water Affairs is currently in discussion with Madibeng to appoint Magalies Water as the implementing agent in the improvements. (Magalies Water was engaged in an audit and supply refurbishment plan for Madibeng before the current problem with the algal blooms.)

Leasing water tankers to the tune of R400,000….
As a quick solution to maximize the quality and amount of water released, Matlawe says Magalies Water have been instructed to:
1. Replace old pumps and install pre chlorination pumps before sand filtration.
2. Refurbish units that will maximize capacity to immediately restore the plant to normal operations.
3. To collect water samples from all the 18 command reservoirs and supply a profile of contaminants, if any.
4. To give feedback in terms of a request for assistance with water tankers by 9 October.
Matlawe says that Cogta has responded positively and indicated the possibility of assisting with R400,000 towards the lease of water tankers.

Major water pipe burst underneath railway track…

The Administrator says Madibeng released press notices informing communities about the algal blooms and the resultant shortage of water. He says he informed the Premier about the situation on 8 October and also supplied profiles, ratios and statistics of the wards affected. The cleaning of reservoirs was begun on 7 October and by 8 October three reservoirs had already been cleaned.

But not only were there acute problems of supply and quality of water. On Thursday 7 October a major pipe burst underneath a railway track and permission had to be obtained from Transnet to repair the pipe.

On Saturday permission was granted and the repair done by 20:00 that evening. Brits was without water and nine tankers had to be used for distribution, but because of the demand, not all areas were covered, says Matlawe. Tests on water quality continue, but while it has an unpleasant taste, the Municipality is awaiting further analysis from Magalies Water to confirm results from the local laboratory.

Conclusions:
The water issues at Hartbeespoort Dam especially during the hot dry spell experienced lately have adversely affected the efficient operation of the Brits water purification plant. Although the water quality is improving, the issue of quantity is still a huge challenge says Matlawe, because inflow has been reduced to improve the quality. This has resulted in shortages in certain areas. There is no other alternative than to supply water through water tankers and the premier’s response is awaited by the Municipality.

According to Mr Leon Basson, Leader of the DA in the Madibeng Council, the Department of Water Affairs has granted R20 million and Magalies Water is to start this week with the replacement of filters and valves and refurbishing auxiliary pumps.

Pre treatment with chlorine will be implemented before sand filtration. He said that the Department of Water Affairs had also set aside R2,3 million for the refurbishment of the Hartbeespoort purification works. http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=31260&HeadingText=Madibeng+141010+brits+water

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News Oct 21 2010

10:05 |

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Summary: Delegates wept at Interpol DNA-conference when confronted with SA pictures of child-rape scenes and untouched DNA-samples; write the government before Oct 23 2010 urging them to pass the DNA-law! Property developer Chris Kouremetis gunned down at wedding Muldersdrift; Jan Engelbrecht’s suspected murderer found not guilty of murder but of robbing the family; Julian Bond 17 shot dead; brother Christopher, 21, critical, shot by armed gang in Pinetown;

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Interpol delegates burst into tears over pictures of child-rape crime scenes and untouched DNA-samples…

Criminals in South Africa get away with murder – literally - “The National DNA Database is currently being operated in a legal vacuum; we cannot for instance, uplift a DNA profile from a convicted offender for entry onto the DNA Database…”

International delegates to a DNA-conference of Interpol in Lyon, France, wept when pictures of child-rape scenes were shown by Vanessa Lynch of Cape Town – founder of “The DNA-project’. The SAPS also submitted a report at the same conference, writes Beeld senior-editor Philip de Bruin. “International delegates to the DNA-conference wept while the dire situation of DNA-profiles in South Africa was being explained to them,’ he writes. “Especially pictures of teddybears on top of baskets filled to the brim with DNA-sample envelopes and pictures of child-rape scenes greatly upset the delegates’. Ms Lynch quit her career as an attorney after her father’s murder in 2004 – she was so upset about the poor way in which DNA-evidence was gathered in his case, that she decided to dedicate all her time to advancing the DNA-system in South Africa.

Lynch: “What struck me most at the conference was the extent to which the majority of the countries government’s represented at the conference, were willing to put in whatever resources were required to establish and maximise the effectiveness of their respective DNA databases. It was also sobering to see how seriously they took crime and in some countries a stolen car was considered to be headline news and worthy of 24/7 resources to catch the perpetrator. You can just imagine the reaction that followed my presentation where I described the current situation in South Africa, spoke about my experience when my father was murdered and ended off the presentation with the VUKA ad which highlights the severity of crime in our country. To say that the audience was left in stunned silence at the end of my presentation, is perhaps an understatement.

“I think we all know how de-sensitized we are to crime in South Africa, but when people came up to me afterwards and told me they had literally choked-up during my presentation, I realised how far removed we really are and how dangerous this can be as it moves us into a place of acceptance of an absolutely, unequivocally unacceptable situation. And people kept asking me – but WHY doesn’t your government do something about this and WHY is it taking so long to pass this legislation which will convert all those unprocessed rape kits I had shown them, into a DNA profile which may lead the CSI’s to the perpetrator to STOP them from re-offending. And the best question: but WHY doesn’t your government or your parliamentarians RESPECT these victims and future victims of crime enough in your country to do something about this? Yes, WHY indeed?” info@dnaproject.co.za http://dnaproject.co.za/blog/category/newsletter

She says while the SAPS’s DNA profiling capabilities are excellent – the country’s legislation is lagging far behind. All over the world, DNA profiling and DNA databases have become major tools in crime fighting – except in South Africa. “The problem is that current legislation is outdated and prevents the full use of DNA to solve crimes. New forensic legislation has already been sitting before a parliamentary committee for more than two years.” Vanessa: ‘But what they did was they split the Bill between fingerprints and DNA. Initially it dealt with both. The committee has just passed Phase 1 of the bill, which is fingerprint, and now it has been passed through the national assembly and various areas of parliament. They will then look at Phase 2. They have decided, however, that they want to first go on an overseas tour to both the UK and Canada to look at how other systems operate.’

Ms Lynch said her crusade to bring South Africa’s DNA-collection system on a par with that of most Western countries had everything to do with the sky-high crime statistics and the fact that criminals are being protected – the SAPS are not allowed to take DNA-samples of arrested crime-suspects nor maintain a data-base of such DNA-samples. In the USA, 6,8m DNA-samples have already been gathered for access by the police there, in Europe more than 7-million. In South Africa only 123,000 samples are available in their DNA-database. “The parliament has been sitting for the past two years on the Concept Law on Forensic Procedures - and has thus far only promulgateed the first part – but had not yet set it in motion. Part one would provide the SAPS access to a fingerprint database being maintained by the Departments of Home Affairs and of Transport. The second part is progressing far slower: this would allow the SAPS to draw up DNA-profiles of every person arrested and found guilty of a crime.

The Democratic Alliance’s MP with the police-portfolio, Ms Dianne Kohler Barnard, said the second part of the law is important to the committee ‘but we also can’t just rush through such an invasive law’. Parliamentary committee members first want to pay personal visits to Canada and Great Britain to probe the DNA-datasystems in those countries – and then public hearings still must be held. Meanwhile says Lynch, DNA-samples from serious crimes remain ‘untouched’. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/DNS-voorlegging-deur-SA-vrou-ontstel-afgevaardigdes-20101021 http://dnaproject.co.za/legislation-homepage/legislation/parliamentary-programme

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2010-10-12 Chris Kouremetis, best man at wedding, gunned down, Cradle Restaurant, Muldersdrift -

Armed men opened fire on best man Chris Kouremetis with an AK-47 and a 9mm pistol on Sunday -- just as the unarmed, wealthy property developer was about to leave the Cradle restaurant in Muldersdrift: he was the best man at a lavish wedding ceremony attended by 90 guests, many attending from other countries.

SAPS warrant officer Odette van Staden said Couremetis, a wealthy property-developer, was shot dead in front of 90 panick-stricken guests - many attending from other countries. “We believe this is part of the Rolex gang, who specifically look for their targets,” Van Staden said. Twelve shots were fired in total: two bullets hit Kouremetis in the chest and hand. The other bullets riddled his R1million luxurious Cayenne motorcar with holes – with two female passengers seated inside. Last week, a man was also shot and killed for his Rolex watch in Joburg. He had been returning from a shopping centre when his car was pushed off the road by the armed gang.

Van Staden said police believe the bullet penetrated the heart of Couremetis, a property developer based in Cape Town. “I think this must be the shot that killed him. The other bullet wound in the hand was not serious. When the paramedics arrived at the scene, he was certified dead,” she said. At around 10.30pm, two armed men emerged in the car park and opened fire on Couremetis. When he dropped to the ground, his attackers took his watch and moonbag containing R10,000 – which was wrapped around his waist.

Two women were already seated in the back of the unarmed Kouremetis’ car and he his male passenger were about to get into the car when the shooting started. The guests inside the restaurants scattered in panic, some hiding under tables. The two women were rushed to hospital, where they were sedated and treated for shock. A woman who was terrified of being named said her daughter was among the guests at the wedding ceremony and was still traumatised. Like many other guests, the girl had travelled all the way from Australia to attend her best friend’s wedding. She had been friends with the bride since their high school days.

“Sounds like a hit: no other guests were hit or robbed…”

“She was so distraught that she could not even relate the story properly. She was vomiting all over the place,” the mother said. “My daughter said people were running around trying to hide as the sound of gunfire continued. It sounds like it was a hit because no other guests were hurt or robbed. There is something fishy,” she added. The dead man’s father, Costaz Couremetis’was too distraught too speak to The Star last night. - The Star http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/wedding-day-bloodshed-1.685487

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2010-10-20 Llewelyn Bond (17) killed ; brother Christopher critically shot by gang, Pinetown

PINETOWN, KwaZulu – The SAPS arrested one robber and a purchaser of a blue Toyota Yaris stolen in Pinetown during an armed attack against the Bond family, during which unarmed matric-pupil Llewelyn Bond (17) was shot dead with one bullet in the head. His brother Christopher, 21, shot in the stomach is in critical condition at hospital. Pinetown SAPS spokesman Lt col Vincent Mdunge said they found the stolen car before the purchaser could sell it on to a second buyer for only R3,000. They are still searching for three other armed robbers and another buyer. Young Llewelyn was standing in front of his home in Pinetown, talking to his girlfriend, when four armed men with handguns stormed into the house where the rest of the family was sitting in the living room. The gunmen demanded the keys to the family car. Llewelyn’s older brother Christopher, 21, was shot in the stomach. The gang fled in the family’s bakkie and their Yaris. Llewelyn was a matric pupil at the Afrikaans Gelofte Skool and was shot dead only a day after the matric’s graduation party. “ It’s tragic the way the mood of a school can make an 180-degree turn within just 24 hours, said headmaster Danie Strydom in an interview with a Durban radio station. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Gewilde-matriekseun-in-huisrooftog-doodgeskiet-20101021

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2010-10-20 Murder suspect of Jan Engelbrecht acquitted by Pretoria High Court

PRETORIA NEWS - Merinda Engelbrecht outside the Pretoria High Court after attending the trial of Ernest Masipa of Phomolong, the man acquitted of murdering her husband Jan in an armed attack on the Afrikaner family on September 8 2008. Five months earlier, Merinda and her daughter Megan had also been attacked during a store-robbery. Photo: Masi Losi

“Nobody will ever understand how traumatic it is to be attacked in your home and have your husband killed in front of you. I am battling to come to terms with this. When I close my eyes, the attack plays out in my mind like a movie.” This is how the widow of former Mac’s Motorbike Club vice-president Jan Engelbrecht feels more than two years after a gang broke into their Keerweer Street home in Booysens, Pretoria. Merinda Engelbrecht’s husband was shot dead while running to the aid of his family, who were wrestling with the attackers outside. Ernest Masipa of Phomolong, west of Atteridgeville, was the only member of the gang to be caught. Judge Mrs Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi of the Pretoria High Court yesterday acquitted him of Mr Engelbrecht’s murder – but did convict the man of robbery with aggravating circumstances.The judge found that “Masipa had already fled the premises by the time Jan Engelbrecht was shot.”

Masipa admitted that he and the rest of the gang planned to rob the Engelbrecht couple – and that he knew that two of the gang members were armed. However, said the judge, ‘the State had not proved that Masipa associated himself with the act of killing Engelbrecht” and ‘had already left the premises by the time the first shot (outside the house) was fired” she said.

The gang broke into the house in the early hours of September 8, 2008. The family’s ordeal started when a gunman entered the bedroom of the Engelbrechts’ daughter Megan and demanded her cellphone. Another man also entered her room, but the two fled when they heard a commotion outside. Megan fled her father’s bedroom – finding a man standing over him pointing a gun. This man also ran outside when he heard a shot being fired in the bedroom. At the time, Mrs Merinda Engelbrecht and her sons Evan and Marcelle were outside, confronting the robbers. Megan and her father ran out to help them, but her father was hit in the chest by a bullet as he stepped outside. Blows and shots were exchanged, but the attackers of the Afrikaner family got away. They took jewellery and other valuables, which were never recovered. Masipa told the court that he ‘was already down the road by the time the first shots were fired”. He also denied that he ever was inside the Engelbrecht house. He had stood outside a window while the others handed him the loot.

The Engelbrecht family had their share of being crime victims, Merinda Engelbrecht said after the trial yesterday. Her husband was robbed five months before being killed. She and Megan were also robbed when they walked into a store. The robbers again stole her jewellery and took her handbag, in which she kept a note her late husband had written to her. “It is not going well with us. We are receiving counselling, but one cannot just wipe out what happened. Our whole lives have been turned upside down, and my soul mate was taken from me,” Merinda said. - Pretoria News http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/robber-acquitted-of-murder-1.687789

The time has come to make yourself HEARD about the DNA-Bill – before Oct 23 2010!

Why? Because the Portfolio Committee on Police (National Assembly) has invited interested individuals and organisations to submit written submissions on the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill (also referred to as the “DNA Bill”)

The adoption of the DNA Bill now requires public submissions, and lots of them, commenting on the Bill – and it is here that each one of you reading this entry, must take a stand and make the time to email your submissions to jmichaels@parliament.gov.za by no later than 23 October 2009 as to why you think it is fundamental that this law is passed in SA. Your email will not be one in a string of unread emails that circulates endlessly, crying out for a change. Your email WILL EFFECT that change, and the more people you tell to comment on the Bill, the more chance we have of ensuring that the Bill is passed by Parliament in its final form. If ever there was a time to tangibly make a difference in SA, it is now. Please – make yourself heard. Invitations for written submissions on the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill [B2- 2009] have now been called for. PLEASE make yourself heard and email your submissions to the Portfolio Committee on Police before 23 October 2009. http://dnaproject.co.za/blog/category/newsletter

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Hartbeespoort officials use guerilla tactics…

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“The ANC has an inordinate lust for power driven by an obscene greed for money…” – Dolf Dreyer, editor, Madibeng Pulse, Brits.

Hartbeespoort, Melodie, Kosmos, Ifafi, Meerhof all are key agricultural towns along the shoreline of the 2,062 -hectare Hartbeespoort Dam – and their municipal public servants are mainly responsible for keeping this crucial fresh-water supply clean and safe for human consumption (map below). However - its overpaid officials are so busy with self-enrichment schemes and ANC- power games that they ignore the dangerous public health hazards their ignorance and deliberate neglect have already created: the crucial Hartbeespoort Irrigation Dam now is so badly polluted with municipal sewerage and radioactive acid mine-sludge that Woolworth’s supermarkets issued a warning this month about dangerous e-coli pollution on fresh produce bought from farmers who irrigate their crops with Hartbeespoort water…

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Below is a brief summary of the kind of power-games played by this small municipality’s (overstaffed) ANC-appointed civil servants:

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Civil servants, unions ‘will have to achieve change by guerilla tactics’…

Monday 18 October 2010, By Dolf Dreyer, editor, Madibeng Pulse

(MadibengPulse estimated at the time that it cost at least R12,000 for transport to assemble that many people and the action ‘could only have been funded from deep pockets ‘ – Editor). However Mokwena denied this.

‘341 officials in Madibeng had business dealings with municipality’

Mokwena quoted several examples of alleged irregularities after 9 Nov 2009 – Zuma’;s cut-off date:

What do you think? Email Dreyer
Above was a summary. The entire article is at http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=31279&HeadingText=Madibeng+181010+unions

South Africa dismally unsafe for its citizens - World Justice Project: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article712482.ece/SA-a-dismal-next-to-last-on-world-citizen-safety-index

Entire Limpopo River basin affected by the water mismanagement at Hartbeespoort

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Woolworths food-giant issues health-warning about water-quality in South Africa – after identifying ecoli bacteria on fresh produce irrigated with Hartbeespoort Dam water…

”We have been finding more and more e-coli on fresh produce…”

Hartbeespoort Dam water used for crop-irrigation by some Woolworth food-producers:

http://www.volksblad.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Water-in-SA-kwel-koskettingreus-20101017
http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=30703&HeadingText=Environment+280610+mine+acid#n
Madibeng service-provider hands himself over to police: http://www.dplg.gov.za/index.php/news/1-latest-news/145-madibeng-municipality-service-provider-hands-himself-over-to-police.html
Radioactive and faeces-polluted water in Hartbeespoort, 2010:
http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2010/06/radioactive-mine-sludge-poisons.html
http://www.madibengpulse.co.za/?Task=system&CategoryID=30703&HeadingText=Environment+280610+mine+acid#n
Dangerous water pollution problems in 2009:
http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/03/south-africa-claims-water-is-basic.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartbeespoort_Dam
South Africa dismally unsafe for its citizens - World Justice Project: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article712482.ece/SA-a-dismal-next-to-last-on-world-citizen-safety-index

Labels: e-coli, Hartbeespoort, Ifafi, Kosmos, Meerhof, Melodie, pollution, produce, radioactive minewaste, Woolworths |

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Hartbeespoort officials use guerilla tactics…

Woolworths food-giant issues health-warning about water-quality in South Africa – after identifying ecoli bacteria on fresh produce irrigated with Hartbeespoort Dam water…

”We have been finding more and more e-coli on fresh produce…”

News Oct 21 2010

Interpol delegates burst into tears over pictures of child-rape crime scenes and untouched DNA-samples…

Criminals in South Africa get away with murder – literally - “The National DNA Database is currently being operated in a legal vacuum; we cannot for instance, uplift a DNA profile from a convicted offender for entry onto the DNA Database…”

2010-10-12 Chris Kouremetis, best man at wedding, gunned down, Cradle Restaurant, Muldersdrift -

2010-10-20 Llewelyn Bond (17) killed ; brother Christopher critically shot by gang, Pinetown

2010-10-20 Murder suspect of Jan Engelbrecht acquitted by Pretoria High Court

Hartbeespoort officials use guerilla tactics…

Woolworths food-giant issues health-warning about water-quality in South Africa – after identifying ecoli bacteria on fresh produce irrigated with Hartbeespoort Dam water…

”We have been finding more and more e-coli on fresh produce…”

Censorbugbear reports...

Contact Me

Subscribe

Search

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me

Hartbeespoort officials use guerilla tactics…

Woolworths food-giant issues health-warning about water-quality in South Africa – after identifying ecoli bacteria on fresh produce irrigated with Hartbeespoort Dam water…

”We have been finding more and more e-coli on fresh produce…”

News Oct 21 2010

Interpol delegates burst into tears over pictures of child-rape crime scenes and untouched DNA-samples…

Criminals in South Africa get away with murder – literally - “The National DNA Database is currently being operated in a legal vacuum; we cannot for instance, uplift a DNA profile from a convicted offender for entry onto the DNA Database…”

2010-10-12 Chris Kouremetis, best man at wedding, gunned down, Cradle Restaurant, Muldersdrift -

2010-10-20 Llewelyn Bond (17) killed ; brother Christopher critically shot by gang, Pinetown

2010-10-20 Murder suspect of Jan Engelbrecht acquitted by Pretoria High Court

Hartbeespoort officials use guerilla tactics…

Woolworths food-giant issues health-warning about water-quality in South Africa – after identifying ecoli bacteria on fresh produce irrigated with Hartbeespoort Dam water…

”We have been finding more and more e-coli on fresh produce…”