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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
All 3 streams polluted at Kya Sands
17:57 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
Mysterious 3-metre-high towers of foam are polluting the Klein Pampoenspruit and feeding into the Klein Jukskei river, warn residents such as business-management consultant Gavin Tonks, who sent pictures of the pollution to the Radio 702 news pages. Residents in Kya Sands north of Johannesburg are reportedly deeply worried about the high pollution levels in the three streams in the area. http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=62369
Indian-owned Stockville Valley land invaded by large numbers of black squatters
30 March 2011 LookLocal.co.za reports that more than 150 black people have been marking plots on private property which has been owned by Indians for many years at Stockville Valley, East of Pinetown. The black land-invaders arrive in an organised manner, burning tyres and causing havoc.
(source: Deshni Ramkissoon). The local Indians are living in fear. The land in question is owned by Mr V.N Naik. He wanted to sell the land as a unit to the municipality but council officials declined the sale, believing the land was not suitable for a housing project.
"The original Indian families, some of whom have rented land from Mr Naik for many years, are living in fear as they stand accused of being the people who summoned the police to sort out the electricity debacle, the original cause of the recent unrest," she said.
Resident Raju Ragunanan said police intervened and moved the informal settlers off the property, arresting those who had already linked up illegal electrical connections.
Democratic-Alliance councillor Gillian Noyce said the informal settlers "were reluctant to move, even if offered housing elsewhere, because they were close to their working areas in Stockville."
However this problem will not go away: ANC councillor Sibisiso Zwane called for the police to drop the charges against the people who'd been hooked up to the electricity grid, saying there was 'no proof that the connections were illegal...'
"This matter has to be discussed with the land owner; and the housing, water and electricity departments."
Councillor Noyce commented that ' there were many layers to this problem and it was not going to be resolved easily."If the influx of people settling here could be contained, there is a better chance of finding a solution but, with the numbers gradually building, the future looks bleak," she added.
http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/upper-highway/upper-highway-announcements-general?oid=4324069&sn=Detail&pid=4196622&Stockville-Valley-land-invaders-arrested http://tinyurl.com/45tnh77
George Savvides, Greek immigrant, shot dead, Wonderboom Pretoria
The two black males, one armed with a large spanner, the other with a handgun, broke in through the living room window (source: Hilda Fourie, Beeld)A shot was fired through the door while he tried to close it on the gunman - and the bullet hit Mr Savvides in the heart. His wife Emmerentia heard him say: 'they have me" before he died. She said her husband was pushing the bedroom door closed to stop the black gunman from getting inside. The men merely grabbed a handbag and a cellphone before rushing away again. "What are a cellphone and a handbag worth? The most valuable thing they took was my husband's life,' she said.
The couple's home is located in Date-palm Avenue in Wonderboom, Pretoria - four blocks away from the home of 62-year-old Mrs Rienie van der Linde in Van der Schyffstreet : who was attacked in her driveway for a second time within four months by two black men who had shot her in the upper leg, fleeing with her handbag and laptop computer earlier. She blamed the large number of vagrants living in an adjacent empty site and the local councillor had promised 'to have it cleaned up'.
Mrs Savvides said she woke up at 3:30am when 'an unknown man turned on my bedroom light'. She and her husband sleep in seperate bedrooms. She saw two black men: one with a heavy-duty spanner and another with a handgun. "I started screaming for my husband at once,' she said. In response one black man 'tapped her on an arm with the spanner and grabbed her handbag'.
"My husband opened his bedroom door, I saw the gunman move into the hallway and saw my husband close his door and that's when the man fired the shot. My husband was shot through the heart. I heard him say 'they got me'. I rushed to him, felt his forehead and then phoned the police - or tried to, because nobody answered the 10111 emergency number.' She then pushed an emergency alarm on her cellphone and the police arrived within minutes.
Local SAPS spokesman Lt-col Lungelo Dlamini said 'a murder investigation has been opened'. He had no comment about the complaint that there was no reply at the 10111 number. Investigators found that the two men had broken in through the living room window. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Pta-man-deur-sy-toe-kamerdeur-doodgeskiet-20110330
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earlier attack in same region:
Rienie vd Linde, 62, survives second armed attack, Annlin, Wonderboom, Pretoria
2011-03-24 For the second time within four months, Mrs Rienie van der Linde, 62, was attacked by an armed gang and was lucky to survive. She was shot in the upper left-leg and treated at hospital after she was attacked by one of the gunmen in the driveway of her Annlin, Pretoria home as she was leaving for work at 5:30am. Four months earlier she also was beaten black and blue by an armed gang in exactly the same spot, said husband Frik, 72. (source: Hilda Fourie, Beeld). She managed to get away and rang her frontdoor bell and just as her daughter Marlisa, 34, was busy making up her bed she heard the shot. When she ran to the backdoor a man also stood there with a gun pointing it at the daughter's face. The man walked inside, took a laptop computer he walked straight to it as if he knew exactly where to find it and jumped across the fence. The family's erf is adjacent to an empty lot frequented by vagrants. SAPS Pinky Tshinyane, confirmed the 'house robbery'. The local town councillor meanwhile has undertaken to have the empty lot next door cleaned up and the illegal occupants removed. URL: http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Vrou-weer-in-oprit-by-huis-aangeval-20110324 http://tinyurl.com/48yepjl
Heinz Brenner, 71, dies from Linden attack
“The killer wore blood-drenched white gloves and shouted: ‘something is wrong in the house…’
Heinz Brenner, 71, was attacked on Feb 9 2011 at his 6th home in Linden, Johannesburg. He died on March 1 2011 from the brutal beating he received by a black man who wore white gloves.
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March 31 2011 - A Linden family are reeling in shock after burying their husband and father who was left brain dead and surviving on life-support for three weeks after he was attacked on February 9 2011 at his Sixth Street home in Linden, north of Johannesburg.
The brutal murder of 71-year-old Heinz Brenner, comes soon after the kidnaping and death of 65-year-old Georgie Jacklin, whose body was found three weeks ago in Sasolburg. (source: Karishma Thakurdin)
One of the daughters Ms Julie Brenner said her family was distraught by the brutal nature of her father’s death. They hoped to see the perpetrator brought to book. Brenner said her father was attacked and left in a coma on Wednesday 9 February 2011 around 3pm after she and her mother had left the house to run errands. "When we returned about an hour later, the front door was locked from inside. Moments later an unknown man wearing white gloves which were drenched in blood, opened the door shouting ‘something is wrong in the house’," she said.
Ms Brenner said they were too shocked and confused to react . The black suspect yanked both Brenner and her mom into the house, yelling, ‘something is wrong inside’. He demanded their valuables, before locking them in the bedroom cupboards. "When I heard silence, I escaped from the cupboard, let my mom out and began looking for my dad," she said.Brenner found her father in the garage lying in a pool of blood and gasping for air. "He was so badly beaten up, I barely recognised him," she said.An emotional Brenner described her dad as a positive, kind-hearted and hardworking person.Linden police constable Carol Mulamu confirmed that the suspects were at large and a case of murder was being investigated.
http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/randburg/randburg-news-general?oid=3749106&sn=Detail&pid=217566&71-year-old-Linden-resident-murdered-during-a-house-robbery
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Anti-ANC protest, Zandspruit, Randburg
Zandspruit, Randburg squatters threaten election boycot: oppose local ANC-candidate…
ANC spokesman Dumisa Ntuli warns: “those who undermine the ANC through protests would face the consequences…
Thousands of Zandspruit squatter camp residents near Honeydew, north of Randburg set up burning-tyre roadblocks in violence-driven protests, demanding the removal of white Johannesburg ANC-councillor Maureen Scheemann from the list of candidates. The ANC in turn issued a stern warning that ‘those who undermine the ANC through protests would face the consequences.’ Eighty-eight people were arrested for public-violence, said Honeydew Maj-Genl Oswald Reddy.
The residents blame Scheemann for the lack of water-reticulation and other free municipal services to their squatter camp. A police officer was injured by stones pelted by protestors. And the main road from Pretoria to Johannesburg was blocked for hours by their burning-tyre blockades. Residents looted a supermarket and stole 150 crates of cool drinks worth R20,000, said the shopowner who would only identify himself as Tony. "It's very unfortunate because I help the community a lot. I donate money to the creché and this is how they thank me," Tony said as quoted by Sowetan:
Police cruelty on Sowetan video:
Sowetan ‘s website also showed a video with the story which included the shocking scene of a black police-officer firing a shot with a rubber-bullet at very close range at an unarmed man, whose damaged arm then needed treatment. They also showed police officers firing at protestors from a high vantage point into Beyers Naude drive, which was blocked and littered with stones. video on: http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/03/31/anc-list-sparks-fury
Residents went on the rampage in an well-organised manner, showing up at 5:30am with piles of outer-tyres which they proceeded to torch in a staggered set of road-blocks. Five people also were injured when police fired rubber bullets at the protestors. They looted several businesses. It’s not known if any of these squatter-camp residents ever tried to phone Mrs Scheemann directly about all their woes: the councillor for Ward 100 for the city of Johannesburg can apparently be reached at telephone number 083-279-1128, according to the citizen-policing forum website: http://honeydew-cpf.org.za/councillors.html
ANC provincial spokesman Dumisa Ntuli said the ANC had 'scheduled a meeting with the community but no one came forward (to put themselves up for election). The ANC Gauteng has closed the list process for candidates selection and names have been sent to the IEC. We don't expect any disciplined member of the ANC to organise protests based on the selection of candidates."
He also issued a sternly-worded warning: 'Those who wanted to undermine the ANC processes through protests would "face the consequences. No one should mobilise against the outcomes of the selection of candidates. Our candidates have been tested ... they enjoy overwhelming support from members of the communities who participated enthusiastically in the selection process," he said. http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/03/31/anc-list-sparks-fury
Five people murdered at Zandspruit in February:
They have to walk about a kilometre to the main road and wait for an ambulance because ambulances won't drive into their area. The squatter-camp is crime-ridden: in February alone, five people were murdered. Also, their toilets won't flush and authorities take three months to fix them. This creates health hazards.
Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesmann Nana Radebe confirmed that "paramedics could not drive into the area because it was difficult for them to locate addresses."
Sowetan also quoted political analyst Elvis Masoga as saying: "Communities thought they would have the last say on nominations but they were wrong. The ANC has failed to explain its policy of involving communities." It’s not entirely clear what he meant. One thing is for sure: judging by the large number of violence-driven protests against unpopular ANC-candidates countrywide over the past few months, the party is in for a rough ride at the forthcoming electiions.
Ironically, portions of he Zandspruit farms region where this squatter camp now is located, used to belong to the late founder of the city of Randburg, Robert van Tonder – who also founded the Boer State Party and was a staunch opponent of the current ANC-regime.
community policing forum: http://honeydew-cpf.org.za/councillors.html
for comment: The councillor for Ward 100 for the City of Johannesburg can be reached at telephone number is 083-279-1128.
Avril Gordon locked in, tortured for months
- http://bit.ly/e1ClKp - Avril Gordon, 52, tortured, starved, locked up for months in PE flat
2011-03-31 Port Elizabeth. – For many months, Mrs Avril Gordon, 52, was locked up in her flat, half-starved, beaten with a chain and a wooden pole, burnt with boiling water and tortured so badly that she required emergency plastic surgery repair to her face. She was rescued by neighbours who heard her constantly crying, weeping and moaning - and kicked open the door…
A top detective described the long-term torture of Mrs Gordon as 'worse than any murder, rape or robbery-scene I'd ever investigated in my 32-year-career.' Her second husband – whom she married only six months ago after a tortuous two-year relationship -- SA Air Force sergeant Frederick Gordon, 42, was arrested last Thursday and is being held in the St. Albans prison until his scheduled remand-appearance in Port Elizabeth magistrate's court on Thursday, March 31 2011.
The detective told Beeld newspaper: "I had never looked into such painfilled, desperate eyes until I saw that woman's eyes. She suffered all this in a two-year-period and it's a wonder she's survived, said col Mark Howland of the Humewood police station. The emaciated Mrs Gordon underwent intensive plastic surgery two days ago to try and repair the damage to her carved-open nose and torn upper lip. "I went through a pure hell which I would not wish on my worst enemy. But from now on, things can only get better and I am looking forward to a future with my children and grandchildren,' said Mrs Gordon from her hospital bed.
She was in a relationship with the sergeant for two years before the couple married in November last year and moved into an apartment block in Forrest Hill. "He was incredibly jealous and constantly accusing me of affairs with other men. I wasn't allowed to work,' she said.
Investigating officer sergeant Paul Roelofse said the torture 'had been going on for months but increased in intensity in the two weeks before his arrest' We received statements from neighbours who listened day and night to horrific weeping and moaning and hitting sounds from the adjacent flat'. Neighbours tried knocking on the door - and said Gordon initially refused to open the door, and told them through a window that 'his wife was asleep'. However the neighbours heard the woman moaning pitiously at that point – and kicked open the door. What they found inside the flat left the neighbours in tears and weeping, said sergeant Roelofse.
Open Bible had clumps of her hair and skin stuck to the pages:
"Mrs Gordon was sitting in a corner, weeping, and with her face literally bashed apart. Only the upper part of her nose was still intact.
She was covered from head to toe in cuts, slashing wounds, she had missing teeth and horrific burn wounds where boiling water was poured on her. She was never taken to any hospital and had to treat her pain with headache-powders. The flat itself was a pig sty full of beer-bottles, blood-spattered walls, a bloodied chain and a lock. "The worst part was the Bible laying open with clumps of her hair and skin from her skull stuck to the pages.'
daughter Vallery Figueira who rushed from Johannesburg to be with her mom, said: "I would never have recognised her in the street.” As soon as her mom recovers, her three daughters will take her in and start taking care of her, she said.
http://afrikaans.news24.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Sys-maande-lank-in-huis-gemartel-20110330-2
Tons of potatoes thrown away in s.a.
- http://bit.ly/ihJAYL – Farmers are losing R40,000/ha per crop….
Tons of potatoes had to be thrown away because of overproduction in the Sandveld region this season, warned Joos Engelbrecht, chairman of the Sandveld Potato-growers association this week. Farmers have to put the brakes on production or they will keep losing money, he warned.
He was quoted in Landbou magazine by Lucille Botha as saying that their present overproduction of potatoes was 'unsustaintable' because farmers now were losing R12 per 10kg bag of potatoes.
20% of Sandveld potatoes exported to Namibia, Angola:
South African farmers can produce potato-crops throughout the year because of the large variety of mini-climates. However, the present over-production is causing a glut on the market, with farmers now losing R12 per 10/kg bag of potatoes. The Sandveld is the largest area for the production of potatoes in the Western Cape - exporting 20% of its table-potato crop to Namibia and Angola.
It also is an important producer of seed potatoes. Although the Sandveld allows planting throughout the year, the two peak periods are the winter crop planted in June and July and the summer crop from January to April. The crop is produced in the white sandy soil which gives a naturally clean and attractive product. In the last 5 years the Sandveld has grown one of the macro production areas in South Africa - and 22% of the table potato crop of this region is being exported - mainly to Angola and Namibia.
Tons of potatoes thrown away… farmers lost up to R40,000/ha:
This week, the local chairman of the potato-growers association issued his dire warning: saying they will have to put the brakes on their production-output or they will keep losing money. "Tons of potatoes had to be thrown away and farmers lost up to R40,000 per hectare on their crops.
"Last year the cut-even point was reached when potatoes sold for R28,54 per bag - so Sandveld farmers now are producing potatoes at a loss of R12 per bag.” He urged farmers to 'move their focus from the present production-oriented methods to methods which were market-oriented. We must need to establish what the weekly requirements are for potatoes at our target-markets.Research has shown that an over-production of 10% in the potato-crop can lead to a 50% drop in prices.”
SAKO held an emergency meeting on 30 March in Velddrift to examine the possibility of raising more profitable crops. Yet it's feared the problem will continue this season: as even more seed-potatoes were planted for the following harvest. "Do we want to repeat this year's disaster?" he asked.
The reason that each hectare yields 10tons more in potatoes than harvested ten years earlier is due to 'more productive cultivars and better farming practices' he said. "However what is extraordinary is that in those two years (in 2002 and 2009) when fewer hectares were planted with potatoes, the market prices rose to between R8 and R11 per bag.” Engelbrecht proposed that 'a strong marketing-committee of working-committee be established to concentrate on this matter'. http://www.landbou.com/node/54965