Ntsikelelo Manani, a witness called to corroborate the evidence of an alleged contract killer, was not forthcoming with information yesterday in the East London High Court.

Vuyani Sibanda, Isaac Phiri, Thabiso Mini, Sakhele Magasana and Makhaya Qwala face charges of racketeering, conspiracy to murder and robbery with aggravated circumstances.

Ntsikelelo Manani, a witness called to corroborate the evidence version of an alleged contract killer, was not very forthcoming with information yesterday in the East London High Court.

Manani, a sixth accused, escaped from police custody in August 2012. After his rearrest in October 2012, he was found guilty of escaping and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. He is to be tried separately from the current case.

Earlier this week, Mini testified that he was not involved in a robbery and murder in Fort Beaufort where cellphones and a woman’s seven-piece wedding ring were stolen.

It is not in dispute that Mini sold the items in Mdantsane; however, he denied being involved in the robbery. He said Manani gave him the items to sell on his behalf.

Yesterday, Manani was brought to court especially to corroborate Mini’s version that he gave him the items to sell. While Manani agreed he gave Mini the rings and cellphones to sell, he refused to say where he got them from.

Prosecuting state advocate Zukile Mdolomba said: “I am interested in the source of the rings.” Manani replied: “That is one of the questions I do not wish to answer because I am implicated.”

On Wednesday, Mini told acting Judge Robert Dilizo he was with Manani when he negotiated the price of the rings with a prospective buyer.

Yesterday, Manani told Dilizo that they were not together and that Mini just gave him the proceeds of the sale. Asked about the contradictions, Manani said: “Well, I was not here when he testified.” The trial resumes today.

A Joubertina man convicted this week of raping his teenage daughter read out a letter to the Grahamstown High Court, ironically declaring that he had forgiven her.

The man, who may not be named as it would identify his daughter, was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment. He insisted his 14-year-old daughter had concocted the rape allegation against him because he was a strict father and she did not want to live with him.

A JOUBERTINA man convicted this week of raping his teenage daughter read out a letter to the Grahamstown High Court, ironically declaring that he had forgiven her.

In a statement he read to court while giving evidence in mitigation of sentence, the man, who is a deacon in his church, said he was falsely accused but had forgiven his daughter.

Asked if he felt any remorse, he simply said he felt sorry for the fact that his children would now grow up without him around.

The emotional 14-year-old testified how her father had raped her at knifepoint and threatened to kill her while they were alone at home one night in July last year.

She said after the rape, he had fetched a bucket of water and ordered her to wash.

When she refused, he again threatened to kill her and had run to the kitchen to fetch a stick. She had jumped out of a window and fled to a neighbour who had taken her to the police.

She suffered such emotional strain while giving evidence about the rape that the court had to be adjourned more than once to allow her to calm down.

Judge Clive Plasket found her to be a good witness. Her father on the other hand was an unimpressive witness, he said.

Medical evidence and the evidence given by her neighbour had supported her version of events, he said.

Plasket said that while rape was always a serious crime, the rape of a child by a father was particularly reprehensible. Her father had inflicted terror, physical pain and psychological harm on his own daughter.

He said the father’s persistence in his denial that he had raped his daughter, his insistence that her evidence against him was false and that he had “forgiven” her for this proved he had no remorse or insight into the seriousness of his actions and the damage it had caused her. Without remorse, rehabilitation was unlikely, said Plasket.

He said life in jail was the only appropriate sentence.

Three women accused of stealing a corpse from the state mortuary in Mthatha to claim insurance money appeared in court yesterday.

Nomagcisa Mayeza, Nomasister Mahlungulu and Nomfanekiso Nondula were arrested in Mbizana on Friday.

SCAM ACCUSATIONS: Suspects accused of stealing a corpse to claim insurance appeared in court yesterday Picture: ABONGILE MGAQELWA

Police say they fraudulently “claimed” the corpse at the government mortuary earlier this month.

The deceased – an unidentified man – was killed in a car accident on the N2 just outside Mthatha on Christmas Eve. His unclaimed body was held at the mortuary from December 24 to January 7, when one of the women came forward claiming he was her son.

She is alleged to have used a fraudulent ID to identify the deceased and prove that they were related.

It is further alleged that the three colluded with an official from the health department’s forensic unit to move the body from Mthatha to Bizana.

The alleged scam was exposed six days later when a family came forward searching for a missing relative who had been involved in a car accident.

When the family was shown photographs of the deceased, they confirmed he was their relative. The family was advised to look for the body at the Mbizana mortuary.

The three women who removed the body are also accused of having made insurance claims using fraudulent IDs.

Insurance companies had reportedly already made payments to the accused, while authorities are said to have prevented one company from paying out R80000.

The three women yesterday appeared in court for a bail application, but the state requested a postponement and said there were additional charges which could still be added.

It also transpired that two of the women had outstanding warrants of arrest issued by police in Gauteng and Limpopo for other cases.

The matter was postponed till next Tuesday.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela confirmed the arrest of the health official and said more arrests were expected.

“We do not have much information about the insurance companies but I can confirm there are warrants of arrest from other provinces” said Fatyela. — abongilem@dispatch.co.za

A woman who allegedly claimed she could raise people from the dead for a fee caused a stir when she appeared in the Cathcart Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Nolonwabo Lapi Mangele, who said she was from KwaZulu-Natal, was nabbed by police in Cathcart on Monday while on her way to King William’s Town.

CASE CAUSES STIR: Nolonwabo Lapi Mangele appeared briefly in the Cathcart Magistrate’s Court yesterday. She was arrested on Monday in connection with complaints that she had scammed people by claiming she could wake their relatives from the dead Picture: SIBONGILE NGALWA

She had visited a Cathcart family at the weekend, apparently after being called on to bring a dead relative back to life.

Wearing a white and navy striped dress, shivering and covered with a small blanket, Mangele shied away from Daily Dispatch cameras and avoided eye contact with those in court. After spending more than 24 hours in a holding cell, she had travelled between Cathcart and Stutterheim yesterday following confusion about where her case was to be heard.

Mangele faces two Eastern Cape counts of theft under false pretences. Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Namhla Mdleleni said Mangele faced a number of similar cases in the Western Cape.

While she insisted on covering her face inside court ahead of her appearance, magistrate Reet Müller asked her to remove the blanket from her head as she walked into the court room. “You are not allowed to cover yourself inside the court,” Müller told her.

Mdleleni said Mangele had also been charged with fraudulently receiving money from desperate families in Stellenbosch, who believed she could wake their loved ones from the dead.

“She had visited Cathcart on the same business. There was suspicion that her claims were not true, as she made people believe that she could wake people from the dead who had passed on under mysterious circumstances,” Mdleleni said.

Since 2008, Mangele had allegedly been involved in scams in which families paid about R80 for a consultation and a deposit of R2500.

It is alleged her prices had gone up to R15000, which included a deposit of R7500.

In addition to requesting a deposit, she was accused of demanding money for food, clothes and airtime. Mangele allegedly accepted R7000 from one person as a deposit.

“This court would advise you to appoint a lawyer to represent you…because the case you are faced with is a serious case [for] which you will need representation,” Müller said.

Following her court appearance Mangele was informed that her case would be transferred to Stellenbosch, where she was due to appear in the local court tomorrow. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za

The hopes of thousands of retrenched workers have been dashed by the Constitutional Court.

A majority judgment has ruled that, just because the dismissals by the Edcon group in 2013 and 2014 were carried out in a way that contravened the Labour Relations Act, it did not mean that they were invalid.

Concourt rules dissmisals might be procedurally unfair but are not valid.

The act stipulates that an employer undertaking large-scale retrenchments may give notice only 60 days after extending an invitation to consult on an impending retrenchment. Edcon, which employed almost 40 000 staff in 1300 retail outlets around the country, started restructuring during April 2013, and did not wait for the prescribed period before retrenching 3000 employees in 2013 and 2014.

About 1300 approached the court for reinstatement and backpay but their plea failed at the Labour Court last year and now also at the Constitutional Court.

The Labour Court has delivered conflicting judgments in the past on whether or not such dismissals are invalid.

The Concourt on Friday said the dismissals might be procedurally unfair but were not invalid.

Gareth Cliff will on Tuesday face M-Net, the broadcasting giant he has launched an urgent court application against in an effort to be reinstated as a judge on signing competition, Idols.

Gareth Cliff will today face M-Net in court in an effort to be reinstated as a judge on signing competition, Idols SA.

The bitter TV split between them has made headlines after Cliff was fired from Idols for comments he made regarding racist social media posts by estate agent, Penny Sparrow.

In his court papers, Cliff described M-Net’s axing of him as a “knee-jerk” response and said that he found the decision to fire him “peculiar” given the fact that two other judges has also been involved in a public race debate.

“The response by the first respondent [M-Net] in axing me was quite peculiar not only because of its inconsistency with how other judges had been dealt with, but also because M-Net itself had for many years been able to withstand criticism of racism and, more recently, gender discrimination due to either the low number of black winners and/or the total absence to date of a female winner.”

Although initially missing a deadline to respond to Cliff’s urgent application, M-Net hit back hard, saying that market research conducted showed that he was “poison” for the M-Net andIdols brand.

“If M-Net had permitted the 2016 season of Idols to continue with Gareth Cliff as judge and and the threats and calls for a boycott had grown, it would have become even more problematic to address the situation at a later stage and the damage to the Idols and M-Net brands would already have occurred,” said M-Net ceo, Yolisa Phahle in responding court papers.

The heavyweights will slug it out in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. Cliff is asking a judge that he be reinstated. Should the judge not rule in his favour, a second part of his application is that the Idols‘ auditions are halted pending a R25m lawsuit.

On Monday night, Cliff remained light-hearted, tweeting: “Tomorrow is D-day. See you in court.”

E-mails between an Idols producer and the talent show’s former judge Gareth Cliff on Tuesday formed the basis of his challenge against M-Net, in the High Court in Johannesburg. 

Cliff’s lawyer, Dali Mpofu, produced e-mails in which he was informed that the dates for the next season had been finalised and that M-Net was working on getting his contract for the 2016 season to him.

E-mails between an Idols producer and the talent show’s former judge Gareth Cliff on Tuesday formed the basis of his challenge against M-Net, in the High Court in Johannesburg.

“Whether a contract is oral or written, it has exactly the same binding effect,” Mpofu said, arguing that the e-mails proved there was a contract between the two parties.

Cliff was excluded from this year’s season shortly after he tweeted a response to the uproar caused by KwaZulu-Natal realtor Penny Sparrow’s racist Facebook post earlier this month. She called black New Year’s day revellers monkeys.

Mpofu argued that Cliff was dismissed for his tweet that Sparrow had a right to freedom of speech.

“Had there been no tweet, we were good to go.”

M-Net released a statement several days ago, in which it said it had informed its Idols judges that it would have no tolerance for hate speech or anything which cast the channel in a bad light.

Mpofu argued that Cliff’s dismissal was unlawful and that nothing entitled M-Net to interfere with Cliff’s freedom of speech.

“It would make a mockery of the Constitution. Such a contract would be unenforceable,” he added.

Mpofu told the court that M-Net had failed to tell Cliff why it terminated his contract.

“We were in the dark. Even in the public announcement it… [was] not said that you breached this or that and therefore we are cancelling your contract.”

Mpofu said that in contractual terms, there had to be a reason for termination, a notice period, and payment of the notice period.

He said he wanted the court to show M-Net that agreements had to be complied with.

“You cannot come up with stories about empathy, which is what they are saying. The truth has come out in the papers that they were protecting their commercial and business interests.”

Mpofu said he did not want the upcoming Idols show to be delayed. He wanted the court to order that Cliff be reinstated ahead of the show’s auditions starting Friday.

The matter continues.

Sentencing procedures for the two men found guilty of killing Mozambican vendor Emmanuel Sithole are expected to continue in the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday.

Mozambique national Emmanuel Sithole was attacked by men in Alexandra township in Johannesburg.

Mthinta Bhengu and Sifundi Mzimzela appeared in court on Friday when the court was told that Sithole’s death was not related to xenophobic attacks.

Bhengu and Mzimzela were convicted in November last year of murdering the vendor last April.

The State has requested that Bhengu get a minimum of 15 years and Mzimzela between eight and 10 years in prison.

Sithole was stabbed to death during a wave of xenophobic violence in Alexandra in April 2015.

It was believed that the men took cigarettes from the street vendor without paying and attacked and killed him when he demanded payment.

A teen who laid a rape complaint after Buffalo City Metro’s Christmas lights festivities was cross-examined on the stand last week.

The girl cannot be named to protect her identity as a victim of sexual assault.

A TEEN who laid a rape complaint after Buffalo City Metro’s Christmas lights festivities was cross-examined.

Sivenathi White and Phuwelo Ma-Afrika, represented by Ntsikelelo Manyisane and Sivuyile Mnyute, have pleaded not guilty.

A third suspect is still at large.

The teen told the court that three men had accosted her and took her at knife point to a bushy area behind the Garden Court at the beachfront.

She had gone to the ceremony with her friends.

She said she spent an hour and half with the men before they left. She then sat at the spot until morning and left.

Manyisane asked why she did not find her friends and get help after the alleged rape. She said she was ashamed and embarrassed and afraid her friends would judge her.

“Do you realise that one scream could have saved you?” Manyisane asked.

The girl said: “I was shocked and I was scared of being stabbed to death.”

Manyisane pointed out discrepancies between her evidence-in-chief and her statement to police.

Her statement said she was wearing a crop top and high-waisted jeans and said they took off her jeans and underwear.

Last week, the court heard she was raped while lying on grass and small stones, but she not sustain any injuries.

Asked if she felt any pain after the forced penetration, the girl said: “A little bit.”

Manyisane said, according to a medical report, she did not sustain any physical injuries. The girl confirmed this.

“The doctor took a specimen and compared it to [White’s] DNA, but there was no match,” Manyisane said.

Initially, the girl said: “Well it was a gang rape so their DNA must have mixed.”

After magistrate Twanet Olivier intervened saying lab specialists were able to separate the DNA, the girl said she did not know why there was no link.

The trial was postponed to March 29. — siyab@dispatch.co.za

The trial of former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and former policeman Mthembeni Mthunzi has been postponed again.

Former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli

This is to allow Mthunzi’s new defence advocate‚ whom he recently appointed‚ to access all transcripts of the trial. The case was postponed to June 7.

Mdluli and Mthunzi appeared briefly in the Johannesburg High Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on the East Rand on Monday morning.

They face charges relating to the 1999 kidnapping and murder of Oupa Ramogibe‚ who was married to Mdluli’s former lover Tshidi Buthelezi.

The men are also accused of intimidation‚ assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm‚ kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Charges against Mdluli were withdrawn in 2012‚ but reinstated in 2014 after lobby group Freedom Under Law successfully challenged the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to drop the charges.

The trial started on June 1 last year and ran for several weeks before being postponed in September to resume in January this year. The case was postponed a week ago for the same reason that prompted Monday’s postponement.

Family members of the slain Mozambican hawker Emmanuel Josias Sithole had mixed feelings about the sentences a Johannesburg magistrate handed down to his attackers on Monday.

Peter Sithole‚ an uncle of the man killed in April last year‚ said he felt that the court was too lenient on the men who killed his nephew.

Family members of the slain Mozambican hawker Emmanuel Josias Sithole had mixed feelings about the sentences 

“The sentences are too little for killing someone. Emmanuel will never come back to us. These guys will be out [of] jail in [a number of] years‚” he said.

“If they are truly remorseful‚ they must go to his [Emmanuel’s] graveside and ask [to make] an apology there.”

Magistrate Lucas van der Schyff sentenced Mthinto Bhengu and Sifundo Mzimela to imprisonment of 17 and 10 years respectively.

Bhengu‚ 22 and Mzimela‚ 21‚ were found guilty of murdering Sithole in November last year and a youth‚ who has since turned 18 years old but may by order of the court not be named‚ was found not guilty of murder but convicted of assault and theft.

Sithole was killed on April 18 last year after demanding money from some of the accused‚ who had taken cigarettes and sweets from his stall without paying in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township. The killing came during the spate of xenophobia attacks that swept through parts of the country.

Van der Schyff said Bhengu failed to show any compelling circumstances that would prompt the court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for murder‚ but said that Bhengu deserved a longer sentence instead.

Van der Schyff said because Mzimela merely acted in common purpose with Bhengu but his actions did not actually cause Sithole’s death‚ he was willing to sentence Mzimela to less than the prescribed minimum.

The youngster was sentenced to five years but it was suspended for five years‚ which means he won’t serve time behind bars if he follows the rules set down for him. He was released under supervision on condition that he partakes in rehabilitative programmes‚ consults with a social worker every week and refrains from taking any drugs and alcohol.

Peter said he was especially upset by the youth’s lenient sentence.

Another uncle of Sithole‚ John‚ agreed that the court was too lenient with the young man but said he was happy with the other two men’s sentences.

John said the family had lost a bread-winner‚ but was happy that justice had been done.

National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Phindi Louw said they welcomed the sentences.

Tshega Ntake‚ the attorney representing Bhengu and Mzimela‚ said his clients will not appeal.

Disgraced TV legend Bill Cosby was back in court Tuesday with his lawyers fighting to dismiss the first criminal charge filed against him among dozens of allegations of sexual assault spanning four decades.
Dressed in a suit and tie, the megastar turned pariah walked into court in Norristown, just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, using a walking stick and steered by two bodyguards. His legal team says he has now lost his sight.

Bill Cosby was back in court Tuesday with his lawyers fighting to dismiss the first criminal charge filed against him

It marked the 78-year-old’s first appearance in court since posting bail of $1 million on December 30 and since his lawyers filed a petition last month, asking the court to dismiss the charge.

They claim it violates a 2005 agreement that Cosby would never be prosecuted over allegations of assault made by Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University in Philadelphia. Constand says Cosby forced himself on her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Prosecutors say he urged her to take pills and drink wine, leaving her unable to resist as he committed aggravated indecent assault.

On Tuesday, the comedian appeared in better spirits than during his bail hearing, when he walked stony-faced through the media scrum, by chatting and smiling with his bodyguards and lawyers.

Cosby’s team called as a witness Bruce Castor, the former Montgomery County district attorney who reached the agreement that the actor would not be prosecuted over the alleged 2004 assault if he testified in a civil suit.

Castor told the court that Constand had “ruined her credibility” by going to a lawyer and that the civil agreement offered the best possible justice.

She gave “inconsistencies” in different accounts of what happened, he said. “Within days, she had changed the day for when it happened from March to January. There were numerous examples of that,” he added.

“The matter was resolved and I am hopeful that I had made Ms Constand a millionaire,” the former prosecutor added.

If found guilty, Cosby — who has surrendered his passport to the court but has yet to enter a plea to the criminal charge — could face up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

The court will resume proceedings on Wednesday and Judge Steven O’Neill said he would like to reach a decision the same day.

More than 50 women have publicly alleged sexual abuse by the pioneering black comedian, who attained his greatest fame for his role as a lovable obstetrician and family man in the hit 1980s sitcom “The Cosby Show.” But his attorneys repeatedly deny any wrongdoing by the veteran TV actor whose career spanned four decades.

In the Pennsylvania case, they argued that an “inexcusable” 10-year delay since the alleged 2004 incident had also “greatly prejudiced Mr Cosby.” Prosecutors say the charge stems from new evidence in the case that came to light in July, prompting the reopening of the investigation.

They accuse Cosby of fondling the woman and penetrating her with his fingers.

Statutes of limitations have prevented most of the women who have accused the comedian of sexual assault from taking legal action. In the Pennsylvania case, the statute of limitations is set to expire early next year.
The accusations against Cosby have led television networks to back away from projects connected to him, and several universities have stripped him of honorary degrees.

In December, he filed a defamation suit against seven of his accusers.

In a deposition Cosby gave as part of the civil suit filed by Constand, which was settled in 2006, the actor insisted all relations with her were consensual, and accused her of lying about the assault.

“I think Andrea is a liar and I know she’s a liar because I was there. I was there,” Cosby said in the deposition, cited by The New York Times.

Prosecutors said the release of court documents in July and the subsequent release of the deposition had in part led to the reopening of the case.

Constand said she was willing to cooperate with prosecutors, according to prosecutor Kevin Steele.

A man who often pulled a child into his house from playing with her friends has been found guilty of raping her over a period of four months.

The court had previously heard that Albert Hans, 44, of CC Lloyd, would pull the child from the street while she was playing with friends.

ALBERT HANS

He would pick her up and carry her in his arms like a baby into his house. She cannot be named to protect her identity as a victim of sexual violence.

Medical evidence before court was that the child had been penetrated and had developed genital warts.

Hans had pleaded not guilty and yesterday still denied raping the child.

“On various occasion [Hans] called the complainant to his home.

“When she refused, he grabbed her and took her to his house where he raped her.

“After he had finished he threatened to kill her if she told anybody,” part of the indictment reads.

In court, he denied raping her, saying the case was a result of a conspiracy between his stepsister and the complainant’s mother. He said his sister was bitter that he had inherited a house and car.

In his version, Hans did not deny that the child was found in his house.

He said he had just come home from gym and he had his doors open as he boiled water on the kettle to get ready to bath.

He said he did not see the child enter his house and was shocked when he saw her coming out of his room when her mother called out her name from the door.

East London High Court Judge Judith Roberson said Hans’ version was not reasonably possibly true and that there was no reason to doubt the complainants’ version.

She found him guilty and the matter was postponed to April 20 for sentencing.

The drunken driving case against ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni is expected to continue in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

The drunken driving case against ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni is expected to continue in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court

Yengeni was previously granted R5 000 bail. He was arrested in Green Point, Cape Town after being pulled over while driving his white Maserati erratically in 2013.

As an alternative to the drunken driving charge, Yengeni allegedly drove with a blood-alcohol level of 0.25%, five times the legal limit of 0.05%.

In January, Sergeant Jonas Gomba, who took Yengeni into custody in 2013, told the court he called for back-up after four men tried to obstruct him during Yengeni’s arrest.

“They arrived at the scene and told me I am not allowed to handcuff him, asking if I know who this man was. One of them approached me in a threatening way,” Gomba said.

He said Yengeni was being “riotous”, and swore and pointed his finger at him after he was pulled over after nearly hitting a curb. He apparently refused to take a breathalyser test.

Advocate Dirk Uijs, for Yengeni, said his client refused as the kit had not been sealed.

Gomba said that while he was driving Yengeni to have him charged, the politician expressed regret for his behaviour.

Counsel for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said yesterday afternoon that President Jacob Zuma’s capitulation before the Constitutional Court and acknowledgement that the public protector’s powers were binding was gratifying – but not enough.

Advocate Wim Trengove SC, for the EFF, made this remark as he responded to Zuma’s undertaking to repay some of the money spent by the state on upgrades at his private Nkandla home that were not security-related.

PAYBACK TIME: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters are seen singing anti President Jacob Zuma songs after arriving at the Constitutional Court during the EFF march to the Constitution Hill in Johannesburg yesterday. The opposition party marched to the Constitutional Court after going to court to force Zuma to pay back public money allegedly spent on his Nkandla homestead Picture: EPA

The undertaking came from Zuma’s counsel, advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC, who only recently became involved in the two separate cases brought before the court by the EFF and the DA.

The two opposition parties’ cases were heard together yesterday as they sought orders declaring that the failure by the President and the National Assembly to comply with public protector Thuli Madonsela’s proposed remedial action on the Nkandla upgrades was in breach of the constitution.

Gauntlett said Zuma undertook to repay the money, but asked the court not to make the orders sought by the EFF and the DA.

He said the Supreme Court of Appeal had made a ruling on the powers of the public protector last year.

That was in the case between the DA and the SABC about the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as SABC boss despite a public protector finding that Motsoeneng lied about his qualifications and should be subjected to disciplinary action.

Trengove, however, insisted that the EFF still wanted the court to grant the relief it had sought.

Trengove said the president capitulated only yesterday, while his clients had been demanding since September 2014 that he comply with the public protector’s report.

“As far as the president is concerned, he has violated his duty to assist the public protector.

“This means the president has violated his duty to uphold his office. He has, for nearly two years, defied the Public Protector,” Trengove said.

Trengove also said the National Assembly had, for nearly two years, failed to call the President to account and that the EFF still sought three orders from the court, namely:

lThat the public protector has powers to take appropriate remedial action;

lThat the public protector’s remedial actions were and remained binding on the president; and

lThat the president failed to implement the directions of the public protector in breach of his duties.

In her report in 2014, entitled “Secure in Comfort”, Madonsela said some features included in the R246-million security upgrades to Zuma’s Nkandla residence were not security features.

These included a cattle kraal, chicken run, visitor’s centre and pool.

A report by Police Minister Nathi Nhleko last year exonerated Zuma from any liability.

Outside court yesterday, EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu vowed that the party would not allow Zuma to deliver his State of the Nation Address (Sona) tomorrow until he had accounted for firing Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister.

Shivambu said Zuma had caused chaos in the financial markets when he fired Nene.

“The issue of weakening the currency is very essential to South Africa particularly in the time of drought.”

Earlier, hundreds of EFF supporters were blocked by the police using a Nyala armoured vehicle and barbed wire when they stormed the court, trying to get in.

All entrances to the court had been barred and only journalists and those involved in the case were allowed access.

The EFF members set an ANC T-shirt alight and hung it on the barbed wire.

Members of the DA and the Congress of the People (COPE) were also outside the court, singing and chanting for Zuma to pay back the money.

“Voetsek [go away] man, f*** off man, bhatala tshelete [pay the money],” one of the songs went, and another,” Dubul’uZuma, dubula’ iGuptas [shoot Zuma, shoot the Guptas].”

“Zuma ulimene mene [Zuma is a liar],” Cope members chanted. — With additional reporting by Nomahlubi Jordaan

A Duncan Village teenager yesterday told a court how she could not breathe and wet herself as she was being choked by a man she regarded as her father before he raped her.

The teen cannot be named because she is a victim of sexual assault and because she is underage.

Teen tells court she was choked and then raped

The accused, 44, also cannot be named as it may indirectly identify the girl because of his relationship with her mother.

It is the state’s case the girl was home alone at the time of the rape.

Even though the accused was no longer seeing the mother, he was known to the girl and she let him into the house.

He allegedly told her to undress so he could take her measurements because he wanted to buy her Christmas clothes.

He allegedly tied her up after the rape and he left. After the rape the girl’s brother came home and she told him and neighbours.

The accused was arrested almost a year later. He has pleaded not guilty.

Yesterday she testified in the East London High Court in a private room with the use of an intermediary about the horror of that October 25 2014 day. She was 12 years old at the time.

“I took him as father as he was in a relationship with my mother.

“When he told me to undress so he could take my measurements with a twine I did not think anything of it,” she said.

She said he made her lie on top of a bed to measure her lower body and he became aggressive when she refused to take her panties off.

“I was crying. He was choking me and I tried to scream but my voice was not coming out. I could not breathe,” she testified.

A doctor who examined her the same day has said there were injuries “suggestive of vaginal penetration”.

When he took the stand yesterday afternoon, the accused denied raping the young girl.

He said the allegation was a conspiracy by the mother because she was unhappy that he had ended their relationship.

He testified that she sent him an SMS threatening him after they broke up.

Under cross-examination by state advocate Nickie Turner, the accused asked how it was possible that the girl did not bleed after having sexual intercourse with a grown man his age.

Turner replied that he did not have a medical qualification to make such statements.

The trial resumes today.

The South African government argued in court yesterday that it was not obliged to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during his visit to the country last June because he had immunity.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes related to the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, and South Africa is a member of the Hague-based institution.

Omar al-Bashir

The government is seeking leave to appeal against an earlier court judgment that it was legally bound to arrest Bashir, who was in the country for a summit of the African Union.

Lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett, appearing for the government in the Supreme Court of Appeal, argued that local legislation provided immunity to visiting heads of state.

The immunity applies “for anything from genocide to parking offences, for anything from fraud to anything else, to a serving head of state”, he said.

Lawyer Wim Trengove, appearing for the rights group the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, said the ICC arrest order overrode local legislation.

“The ICC Act … is clear and unambiguous. It says the fact that the person to be surrendered is … a sitting head of state does not constitute a ground to refuse an order.”

South Africa’s failure to prevent Bashir’s departure, despite a court order, sparked international condemnation.

Earlier this month, however, African leaders meeting in Addis Ababa backed a Kenyan proposal pushing for a pullout from the ICC on the grounds that it unfairly targeted the continent.

Chad’s President Idriss Deby, elected African Union chairman at the two-day summit, criticised the court for focusing its efforts on African leaders.

No legally binding decision was made, and the decision to leave the ICC’s founding Rome Statute is up to individual nations.

Bashir has evaded justice since his indictment in 2009 for alleged crimes in the conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur in which 300000 people were killed and two million forced to flee their homes. — AFP

The bail application for five Efata School for the Blind and Deaf pupils accused of murdering their deputy school principal will start again.

The Mthatha Magistrate’s Court yesterday heard that two of the accused did not understand the sign language interpreter.

IN THE DOCK: FEBRUARY 16, 2016: The five Efata School for the Blind and Deaf pupils appear in at Mthatha Magistrate Ccourt, yesterday accused of killing the deputy school principal

Last week the case could not proceed after the department of justice failed to provide a sign language interpreter, which sparked a war of words between the presiding magistrate, state prosecutor and defence lawyer.

The accused – Luthando Silwana, Lunga Khimbili, Zukile Danti, Siwaphiwe Mabolekwa and Philasande Kinase – have been in jail since they were arrested in November following the murder of their deputy principal Nodumo Mdleleni-Mzimane on the school premises in July 2015.

Since the case started on November 9, three sign language interpreters have been hired to interpret in the bail application.

Interpreter Nomthandazo Kleinbooi, who works for the department of justice in Peddie, was yesterday officially excused after the accused said they did not understand her.

Kleinbooi in turn said she did not understand some of their signs.

A new, independent, sign language interpreter, Asanda Katshwa, was then introduced to the court.

Katshwa has an honours degree in interpreting and translation, specialising in South African sign language.

The accused’s defence team – Buntu Qakumbana and Zweli Fapaza – requested presiding magistrate Zandile Mbilase start the bail hearing from the beginning as there had been some discrepancies in the previous appearances with the rights of the accused infringed because the two previous interpreters were not well understood by the accused.

But senior state prosecutor Thembisa Ntloko objected.

“From the start the accused were told that if there was something that they do not understand in the proceedings that must be raised with the court or their attorney.

“Where did they first not understand the proceedings? Starting the matter [again] will waste a lot of time and keep the accused in custody,” said Ntloko.

She said the matter could only start afresh if the presiding officer passed on or was incapacitated and that could only be done by the High Court in a special review.

Mbilase questioned two of the accused – who have already made their evidence-in chief and cross examined by the state – asking if they had understood the processes and both replied that they did not fully understand them.

Both also denied that they were ever told to raise any concerns with the court.

Mbilase said she would not send the matter for special review, but would have the hearing start afresh. The matter was postponed to February 24.

Mdleleni-Mzimane’s death left staff and pupils from Efata in shock. Mdleleni-Mzimane was found lying face down on the floor at around 5pm. She had four stab wounds in her back.

A group of Walter Sisulu University (WSU) students appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court yesterday charged with crimes ranging from malicious damage to property to being part of an illegal gathering.

About 51 students appeared before magistrate Robin Taylor who released them on warning pending further police investigation.

Walter Sisulu University’s students appeared in court with charges of malicious damage

The students spent a night in custody at the Cambridge police station were they were being held. They were arrested on Monday after they went on the rampage over a lack of student accommodation.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Nkosikho Mzuku said police were called when the students allegedly stoned cars and vandalised the institution’s Advancement Offices in Berea.

They threw rocks at the offices and invaded it to address the university’s interim vice-chancellor and principal Professor Khaya Mfenyana.

WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo told the Dispatch yesterday that classes and operations were halted as the situation remained volatile on campus.

“There are no classes today and there is no work going on in our administration offices. Both students and employees have stayed away for their safety.

“A meeting between management and the student representative council is currently under way to find a solution,” Tukwayo said.

Assessors were still estimating the damage caused on the property of the university, Tukwayo said.

A convicted rapist has to wait to hear his fate after a technicality caused a judge to set his housebreaking and rape conviction and sentence aside last week.

Now a small section of the trial has to be redone.

A CONVICTED rapistRAPE convict has to wait a bit longer to hear his fate after a technicality caused a judge to set his housebreaking and rape conviction and sentence aside last week.

In 2013, Zukisani Tshantsani was found guilty of housebreaking with intent to rape and of rape.

He was sentenced to eight years and life imprisonment for the crimes, respectively.

He filed for leave to appeal both the conviction and sentence, but was refused. He then petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal and leave was granted.

Tshantsani was accused of raping a four-year-old girl and a doctor who examined the child testified that she had “severe trauma” to the genitals, consistent with forceful penetration.

Evidence in court was that Tshantsani had visited the house of the complainant during the day while she was playing on the stoep and nothing “untoward” had happened.

That evening the child was bathed and put to bed. In the hours of the morning, around 2am, the complainant’s mother was woken by the sound of a child crying and by knocking on the front door.

When she opened the door, she found the child standing outside. Her face was dirty, there was grass in her hair and her private parts were bleeding.

The court had heard that the child said she was taken to a nearby house, which she pointed out.

The doctor who examined her told the court that she had sealed the girl’s panties in a sexual assault kit. It had been sent to a forensic laboratory in the Western Cape.

Chief forensic analyst at the laboratory Lieutenant-Colonel Sharlene Otto concluded from the tests that the DNA on the panties of the complainant matched Tshantsani’s controlled blood sample.

The basis of Tshantsani’s appeal was that all the parties involved in the case misconstrued Otto’s affidavit in that she never stated that she was the person who broke the seal on the child’s panties or extracted the DNA from the panties or Tshantsani’s blood sample.

Tshantsani’s legal team said that in her affidavit, Otto said: “I received the case file and thereafter interpreted the DNA results of the crime scene.”

It was submitted on Tshantsani’s behalf that there was a missing link in the chain of evidence relating to that DNA analysis, in that there is no evidence about who broke the seal and therefore no proof that the process of the extraction of DNA was performed by a competent person.

Sitting in the Grahamstown High Court, Judge Jeremy Pickering ordered that the conviction and sentence on both counts be set aside.

“This case is remitted to the trial court in order to hear such evidence,” Pickering said.