By Phumlani Saul

A 28-year-old suspect faces a murder charge when he appears in the KwaNobuhle magistrate’s court on Tuesday for allegedly killing a gay man and burying him outside his house.

Police spokesperson Col Priscilla Naidu said the murder was suspected to be related to homophobia.

She said the arrest happened after the suspect’s family complained to the police, saying he had burnt bedding at his house in Matana Street, KwaNobuhle, on the outskirts of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape.

“On April 1, the family reported the malicious property damage to police and indicated that they were suspicious that he may have been involved in some other criminal activity. Police went to the house and found bloodstains inside his room as well as outside,” said Naidu.

She said the suspect was sent for mental health evaluation between April 1 and 9 and on his discharge from hospital was arrested and detained for malicious damage to property.

While detectives were questioning him, information emerged relating to the murder of Andile Ntuthela, 40. Ntuthela was gay. On Saturday, April 10, police went back to the house with the necessary role players and the body of Ntuthela was found buried in the yard,” she explained.

The newspaper  reported that Ntuthela’s gruesome killing had left members of KwaNobuhle’s LGBTQI community reeling. Their way of life, they said, was often met with prejudice.

“We know we are not safe. We only hang out with people that we know and trust because we know the prejudice we face,” his close friend, Sixolile Ndlondlo, said. “Andile knew his [alleged] killer. They were friends. For him to be killed like this … has us questioning who we can trust.” 

The suspect appeared in the Uitenhage magistrate’s court on Monday on a charge of malicious damage to property.  

By Phumlani Saul

Police say taxi protest action is still under way in Central around the Russell Road rank and the situation is tense.

Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said at 3pm on Tuesday most of the roads that had been blocked off were open again but some protesters had not moved on.

“It started early this morning in the Russell Road/ Strand Street/ Govan Mbeki area. Protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and rubble.

“The protest is apparently due to funding that the taxi operators were supposed to get from their organisations.

Some of the debris has been moved and some roads have been reopened but not all.

“Police are trying to resolve the situation and it is volatile and a high police presence is still in place.”

Beetge said a similar situation had erupted in Korsten in the Cottrell Street area.

No arrests had been made, he said.

Songezo Mpanda, chair of the Nelson Mandela Bay branch of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), said he would be engaging with the drivers, who were from the Port Elizabeth and Distance Taxi Association (Pedta).

He said he did not believe the protest was in any way related to the incident in KwaDwesi on Monday which saw several vehicles torched in the area including two Algoa buses and a taxi.

We do not know who that was and we condemn that action but it was related to service delivery and was not the same as this today,” he said.

Earlier, Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral committee member for roads and transport Rano Kayser said the protest was not related to any dispute with the municipality.

“Our information is that it involves Covid funding that the taxi drivers say is due to them from national government but which they have not received.

We are still trying to confirm this but it is definitely not related to the IPTS [Integrated Public Transport System] or the municipality.”

Beetge said on Tuesday the KwaDwesi violence that started during the day on Monday had continue well into the night.

“SAPS can confirm that three vehicles were burnt during the morning — a sedan, a light delivery vehicle and a minibus.

“Then shortly before 9pm, an Algoa Bus broke down on the R75 opposite Bayland.

“When an Algoa Bus towing vehicle arrived to assist, both vehicles were attacked and set alight by an unknown group of persons, after which they fled the scene before police arrived.

“When another towing vehicle arrived to tow the Algoa Bus towing vehicle to safety, it was also damaged by persons throwing stones.”

Nobody was injured but SAPS public order police as well as local police station vehicles were on the scene to ensure public safety, he said.

By Mkhuseli Sizani

Six-year-old Phawu Mandiyase was buried today in Port Elizabeth as the investigations into his death continue. The child died when he was crushed by an abandoned stormwater pipe at the Methodist Church in Govan Mbeki Township in Port Elizabeth last week.

The family blames the municipality for Phawu’s death. The stormwater pipes, intended to channel water from nearby houses, had been left at the church since 2019. Phawu was playing with his sister and other children when he was crushed by a pipe on 18 January.

The funeral was attended by dozens of women who comforted his weeping mother Nomthandazo.

Phawu’s grandfather Billy Mandiyase said the municipality had paid towards the costs of the funeral. But, he said, “no amount of money could close the void that Phawu has left in our souls. This municipality should compensate us for its negligence. Watching my daughter crying every day for her son tears me apart.”

Church steward Mthuthuzeli Mzini said the pipes had been removed on Tuesday by municipal workers.

Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the municipality was continuing its investigation. “Assisting a family in need at their time of sorrow is a sign of a caring government, not an acceptance of guilt,” he said.

SAPS Captain Sandra van Rensburg said police investigations were still continuing after opening an inquest.

By Phumlani Saul

On Tuesday vigilante violence in Powerline informal settlement, Motherwell, claimed another life. For the second time in a month, a suspected criminal was beaten and then set alight. The victim was accused of stealing a cellphone and some money.

A resident, who did not wish to be identified, said the man had pleaded for his life and “returned the cellphone he had stolen to its owner”. He said “he would repay the money”.

“I felt sorry for him. How could he get killed for stealing a cellphone?” she said. “I blame the police for failing to come in time to rescue him.”

“What message does this send to our children? Do you think violence will end in this country when young people are exposed to it? There are still remains of ashes of a man who was burned a couple of weeks ago outside the gate of the same school and children always look at it with sadness,” she said.

A witness said he called the police when he saw the man being dragged to Nxanelwimfundo Primary School. “I was assured by the person who responded to the call that they were swiftly dispatching a van. I then went to do my errands satisfied that the police were coming to save the man,” he said.

“I returned after about an hour and I was told by people who were coming from the scene that the man had been burnt. Still there was no sign of a police van.”

He said that next time he would not bother to call the police as it had been “a waste of my money and time”.

Another resident said some weeks ago at about 6pm “a child came running to me saying there was a man being beaten”. She said she called the police. The police arrived after 7pm. The man had already been burnt. He had been accused of “breaking into people’s shacks”.

“People are living in perpetual fear of these mobs and they have lost confidence with the police,” said a resident.

Police spokesperson, Captain Andre Beetge did not respond to our questions.

By Mkhuseli Sizani

The community of Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape has barred five police officers they accuse of using excessive force from operating in the area.

This follows the assault of a 20-year-old who had broken curfew regulations on Christmas night. Last week, Esoyolo Bambiso told Daily kasi news how he had been standing near his mother’s house when police caught him and took him to the Cookhouse police station where they beat him for several hours.

The incident angered residents. They have threatened to retaliate should the officers return to the community after nothing came of a meeting with the station commander on 28 December.

On Tuesday, Bhongolwethu Mema, treasurer of the Cookhouse Community Forum and a member of the South African National Civic Organisation, warned that “all hell will break loose” should the officers be seen in the community again.

“Our meeting collapsed after we asked the station commander to take action against the five police members. Since 2017 these hooligans have been assaulting community members. Every time we report them our cases do not progress,” he said.

Mema said the station commander’s inaction showed a lack of support for the community the police serve.

“We told the station commander that these five police members will never again be allowed to operate in our community. We only want police who are friendly, not these criminals who beat our people for no good reason.”

“All that we wanted was him to exercise his powers. But he told us we are a rude community. In his two years here, he hasn’t bothered to call an imbizo with us to introduce himself,” he said.

Asked to respond to the allegations by the community, provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said they were aware of the complaints against the police in Cookhouse. Kinana said that the accused officers had temporarily been moved to another unit while an investigation into the conduct is underway.

Kinana said the matter was referred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) for investigation. “It must however be stated in no uncertain terms that police cannot be prohibited from discharging their duties within communities. Declaring certain sections of the community ‘No Go Areas’ for the police will render the law-abiding citizens vulnerable to the criminal elements.”

“If communities are not happy with service delivery, legitimate platforms must be used to engage with the police,” he said.

By Naziziphowo Buso

ANC councillor Lunga Nombexeza made a brief appearance at the KwaNobuhle Magistrate’s Court on Monday to face an attempted murder charge, but has to wait until Tuesday for his official bail application.

Nombexeza allegedly fired several shots at Lukhanyo Mdana, 42, while he was driving down Pityana Street in KwaNobuhle at about 11.45pm on Saturday.

Nombexeza was arrested just minutes later after Mdana drove away and reported the alleged shooting to metro police officers  patrolling nearby.

The SA Communist Party district secretary indicated he would use his private attorney. The state intends to oppose bail.

Dressed in a yellow sweater and jeans, Nombexeza seemed unmoved by the shouting of “Nobhala” by fellow ANC councillor Rosie Diaaminds as he entered the courtroom.
Police spokesperson Col Priscilla Naidu said Mdana was driving a Toyota Tazz to Pityana Street in KwaNobuhle when “at the corners of Pityana and Kinikini streets, he saw the suspect coming out of the yard with a firearm in his possession. The suspect fired several shots at the complainant’s car. No injuries were sustained”.
Naidu said the complainant drove away and stopped metro police officials in the street and reported the matter.

Metro police officials went back to the crime scene and the complainant pointed out the house. A firearm was thrown out of the window of the house.

“The suspect was apprehended by metro police officials who handed him over to police on their arrival.”

National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani said the motive for the shooting was still unknown.

Daaminds, who donned SACP regalia to attend court proceedings, referred questions to party spokesperson Luzuko Pukwana about her presence in the courtroom

Even though you saw me in court this morning supporting Nombexeza, I am not supporting him as an individual because as a party we want to know what went wrong.

“We don’t say this thing that he has done is right or wrong because it’s now already in the hands of the law.

“We want to know what went wrong, why did he do that because he knows the policies and the constitution of the Communist Party,” she said.

Pukwana said they were concerned about the “serious” allegations against Nombexeza.

“We note the incident and we sent our leaders to ascertain what happened from the horse’s mouth so that we are in a position to take a view,” he said.

“We will ascertain, today exactly what happened from his lawyers.”

The court transferred the matter to the Uitenhage B court, with Nombexeza being remanded in jail.

By Zukiswa Fayindlala

He was speaking in Port Elizabeth, where, together with the provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga, and the top management, he assessed the effectiveness of the police’s “Safer Seasons” plan for the holidays.

Cele was upfront with officers, saying the job demanded more from them than the average South African.

He said their behaviour, in and out of uniform, had to be exceptional and respectful.

“Why don’t [you] respect your organisation? Why you don’t respect yourself and your colleagues? You can’t be sitting at the shebeen and then you are…killed there. You know you are vulnerable, but you also don’t respect your organisation and the rest of your colleagues.”

He mentioned the shebeen after an officer, who was stationed in Mossel Bay and holidaying in the Eastern Cape, was allegedly killed at 01:45 at Nozukile Kobe Shebeen, in Qibira, following conflict with group of men on Wednesday.

He was stabbed in the chest with a sharp instrument, ministerial spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said.

“They took the deceased [to hospital] with private transport, but they found that he was dead.”

The officer was off-duty.

‘It is not your job to be fashion advisors’

Cele was also hard on officers when speaking about gender-based violence.

He said no woman should be turned away from police stations.

“When a woman comes to report abuse by a husband or boyfriend…don’t send that woman back home to negotiate. It’s not your job to send an abused and complaining and suffering woman and child back to negotiate.

Yours is to go and arrest that person. It’s not your job to send them back. She comes for the first time, she comes for the second time, she doesn’t come for the third time because you keep sending her to negotiate.”Why doesn’t she come the third time? She is dead, she has been killed. She has been murdered by that abuser.”

Cele stressed that women, children and the elderly, in particular, had to be protected by police.

“You have an extra job when it comes to women issues.”

He also said police must not judge women by what they wear.  It’s not your job to look at the women’s skirt, you are not fashion advisors. Look at the woman, empathise, sympathise and act.”

By Phumlani Saul

Tourism establishments are drowning in debt and cancellations following the closure of beaches by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.

And legal action against the government is growing, as the Kouga local municipality in the Eastern Cape – home to Jeffreys Bay’s famous surfing beach, Supertubes – prepares to file an urgent application in the high court in Pretoria tomorrow.

This comes as the DA takes Ramaphosa, co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and health minister Zweli Mkhize to the high court in Cape Town.

And in the southern Cape, the Great Brak Business Forum, Western Cape businessperson Louis Cook and civil rights organisation AfriForum on Tuesday filed a motion to have the closure of beaches in the Eastern Cape, Garden Route and KwaZulu-Natal declared unconstitutional.

The challenge has also been brought against Dlamini-Zuma and Mkhize, as well as Western Cape premier Alan Winde.

The president of the Liberty Fighters Network pressure group, Reyno de Beer, is expected to act as amicus curiae (friend of the court) and provide insight into the case after a ruling in June in which judge Norman Davis declared the lockdown “unconstitutional and invalid” – in a case argued by De Beer. In court documents seen by the Sunday Times, the government has issued a notice to oppose the application.

The Kouga municipality said its court application tomorrow would be based on the importance of balancing saving lives and saving livelihoods.

“The Covid-19 curve in the Kouga region has not spiked significantly over the past three weeks, which is encouraging and supported by the high percentage of recoveries. On the other hand, the festive season is a last lifeline for many employers and employees, who have already suffered tremendous losses over the past nine months.

“If the beaches remain closed, the impact on businesses, job retention and creation will be devastating.”

The municipality said Dlamini-Zuma had “failed to follow a fair notice and comment procedure before promulgating the regulations” and that there was no justification for the restrictions.

In an open letter to Ramaphosa, Garden Route district municipality mayor Memory Booysen said the decision to close the beaches in the southern Cape was likely to have the opposite effect, “as we now see large crowds of people flocking to every other amenity, including inland rivers, lagoons, lakes and shopping centres, which are enclosed spaces and where social distancing is far more difficult to adhere to than outdoors”.

Hotels and bed and breakfast establishments in Nelson Mandela Bay said they had experienced cancellations after the area was designated a Covid-19 hotspot, and now the beach ban had dashed the hopes of businesses of salvaging some income in 2020.

Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism chair Shaun van Eck said the metro had “probably lost at least 70% of the bookings that were made”.

“It is disheartening more than anything else. People have made it through Covid lockdown and are hanging on by [their] fingernails and hoping for a good summer season just to get some cash flow and get going again, and instead they are having these cancellations … they are going to have to pay back all the deposits, which they have been using for cash flow. It’s a body blow to hope,” Van Eck said.

Shena Wilmot, chair of the Port Elizabeth Metro B&B Association, said the beach ban is the “final nail in the coffin as far as our summer season goes”.

The association, whose members include about 60 B&Bs, had previously asked the government for a more targeted approach, similar to restrictions in KwaZulu-Natal where beaches are only closed on five days.

Mark Jakins, group sales, revenue & marketing director of Premier Hotels and Resorts, which owns the Premier Hotel East London International Convention Centre (ELICC), Premier Hotel Regent and Mpongo Private Game Reserve in East London, said: “Premier Hotel ELICC occupancies have proved resilient following the president’s announcement.”

But he added that overall the number of visitors from Gauteng will be down as “many families are opting to stay in Gauteng or break away to bush or inland destinations”.

Jakins said the group’s KwaZulu-Natal properties “remain optimistic” with “healthy festive season bookings”.

Heather Hunter, chair of Umhlanga and Surrounds Tourism, said members of the organisation have reported cancellations along the KwaZulu-Natal coast, but nothing on the scale of Port Elizabeth.

By Daily Kasi News Reporter

Eastern Cape and Garden Route beaches will be closed for about three weeks this festive season starting from Wednesday.

This was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa  on Monday night.

Ramaphosa said the decision was taken after Nelson Mandela Bay was declared a Covid-19 hotspot earlier this month.

On Monday night, he announced that two more areas had been declared hotspots —  Sarah Baartman district and the Garden Route.

“One of the greatest challenges we need to confront are the huge crowds that flock to beaches and recreational parks on public holidays over the festive season,” he said.

Ramaphosa said they had undertaken extensive consultations to find an approach that reduced the risk of large-scale transmission while limiting the negative impact on business in coastal areas. 

“We have therefore agreed to adopt a differentiated approach, which takes into account the different circumstances in different areas of the country,” he said.

“In the areas with the highest rate of infection, beaches and public parks will be closed for the duration of the festive season from the 16th of December to the 3rd of January.

“This will apply to all of the Eastern Cape, as well as to the Garden Route district in the Western Cape.”

In KwaZulu-Natal, beaches and public parks will be closed on what are traditionally the busiest days of the festive season — December 16, 25, 26 and 31 and January 1 to 3.

Ramaphosa said beaches and public parks in the Northern Cape and the Western Cape — with the exception of the Garden Route —  would remain open to the public over the festive season, between 9am and 6pm.

Festivals, live music, and live performances at beaches will be prohibited.

“The situation will be monitored daily by local authorities to ensure compliance with the regulations on gatherings and the prohibition of alcohol,” he said.

“In instances where there are large crowds or poor compliance with safety measures, specific beaches and recreational parks will be closed.”

Ramaphosa’s announcement follows a plea from Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane to close all beaches in the province, following a meeting with executive mayors and mayors of coastal municipalities and cities in the province.

“It was unanimously agreed that all beaches and recreational parks and open spaces in the Eastern Cape should be closed and declared out of bounds for the upcoming festive season,” he said.

“This is done to minimise the mobility of people from high areas to low-risk areas and vice versa as well as to avoid large crowds gathering in those recreational spaces.”

By Yolanda Palezweni

Patrons at three taverns ignored Covid-19 regulation in Motherwell at the weekend, potentially putting hundreds more at risk.      

Motherwell is considered a Covid-19 hotspot but throngs of revellers — most without masks and with no social distancing — packed the three taverns on Saturday night.

One tavern was fined R3,000 for selling alcohol and operating after the new curfew which runs from 10pm-4am.

The Eastern Cape Liquor Board and police inspected the taverns to ensure compliance with regulations.

The joint operation started on Friday and saw the teams visit New Brighton,  Kwazakhele and some towns in the Sarah Baartman District municipality.

On Saturday, the teams patrolled Motherwell and visited three taverns.

Eastern Cape Liquor Board spokesperson Mgwebi Msiya said the campaign entailed engagements with liquor traders to educate them about their role in curbing the spread of Covid-19.The rampant cases of non-compliance with trading conditions by some liquor outlets has contributed to the rapid spread of Covid-19

At the taverns visited on Saturday, most people were not wearing masks.

“Blitz operations in collaboration with SAPS and metro law enforcement are being carried out to crack down on those liquor outlets that are not compliant with their licence conditions.

“The operation will also identify liquor outlets that sell liquor without valid licences,” he said 

Eastern Cape Liquor Board CEO Nombuyiselo Makala said it was concerning that there was an absolute disregard of health protocols.

We wish to remind liquor traders that Covid-19 is still with us and it is time that we are all vigilant by taking a collective responsibility to prevent the spread of Covid-19 cases,” Makala said.

The Eastern Cape Liqour board urged residents to report any cases of non-compliance on 0800-000-420.