By Phumlani.Saul

The correctional services department is in a rush to release almost 17,000 prisoners in just over four weeks in an effort to reduce the prison population in line with a special parole dispensation.

The department has until July 17 to place thousands of sentenced offenders who will benefit from a special parole dispensation announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 8.ADVERTISEMENTnull

The special parole for low-risk qualifying sentenced offenders with five or less years remaining on their sentences is aimed to reduce the prisoner population from overcrowded correctional facilities to manage the spread of Covid-19.

The department’s spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the placement of convicts who will benefit started on June 10 and 2,280 have been released.null

Nxumalo said the rate of cases of special paroles being considered “is expected to increase in the coming weeks”.

“The project is scheduled to run over a 10-week period and with placement of qualifying offenders… to [run until] July 17 2020. The schedule provides for placement of qualifying offenders in controllable groups and that vulnerable groups are prioritised,” Nxumalo said.

“The department is working tirelessly to ensure that the target date is met whilst ensuring that the consideration, victim participation and offering of programmes to qualifying offenders are not compromised,” Nxumalo said.

This comes as several correctional facilities across the country have recorded Covid-19 infections with several hundreds of inmates testing positive.ADVERTISEMENTnull

Nxumalo said the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases had, among others, created a stigma against its employees at correctional facilities.

“The increase in the number of officials and offenders testing positive for Covid-19 has created a stigma against offenders and officials.

“This is negatively affecting the confirmation of support systems of offenders who are benefiting from the special parole dispensation, in that some families are reluctant to sign for some offenders with fear that upon placement the offenders will infect them.”

By Phumlani Saul

An alleged gangster  accused of murder, attempted murder and other offences is expected to learn his fate next week.

Closing arguments in the case against Walter Williams, 22, were heard in Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday.

It is alleged that Williams, of Helenvale,  is a member of the New Time Bozzas gang, but  he insists he had no gang affiliation before his arrest.

However, Williams, who has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, claimed that after his arrest and  incarceration at the St Albans Correctional Facility he had joined the 26 gang for his own protection.

Williams is accused of attempting to kill a state witness and injuring two passers-by, aged 13 and 16 at the time, during a shooting on December 9 2018.

It is alleged that the next day, Williams shot and killed alleged gang informant Richard Marius Stuurman at a house in Kobus Street, Helenvale.

Williams testified this week that at the time of the shootings he worked as a hawker and was selling fruit and vegetables in the Greenacres area.

During closing arguments on Thursday, state prosecutor advocate Rafiq Ahmed pointed out that, at the time of his arrest in January 2019 and twice thereafter, Williams had told detectives he was unemployed.

Ahmed said Williams, who pleaded not guilty to 10 charges, including one of murder, three of attempted murder and contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, was a poor witness and his evidence was so contradictory that the court should not believe a word he said.

According to the witness, after Williams consumed a glass of cold drink he stood up, apologised to the homeowner and pulled out a gun, pointed it at Stuurman and fired a shot at his head.

Stuurman died at the scene.

In the earlier incident, Williams’ alleged target, a state witness in the case against convicted gangster Maxwell Muller, said he had seen Williams approaching him and, knowing he was a target, ran away before Williams opened fire on him, injuring the two teenagers in the process.

Muller was found by the court to be a member of the New Time Bozzas gang when he was convicted of murder in October.

Williams’s defence counsel, advocate Jodine Coertzen, said though the witnesses from both the Kobus Street shooting and the earlier incident were unreliable and lacked credibility, her own client was also a poor witness.

“I am not going to deny that [Williams] was a poor witness,” Coertzen said.

She said the state had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Williams was the shooter in the two incidents.

Acting judge Sureshni Moodliar is expected to hand down judgment on Monday.

Daily Kasi News Reporter

Department of Transport in EC

The Department of Transport in the Eastern Cape says there has been a significant spike in criminal activities and accidents in the Province since the country moved to Lockdown Level 3 on the fist of June.

The Department said in a statement that they fully support the EC Premier’s call for a review on the unbanning of alcohol.

The Department said in the first ten days of the month, 60 motorists were arrested for drunk driving, whilst 35 cases of culpable homicide is under investigation.

According to statistics provided by the South African Police in the province, there have been 114 murder cases opened, 61 attempted murders and 117 cases of rape.

In some cases, just the nine days into Level 3 has accounted for nearly half of what was recorded in April and May respectively. The two months marked the core of Lockdown Level 5 and 4 and the total ban on the sale of alcohol in the country.

Eastern Cape Transport, Safety and Liaison MEC, Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe says these numbers just cannot be ignored.

By Thelma Vena

Alert police members attached to the Port Elizabeth Port of Entry have seized drugs worth more than R80 000 whilst conducting their day to day duties at the Airport on Tuesday

Spokesperson Colonel Sibongile Soci says the members were busy searching and profiling packages from courier companies when they came across a suspicious parcel.

She says custom officials were immediately called to conduct a drug test which confirmed their suspicions.

The parcel contained a total of 30 heroin tablets, 121g of dagga and dagga seeds.

No arrests have been made and the investigation continues.

A security fence was supposed to be installed around Joe Slovo Primary in Port Elizabeth but the lockdown delayed that plan

10 June 2020 – By Phumlani Saul

Parents cleaning classrooms at Joe Slovo Primary in Port Elizabeth ahead of the resumption of school for grade 7 learners on Wednesday morning. Photo: phumlani saul

Parents at Joe Slovo Primary in Port Elizabeth have decided to send grade 7 learners back to school on Wednesday despite some serious challenges.

In early March, the school was shut down by parents for two weeks, demanding that steel palisade fencing be installed at the school.

Parents said teachers and learners did not feel safe as the school had become an easy target for criminals and had been ransacked five times since 2019. Stray animals and strangers have also been found roaming in the school yard during the school hours.

It is the only school in the area. It was overcrowded and under pressure as families from the surrounding wetlands were relocated to Joe Slovo.

In March the provincial education department committed to installing a new fence but the countrywide lockdown derailed these plans and the school was hit by vandals again.

When Daily Kasi News visited on Tuesday afternoon, some parents were busy cleaning classrooms and younger children were playing on school grounds.

School governing body secretary Malisakhe Mthwalo said: “This is too much. Our school is vandalised daily and has become a playground for children. The main cause of this is the community itself. It encourages the vandals to keep on breaking our school by buying stolen goods.”

Mthwalo said that during the lockdown, the electrical cables and toilet doors were stolen as well as some of the labelled Jojo tanks. “It’s time the community of Joe Slovo decides whether it still needs this school. This is the only school in this area. We should stand up and protect it from the vandals,” she said.

Provincial education spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani said: “We said all the schools that are not ready should not reopen until all the precautionary measures are in place. The lockdown disrupted everything and no construction could take place.

“For now the focus is on reopening the school. The other projects would be considered later,” he said.

By Thelma Vena

The Life Esidimeni Care Centre in Kirkwood plans to file an urgent application at the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth against National Education Health Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) and South African Civic Organisation (SANCO) to interdict them from interfering with its operations.

This comes after a meeting on Tuesday morning between SANCO, NEHAWU and hospital management was disrupted, according to the hospital. The parties called the meeting after the Eastern Cape Department of Health released statistics last week about 35 Covid-19 cases at the hospital and six deaths.

The hospital said staff and patients had been put at risk. Police had to be called.

On Wednesday, the Department of Labour was approached by NEHAWU to inspect the hospital and to check whether it was meeting precautionary measures against Covid-19. SANCO threatened to approach the local taxi associations to stop transporting workers to the hospital. It said they were posing danger to the community.

The hospital wants SANCO and NEHAWU to refrain from interfering with its business and intimidating employees such as blocking access, entering the premises without permission, inciting or threatening to incite employees or the public to “close down” the hospital.

SANCO said it will challenge the court application.

Mxolisi April, sub-regional chairperson in Sunday’s River, said, “This shows their arrogance. What they wrote here – none of it is true. We entered there with their permission.”

“Right now I am in self isolation because one of the staff members who I was in contact with has tested positive on Wednesday.

“I am currently giving my lawyer a statement of what had happened on that day. He will advise on the next step to take as I am in self isolation,” he said.

Dk news was unable to reach Sweetness Stokwe, NEHAWU regional secretary in Thabo Moshoeshoe region, before publication.

By Phumlani.saul

Management of the Life Esidimeni Psychiatric Hospital in Kirkwood has accused the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) of “storming the centre” on Tuesday and placing lives of staff and patients at risk. NEHAWU is protesting at what the union considers to be inadequate Covid-19 safety protocols at the hospital.

The provincial Department of Health reported last week that the hospital had 35 cases of Covid-19 and six deaths. Provincial health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo confirmed these numbers to GroundUp, but also sent a Department of Health report on the hospital dated 31 May, saying that 27 patients and 10 staff members had been tested positive. The document referred to six deaths, but the table in the document recorded eight deaths.

The report said management had reported “sufficient supplies” of personal protective equipment for staff, though it was difficult to issue these to patients because of their condition. Staff adhered to distancing protocols but most patients were not able to understand them, the report said. Patients’ temperatures were taken every four hours, and all staff were screened daily on entrance. Staff were recommended to go for private tests “as turnaround time is faster”.

NEHAWU and the SA National Civics Organisation (SANCO) called for the hospital to be closed on Tuesday. They said that a meeting with hospital management about safety protocols had “collapsed” and called for the shutdown of the hospital, the intervention of the Labour Department and the removal of Covid-19 patients.

However, hospital management denied that the meeting had collapsed. Puseletso Jaure, Managing Director, Life Esidimeni, told GroundUp: “Life Healthcare emphatically denies that a scheduled meeting between Life Esidimeni Kirkwood Care Centre management with NEHAWU or SANCO collapsed. We would like to clarify that representatives from both SANCO and NEHAWU arrived at the Centre, forced themselves in and in the process circumvented the strict adherence to the COVID-19 screening protocols before entering the facility.

“In storming the facility, they knowingly disregarded our strict Covid-19 guidelines, placing staff and patient lives at risk. Furthermore, they refused to leave the premises and had to be escorted out of the facility by the SAPS.”

“The disturbance by NEHAWU and SANCO has caused much anxiety to staff and patients.”

Patrick Bayini, NEHAWU shop steward and a maintenance worker at the hospital, said the official figures did not include new deaths. Bayini said staff, including nurses, worked without protective equipment and patients with Covid-19 were not isolated.

“In Unit 7 there are 72 patients in two wards. Those who are positive are not in an enclosed place.”

Jaure said the hospital would not disclose information on deaths. But she said the hospital followed the guidelines set up by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases about staff and patient safety, and “”independent audits and audits done by the Department of Health confirmed compliance to guidelines and protocols.”

Mxolisi April, SANCO secretary in Sunday’s River, said the organisation had decided to intervene after staff had complained to SANCO. He said management was not prepared for the Covid-19 epidemic.

“The staff that works here is posing a danger to the communities of Kirkwood, especially in Moses Mabhida township where the bulk of the workers come from. They share public transport with us and have not been tested.”

April said they would also ask the taxi association to stop transporting workers to and from the hospital if management did not resolve the problem.

Sweetness Stokwe, NEHAWU regional secretary in Thabo Moshoeshoe region, said safety must come before profit.

“Our staff members are not safe here because precautionary measures are not taken. The management is more concerned about profit than the safety of our members. The staff has been calling for tests but management says testing is too expensive because it costs R800 per person. The staff also lacks PPE. The positive patients are kept at Unit 7 and have no masks. That unit was not meant for isolation.”

“Six ambulances have been in and out of here today – that shows there is a crisis here. The hospital must be closed temporarily for decontamination and all the staff and their contacts tested. Also, management must find an alternative place to quarantine the positive patients because they easily infect one another because it’s hard to control them due to their condition.”

April said the patients who tested positive should be quarantined “in a place that is far from the people because Kirkwood is a small town.”

Jaure denied that the hospital was refusing to test patients or staff because of cost.

“The cost of the test is not a factor. All employees who have met the testing criteria and are showing symptoms have been tested as per the NICD and Department of Health,” she said.

Jaure said staff had been victimised by the community, “merely because they work at the facility”.

“We believe the storming of the facility and the staff victimisation is purely as a result of the community’s lack of understanding of Covid-19, PPE protocols and testing which is causing them anxiety and fear as they see the virus spreading easily between people. “

NEHAWU was now waiting for a report from the Department of Labour after a visit by the Department on Wednesday, Stokwe said.

By Nomathamsanqa Magwa
Swift action by Uitenhage police has led to the arrest of a hijacking suspect and the recovery of a stolen truck and a 9mm pistol.

Police spokesperson, Captain Gerda Swart, said SAPS members received a report of a truck that was hijacked in Caledon Street, in Uitenhage, at around 10 am on Saturday.

She said they responded immediately and upon arrival at the scene spotted the vehicle moving in the direction of Despatch.

The truck suddenly stopped in Mills Street and two suspects jumped out and fled with police in pursuit. One man was arrested and the firearm, with the serial number filed off, was recovered.

“It will be sent for ballistic testing,” Swart said.

She said other SAPS managed to recover the truck with all the stolen property.

“The 35-year-old man is due to appear in the Uitenhage Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 25 May 2020 on charges ranging from hijacking, kidnapping, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition,” Swart said.

The hunt for his accomplice is continuing.

By Phumlani Saul

With the sale of alcohol banned for over seven weeks, the illegal booze trade has mushroomed and prices rocketed. People who used to frequent shebeens in the southern Cape, say syndicates have stepped in and are charging exorbitant prices for conventional brands of alcohol. In response, people have started to brew their own liquor at home. Pineapples and apples are used mostly.

On the south coast, many people are now making a living from it, brewing up 25-litre buckets of iqhilika in places such as Gunguluza in Kwanobuhle . near Uitenhage.

The home-brewed alcohol sells for about R10 a litre or R20 for a 2.5-litre bottle. In contrast, Mamtshawe of KwaNobuhle. told Daily kasi news ” A bottle of Smirnoff vodka is now going for R450 and beer prices have doubled, even trebled.

“I have resorted to drinking homemade booze because it’s much cheaper and affordable,” he said.

Pineapple alcohol is made with sliced pineapple, lukewarm water, brown bread, oats, ginger, yeast and sugar. Apple beer is a concoction of teabags, sugar, yeast and brown bread. The ingredients are left to ferment overnight.

A popular drinking spot in Gunguluza area 11, that dates back to the 1950s, has become known for its cleanliness and the pleasant taste of its pineapple brew.

“Lockdown has actually taken us back to dark days [of apartheid], where people made alcohol from home and sold to community members,” says Mona.

“I make sure that l don’t get in close contact with my customers. I wear gloves and mask and sell through the burglar door.”

“This township is dead without booze. People are bored of sitting at home doing nothing. People don’t sit here, they just buy and go drink in their homes,” she says.

Another seller in Peace Village, said that at first she only brewed for her family, but everyone in the area now wants her booze. “People don’t have money to buy expensive backdoor alcohol … We just pray that the government suspends the lockdown so that people can return to their favourite booze.”

Police spokesperson Captain Dumile Gwavu said that selling and brewing of alcohol during the Covid-19 national lockdown is a criminal offence.

By Phumlani Saul
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that he was pleased with the progress that the Eastern Cape was making in putting systems and measures in place to deal with the coronavirus outbreak in the province.

He was in Nelson Mandela Bay on Thursday to get progress reports from the Provincial Government and to inspect the Livingstone Hospital, a designated treatment centre as well as Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium which has been prepared as a quarantine facility.

Premier Lubabalo Mabuyane presented an overview to the President, providing details of the provincial strategy, tracing and treatment programme and provision of Personal Protective Equipment.

The Eastern Cape has the third-largest infection rate in the country and as of Wednesday, that number stood at 1 534 confirmed case, with 31 deaths and 632 recoveries.

The Province had come under fire for its apparent lack of readiness, prompting the Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, to announce a range of interventions that included additional experts seconded to the Province, including the utilisation of Cuban doctors.

A senior health expert from Bhisho, Dr Litha Matiwane, was also seconded to Nelson Mandela Bay, an identified hotspot, to oversee the implementation of the Health Department’s programme to fight Covid19.

“From what I have heard you are making fantastic progress and I’m rather glad and in a way privileged to have this opportunity with Minister Mkize to come and be at the ringside of listening to the full outline of the initiatives that you have embarked upon,” Ramaphosa said.

“I must say that I’m really impressed with the strategy that you have put in place and I can see that the Eastern Cape is really awake, you are alive and awake and are energised,” the President said.

He said the Eastern Cape has “come to grips” with the task that is at hand and has a clear strategy to deal with Covid19 and “I’m sure that we are going to start seeing the levelling of the infections”.

In a wide-ranging speech, President Ramaphosa he reiterated that the country’s health workers at the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus must have all the protection that they need.