By Phumlani Saul

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality said on Friday that it would be investigating the apparent lack of security at City Hall after the walls and pillars of the building were spray-painted with anti-gender-based violence images.

Officials arrived at City Hall on Friday morning to find the walls and columns adorned with various images, including that of slain UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana.

Municipality spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said that while they were sympathetic, the overnight action amounted to vandalism.

He said the Municipality condemned it because it’s criminal.

“It’s also unacceptable for people to do such a thing on a municipal structure or any other structure for that matter. The question of where the security was when this happened is going to be followed up and an internal investigation will be done,” Mniki added.

Mrwetyana has become a significant symbol in campaigns against the prevalent scourge of violence against women and children in the country after she was raped and murdered inside the Claremont Post Office in Cape Town last month.

 A 42-year-old Post Office employee has already confessed to murdering the 19-year-old film and media student.

The latest crime statistics released on Thursday show that 2 271 women were murdered in the last financial year which is a decrease of only 159 cases compared to the year before.

Several protests marches against gender-based violence were scheduled for Johannesburg and East London on Friday.

A 47-year-old businessman was shot dead in Mossel Bay last night.

Police spokesperson, sergeant Kappie Kapp says the incident happened at around 20:45 in Gubayo Street, KwaNonqaba.

Kapp said eyewitnesses told police that the victim was at his business premises when two men approached him and made enquiries about trailer repairs.

He said the suspects then pulled out firearms and fired several shots at the victim.

The man was taken to a Mossel Bay hospital where he passed away a short while later.

His identity is being withheld until his next of kin have been informed.

PE taxi driver killed in early morning shooting

By Phumlani Saul

Port Elizabeth police are investigating the murder of a man in Helenvale early on Friday morning.

Police spokesperson, Colonel Priscilla Naidu, said that 31-year-old Jayden Pillay was standing on the balcony of a house in Chamois Street when he was shot just before 6 am.

She said Pillay, who was a taxi driver, was fatally wounded in the head when a shot was fired from below.

The motive for the shooting is not known and the suspect is also unknown at this stage.

“The incident is not gang-related and SAPS Gelvandale is investigating a case of murder,” Naidu said.

A 27-year-old care-taker at a school in Whittlesea in the Eastern Cape is behind bars for allegedly raping a 7-year-old girl.

Police spokesperson, Captain Namhla Mdleleni, said that the man was arrested on Tuesday by members from Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offence Unit.

She said the little girl was afraid to go to school on Monday and told her mother that the alleged rapes started last year.

Mdleleni said suspect will appear in court on Friday on a charge of rape

By Phumlani Saul

An Eastern Cape farmer accused of clobbering to death a farm labourer was arrested on Saturday, two weeks after the incident.

Sithembele Ngene, 45, was assaulted with a knobkerrie on the head on August 25 in Haga Haga and died the following day in hospital.

There are allegations of an altercation between the employer and his employee.

Grant Reckless Miles appeared in the Komga magistrate’s court on Monday before his case was postponed to September 18 for a formal bail application.

The Ngene family and activists say police had arbitrarily decided the farmer had killed Ngene in self-defence. They say police caved in to community pressure and arrested the man on Saturday.

Ngene’s widow, Nonkumbuzo Siphikeleni-Ngene, said police kept on telling them they were still investigating.

He told the cops he only beat him once on the head.

“I saw his body at Frere Hospital. We took pictures. He was badly beaten up.

“He was not breathing at the hospital and could not speak.

“He has been working for him since 2016. Sithembele was the only breadwinner in the house. His mother, I and our son, who is nine, depended on him,” the grieving wife said.

“Police have not given us a single update [until Tuesday], and they told me they could only meet me this coming Thursday and in town.”

Police spokesperson Captain Mluleki Mbi confirmed the incident and said: “A 48-year-old man was arrested on Saturday, September 7 and is charged with murder.

“He appeared before the Komga magistrate’s court on Monday, September 9. He has been remanded in custody pending his bail application on September 18 at Kei Mouth.

“The last time I heard the story was that the dead man walked in drunk in the property. He was chased away, and returned with a knife,” said Mbi. “He was beaten with a knobkerrie on the head.”

Siphikeleni-Ngene said the family did not know why it took two weeks to arrest Miles.

Great Kei youth council chair, Zuko Patluko, said they had marched to the local police from Thursday to Saturday demanding Miles’ arrest.

“Police said they were told that it was self-defence. We asked them if it was not for the courts to determine that.”

Kei Mouth councillor Moureen Kantshashe said there had been relentless protests calling for the arrest of the farmer. She said she had heard about the killing from the ward committee.

Independent forensic investigator Leon Nel said he had received a phone call from Kantshashe, who asked him to look into the matter. Nel said there were indications that it was not only one knock to the head that led to Ngene’s death.

Mbi denied claims that Miles was protected by the police.

“The senior public prosecutor was consulted because there were claims of self-defence and the farmer had opened a case of burglary. The prosecutor had instructed the investigating officer to do further investigations and he will make a decision whether to charge or not,” said Mbi.