17 people appeared at Athlone Magistrate Court on 25 August on charges of public violence related to the Marikana informal settlement evictions last week. The accused faced charges ranging from stoning police vehicles and private cars to arson, including torching a car, setting alight a shop and looting.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 25 August 2014
Whispers of disbelief and frustration broke the silence in the courtroom as Judge Robert Henney announced that detective constable Stanford Muthian had called in sick for the second time in the last week. Muthian of Mfuleni police station headed the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Rowan du Preez.
Barbara Maregele
News | 22 August 2014
The handwritten notes made by the three police officers who claim they recorded Rowan du Preez’s dying declaration “were nowhere to be found” in the investigating docket.
Barbara Maregele
News | 21 August 2014
Defence attorney William King has questioned the authenticity of the police docket handed to the court in the trial of Angy Peter and others.
Barbara Maregele
News | 20 August 2014
The case against activist Angy Peter and four others including her husband was postponed on 14 August as the Mfuleni detective constable was “too sick” to testify.
Barbara Maregele
Brief | 15 August 2014
On 12 August, police sergeant Lesley Freeman, who arrested two of the four accused of murdering Rowan du Preez, dismissed several claims made by the State’s eyewitness.
Barbara Maregele
News | 13 August 2014
The detective constable who headed the investigation into the case where activist Angy Peter and four others are accused of killing Rowan du Preez had no formal detective training at the time.
Barbara Maregele
News | 12 August 2014
One of the four people accused of murdering Rowan du Preez nearly two years ago believes he was “falsely implicated” in the matter by his ex-girlfriend after their relationship ended on a bad note.
Barbara Maregele
News | 11 August 2014
Residents of ward 44 in Gugulethu have taken matters in their own hands to combat crime in the area. About 122 volunteers have signed up to do community policing work, which encompasses patrolling the area 24-hours a day, checking sewage problems and collecting rubbish material. The group has divided itself into three shifts, working around the clock from 7am.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 11 August 2014
Tracts of private suburban land will have to be expropriated by the state at below market value if spatial apartheid in South African cities is to be reversed. The property clause in the Constitution can be interpreted in a revolutionary manner to allow for this. Expropriated land, subsidised by existing government property, should be used to provide housing for shackdwellers from the city fringe, so that informal settlements can be less dense and upgraded. These were the concluding opinions in a roundtable discussion on the Urban Land Question in the Cape Town CBD on 7 August.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 8 August 2014
In its 15 years of existence, the National Lotteries’ Board (NLB) has disbursed more than R18 billion to good causes, according to Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies. However, the 2013 annual report indicates that while 5,455 applications were adjudicated in the year, 10,928 applications were still outstanding as of 31 March 2013. 7,500 of those are applications from charities.
Katy Scott
News | 7 August 2014
The man accused of hitting murder victim Rowan du Preez multiple times with a golf stick the night before he was found severely burned, told the court he was at home watching movies at the time.
Barbara Maregele
News | 7 August 2014
On 6 August, shackdweller movement Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) marched on the the Austrian honourary consul in Durban to protest the eviction of squatting “comrades” under way in Vienna. This, in reciprocation of months of solidarity and support from people and organisations based in Europe and the United States for AbM.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 6 August 2014
Isaac Mbadu, who is accused of killing Rowan du Preez nearly two years ago, took the stand this week to give his account of the events which led to his arrest. Mbadu, his wife Angy Peter, and their co-accused Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina, are on trial in the Western Cape High Court for the kidnapping, assault and murder of Du Preez in October 2012.
Barbara Maregele
News | 6 August 2014
Community outreach programmes will be a focus of Women’s Month in parts of the Western Cape affected by a high incidence of violence against women and children, provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer has said.
Johnnie Isaac
Brief | 5 August 2014
People should view taverns as part of the community, where young people can meet to enjoy themselves, and not as enemies, community activists told a meeting at the weekend of the Kuyasa branch of the Treatment Action Campaign.
Munda Kula
Brief | 5 August 2014