South African 'thief' stuffed chicken with gold

A South African jewellery firm says it has foiled a bizarre attempt by one of its staff to steal gold by stuffing a cooked chicken with the precious metal.

The illicit stuffing was apparently uncovered when the worker went through metal detectors at Browns Jewellers offices in Johannesburg.

A suspect has been arrested and charged with attempted theft.

The firm recently tightened security and reportedly banned female workers from wearing underwire bras.

The employee was allegedly caught with the gold-filled bird at the firm's office in Dunkeld, Johannesburg, on Monday.

Metal detectors flagged up the precious cargo as the worker tried to make his way out of the building.

The underwire bra ban was to stop women using them to confuse metal detectors.

'Dubious dealers'

The man appeared at Hillbrow Magistrate's court on Tuesday charged with attempted theft and the possession of suspected stolen goods.

Police spokesman Thandi Mkhize told the BBC the man is still in police custody and will appear in court again on 8 December.

The company's boss Larry Brown says he has been trying his best to stop illegal traders from buying stolen goods.

"The very nature of the jewellery industry makes it a target for criminals," he said.

"Part of our procedures are to routinely visit dubious dealers who trade in fine metals, diamonds and gold.

"These dealers are known to buy stolen jewellery, often at enormous cost to lives."

BBC News

Comments by Sonny

If International terrorists and drug smugglers can fill baby corpses with hand grenades and drugs, then jewellers can stuff cooked chickens with stolen jewellery!

Thank God for metal and lie detectors.

We will shoot you dead, cops tell mom

7 November 2009, 09:52

A Joburg mother has been left wary of trigger-happy police after being warned that she could be shot dead if she drove her car.

Aadielah Maker's car was stolen from her Kensington driveway a month ago. On the same day, it was recovered in Jabulani, Soweto.

It had been with the insurance company for the past four weeks. When it was returned to her eight days ago, police had still not removed her car from the stolen list.

The Kensington resident said police had told her they would not be held responsible if they found her driving her car.

Maker's concerns come as the Independent Complaints Directorate investigates at least four cases of murder and three cases of attempted murder by police who implemented the "shoot to kill" directive by police bosses.

In the latest case, Atteridgeville police allegedly shot dead 21-year-old Kgothatso Ndobe when they went to his house to question him.

In Mpumalanga, the Matsulu community alleged that two people were shot dead by police officers during a weekend raid that turned violent.

And in October, 28-year-old Olga Kekana was shot dead and three occupants were wounded when Tshwane police shot at their vehicle, which they had mistaken for a stolen car.

In Maker's case, police allowed her to drive her car for two days last week before warning her that, if found in her car, she would be shot.

Officers at Jabulani police station in Soweto, where the car was found, handed the car over to the insurance company but never took it off the stolen list. It was only this week, four weeks after the incident, when Maker went to Cleveland police station to delist the car, that they issued the warning.

"No one tells me 'Don't drive your car'. My kids and everyone are in the car. What if I just drove and I never did the clearance? Would the cops have shot me with all the kids in the car?" she said.

"The first thing they say when I get to the station is 'You can't drive your car. Any policeman can shoot you and we won't take responsibility if you are shot'."

Maker then became caught up in the red tape of trying to track down the policeman who could delist the car. It was only on Wednesday this week that she managed to have her car removed from the list.

But Maker is not yet out of the woods, as she needs to do a final vehicle clearance at the police's centre in Roodepoort.

And to add insult to injury, the theft of her car had come just two weeks after her car window had been smashed in Hillbrow - and officers in four police cars had ignored her on that occasion, she said.

"I was crying, and I drove past four police cars and no one stopped to ask me what was wrong and if they could help.

"You could clearly see that something had happened.

"Eventually, when the cops in one of the cars saw me at a robot, they asked me what had happened.

"It has been two weeks in a row that I have had a bad experience with the police. I don't hold them in very high regard right now.

"I felt like 'what's the point of getting the car back?' I have to go through all the insurance issues and the secondary trauma of getting it back.

"Police don't explain anything. Most people get a fright when they get stopped by cops. I don't know what they would have done. It was a bit freaky and scary.

"We try to be moral citizens and we believe we need to do whatever we need so that the system works, but when it fails you, what is the message you send? It is confirmation that the system doesn't work," Maker said.

Provincial police spokesman Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said he could not comment on the statements made by the police unless they were a complaint, made under oath in writing.

Dlamini said it was usual practice for the insurance company to remove the vehicle from the stolen vehicle register.

Independent Complaints Directorate spokesman Moses Dlamini said they were not able to tell if the cases seen at the directorate were as a result of political "shoot to kill" statements.

"It is highly speculative at the moment. Everyone wants to link the statements to the deaths. There has been an increase in the past two to four years, so how can you only blame the statements?

"In the future we will investigate the causes of these cases, and the statements are one aspect we will look into."


•This article was originally published on page 5 of The Star on November 07, 2009

Saturday Star

Comments by Sonny

How can the SAPS release a 'stolen car' before cancelling it off their system?

Once the owner signed for the car the SAPS are liable for what happens to the owner on the road.

It's similar to all these 'cloned' cars with the same police stamps on them!

Who is responsible for this dysfunctional attitude towards their jobs!

When will this corruption end?

Simon Mann freed on humanitarian grounds

MAIL & GUARDIAN ONLINE REPORTER AND SAPA-AP | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Nov 03 2009 11:12



Simon Mann, who was sentenced to 34 years in prison in Equatorial Guinea in 2008 for plotting a coup, has been granted a presidential pardon.

Supreme Court Justice Obono Olo told the Associated Press by telephone that Mann and his accomplices would be freed later on Tuesday morning. He said President Teodoro Obiang Nguema gave them "a full pardon for humanitarian reasons".

Mann, a former special forces officer who attended Britain's prestigious Eton school and the Sandhurst military academy, was arrested along with 67 South African mercenaries as they touched down to pick up illegal arms in Harare in March 2004.

During his trial, the court in Equatorial Guinea heard that Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister, was a member of the group. Mann acknowledged knowingly taking part in the attempt to topple Equatorial Guinea's government, but his lawyer argued he was a secondary player. Mann was held at the notorious Black Beach prison in Malabo, the capital.

Thatcher was fined R4 320 184 and given a four-year suspended sentence for helping charter a helicopter which he agreed "might be used for mercenary activity".

Mann had initially claimed he was heading for the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect a diamond mine.

In a March 2008 interview, Mann said: "It was a fuck-up. I blame myself for not simply saying: 'Cut'. I was bloody stupid. I regret all that terribly. You go tiger shooting and you don't expect the tiger to win.
He did claim, however, that Spain and South Africa were in favour of the plot.

Mann was also ordered to pay a fine and compensation of about £14,6-million.

TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

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Verdict expected in Simon Mann trial
Mann spurned deal and chance to go free
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Thatcher shrugs off E Guinea's bid to arrest him

Comments by Sonny

@Well done Simon.

See you home for Xmas.

DA at work

Quote of the Week

Indeed, the DA is committed to employment equity, through broadening opportunities for everyone, not manipulating outcomes to benefit our families, friends, or political connections. That is why, within two years of DA government in Cape Town, the tenders awarded to BEE companies had risen 10% over what the ANC was able to achieve. The ANC limited the eligible pool to the favoured few. The DA opened opportunities to all -- and the outcome was an improvement in the equity profile.”

Helen Zille. Leader of the Democratic Alliance, in her weekly newsletter, SAToday


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Last Week's Highlights

Top Story: DA greets Gordhan’s first budget speech with cautious optimism

Dion George, Shadow Minister of Finance, was cautiously optimistic after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s first budget speech.

George said that there were a number of positive initiatives outlined in the MTBPS. These included adopted DA initiatives such as:

• Wage Subsidies to lower the cost of employment

• Opportunity Vouchers to give young South Africans access to work and skills development

• Accelerated Exchange Control Liberalisation

George also praised the Minister’s renewed focus on job creation and his hard line on inflation, public sector wage increases and infrastructure bottlenecks, while acknowledging his comprehensive cost-saving measures that identified savings of R3bn, or 3% of government expenditure.

He further welcomed the Minister’s openness to the DA’s proposed Trade, Export Processing Zones, and tax incentives to stimulate job creation.

George approved of the announcement that transfers to State-Owned Entities would be trimmed, but held the Minister accountable to outstanding examples of bad judgement, mismanagement and incompetence.

These included the R59 million spent on new government departments, the R200 million transfer to the SABC, R1 billion capital assistance to the Landbank and the R192 million for the Airbus deal.

The Shadow Minister prompted Gordhan to recognise taxpayer’s reluctance to finance inappropriate bonuses paid to senior executives of SOEs while these institutions failed to deliver on their mandate.

George commented that in contrast to most emerging markets, South Africa entered the economic crisis in a particularly vulnerable position due to low savings rates, high inflation and a large current account deficit and that this vulnerability was exacerbated by structural rigidity in the South African economy.

“This budget shows that the global financial crisis has had a far worse effect on our economy than anyone previously thought,” said George.

DA Chief Whip, Ian Davidson, similarly welcomed the cost-cutting initiatives tabled in the Finance Minister’s draft report. “If the government is able to save R27 billion by being more efficient and streamlined, that is good news indeed, most of all to those millions of South Africans who look to the State to deliver services, as opposed to bureaucracy and self-indulgence” said Davidson.

Read more here >>


Back to top >>


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Government report champions DA municipalities

Last week, Marti Wenger, Shadow Deputy Minister of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, highlighted a report tabled by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs which showed that five out the six municipalities run outright by the Democratic Alliance are classified in the top tier of the 58 best performing municipalities in the country.

Wenger refuted previous criticism by the ANC accusing the DA of not delivering services. The Shadow Minister reiterated that the report was objective and conclusive proof from the government’s own study that the DA excelled in administration.

“These 58 local authorities are defined as the ‘Highest Performing Local Municipalities’ by the report, and this constitutes proof that, even by the ANC government’s own admission, that DA delivers and it delivers to the highest standard,” said Wenger.

The twelve DA municipalities on the list represent 21% of the top 58.

Wenger confirmed that local municipalities governed outright by the DA included Midvaal, Cedarberg, Swartland, Overstrand and Mossel Bay.

The report entitled ‘State of Local Government in South Africa’, also described a further seven municipalities in which the DA co-governs with other parties that appear on the top performing list.

These included the local municipalities of; Matzikama, Bergrivier, Witzenberg, Thweewaterskloof, Swellendam, George and Oudtshoorn. Wenger encouraged the ANC to examine the rest of the underperforming municipalities that fall outside of the top 58, (the majority of which fall under ANC responsibility) and recommended that the ruling party prioritise and focus their energies on fixing those that are proven to be mismanaged and inefficient rather than worrying about efficient municipalities that they don’t control.

Read more here >>


Back to top >>


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IN OTHER NEWS

Accountability is Zille’s watchword

DA leader Helen Zille yesterday refused to shift responsibility for the Cape Town BRT project, confirming a fully accountable DA paper trail for every stage of the project.

Zille described increases in uncontrollable factors such as commodity prices as a key factor in the cost escalations but said that most concerning was that the DA had not been informed of the escalations until after the fact.

Read more here >>


CEO criminal record oversight

Dianne Kohler Barnard, Shadow Minister of Police revealed last week the DA’s concern over The Police Portfolio Committee’s suspension of the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority CEO.

Kohler Barnard questioned how an individual with a criminal record headed up an authority charged with the task of bringing criminals to justice and why the NIA’s initial vetting process failed to pick this up.

Read more here >>


The DA takes swift action against hate speech

Dr Wilmot James Shadow Minister of Higher Education and Training last week laid a formal complaint of hate speech with the Equality Court in Cape Town in addition to a criminal charge of intimidation at the Magistrates Court in the Free State.

This was in response to calls by ANC Youth League Chairperson, Thebe Meeko, that the University of the Free State Vice Chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen should be “shot and killed because he is a racist”.

Read more here >>


For the record

Annelie Lotriet, Shadow Minister of Arts and Culture, welcomed the dismissal of the Falcon Security employee who played a subverted and racist version of the national anthem, which denigrated former President Nelson Mandela.

‘Education system worse than under apartheid’

02 November 2009
Anna Majavu


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INEQUALITY: Zackie Achmat , right, says the country’s education system is now worse than it was under apartheid and that inequality could lead to civil war.



TREATMENT Action Campaign founder Zackie Achmat says the education system has failed black children and is worse than it was under apartheid.



Achmat was speaking at the 25th anniversary of the End Conscription Campaign at Spier, outside Cape Town, yesterday.
“The intellectual dispossession of African and coloured working- class children is far greater today than it was under apartheid. We love the [2010 Cape Town] Green Point Stadium but just one stadium, which could build all the libraries we need in our schools and to pay librarians,” Achma said.
He said inequality in South Africa was “so deep that we have to ask ourselves: “Have we averted a civil war or have we merely postponed it?”
Achmat then spoke directly to Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who was in the audience.
He asked Motlanthe to use the 25th anniversary of the ECC to start talking about “sanctions against Israel.”
“Under international law, Israel has broken every rule. We want to see visa restrictions on any Israeli political visitor, economic sanctions against Israel and a cultural boycott of Israel,” Achmat said.
Motlanthe, meanwhile, called on the white conscientious objectors who refused to serve in the apartheid army to start a new project to build nonracialism in South Africa. He asked the 300, mainly white former ECC members, to do more to transfer skills to the younger generation.




Motlanthe asked them to “show young entrepreneurs the ropes” and “adopt learners from disadvantaged schools”.




The event was a trip down memory lane, with historic posters proclaiming “Botha’s emergency – legalised murder” and “No apartheid war – troops out of the townships” plastered on the walls.

Sowetan News

Comments by Sonny

Yes, Apartheid did make that difference!

Zille must take the rap - ANC

2009-11-01 18:46



Related Links
No fraud in Cape Town's IRT
Manuel: CT IRT foundering


Cape Town - Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille must take responsibility for the City of Cape Town's financial mismanagement of the Bus Rapid Transit system, the ANC said on Sunday.

"We are appalled and find it unacceptable Zille's flimsy excuse of shifting responsibility to the former executive director of the City of Cape Town's department of transport, claiming civil servants denied her information," the party said in a statement.

Zille, who is the Premier of the Western Cape, must take responsibility for the escalation of the costs involved in the public transport system from R1.3bn to R4.1bn, it said.

"As next year's FIFA World Cup is dependent on among others an efficient transport system in the country, we cannot allow a deliberate derailment of the BRT in Cape Town when similar projects are on course elsewhere in the country."

Zille, in a statement on Sunday, welcomed her role in the project being "put under a very powerful microscope".

"I am happy to be held accountable on the findings of an objective evaluation.

"There is a great deal of documentation on this issue, and a substantial "paper trail"," she said, adding that these would be submitted to relevant enquiries.

'Political point scoring'


"I hope that my role will be investigated fully. That is the best way to establish accountability, not through political point scoring.

"Every single major capital project in South Africa has been subject to massive cost escalation in the past two years," she said, citing Gautrain as an example, the cost of which rose from an initial estimate of R8bn to R25 billion.

Zille attributed the price increases to factors "beyond the control of individuals" such as a hike in the cost of commodities.

"Although cost escalation are a serious problem, they are not the core issue here: the problem is that we were not made aware of the extent of the cost escalation till a very long time after some managers became aware of them.

"Not having the full facts, made it difficult to take timeous action."

A complete forensic investigation has been conducted, she said, and a disciplinary process had commenced. "There is a limit to what I can say as the matter is the subject of a disciplinary enquiry. The facts must be evaluated and judged objectively.

"I would prefer to leave things to the conclusion of the forensic audit and the inquiry that will now follow. The ANC has no objective facts and is simply seeking to score political points."


- SAPA

News24.Com

Comments by Sonny

Yes, Helen Zille must take responsibility for this transport blunder caused on her watch!

JZ and the ANC must in turn take responsibility for all the Corruption, Crime, Fraud and neglect of the poor in SA!

Do we have a fair deal here?

The Untouchables

Sat 31 Oct 2009, 14:05 (1) 6 Comment(s) Share

Email article Laaik.it Yahoo Google Digg del.icio.us Facebook What is this? Each of these links automatically adds this page to a social bookmarking website. These sites allow you to create and maintain a personal collection of bookmarks. This is better than using your browser’s bookmarking system because you can access them from anywhere and also share them with friends and colleagues. Use the links below to share this article on the social bookmarking site of your choice. Read more about social bookmarking at Wikipedia - Social Bookmarking Report Abuse President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday that corruption cases should be handled faster to avoid a situation where people are suspended on full pay for long periods.

"I'm of the view that the manner in which we deal with corruption may take too long," Zuma told the National Council of Provinces.

"We need to change the manner in which we deal with the problem, because if we don't then people might take the law into their own hands because they might be knowing the people."He said though all allegations of corruption must be tested, he was concerned that "people are suspended for a long time without the issue being handled because at times it is very difficult to handle".

Mister President, you have set the precedent on dragging out corruption cases to the fullest extent. This example was followed by many other high profile cases e.g. Tony Yengeni, Judge Motata, Mr. Mcbride, Mr. Selebi etc.

Allegations of corruption have never been tested in court against you, you and your legal team / ANC NEC exhausted every possible legal avenue to prevent these allegations ever reaching the court. When this did not work the ANC got recalled president Mbeki, and replaced the right people in the right places, applied the necessary pressure on the others, and all of a sudden charges was withdrawn.

And to top all of this, coincidentally, just before legislation on medical parole is tested, through some loophole, poor dying Mr. Shaik is awarded medical parole. Mr. Shaik did not see the inside of a jail cell for very long as he spent most of his time in a cosy hospital bed waiting for his long time friend, Mr. Zuma to get to power and “sort” out the right people to get him out. He even visited him in hospital a few times. Because how can a President have someone in jail who implicated him in corruption.

In the meantime Mo Shaik is cleverly positioned in intelligence just to keep an eye on things; trust me he will make sure that no one gets close to his brother and that no information gets leaked on his brother’s movements.

And while this is happening Shabir Shaik applies for presidential pardon, because everyone knows he is not that sick and is not in the final stages of a chronic condition as per his parole application, as a matter of fact he has been seen playing a few rounds of golf and driving around in Durban on his own.

This is the message that Mr. Zuma and the ANC sends to the corrupt officials out there, they are untouchable, you only have to know the right people and have trust funds set up to fund your court cases after you have used millions of tax payer money. Do I have to carry on with the examples, Mcbride etc?

The funny thing is, every ones saw this happening and have accepted it. I mean, Tony Yengeni have even attended the presidential inauguration, he had front row seats.

This is how powerful the state is, they are the untouchables of our new democracy. They are the bastions of my children’s future. And as some people might be reading this, they are laughing, because they know, they and their children are the untouchables!

I have to give the untouchables the credit; you are the masters of deception! And I ask myself how this government is any different to the previous government in terms of creating, enriching and protecting an elite group.
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flaker

1 Nov 2009, 14:49
Despite all you say, the truth is that the untouchables in fact existed in the 60'to 80's. One never believed a third force existed, where government agents were asssinating fellow country men that were saying things similar to what you're saying above.i have noted some improvements. you're free to say as you please and i am allowed to travel between provinces without applying for a permit& even having a decent pee en route.


Boerseun

1 Nov 2009, 14:43
Bro, we all know these thigs, even the ANC and it's supporters know this, but it seems they just do not care.I believe that what we see and hear about is just the tip of the iceburg. As for Zuma and all the things around his case, this will one day in history be seen as the start of the total breakdown of all law in RSA.


George Nowak

1 Nov 2009, 14:03
Perhaps anybody can become untouchable through knowing enough or paying enough to the right people. Maybe Brett kebble figured that out by buying the ANCYL. Let's see if Barry Tannenbaum finds a way of buying his way out of trouble with his stolen billions; what price the Malema version of the ANCYL. Notice how he manages an elitist lifestyle already with his job just over a couple of years old. Rich pickings for his influence?


Nesomaniac

1 Nov 2009, 12:07
You are right, of course. The scary part is this is just the thin end of the proverbial wedge.

Nesomaniac


fitbot

1 Nov 2009, 11:48
Yip all 100% true BUT what can we do! And if you think it is bad now, wait until Malema become the ANC leader! But are they realy untouchable? Give me Melema's address and we will see....


valleyman

31 Oct 2009, 20:19
Don't be too offended if you receive little or no feedback on your comments, especially where they pertain to our current rulers. The Blogs are a strange place where it seems many must tread on eggshells and others may seemingly, rampage forwards with impunity. Good luck anyway, and, welcome....

Comments by Sonny

Yes, corruption started at the beginning of mankind.

Yes, it existed in the 60 - through the 80's.

JZ has just perfected it now with all his cronies getting off the hook!

This is a sad state of affairs SA finds itself in!

SuperSport axes Joost

2009-11-01 10:01
Print article Email article

Related Links
Joost drops sex video case


I lied, Joost confesses
Amor: This won't tear us apart


Johannesburg - SuperSport has axed former South African rugby captain Joost van der Westhuizen as a presenter over his admission that he starred in a sex video which showed him snorting drugs.

The admission is contained in his biography, Joost: The Man in the Mirror.

"SuperSport has perused extracts from Joost van der Westhuizen's biography... and held discussions with him," it said in a statement on Sunday.

"Following those discussions, SuperSport and Joost have mutually agreed to terminate the freelance agreement between them, forthwith," said Supersport International spokesperson Clinton van der Berg.

"SuperSport thanks Joost for his contributions as a commentator and presenter and wishes him all the best for the future. SuperSport shall make no further comment on this matter," he said.

In March, SuperSport suspended Joost's services after 24-year-old Marilize Van Emmenis confessed to being the woman in the sex video purporting to feature Van der Westhuizen.

Until then, he had vehemently denied that it was him shown in the video, even hiring private detective Mike Bolhuis to back his claim.

He has since also reportedly told Rapport newspaper that it is indeed him in the video. "And I am very, very sorry that I lied," the newspaper quoted on Sunday from an interview with him. "Please forgive me," he asked.

Rapport wrote that in his biography Joost detailed the "hell" he had gone through living the lie which "ate me up from inside and consumed me".

He confessed that he had not only lied to the public, but to his wife, the popular entertainer Amor Vittone.


- SAPA

News24.Com

Comments by Sonny

What a revelation.

Did he wait for the autobiography to get published to expose his dirty deeds!

What about his 'Super Dick' Bolhuis and all his accusations!

He does not warrant any future investigative work at all!

Who's farting like a Horse now?

Maybe that "Hell's Angel" will now get his jacket back!

Smoke in the mirrow or snow on the glass!

Woman shot and killed on N12

2009-11-01 08:25

Print article Email article

Related Links

Passer-by shot during heist
Man killed, robber shot by cops


Johannesburg - A woman was shot and killed on the N12 east of Johannesburg in the early hours of Sunday, said ER 24.

"Paramedics from ER24 were at the offramp at the time when they noticed a commotion in the vehicle in front of them," said ER 24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak.

"On further inspection they found a woman that appeared to have been shot five times in the chest and stomach."

Paramedics attempted to resuscitate her without success. She was later declared dead on the scene. It is believe that her assailant fled the scene on foot after shooting the woman.

Police are investigating the shooting.


- SAPA

News24.Com

Comments by Sonny

This articles lacks content!

She might as well have been shot in Darfur.

Was the motive domestic violence(in vehicle), robbery or hijacking?