Tag: Johannesburg

South African prisoners riot for a ‘mass release’, citing Covid-19

Whereas President Cyril Ramaphosa already released 19 000 inmates out of a total prison population of 155 000 in May this year, prisoners in Gauteng province are rioting for another mass release. They claim that they are at risk of the Covid-19 virus that has already cause a number of deaths among both warders and prisoners.

One of the prisons where riots have been noted, is the vicious “Sun City” prison in Soweto, ironically nick-named after the famous casino and hotel complex in the former homeland of Bophutatswana.

The country’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has declines to react to their demands, saying that the riots are being “orchestrated… by unruly elements intent on forcing the government into a mass release of prisoners”

Prisoners are alleging that not all of the 19 000 “low-risk inmates” have been freed, following upon Ramaphosa’s parole announcement. According to them, overcrowding is still at 30% in all prisons. Despite a rise in South African crime rates and convictions since the ANC regime took over, the regime has not built any new prisons.

A DCS spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, said out that infections in prisons have been rising in line with national trends; that 1012 active cases existed for inmates and officials, with only 88 active cases out of a community 146 732 offenders countrywide.

Sources within the prisons, however, said over the past week alone, clinics, kitchens, security and records offices at Sun City – Johannesburg Correctional Centre – and at Kgosi Mampuru II in Pretoria, had to close down as numbers of Covid-19 infections increased inside the facilities.

An anoymous inmate told the Sunday Independent newspaper “there were delays in the preparation of food after some prisoners were quarantined because of the virus” at the hat a Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria (formerly Pretoria Central Prison).

An internal memo posted on the prison walls at the facility announced that it had 28 active cases and one death. But an official said the notice was two weeks out of date because more people had tested positive and a colleague was buried just last week.

“There are inmates who worked in the kitchen, who are currently under quarantine. These are inmates who prepared meals for us, so we’ve seen a delay in our meal preparations.

“This is supposed to be a rehabilitation centre, but there is no rehabilitation, whatsoever.

“We were told that 19000 low-risk inmates would be released to curb the spread of the virus, but not even 40 were released from this side, Kgosi Mampuru,” he said.

However, Nxumalo is adamant that there isn’t a crisis in correctional facilities saying: “Our officials do report for duty. Those who were in direct contact with positive cases have been placed in quarantine, so as isolating those who have tested positive.

“No sections in any of our facilities have been closed down due to Covid-19. We decontaminate sites where there are positive cases and open them for operations.

“This is going to be the norm moving forward across all institutions in the country”.

He said a picture is being painted of a chaotic environment with the hope that the public will be mobilised and pushed for the mass release of prisoners.

“Fortunately, numbers do tell the truth. Unfortunately, some individuals purporting to be representing the interest of offenders have engaged in an offensive campaign, misinforming the public.

“Only 195 inmates in the whole country have the virus in their system and thus require daily monitoring and treatment.

“It must be emphasised that such will never happen (the mass release). We live in a democratic state where the rule of law is supreme.”

Johannesburg airport robbers arrested

The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Khehla John Sitole, has welcomed the arrest on 21 February of suspects believed to have been involved in cases of robbery of people being followed from the O. R. Tambo International Airport and praised members for their sterling work.

This morning, members from the National Investigation Unit (NINU) together with members of O. R. Tambo International Airport and the SAPS Flying Squad, acting on intelligence, arrested four men in Alexandra Township outside Johannesburg. The suspects were allegedly planning a robbery when our team pounced on them as they were changing the number plates on their sedan. However, three suspects managed to flee, initiating a high speed chase and a shootout between the suspects and the police. The suspect’s vehicle swerved off the road, crashing to a halt.

Four suspects were arrested of which one was shot and wounded. Our team also recovered at least two handguns. The National Commissioner, in praising the SAPS team for this significant success said, “I am very pleased with the progress we are making to significantly reduce this category of crime but more importantly I am equally pleased that our proactive strategy is yielding positive results”.

These suspects are believed to have been involved in multiple cases of people being followed from the OR Tambo Airport and robbed. The firearms will be sent for ballistic testing to determine if they have been used in the commission of crimes.

“We appeal to anyone who may have any information on crime are requested to please contact our Crime Stop number 086 00 10111. All callers may remain anonymous and all information will be treated with strictest confidence,” the police said in a statement.

SA passenger train derailed

The Shosholoza passenger train between Johannesburg to Cape Town derailed early Wednesday morning outside Kimberley, injuring more than 100 people.

The incident happened just after midnight at Modderrivier, a small town next to the N12 highway about 32 kilometres from Kimberley. Seven coaches overturned.

Although details surrounding the cause of the accident are still sketchy, it is believed that work was being conducted on the stretch of rail where it happened.

Injured passengers were quickly assisted by Transnet personnel at the scene shortly after the accident and a fleet of ambulances were dispatched to transport the injured to the Kimberley Hospital Complex.

About eight ambulances from ER24, Netcare 911 and the provincial ambulance service had to make several trips between the crash site and Kimberley.

While most passengers only sustained light injuries, the driver of the train was thrown out and seriously injured.

Source: DFA

Bikers robbed at gunpoint

A warning has been circulating on social media about motorbikers being robbed at the William Nicol off-ramp on the N1 North.

The warning states that bikers are being “robbed at red robots by armed men”.

In the most recent incident, a man on a motorbike was confronted by two armed men while waiting at a red traffic light on the William Nicol off-ramp.

“They pointed a firearm at him and robbed him of his belongings,” the warning stated.

The police have confirmed the incident.

“It is alleged that the complainant was stopped at the corner of the N1 North and William Nicol. He was approached by two men, one of whom was armed with a pistol. The suspect pointed the firearm at him and took his laptop.

“The two men then fled the scene,” said Gauteng police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale.

She said at least three motorcyclists had reported being robbed in the area.

“These cases are hijacking, attempted murder and robbery with a firearm.”

Mogale added investigations were continuing.

Earlier this year, the William Nicol and N1 freeway area in Norscot was named a smash-and-grab hotspot.

Purses, handbags, wallets and cellphones are some of the items targeted by robbers and smash-and-grabbers, according to a recent article by Arrive Alive.

Victims are mostly single drivers with belongings on the passenger seat.

“Criminals tend to focus on female drivers, knowing well that they are less likely to chase after them,” the article states.

Source: IOL

White victim of hijacking still in ICU

The white woman who was seriously injured on May 27 in a failed hijacking in Dunkeld West is still in ICU.

One week later, police have arrested no one. Warrant officer Moses Makhaphela told eNCA.com police were still investigating the case.

He would not confirm whether or not police had met with the injured woman, or taken her statement or the statements of witnesses at the shooting.

Police have opened a case of attempted murder and attempted hijacking but have made no arrests in connection with last Wednesday’s incident.

The white woman, a mother of two, was rushed to hospital with a bullet wound to the upper left leg.

Her husband spoke to eNCA.com and said his wife was stable but still in hospital a week after the incident.

The woman, in her forties, was unconscious when paramedics drove her to hospital last Wednesday. She was shot at about 9.50am after at least three black men driving an Audi followed her up Bompas Road.

The suspects followed the woman into a perpendicular street. After she pulled into a driveway, two men – both thought to have been armed – jumped out of their vehicle.

She tried to reverse but hit the pavement, then they struck. The men broke the front windows of the woman’s car, reportedly by shooting through them.

“Her stuff in the car was stolen out the front seat,” the woman’s husband said. “I believe they were trying to steal the car.”

He asked eNCA.com to omit his name from this report. “I don’t want our names or our family name in it,” he said.

Speaking of the shot to her upper left leg, the husband said: “It was quite a serious wound and she is stable.”

“She will recover. It’s a process you’ve got to go through. She is stable and the leg is going to be okay.”

After the shooting, the black men fled in the Audi. Several people from a nearby housing development and passersby rushed to the woman’s aid.

A man who responded to the commotion, heard the woman say, “I’ve been shot”. She then passed out. One Dunkeld West resident wrapped the woman’s bloody wound in a towel.

After paramedics rushed her to hospital, police cordoned off the scene. The Range Rover was still in the road, streaked with blood.

Her husband said it was “thanks to the people there in the community and the passerby” that his wife was recovering well.

Source: eNCA

Bomb scares at two big shopping malls

The police are investigating after bomb scares at two shopping malls in Johannesburg.

Emergency Services and the police’s bomb squad evacuated Cresta in Randburg and Eastgate in Bedfordview.

No devices were found.

Eastgate Mall Spokesperson, Amelia Beattie says, “We receive a bomb threat this afternoon (Thursday), but we call also confirm that the centre has been successfully swept by the emergency services and SAPS and we have been given an all clear.”

“We always do the evacuation as a precautionary measure when we believe it’s necessary because the safety and security of our shoppers and our tenants are important.”

Last year Cresta’s i-store was robbed and five suspects were arrested.

Lesotho’s opposition leader flees country

Lesotho’s opposition leader has fled the country for the second time in a year, claiming that he was at risk of assassination after being voted out of power.

Thomas Thabane, the former prime minister, travelled to Botswana on Tuesday night in the latest twist to a year of political turmoil for the mountainous country that is entirely surrounded by South Africa.

“I ordered an investigation which confirmed that there were indeed plans to kill me,” he told AFP by telephone.

“Soon after I was given this report, I fled the country fearing for my life. I am still in Botswana.”

The Lesotho police said they could not confirm the threat against Thabane, but that they would investigate.

Thabane suspended parliament in June last year to avoid a motion that would have seen him ousted from power after the previous fragile coalition government fell apart.

In August, soldiers attacked police headquarters, looting weapons and killing one officer.

Thabane described the violence as an opposition-backed coup attempt and fled to South Africa, though both his political opponents and the military denied any bid to seize power.

A regionally-brokered snap election in February brought a new coalition government to power, headed by Thabane’s predecessor, Pakalitha Mosisili.

Lesotho is seen as strategically important to South Africa as it provides 90 percent of the water to Johannesburg city.

Source: AFP

Church set alight out of spite

Officials at the Central Methodist Church in the Joburg city centre believe that the fire at the building was the work of disgruntled members.

The church’s superintendent minister, Reverend Ndumiso Ncombo, said residents had set a room alight to spite church officials who gave them notice to move out.

“I wasn’t surprised when the fire started because the residents threatened to burn the building down when we gave them notice to move out,” he said. “We have opened a case of arson with the police.”

The fire last week Wednesday was started in one of the rooms, just a floor down from the church hall.

The small room where the fire was believed to have started lies in ruins, with clothes, groceries and broken glass from the shattered windows spread across the wet floor. Several large buckets, bottles and fire extinguishers lie outside the room.

After the fire was put out, residents were forced to evacuate the building.

The building, situated in the city centre, has acted as a haven for foreigners and destitute people who are desperate for a place to stay.

Since it opened its doors to the public almost 50 years ago, it has housed thousands of people at a time, especially during xenophobic flare-ups.

But now, the depilated building is a shadow of its former self. A strong stench of urine fills the graffiti-filled corridors and litter is spread across the broken floorboards. Makeshift housing structures are erected throughout the building, including on the staircases, in storage rooms and in the church hall where the thousands of residents once slept.

Ncombo said that although the sole reason for the mass evacuation was to renovate because the building was not safe to live in, the residents’ behaviour had also been a point of contention.

“We’ve found many of them selling and keeping large amounts of dagga and nyaope. They also used to vandalise the building; anything with steel or copper was stolen.”

Source: IOL

Joburg building fire probed

An investigation has been launched into a fire that broke out at an abandoned building in the Johannesburg CBD on Tuesday night.

Three floors were destroyed by the blaze that started just after 4pm. The cause of the blaze is not yet known and no casualties have been reported.

Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Nana Radebe says there are making sure the fire does not reignite.

“The fire has been contained successfully, at the moment we are just finishing dumping down just to ensure the fire does not reignite.

We also had firefighters making rounds to make sure no one was laying there unnoticed,” says Radebe.

It took three hours for firefighterts to put out the blaze.

Scores of homeless blacks occupy the building.

Despite fire officials declaring the building a danger zone, homeless blacks insist they will continue to stay and sleep in the building. They say they will go back because they do not have another home and have lived there for the past decade.

Police round up 200 illegals in Joburg

South African police have arrested 198 illegal immigrants in a raid in Johannesburg, according to officials.

The arrests came after a spate of xenophobic attacks by local mobs which targeted immigrant workers from Zimbabwe, Malawi and other African countries.

The unrest has left at least seven people dead in the past month. Police and soldiers arrested 212 people in Lenasia township south of Johannesburg on Thursday, including 14 South African citizens.

Unlicensed firearms, other weapons and marijuana were seized in the raid.

Millions of African migrants work in South Africa, many of them illegally.

The Limpopo provincial government has ruled out xenophobia in an incident where shops belonging to foreign nationals were looted and set alight on Wednesday.

This came after members of the public in Thabazimbi looted four Pakistani shops on Monday before midnight and again on Tuesday, resulting in the arrest of 13 people.

“As the provincial government of Limpopo we do not believe the looting and burning of the shops belonging to foreign nationals were part of xenophobic attacks,” said spokesperson Phuti Seloba on Wednesday.

“We know and believe that these are just criminal elements. We have since called the police to act and have sent the MEC for Community Safety and Security Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana to talk to the public. They are now calm.”

No water at OR Tambo

There was no water supply at Africa’s biggest airport, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, on Friday morning due to water pipe connection problems, the Airports Company of SA said.

“This problem has affected one section of the airport, flights are not affected at all. The functioning of toilets has as a result been affected,” said Acsa spokesman Collen Naidoo.

The airport management had to shut down the water supply to enable engineers to fix the problem, he said.

Travellers complained about unavailability of water at the airport on social media.

Some complained that most restaurants did not have beverages such as coffee available due to water shortage.

Naidoo said the situation was temporary and would be fixed very soon.

Source: ANA

Armed men open fire on Joburg bus

A bus driver was shot and wounded when he tried to protect his passengers during an armed robbery on the bus in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, on Wednesday, News24 reported.

Metrobus spokesperson Esther Dryer said a group of six armed men jumped onto the bus when it stopped on the corner of Hendrik Potgieter and Ontdekkers roads to pick up a passenger just before 06:00.

“The men started shooting randomly, possibly to scare the passengers and the bus driver intervened.”

Both the bus driver, in his 50s, who was shot in the abdomen and an injured passenger were taken to Flora clinic.

Earlier, paramedics said the driver of the bus explained that an unknown number of suspects entered the bus as he stopped near the Mollie Road bus stop and opened fire into the bus.

Samaritan also shot on N1

Two men were found dead in separate vehicles along the N1 freeway in Maraisburg, Johannesburg, on Wednesday, Gauteng police said.

Lieutenant Kay Makhubela said it appeared that the first motorist was forced off the road by unknown persons on Tuesday night before being shot and set alight inside his vehicle.

“The second motorist stopped to inquire or assist only to be shot and left for dead inside his car,” he said.

No arrests have been made Sapa reported.

Auditor-general calls Joburg’s bluff

The auditor-general’s office has called Johannesburg’s bluff. The City of Johannesburg gave a glowing account of the metro’s financial health, claiming increased capital expenditure and improved revenue, but it was a lie.

The office uncovered huge revenue losses, corruption, flawed procurement processes and weak internal controls – leaving city manager Trevor Fowler with no place to hide.

The city lost over R851-million on unauthorised water consumption. A further R308-million was lost due to “non-technical problems”.

The city lost R1.5-billion due to unauthorised electricity consumption and a further R742-million as a result of ” non-technical” causes.

Furthermore, several big power users – including luxury car dealerships, shopping centres and a hotel – have been implicated in an electricity meter-rigging scam.

The A-G’s report said Johannesburg was R15.4-billion in arrears.

Previously, Fowler had said the city’ s total revenue had increased by 13% to R39-billion, while its surplus had increased by 21% to R4.2-billion.

Chief financial officer Reginald Boqo also claimed that the city was on top of its billing problems.

He said of the R28-billion that was billed, R26-billion was collected.

The municipal public accounts committee found numerous causes of concern and berated the city’s internal audit committee for failing to identify and curb breaches in the protocol for the awarding of contracts.

Floyd Rikhotso, an audit manager at the auditor-general’s office, said the council would have to make several adjustments before the city could receive an unqualified audit.