Car guard killer jailed

Johannesburg - The Johannesburg magistrate’s court has sentenced a man who killed a car guard in the inner-city in August 2018 to 10 years imprisonment.

The man, Philani Mkhulisa, 30, was found guilty of killing car guard Xolani Meswana. Magistrate Hombakazi Twele also found him not fit to possess a firearm.

Hombakazi said while Mkhulisa was a first time offender he had committed a serious crime for which the court had to deter others from committing similar offences.

“The deceased died a painful and unnecessary death. There was no reason for killing him. Killing a person for mere possessions is not right; you alleged that he stole the laptops. The life of a person is more important than possessions. There are ways in which the accused could have dealt with the victim if he thought that he had stolen items from his car,” Twele said.

On August 7 in 2018 Mkhulisa assaulted Meswana in the Joburg inner city.

Mkhulisa had parked his car and went to a restaurant with his girlfriend. When he returned he found it broken into and his laptop and ID missing. He then accused Meswana of breaking into his car and assaulted him. He hit him with his hands and went on to tramp on him with his feet. Meswana was certified dead on the scene.

During trial, the state relied mainly on testimony from Samuel Diseko, a car guard who was with Meswana on the day of the killing.

Diseko detailed how Mkhulisa attacked Meswana after realising that his car had been broken into. The court found his evidence credible and consistent, even with the injuries described in the post mortem report. Diseko, who lived on the streets of Joburg, also died, of natural causes, on August 14.

Minister suggests school language policy change

Johannesburg - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has said her department needs to change the language policy at schools to make education accessible to all.

Motshekga said government schools should be accessible to all to deal with correcting the past.

“There are schools in communities which were predominantly a certain language but if you are going to allow those communities to continue to admit children on the basis of language, you are blocking other children who have moved into those areas,” Motshekga said.

She denied that such would be taking power away from school governing bodies.

“Those are government schools; we do not go to private schools and change their policies. Those are government schools to which every South African child has the right to access. So it is not anybody’s private school, ” she said.

Man killed in suspected gang shootout

Westbury - One person was shot and killed and another wounded in a shootout in Westbury last Tuesday morning.

Police said the shootout between groups of men is suspected to be related to gang violence. Witnesses said the victims were standing outside a shop when four suspects jumped out of a car and fired several shots at them, leading to a shootout and one of the men fatally wounded.

Gauteng police spokesperson Mavela Masondo said police recovered two unlicensed firearms and more than 70 rounds of ammunition.

“Police received information about a shootout between groups of men in Westbury. Upon arrival at the scene police found two men with gunshot wounds. Both victims were taken to the nearest medical care centre, where one was declared dead on arrival,” Masondo said.