Bedfordview Edition
A FRESH APPROACH TO LOCAL NEWS 11 February 2022
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Illegal Miner Shot Dead During Shootout With Police In Ekurhuleni A suspected illegal miner was fatally wounded during a shootout with police on Wednesday 9 February 2022.
Eleven other suspected illegal miners were arrested and three illegal firearms loaded with magazines were recovered in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni. Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said police officers in Boksburg received a complaint of a person that had been shot in an open field in Boksburg. “As the police arrived, they saw a group of suspected illegal miners. More police officers from boksburg north, ekurhuleni trio task team, highway patrol and private security companies were summoned. “As the police were approaching, the armed group started shooting at the police and a shootout ensued. Eleven suspects were
apprehended with the assistance of a police chopper and one suspect was critically injured and later succumbed to his injuries.” Lieutenant colonel mavela masondo Mavela said police recovered three unlicensed firearms and more than 70 rounds of ammunition. The arrested suspects will be charged with possession of unlicensed firearms, possession of unlicensed ammunition, murder and attempted murder. They are expected to appear at Boksburg Magistrate’s Court in due course. In 2017, a spate of killings riddled the area and authorities found six bodies in Benoni next to Unity Street, while another eight bodies were found in a field nearby. The deaths were also linked to illegal mining and gangsterism in the area. The illegal gangs have been operational in
the area for years and pose a threat to the ago that the zama-zamas were beyond their community as they not only endanger residents control, despite trying to “play [their] part in by using explosive devices to mine for gold, curbing this problem, it persists.” Their efforts they are also linked to house robberies in the yielded little results as crime continued to escalate. neighbourhoods surrounding the mines. HRS-openday-BENews-feb22.pdf 1 2021/12/03 10:16 The Ekurhuleni Metro admitted three years
State Says It Has Proved Bathabile Dlamini Lied Under Oath The state says it has proved that former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini is guilty of perjury. Dlamini was charged with perjury after a Constitutional Court judgment in 2018 in the wake of an inquiry into whether she should pay costs in her personal capacity for the social grants payments debacle. One of the issues the inquiry — headed by retired Gauteng judge president Bernard Ngoepe — probed was whether Dlamini had appointed work streams of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) to ensure Sassa could take over the payment of social grants from Cash Paymaster Services. The ConCourt said the inquiry found that Dlamini appointed individuals to lead the parallel work streams and those individuals reported to her. The work streams were supposed to report to the Sassa executive committee, not to the minister. Dlamini denied under oath during the inquiry that she appointed the work streams and that they reported to her. This led to the Constitutional Court directing its registrar to forward its judgment and a copy of the Ngoepe report to the National Director of Public Prosecutions to determine whether to prosecute Dlamini for perjury. After the state closed its case last year, Dlamini asked for the case against her to be discharged. That application was refused. Dlamini did not testify, but her legal team called former project head at Sassa Zodwa Mvulane to testify. In closing arguments before the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Wednesday, prosecutor Jacob Serepo said Dlamini had taken an oath at the Ngoepe inquiry and promised to tell the truth. Dlamini confirmed the contents of her statement to that inquiry. “At the time she confirmed the correctness of
the statement, which was unsigned, to be a true reflection of what she was saying. She confirmed this under oath.” In that statement, Dlamini said it was not contractually required that the work stream leaders report directly to her and they did not do so. Dlamini said during November 2016 a number of meetings were held between the work streams and Sassa executives and she did not attend them. She monitored the process through updates from Mvulane as to the progress of the work streams and their ability to meet the deadlines. Serepo said Dlamini was aware that the written statement she made was under oath as well as the oral testimony. “Furthermore, the statements were submitted in the course of judicial proceedings.” Serepo said Dlamini decided against testifying during the trial to explain the lies that were allegedly told unknowingly. “Therefore, she is the only person to give this explanation. She could have taken the court into her confidence to say, ‘How I understood it was this and according to me I was not lying or it was just a mistake’. We do not have such evidence.” Former Sassa CEO Thokozani Magwaza testified before the magistrate’s court that during his era, work streams never reported to Sassa and/or its executive committee. Serepo said Magwaza testified that work streams reported directly to Dlamini, as the minister, at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park and in Cape Town. Mvulane testified that work streams reported directly to Dlamini in two meetings and on several occasions through her as leader of the work streams. “This is in contrast with the evidence of the accused before the inquiry, hence the charges that were preferred by the state.” Closing arguments continue before magistrate Betty Khumalo. C
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11 February t2022
Media Personality And Actress Kuli Roberts Passed Away
Tembisa Hospital Temporarily Closed Following A Fatal Shooting Incident
Actress and TV personality Kuli Roberts has died, several close friend of the star told TshisaLIVE. The star passed away on Wednesday evening. A close friend said she spoke to the star on Wednesday and she seemed “drowsy”. Details around Kuli’s death, including the cause, have not been revealed. A final tweet on her social media pages, posted at around 7pm on Wednesday read: “Love you, Des. All the best!” Kuli won over SA hearts in a career spanning several decades. She is best known for co-presenting What Not To Wear, The Real Goboza and TrendingSA. She acted in several productions, most recently in the Netflix original movie Angeliena. She was a journalist at Fair Lady, Drum, You and Sunday World. She made headlines last year after the African Transformation Movement’s Mzwanele Manyi claimed the media personality had joined ATM as a councillor and was running for candidacy for ward 65 in Tshwane. It later said she had stepped down due to “confidential circumstances”.
The Gauteng Department of Health requests the public who need to access health facilities at Tembisa Hospital today to visit nearby health facilities as the hospital remains inaccessible following a fatal shooting incident that left both patients and staff members in shock. Just after 08:00 this morning a 30-year old police officer entered the hospital driving a state vehicle with blue lights on and parked at the Accident and Emergency Department parking lot. The man then called his 30-year-old partner who was on duty at the time to come to the parking lot. Upon arrival the police officer opened fire on the Enrolled Nursing Assistant and turned the gun on himself. Unfortunately, the nurse died on the scene while the police officer is currently in a critical condition. Given the tragic incident the Tembisa Hospital is currently not in a position to receive the public into the facility and is diverting calls to nearby facilities. This will allow the police to work on the scene of the incident and for the debriefing and counselling of both staff and patients.
SANDF’s Chemical War Approach Exposed
Senior executives serving the army spent around R260 million on ‘unproven COVID-19 remedies’ – and proceeded to hide the evidence of the payments. It is believed that the socalled ‘treatment’ was initially procured from Cuba, and had even been championed by the Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina. Rapport claims that soldiers were clambering to be injected with the treatment first. The order of Interferon Alfa-R2B, also known as Heberon, did not come from the South African Military Health Services (SAMHS) – and therefore failed to gain acceptance as stock, as this particular medication is not
registered for use in South Africa. Interferon was tested as a COVID-19 treatment last year by the WHO, but it failed to prevent infection with the virus. The SANDF however stuck to their guns on the issue, insisting that Interferon had shown positive results in several other countries. However, these claims were comprehensively dismissed by Wits University’s Professor Shabir Madhi: “There is no scientific rationale for doing a clinical trial of interferon alfa-2b as it has already been shown to be ineffective in the who solidarity trial in the treatment of covid-19,” said madhi. Major General Mzikayise Tyhalisi in the National Assembly provided an eye-opening account of SANDF’s response to the virus: The army reacted to the arrival of COVID-19, believing it was the result of ‘biological warfare’ – an astonishing claim made by no other government or armed service elsewhere. Tyhalisi defended the decision to procure vast reserves of Interferon, saying that decisions
made ‘in wartime-like operations’ can often be questioned in hindsight – and SANDF operated under the impression that a ‘chemical threat’ existed. “Ramaphosa told us to get boots on the ground in april 2020. We were in the process
of planning of the employment and protecting these forces. The military has the sole capability of chemical and biological warfare. We did not know how this enemy was going to behave… interferon was purchased to support the fight against a military biological threat.”
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The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) found themselves in really hot water and had much explaining to do in Parliament this week, after their R260 million procurement of an untested – and ultimately unusable – COVID-19 treatment came under the microscope. However, in the search for clarity on this issue, more bizarre details about this deal have come to light.
11 February 2022
State Says It Has Proved Bathabile Dlamini Lied Under Oath
03
The Tinder Swindler True Story
The state says it has proved that former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini is guilty of perjury. Dlamini was charged with perjury after a Constitutional Court judgment in 2018 in the wake of an inquiry into whether she should pay costs in her personal capacity for the social grants payments debacle. One of the issues the inquiry — headed by retired Gauteng judge president Bernard Ngoepe — probed was whether Dlamini had appointed work streams of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) to ensure Sassa could take over the payment of social grants from Cash Paymaster Services. The ConCourt said the inquiry found that Dlamini appointed individuals to lead the parallel work streams and those individuals reported to her. The work streams were supposed to report to the Sassa executive committee, not to the minister. Dlamini denied under oath during the inquiry that she appointed the work streams and that they reported to her. This led to the Constitutional Court directing its registrar to forward its judgment and a copy of the Ngoepe report to the National Director of Public Prosecutions to determine whether to prosecute Dlamini for perjury. After the state closed its case last year, Dlamini asked for the case against her to be discharged. That application was refused. Dlamini did not testify, but her legal team called former project head at Sassa Zodwa Mvulane to testify. In closing arguments before the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Wednesday, prosecutor Jacob Serepo said Dlamini had taken an oath at the Ngoepe inquiry and promised to tell the truth. Dlamini confirmed the contents of her statement to that inquiry. “At the time she confirmed the correctness of the statement, which was unsigned, to be a true reflection of what she was saying. She confirmed this under oath.” In that statement, Dlamini said it was not contractually required that the work stream leaders report directly to her and they did not do so. Dlamini said during November 2016 a number of meetings were held between the work streams and Sassa executives and she did not attend them. She monitored the process through updates from Mvulane as to the progress of the work streams and their ability to meet the deadlines. Serepo said Dlamini was aware that the written statement she made was under oath as well as the oral testimony. “Furthermore, the statements were submitted in the course of judicial proceedings.” Serepo said Dlamini decided against testifying during the trial to explain the lies that were allegedly told unknowingly. “Therefore, she is the only person to give this explanation. She could have taken the court into her confidence to say, ‘How I understood it was this and according to me I was not lying or it was just a mistake’. We do not have such evidence.” Former Sassa CEO Thokozani Magwaza testified before the magistrate’s court that during his era, work streams never reported to Sassa and/or its executive committee. Serepo said Magwaza testified that work streams reported directly to Dlamini, as the minister, at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park and in Cape Town. Mvulane testified that work streams reported directly to Dlamini in two meetings and on several occasions through her as leader of the work streams. “This is in contrast with the evidence of the accused before the inquiry, hence the charges that were preferred by the state.” Closing arguments continue before magistrate Betty Khumalo.
I used to wait to get paid
Dating is not easy, especially in the era of online dating apps. Opening yourself up to someone you haven’t even met in person has its challenges. First, there’s the risk of being rejected, or worse, being catfished. But a new documentary on Netflix proves just how scary and dangerous things can get. The Tinder Swindler, released on Netflix on 2 February, chronicles shocking yet heart-breaking stories told by Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm, and Ayleen Charlotte — three of the many women who fell victim to a serial fraudster posing as a man named Simon Leviev. After finding his victims on Tinder, Leviev’s modus operandi included seducing them with travel by private jet, luxury hotels and expensive dinners. Making them believe he was wealthy when, in reality, he was spending money he had swindled from his previous victims. Once he had them hooked, he would convince them to lend him money due to a security risk he was caught in because of his business. On their first date, back in January 2018, Simon Leviev took Cecilie Fjellhøy on a private plane from
London to Bulgaria just for a night. They had met on Tinder, and after a coffee date at his hotel, he’d expressed regret that he had to leave for a business trip…but maybe she’d like to join him? She googled her date—he was the son of the “king of diamonds” Lev Leviev, a famed Russian-Israeli diamond oligarch. She quickly went home and packed a bag while his driver waited. It was the beginning of a whirlwind relationship that would ultimately leave her heartbroken, deceived, and more than $200,000 in debt. Netflix’s latest true crime documentary The Tinder Swindler allows Cecilie, along with Pernilla Sjöholm and Ayleen Charlotte—just three of the many victims of Simon Leviev—to tell their stories. Currently 31 years old, Simon Leviev lives as a free man in Israel, according to Instagram stories shown in The Tinder Swindler. Before the documentary landed on Netflix, his account was active with nearly 100,000 followers, although it was set to private. But as the doc gained popularity in the last few days, Simon deactivated his Instagram altogether. Before deleting the account, he wrote:
“Thank you for all your support. I will share my side of the story in the next few days when I have sorted out the best and most respectful way to tell it, both to the involved parties and myself. Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.” Simon Leviev has not been charged for any crimes that may have occurred outside of Israel, including the conning of Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm, or Ayleen Charlotte, who appear in Netflix’s doc. According to The Times of Israel, he allegedly swindled an estimated $10 million dollars from victims across the continent from 2017-2019 alone. Cecilie, Pernilla, and Ayleen are still paying off their debts. By last week Friday, Tinder said it had banned the “Tinder Swindler.” “We have conducted internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases,” Born Shimon Hiyut, the high profile scammer was arrested in 2019 in Greece after being caught with a fake ID. He was extradited to Israel, where he was convicted of theft, fraud and forgery of documents. However the charges related to crimes from 2011 and not ones he committed as outlined in Tinder Swinder. According to Netflix, Simon Leviev did not wish to participate or give a right of reply to the accusations levelled against him. Instead, he threatened legal action. However it seems, he is now ready to talk, and will do so in the forthcoming days. He wrote on instagram, before deleting his account: “i will share my side of the story in the next few days when i have sorted out the best and most respectful way to tell it, both to the involved parties and myself.” “Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.”
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11 February 2022
All Blacks Head To SA For 1st Time In 4 YEARS For Back-To-Back Tests
Bangladesh Cricketer On Trial In Rare Adultery Case
The Springboks are scheduled to face Wales in three Test matches in July, before hosting the All Blacks and Argentina in the Rugby Championship in August and September, SA Rugby has confirmed. The away leg of the Rugby Championship will comprise of three Test matches – two against Australia, and one against Argentina in Buenos Aires. Wales are set to return to South Africa for the first time since 2014 as the Springboks kick off their 2022 season with three Tests against the Dragons – at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 2 July, Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein (9 July) and the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town (16 July). The Springboks will then launch the home leg of their Rugby Championship campaign three weeks later with back-to-back home Tests against the All Blacks – at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on 6 August, and a week later at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 13 August. They will then depart for Australia for the away leg of the competition where they will meet the Wallabies on 27 August and again a week later, on 3 September (both venues to be confirmed), before their third away match against Argentina at Vélez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires on 17 September. The Springboks will conclude their Rugby Championship campaign with a home Test against Los Pumas at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban on 24 September. “It’s exciting to announce such a strong list of Springbok fixtures this season after a successful 2021 season for the team,
and I have no doubt that Jacques Nienaber (Springbok coach), his management team and the players will do their best to build on those achievements this season,” said SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux. “Pending the return of crowds to our Tests and with the COVID-19 pandemic still presenting challenges throughout the world, we understand the fluid nature of match schedules, but it is important for us that the team face quality opposition as we gear up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.” Nienaber was equally excited about the season and said: “It’s a massive honour to represent our country, and the fact that we will be facing such tough competition this season has certainly sparked excitement among the coaches and the players alike. “We are well underway with our planning for the year, and our knowledge of these teams after facing all of them last season will be
vital as we forge ahead in this regard in the next few months. “Wales, the All Blacks and Australia tested us well last season, and Argentina have proven to be a force to be reckoned with, both at home and away, so although we are expecting a challenging season, we realise the importance of laying a solid foundation as we build up toward next year’s Rugby World Cup.” The Springboks defeated Wales 23-18 in the opening match of their end of year tour in Cardiff last year, while they had mixed results against the All Blacks, going down 19-17 in Townsville before registering a 3129 victory in their final Rugby Championship match on Australia’s Gold Coast. Nienaber’s charges won both matches against Argentina in the competition – by 32-12 and 29-10 in Nelson Mandela Bay – but they went down to Australia last year (28-26 in Gold Coast and 30-17 in Brisbane).
Most bizzare incident to ever take place on a rugby field! We’re seen some incredible things in
the clock ticked into extra-time.
over the tryline thinking he’d scoring the
our time take place on a rugby field, but
What followed simply has to be seen to be
winning try for his team!
NOTHING quite like what happened in the
believed!
The referee ruled out the try, but Biarritz
French Top 14 this weekend!
As the ball was thrown in at the lineout, a
fairly – or unfairly? – went on to win the
second ball appeared out the crowd.
match 27-24 after scoring a legitimate try
The incident in question took place during
Mayhem broke loose as La Rochelle’s New
by Samoan international Josh Tyrell from a
the Biarritz v La Rochelle match at the Parc
Zealand scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow
five-metre scrum the referee had awarded as
des Sports Aguilera.
kicks the one ball into touch – thinking
a result of baffling previous play.
With the score at 24-20 in La Rochelle’s
he’d won the match for his team – while
favour, Biarritz had an attacking lineout as
Biarritz’s hooker Francois Da Ros crashes
Bangladesh cricketer Nasir Hossain has gone on trial charged with adultery after a man claimed the batsman illegally married his wife, lawyers said on Thursday. Bangladeshi men, but not women, can be tried for adultery in socially conservative Bangladesh although cases are extremely rare, with people usually keen to avoid a public scandal. Nasir, 30, who has represented Bangladesh more than 100 times – although not since 2018 – tied the knot with flight attendant Tamima Sultana on Valentine’s Day in 2021. But her first husband Rakib Hasan has filed charges of adultery against Nasir, claiming that he was – and still is – married to Sultana. If found guilty, Nasir could face a maximum punishment of seven years in jail. Tamima has been charged with forgery. “Tamima has forged divorce documents and postal receipts to show that she was no longer married with Rakib,” Rakib’s lawyer Ishrat Hasan said. Farid Uddin Khan, who represents the cricketer and Sultana, said the court would record the testimony of witnesses from 10 March. “Adultery cases are rare. Usually, it’s tough to prove. We are confident these charges cannot be proved,” he said. Both Nasir and Sultana are currently out on bail. NASIR PLAYED 115 MATCHES IN TOTAL FOR BANGLADESH Nasir played 19 Tests, 65 one-day internationals and 31 Twenty20 internationals for Bangladesh. His last international match, an ODI, was against Sri Lanka in 2018 in Dhaka.