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20110114

Winnie and me: cop Jannie Odendaal speaks

“This bullying of police officers by the power-mad elite must stop’Solidarity … And the Institute of Race Relations warns the incident could seriously undermine police morale…

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Afrikaans cop w/o Jannie Odendaal was racially abused, assaulted and threatened by her body guard and yelled at by Winnie Mandela, who he did not recognise at first as her face was painted in a white powder. Odendaal and a colleague had clocked Winnie Mandela ‘s luxury silver Audi at speeding at 160 km an hour on the M1 motorway near Sandton on December 30 2010. They had pulled over the car also because it had been listed as reportedly stolen by the SAPS tracker computer. They did not know Mandela was inside: the vehicle has tinted windows.

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SAPS warrant/officer Jannie Odendaal has told the entire detailed story of his run-in with the passengers in the luxury silver Audi belonging to Winnie Mandela in an exclusive a radio broadcast of his trade union Solidarity.   Odendaal and a collegue  were punished immediately after the incident: both men were transferred 70 km away from their homes. And Odendaal’s life was endangered because his service-pistol was taken away from him, while he was still expected to continue doing his dangerous job in Soweto.

The Afrikaans cop in particular has been singled out as a target for vengeful hatespeech in the news media -  originating from the Mandela camp -  after he and a black colleague had dared to pull over Mrs Mandela ‘s luxury Audi on 30 December enroute to Sandton, speeding 160km an hour. When he pulled the vehicle over, he did not know Mrs Mandela was actually inside, Odendaal said in the radio interview. He had also pulled the speeding car with its bright headlights over because the police-tracker reported that it had been booked as ‘stolen’. However, even if he had known that Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife was a passenger in the car, he said in his radio interview, he would ‘still have done his duty.’

ODENDAAL Jannie runin with speeding Winnie Mandela Dec 302010 Sandton

A Facebook support page has been launched for SAPS w/o Jannie Odendaal who refuses to apologise to Winnie Mandela for pulling over her speeding Audi on Dec 30 2010 near Sandton.  He said Mandela and her body-guard shouted and cursed at the police and ‘showed utter contempt and no respect for our uniforms’.  LISTEN TO HIS VERSION OF EVENTS IN AFRIKAANS: http://www.solidariteitradio.co.za/jannie-odendaal-vs-winnie-die-volle-storie/

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The South African Institute of Race Relations has also warned today that ‘the behaviour of senior managers in the South African Police Force, around the recent Winnie Mandela incident, damages police morale, the rule of law, and the fight against crime.”

The Afrikaans officer and his black colleague who lives in Soweto, were  severely punished by their commanding officer SAPS genl. Petros just for doing their jobs: Odendaal’s service pistol was taken away from him after the incident, he was transferred 70km from his East Rand home to Soweto, his colleague was transferred 70km away from his Soweto home to the East Rand…. it will cost them a lot of money they don’t have just to commute to work every day.

Odendaal said in his interview that he has signed himself out on sick leave due to all the stress: he says it’s far too dangerous for him to work without his service pistol and he also has to drive his own car 140km each day, which expenses he cannot afford. . He’s deeply hurt by the fact that his commanding officer, Genl. Petros, refuses to back them up.

Bring the white cop to my house to apologise…

Mrs Mandela demanded from Genl. Petros that the ‘white man must personally apologise to her in her home’. Considerable pressure was put on Odendaal to apologise to her, with one leading SAPS officer telling him in Petros’ office: “Mrs Mandela fought for the freedom of our country and you must apologise to her.’ Odendaal said at that point he was ‘thinking of apologising because my career would be in danger if I didn’t. “However he decided not to, he said in the interview, because ‘far too many important people show such contempt and utter disrespect for law and order’.

  • Here’s warrant/officer Odendaal’s  radio-interview of his encounter with Winnie Mandela and her body-guard to Solidarity:

Odendaal:

He works for the Emergency Response unit at the East Rand and has been a police-officer since 1991. It is part of his job to react to violent crimes in progress but it’s also part of his job to pull over suspect vehicles while patrolling the freeways. On December 30 he and his colleague noticed a high-speed silver Audi luxury car with tinted windows driving with bright headlights on the M7 freeway north of Golden City.  They checked on the radio with the vehicle-tracker and were advised that the car had been reported stolen and was registered in the name of a company in Soweto. They didn’t know who was inside, the car had tinted windows. The police-team, driving in an unmarked Mercedes, flashed their blue-strobe lights, indicating that the driver of the silver Audi had to pull over. ‘It didn’t, we kept following it with our lights flashing but they did slow down and waved a hand-radio from the window’. Odendaal said he recognised this hand-radio: ‘it was not a police issue item and such radios are often used in armed robberies, so we decided to keep following them and called in for backup from the dog-patrol unit’. The Audi finally stopped at the Jan Smuts avenue turnoff, pointing in the direction of Sandton.  Odendaal said he and his colleague got out of their vehicle, with his colleague, as is routine, backing him up with an R1 rifle. The rifle was pointed downwards, he said. Odendaal said as he tapped on the car-boot, it was opened from the inside, while a ‘burly, strong-looking’ male passenger jumped from the Audi and immediately accosted him, pushing the officer on the chest and shouting at him, telling him that Mrs Mandela was in the car, that ‘they weren’t allowed to search the vehicle, because this wasn’t apartheid any more’.  Odendaal said he shoved the man back and then walked back to the police vehicle to fetch his Tazer. “I told the man to stop assaulting me or I would fire the Tazer’, he said. Then a second passenger, a woman who he did not immediately recognise, jumped from the car and immediately started ranting, shouting and screaming abuse at him. “I didn’t recognise her as Mrs Mandela. She had this white powder-make up all over her face and she looked much older than she does in her newspaper pictures,’ he said.

Mrs Mandela and her body guard kept shouting and yelling at the police officers. Odendaal said he was indeed ‘very shocked at the lack of respect they showed for our police uniforms and the contempt with which they spoke to us.’ Then the driver got out of the Audi too and Odendaal started exchanging information with him, both men were calm. He said the driver was ‘courteous and calm at all times’.  While Odendaal was speaking to the driver, telling him that the police-team had to search the car, as those were Genl. Petros’ orders, Mrs Mandela yelled at the driver to ‘stop this at once’.. , everyone got back into the Audi and they drove off.  Odendaal said they continued to follow the car until they received confirmation  that the ‘stolen-car’ warning had been withdrawn, that it was  ‘sorted out’. The police-officers, including the dog-patrol unit which had joined them in the meantime, then  returned to their police-station, where they filed a detailed incident report.

Odendaal said he had ‘expected his commanding officers to back him up because I was doing my job’. He was shocked when they didn’t:

After this incident, Mrs Mandela became so irate that she demanded that the SAPS chef Petros bring the ‘white cop to her house to apologise to her’. Petros apparently received this order directly from SAPS Genl. Gela – who is his brother in law.

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Solidarity trade union’s spokesman Dirk Hermann has issued a statement warning the Mandela-clan and her “aggressive body guards to leave the young cop alone.  Solidarity stands 100 percent behind our member and will not allow him to be bullied.’

Bullying of police officers by the power-mad elite must stop

Hermann: “We have ordered our legal team to provide their full support to Odendaal if the SAPS continues with its ‘bullying tactics’ against this police-officer. We are also preparing criminal charges agaisnt Mrs Madikizela-Mandela’s body guards. This could involve assault, crimen injuria and attempts to divert the course of justice. We cannot allow that ordinary citizens are pushed around like this by the political elite and organisations. We plan to push back. On the one side we stand up for this one member but on the other side we also stand up to fight on behalf of every defenceless individual against the power-mad elite. In a healthy democracy ordinary citizens receive protection and we plan to protect this important aspect of our democracy.’

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links:

http://www.solidariteitradio.co.za/jannie-odendaal-vs-winnie-die-volle-storie/

The South African Institute of Race Relations has  warned today that ‘the behaviour of senior managers in the South African Police Force, around the recent Winnie Mandela incident, damages police morale, the rule of law, and the fight against crime.”The Institute's deputy CEO, Frans Cronje, said: "Police members on the ground must be able to trust in the backing of the chain of command if they are to do their jobs effectively. In this case it appears as if the command chain has placed political considerations above its responsibility to its members. This is likely to undermine the morale not only of flying squad members around the country but also of all police officers. We therefore echo calls for an independent inquiry into events surrounding the Winnie Mandela incident. This matter goes far beyond the rights of a few officers. It goes to the heart of police effectiveness and the maintenance of the rule of law."http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=217284&sn=Detail&pid=71616

 

Winnie and me: cop Jannie Odendaal speaks

“This bulying of police officers by the power-mad elite must stop’Solidarity … And the Institute of Race Relations warns the incident could seriously undermine police morale…

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Afrikaans cop w/o Jannie Odendaal was racially abused, assaulted and threatened by her body guards -  when he and a colleague clocked Winnie Mandela and pulled her over for reckless driving: she was speeding at 160 km an hour on the M1 motorway on December 30 2010.

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SAPS warrant/officer Jannie Odendaal has told the entire detailed story of his run-in with the passengers in the luxury silver Audi belonging to Winnie Mandela in an exclusive a radio broadcast of his trade union Solidarity.   Odendaal and a collegue  were punished immediately after the incident: both men were transferred 70 km away from their homes. And Odendaal’s life was endangered because his service-pistol was taken away from him, while he is still expected to continue working.

The Afrikaans cop in particular has been singled out as a target for vengeful hatespeech in the news media -  originating from the Mandela camp after he and a black colleague had dared to pull over Mrs Mandela ‘s luxury Audi on 30 December enroute to Sandton, speeding 160km an hour. When he pulled the vehicle over, he did not know Mrs Mandela was actually inside. He had pulled the car over because the police-tracker reported that it had been booked as ‘stolen’. However, even if he had known that Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife was a passenger in the car, he said in his radio interview, he would ‘still have done his duty.’

ODENDAAL Jannie runin with speeding Winnie Mandela Dec 302010 Sandton

A Facebook support page has been launched for SAPS w/o Jannie Odendaal who refuses to apologise to Winnie Mandela for pulling over her speeding Audi on Dec 30 2010 near Sandton.  He said Mandela and her body-guard shouted and cursed at the police and ‘showed no respect for our uniforms’.

 LISTEN TO HIS VERSION OF EVENTS IN AFRIKAANS: http://www.solidariteitradio.co.za/jannie-odendaal-vs-winnie-die-volle-storie/

-----------------------------

The South African Institute of Race Relations has also warned today that ‘the behaviour of senior managers in the South African Police Force, around the recent Winnie Mandela incident, damages police morale, the rule of law, and the fight against crime.”

The Afrikaans officer and his black colleague who lives in Soweto, were  severely punished by their commanding officer SAPS genl. Petros just for doing their jobs: Odendaal’s service pistol was taken away from him after the incident, he was transferred 70km from his East Rand home to Soweto, his colleague was transferred 70km away from his Soweto home to the East Rand…. it will cost them a lot of money they don’t have just to commute to work every day.

Odendaal said in his interview that he has signed himself out on sick leave due to all the stress: he says it’s far too dangerous for him to work without his service pistol and he also has to drive his own car 120km each day, which expenses he cannot afford. . He’s deeply hurt by the fact that his commanding officer, Genl. Petros, refuses to back them up.

Bring the white cop to my house to apologise…

Mrs Mandela demanded from Genl. Petros that the ‘white man must personally apologise to her in her home’. Considerable pressure was put on Odendaal to apologise to her, with one leading SAPS officer telling him in Petros’ office: “Mrs Mandela fought for the freedom of our country and you must apologise to her.’ Odendaal said at that point he was ‘thinking of apologising because my career would be in danger if I didn’t. “However he decided not to, he said in the interview, because ‘far too many important people show such contempt and utter disrespect for law and order’.

Here’s warrant/officer Odendaal’s  radio-interview of his encounter with Winnie Mandela and her body-guard to Solidarity:

He works for the Emergency Response unit at the East Rand and has been a police-officer since 1991. It is part of his job to react to violent crimes in progress but it’s also part of his job to pull over suspect vehicles while patrolling the freeways. On December 30 he and his colleague noticed a high-speed silver Audi luxury car with tinted windows driving with bright headlights on the M7 freeway north of Golden City.  They checked on the radio with the vehicle-tracker and were advised that the car had been reported stolen and was registered in the name of a company in Soweto. They didn’t know who was inside, the car had tinted windows. The police-team, driving in an unmarked Mercedes, flashed their blue-strobe lights, indicating that the driver of the silver Audi had to pull over. ‘It didn’t, we kept following it with our lights flashing but they did slow down and waved a hand-radio from the window’. Odendaal said he recognised this hand-radio: ‘it was not a police issue item and such radios are often used in armed robberies, so we decided to keep following them and called in for backup from the dog-patrol unit’. The Audi finally stopped at the Jan Smuts avenue turnoff, pointing in the direction of Sandton.  Odendaal said he and his colleague got out of their vehicle, with his colleague, as is routine, backing him up with an R1 rifle. The rifle was pointed downwards, he said. Odendaal said as he tapped on the car-boot, it was opened from the inside, while a ‘burly, strong-looking’ male passenger jumped from the Audi and immediately accosted him, pushing the officer on the chest and shouting at him, telling him that Mrs Mandela was in the car, that ‘they weren’t allowed to search the vehicle, because this wasn’t apartheid any more’.  Odendaal said he shoved the man back and then walked back to the police vehicle to fetch his Tazer. “I told the man to stop assaulting me or I would fire the Tazer’, he said. Then a second passenger, a woman who he did not immediately recognise, jumped from the car and immediately started ranting, shouting and screaming abuse at him. “I didn’t recognise her as Mrs Mandela. She had this white powder-make up all over her face and she looked much older than she does in her newspaper pictures,’ he said.

Mrs Mandela and her body guard kept shouting and yelling at the police officers. Odendaal said he was indeed ‘very shocked at the lack of respect they showed for our police uniforms and the contempt with which they spoke to us.’ Then the driver got out of the Audi too and Odendaal started exchanging information with him, both men were calm. He said the driver was ‘courteous and calm at all times’.  While Odendaal was speaking to the driver, telling him that the police-team had to search the car, as those were Genl. Petros’ orders, Mrs Mandela yelled at the driver to ‘stop this at once, everyone got back into the Audi and they drove off. “ Odendaal said they continued to follow the car until they received confirmation  that the ‘stolen-car’ warning had been withdrawn, that it was  ‘sorted out’. The police-officers, including the dog-patrol unit which had joined them in the meantime, then  returned to their police-station, where they filed a detailed incident report.

Odendaal said he had ‘expected his commanding officers to back him up because I was doing my job’. He was shocked when they didn’t: After this incident, Mrs Mandela became so irate that she demanded that the SAPS chef Petros bring the ‘white cop to her house to apologise to her’. Petros apparently received this order directly from SAPS Genl. Gela – who is his brother in law.

Solidarity trade union’s spokesman Dirk Hermann has issued a statement warning the Mandela-clan and her “aggressive body guards to leave the young cop alone.  Solidarity stands 100 percent behind our member and will not allow him to be bullied.’

Bullying of police officers by the power-mad elite must stop

Hermann: “We have ordered our legal team to provide their full support to Odendaal if the SAPS continues with its ‘bullying tactics’ against this police-officer. We are also preparing criminal charges agaisnt Mrs Madikizela-Mandela’s body guards. This could involve assault, crimen injuria and attempts to divert the course of justice. We cannot allow that ordinary citizens are pushed around like this by the political elite and organisations. We plan to push back. On the one side we stand up for this one member but on the other side we also stand up to fight on behalf of every defenceless individual against the power-mad elite. In a healthy democracy ordinary citizens receive protection and we plan to protect this important aspect of our democracy.’

----------------

links:

http://www.solidariteitradio.co.za/jannie-odendaal-vs-winnie-die-volle-storie/

The South African Institute of Race Relations has  warned today that ‘the behaviour of senior managers in the South African Police Force, around the recent Winnie Mandela incident, damages police morale, the rule of law, and the fight against crime.”The Institute's deputy CEO, Frans Cronje, said: "Police members on the ground must be able to trust in the backing of the chain of command if they are to do their jobs effectively. In this case it appears as if the command chain has placed political considerations above its responsibility to its members. This is likely to undermine the morale not only of flying squad members around the country but also of all police officers. We therefore echo calls for an independent inquiry into events surrounding the Winnie Mandela incident. This matter goes far beyond the rights of a few officers. It goes to the heart of police effectiveness and the maintenance of the rule of law."http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=217284&sn=Detail&pid=71616

 

Cop killed in Sutherland gun-cache shoot-out

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Bizarre shoot-out at Sutherland, North Cape farm: one police officer killed,  second cop seriously injured, arms cache recovered from French tenant after farmer called in SAPS help

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 SAPS student-constable shot dead, another seriously injured, Sutherland farm shoot-out with berserker French tenant Jan 14 2011

Sutherland – SAPA reported Friday  Jan 14 2011 at 23:21 that a police-officer was killed in a Sutherland, North Cape farm shootout and another policeman seriously injured. Police recovered portions of an arms cache allegedly belonging to a  French tenant on this farm . The man has fled into the veldt with other weapons after shooting at the police officers and the farm-family, and a Western Cape police task force has been called in to search for him.

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SUTHERLAND SAPS SHOOTOUT WITH FRENCH FARM TENANT JAN142011

The SAPS have been tracing and cleaning up many hidden gun-caches all last year and have thus far confiscated 32,000 guns up to the end of December 2010. They continue the gun-clean up campaign this year. On Friday, SAPA confirmed at 23:21, a police officer responding to a farmer’s emergency call was killed in a Sutherland, Northern Cape farm shootout over an arms-cache….

The SA Police Service were called to a farm in Sutherland in response to a call from a local farmer at around 4pm and a gunfight broke out. It is believed that a French immigrant who had lived for free on the farm for ten years, ‘went berserk after a row with the farmer’ and started shooting at the farmer’s car.  The French person apparently had an arms-cache stashed at the farm. When the police arrived, they also ran into the gunfire. In the meantime the wife took police-officers to the weapons cache of this man they knew about. Lt-Col Hendrik Swart said police were first called in by a farm owner who was trying unsuccessfully to evict his tenant. “He has two houses on his farm. One had been occupied a Frenchman and his wife for over 10 years, and the other by him and his family,” Swart said. “The farm owner had become the Frenchman's friend through the years, so he was not paying. He had recently asked him to move out because he wanted to repair the house for his sons. The man was apparently arrogant and refused to do so.” Swart said the owner asked the police for assistance and also informed them that he was afraid because his tenant had illegal firearms in the house. “Four policemen prepared a search warrant and went to the house around 2pm. They collected several firearms. While they were leaving the Frenchman came out of the house and fired shots at them. “A student constable died on the scene and a warrant officer was taken to a Cape Town Hospital in a serious condition. “The man and wife allegedly fired several shots at the two remaining officers, the owner and his two sons.” Swart said the man chased the five with the farmer's bakkie into a nearby veld, allegedly firing shots with a hunting rifle. He also allegedly shot all the tyres of a police vehicle. “The five were luckily not hurt and managed to get to a nearby gravel road where they got helped.” The Toyota Hilux bakkie was later found by the police abandoned nearby in the veld. “We have the Western Cape Task Force members, with local policemen ,searching for the couple in the area, as they disappeared within the farm,” said Swart.  http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/n-cape-farm-tenant-allegedly-kills-cop-1.1012272

Locals said there was a blackout of cellphone communications in the region at the time which created considerable confusion and panic because people didn’t know what  the cause of the violence was. Also, apparently the Frenchman reportedly also had a ‘bizarre’ collection of literature in his room – but this could not be confirmed by independent sources. 

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Three other arms caches also captured this week:

ARMS CACHE Brig Jack Roux arrested 31 highpowered rifles MORELETA PARK PRETORIA JAN142011Meanwhile earlier on Friday, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele also brought the news media to a private home in Moreleta Park in Pretoria to show off the week’s third arms cache, this time 31 ‘high-calibre hunting rifles’ at the Moreleta Park home of Brig-ret. Jack Roux, left, a former senior police officer whose home Cele described as a ‘military base’.  Only two of the high-powered hunting rifles recovered were unregistered, however none were stored in a gun-safe.

Mia Lindeque of Radio Jacaranda quoted Cele as saying that he “suspected that the arrested man may be part of a multi-million-dollar rhino-poaching syndicate.”  More than 330 of the country’s endangered rhinos were slaughtered in South Africa since Jan 2010.

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ARMS CACHE MAN ARRESTED HIGHSPEED CHASE N4 ROSSLYN

Also the same day, after a high-speed chase near the N4 Rosslyn off-ramp in Akasia, a 30-year-old man was arrested and a cache of three firearms recovered. Police spotted a maroon Volkswagen Polo which drove away from them. A chase ensued during which the VW crashed, Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said. “On searching the vehicle, three firearms with their serial numbers filed off were found. Gloves, balaclavas and several rounds of ammunition for three firearms were seized.” An R5 rifle, 9mm pistol and a revolver were recovered. The car had been stolen last year in Pretoria West. Investigations were continuing as the 30-year-old may be linked to several crimes in the Pretoria area. The firearms would be sent for ballistic examinations. - Sapa http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/guns-seized-after-high-speed-chase-1.1012266

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Moreleta Park, Pretoria arms cache Jan 14 2011:

ARMS CACHE MORELETA PARK GAUTENG JAN 14 2011 31 HUNTING RIFLES AMMO

Guns stored all over the show like chickens…

The owner of the Moreleta Park house Brig-ret Jack Roux, was arrested. Only two of the rifles however,  were not registered, but most of the high-calibre hunting rifles which were not stored in the legally-required gun-safes. Cele claimed he was mainly concerned about the way the guns were stored:they were “all over the show like chickens… what if someone were to break into this house?" he asked.The 31 hunting-rifles were lined up on the pavement together with military uniforms, SAPS dockets and containers filled with thousands of rounds of ammunition. Cele says they ‘are investigating the possibility that the find might be linked to a rhino poaching syndicate’. In 2010, 330 rhinos were killed in SA: their horns sell to Chinese syndicates for an average of R1million each….

ARMS CACHE moreleta park SAPS BRIG RET JACK ROUX HOUSE

 The raids are taking place in the same week when the province’s 23 gun-registration offices closed down on Friday with just one day advance notice - with some 170,000 applications for reregistration of legal firearms still pending. This is creating chaos and confusion amongst the legal gun-owners waiting for their documents. The police claims that the firearm-applications now must be undertaken again at local-station level and also claimed that ‘forms can be downloaded from the SAPS website,’ claimed provincial SAPS  commander, gnl  General Mzwandile Petros.

Boksburg North gun cache Jan 14 2010:

ARMS CACHE BOKSBURG 11 ILLEGAL RIFLES AMMO BOKSBURG NORTH JAN132011Katlehong township gun cache Jan 11 2010

ARMS CACHE Katlehong Mukhari Street Jan122011 WOMAN QUESTIONED

Durban gun shipment confiscated from Malta Dec 23 2010

ARMS FOR SOMALIA DIVERTED BY SMUGGLERS IN SOUTH AFRICA RAID DEC242010

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According to the provincial police commissioner General Mzwandile Petros, the Firearms Control Amendment Act now indicates that ‘all renewals and competency applications will be dealt with at local police-station level, said his spokesman col. Neville Malila. http://www.tios.co.za/firearm-centres-to-closed-1.1011805

AfriForum spokesman Nantes Kelder condemned the sudden decision by Petros to close the centres . “The decision would cause chaos and nobody knows what was going to happen to pending applications.”

  • Malila claimed that all the police stations ‘had been supplied with application forms and they were also available on the SAPS internet, where it can be printed if not available. “

However – no such forms were listed on the SAPS website. Instead, a list of the firearms-registration offices are listed together with old information dating from 2010 on ways to register one’s firearm: http://www.saps.gov.za/crime_prevention/firearms/downloads/phonedirectory.pdf

 SUTHERLAND JAN142011 SAPA _COPkilled_Ncape FARM SHOOTOUT

http://www.sapa.org.za/public/browse.cfm

UNHCR tents in illegal land-invasion Wallmansthal

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The Dinokeng community runs an illegal land-invasion with UNHCR tents - claims Pretoria official – ‘but they can’t do a thing about it…’

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WALLMANSTHAL, HAAKDORINGLAAGTE, DINOKENG, KAMEELDRIFT. An emergency residents’ association security meeting with the Kameeldrift police is being held tonight about the large-scale illegal land-invasion in UNHCR-tents which is taking place at a hotly-disputed, ecologically-fragile land-site next to the world-famous Ludwig’s Roses Farm.

Black people arrive in luxury cars from as far away as Pietersburg and apparently have to pay about R1,000 each for a plot to ‘unknown sellers’. There are no infrastructure facilities at all - a road-grader is now cutting swathes of dirt-road while people are moving into large UNHCR-marked tents. Wallmansthal UNHCR ERVEN ARE BEING MEASURED OUT

Deeply concerned local ratepayers have been monitoring the site ever since the arrival of the first tents on January 5. Yesterday residents noticed that from about 15H00 about 30 luxury-cars were parked at the road next to the plot and that people who had arrived in those cars, were erecting clearly marked UNHCR tents, with more people moving in. Despite an earlier Pretoria High Court order that no-one was allowed to settle on the site until all the infrastructure facilities were installed and working, people are moving in. There are no ablution, water-reticulation or electricity facilities at all at the site.

A yellow land-grader machine was creating ‘spaces for streets’. A Pretoria government official who gave his first name as Vusi  yesterday confirmed in an email to local Afrikaans residents that the land invasion was illegal.

It is true they are selling stands…

The Pretoria official, first name Vusi, who confirmed that the land-invasion was illegal, wrote in a rather confusing email that ‘an attempt to evict those people with Dinokeng Municipality was made and we were taken to High Court because by law we are not allowed to operate around that area, though we were instructed to assist them because of the merging process that will take place soon. The High Court put it very clear that the City of Tshwane is not allowed to do operations around Walmansthal since this merging issue is still under discussion. I was there today to double check the allegations of illegal invasion. It is true that they are selling stands but there is less that we can do since we were stopped by the High Court. These tents were given to the municipality to replace demolished shacks and was done according to the High Court Order’.

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 The site is highly controversial: only a month earlier, in December 2010,  the Pretoria High Court had ruled that no-one was allowed to be settled on the ecologically-fragile site until all the infrastructure facilities were first installed.

Cobus Claassen reported in Beeld earlier this month that no-one in the neighbouring Afrikaans communities had any inkling as to who might be behind the tent-camp and who will be living inside these UNHCR tents. Local Ward 5 councillor Arnold van Niekerk of the DA said nobody seemed to know who was behind it – but the proper procedures are certainly not being followed: there is no infrastructure at all, he pointed out.

The UNHCR’s spokeswoman Pumla Rulashe could not be reached for comment as to why their tents were being erected on the controversial site: it was originally handed over in a grand publicity-gesture to the Dinokeng community by the then-minister of Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana in 2007.

  • Legal ratepaying residents have lodged formal objections to a later decision by the land-claims commissioner that the land then had to be handed over to the Dinokeng  community in exchange for land which the Dinokeng tribe had demanded be given them from the adjacent Defence Force’s training centre.

South Africa’s premier rose-farm: site next door in throes of illegal land-invasion by Dinokeng tribal community

Taschner Ludwig shot badly injured 2008 rose farmer with 130 employees

Picture above: Ludwig Tarschner, owner of the 50-hectare, premier rose-farm in South Africa,  Ludwig Roses’s farm at Haakdoringlaagte, also set up a branch in the Western Cape. He sells 8000 varieties of roses with more than 40,000 well-established rose plants. The amiable, former East German refugee from communism developed the farm from scratch 38 years ago and now employs 130 local people. He has been attacked twice by black gunmen: the second time left him permanently disabled in one arm. Famous German rosegrower Ludwig Taschner shot, survives:   http://www.facebook.com/pages/116752351671946#!/video/video.php?v=144535512008  http://www.ludwigsroses.co.za/

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Afbeelding kaart

 

ILLEGAL LAND INVASION BY PEOPLE IN LUXURY CARS WITH UNHCR TENTS:

 

Wallmansthal UNHCR Tent camp Pienaarsrivier Jan72010_ CarRZY668_6P

The photographs taken by local residents show that the tent city is still being erected and that it thus far has no ablution facilities. The people moving in show up in luxury cars and ‘don’t look like poor refugees,’ residents noted.

Wallmansthal UNHCR Tent camp Pienaarsrivier Jan72010 setting up

Wallmansthal UNHCR Tent camp Pienaarsrivier Jan72010

Wallmansthal UNHCR Tent camp Pienaarsrivier Jan72010 _5 BUS

UN boosted refugee-budget in Southern Africa to $62-m last year…

While these clearly well-off people in their luxury cars, from all accounts are South African citizens and certainly no penniless refugees,  it is worthy of note that the UN refugee agency boosted its southern African budget from more than $52-million in 2009 to $62-million (USD) last year. The southern African refugee commissioner’s office  in Johannesburg handles all the regional refugee-activities for South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The largest number of refugees and displaced persons come or are still inside the increasingly dysfunctional country of Zimbabwe: totalling 9,200,000 persons according to the UNHCR’s latest known statistics. In December 2010 alone, more than 200,000 Zimbabweans applied for residency and/or political asylum in neighbouring South Africa.

REFUGEES SOUTHERN AFRICA UNHCR IN 2008

Beeld newspaper : http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Gemeenskap-krap-kop-oor-VN-tentedorp-20110105

ANC-students’ threat: ferocious warfare

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The ANC-controlled Sasco student organisation plans to disrupt student-registrations countrywide with their ‘right to learn’ campaign – officially kicked off with a mass rally at Stellenbosch university on 21 January. They plan to organise mass-rallies, using the many tens of thousands of matriculants who have not obtained qualifications for specific university courses  - and demand that these ‘working-class students’ all be given immediate access to all the universities for whatever courses they choose. Also in the news – in an obviously totally unrelated incident --  was the announcement that two sizeable arms-caches were discovered in Kathlehong and Boksburg which the police commissioner claimed were stashed there to ‘conduct warfare’.  He didn’t say against whom this warfare would be conducted.

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JAN 21 – “Ferocious protests planned at universities - Right to Learn rallies -

 Kommissar Lazola Ndamase writes to his his 3,160 activist- friends on Face book:   “The SASCO 'Right To Learn' campaigners are installed at the campuses to ‘ensure students are not denied access’. The Right To Learn Campaign will officially start 21 January with a rally at Stellenbosch University and spread to all the places of learning across South Africa”.  SASCO fired off the first salvo of this war with a media release, announcing that SASCO will be waging ‘ferocious protests’.

Afrikaner universities:

SASCO’s news release refers  to  ‘the throngs of students left on street corners unable to find space in institutions of higher learning’ ; are linked to the fact that the current government has not built one university since 1994: ”It does not even have one university to its name when the apartheid regime took a couple of years and it had built Afrikaner universities. Rather than see these, we have seen the construction of the Gautrain, procurement of arms in peacetime etc. …we call on  our structures in all four campuses of the University of Johannesburg and at the Wits University to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that they turn the screws … even if this includes strikes and ferocious protests."

Meet one of the young co-organisers of the Right To Learn student protests:

ANC SASCO ORGANISER COMMISSAR LAZOLA NDAMASE RIGHT TO LEARN PROTESTS

The student protests’ co-organiser Lazola Ndamase, who describes himself as having the title of ‘Commissar’, is on the three-member SASCO executive. His motto: Marx discovered the law that mankind ‘must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion… but Marx forgot to say man must have sex and reproduce.”  He hails from a beautiful rural environment: the Xhosa-village of Mthombe near Libode (Ezilalini e-Mthombe) , where he played in the local football team.

Meet his comrades:

ANC SASCO ORGANISER NDAMASE FACEBOOK PAGE JAN132011

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OTHER, UNRELATED NEWS:

ARMS CACHE IN KATLEHONG – STASHED TO WAGE WAR…

ARMS CACHE Katlehong Mukhari Street Jan122011 WOMAN QUESTIONED

An unnamed 31-year-old man handed himself in to the police after the seizure of an arms cache, including rocket launchers, limpet mines, and assault rifles in Mukhari Street, Latlehong township east of Johannesburg, said SAPS spokesman Colonel Vishnu Naidoo. The cache includes five mini limpet mines, four detonators, two rocket launchers, six F1 hand grenades, one CSC rifle grenade, two AK-47 rifles, three Uzi sub-machine guns, one R1 rifle, one .303 rifle and one silencer.Ammunition includes, AK-47 rounds, R1 rounds, R5 rounds, 9mm rounds, shotgun rounds and .38 revolver rounds. A number of gold bracelets were also found among the arms. "These people have accrued this stash of arms for one thing only and that is to wage war, and you have done very well to detect them, possibly averting very serious crimes from being committed", national police commissioner Bheki Cele was quoted as saying to police officers. Another smaller arms-cache in Boksburg containing 11 unlicensed rifles from ‘police storage’ was also discovered in a home on January 12 2010 and another man was arrested. http://news.za.msn.com/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=155826405 http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Arms-cache-Man-hands-himself-over-20110113

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Earlier: legal arms shipment confiscated in Durban:

ARMS FOR SOMALIA DIVERTED BY SMUGGLERS IN SOUTH AFRICA RAID DEC242010