Hit the road!

This is the time of year when the CXPRESS team closes shop (until August 16*) to take leave of their senses... just like Duncan Cramer - here with local lass Claire Seymour - on his Ural sidecar at Plett’s Lookout view point. Turn to the People & Places page for the full story.

* PLEASE TAKE NOTE: The next edition is CXPRESS of August 25, which will be posted here by Thursday the 26th

IN THIS EDITION:

Lookout murder update – this page

Talking rubbish – News & Views page

‘King Louis’ saluted – Sports page

Lookout murder accused ‘a threat to the public at large’

FOUR of the five members of the alleged criminal gang arrested for Plett's Lookout Deck murder in April will remain behind bars until they go on trial in the High Court.
Alleged gang leader and hardened career criminal Eric Diamond, 57, of Port Elizabeth was singled out as a "violent and dangerous man" by Magistrate Len Goosen when he ruled on a bail application by four of the five accused.
Diamond, Lubabalo Simakuhle, 26, also from PE, and Mvimbe Dube, 43, of Plett were refused bail on the grounds that they were a threat to the public at large, and might interfere with witnesses if released.
Goosen said Diamond's long criminal record and the serious charges against him mitigated strongly against the possibility of bail.
Furthermore, the state had built a strong case against the three men and they faced heavy sentences if convicted, giving them a strong incentive to abscond, Goosen said.
The remaining two accused are Sibongile Matebese, 32, who ...

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Author: Neil Oelofse

Special Investigation Unit called for George

GEORGE Municipality acting municipal manager Gerhard Ras has requested Western Cape Minster of Local Government Anton Bredell to ask for a presidential proclamation to give maximum powers to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to finalise investigations into irregularities in the administration of the municipality that date as far back as 2003.
Ras, who met with SIU officials on July 15, said he asked that eight matters be investigated after irregularities were discovered while he was in the process of addressing the system and other administrative problems at the municipality.
“Initial investigations into these matters revealed that the situation was more serious than I anticipated,” Ras said.
He added that he did not think twice before contacting the SIU as “there is no capacity here to investigate”. Ras said it was not about politics: “This investigation is about sorting out the status quo that requires attention.”

Xenophobia wave abused by common criminals

THE notion that "foreigners must go back to their home country after the World Cup" started spreading like wildfire in dry grass through certain Plett townships, as soon as the final football match was concluded on July 11.
In the early hours of Monday the 12th, a Somalian national's shop in Qolweni, Plett, was set alight and burned to ashes. The owner of the shack that housed the shop, Shakes Mthembu, his cousin Vuyani Jama, and two Somalian shopkeepers were asleep at the time, but managed to escape without injury. However, they lost all of their belongings in the blaze. 
Attacks of this nature are not new to Qolweni; it was also the place where two years ago, residents embarked on a xenophobic campaign which caused suffering to many foreigners as well as South Africans.
The fact that this trend has reared its ugly head again, meant that foreign business owners in the Bitou community were scared of what would happen to them, and when it would be the...

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Author: Bongani Tom

National unity campaign launched to curb xenophobia

CIVIL society organisations launched a national unity campaign aimed at collecting a million signed pledges against xenophobia, intolerance, intimidation and violence.
Black Sash, Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, Sonke Gender Justice Network and Passop, along with other community organisations kicked off the ‘Unite as One’ campaign in Du Noon, Cape Town – the epicentre of xenophobic violence in 2008.
They called on leaders in government, business and civil society as well as individual South Africans to intensify their efforts to build a country in which people, in spite of their language or country of origin, respect each other and live together peacefully.
The ‘Unite as One’ campaign was launched to coincide with Mandela Day (July 18) and will run until African Human Rights Day on October 17.
Black Sash Advocacy Programme manager Nkosikhulule Nyembezi says they hope to build on the incredible sense of African unity experienced d...

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Plett school stabbing and Crags murder investigated

SERIOUS crimes under investigation in Bitou include the suspected murder of a Crags mother, and the stabbing of a 17-year-old schoolboy by another learner at Murray High School in Kwanokuthula.
A herb gatherer found the body of Nokwanda Nnzengana, 38, in a forest behind the Kurlandbrik factory at The Crags on July 10. She was last seen alive eight days earlier by her 12-year-old daughter.
Police said Nnzengana left her home in The Crags and disappeared after receiving a telephone call.
The results of an autopsy conducted on the partially decomposed body were not yet available, but police have opened a murder docket.
A reward has been offered for proper information about Nnzengana's death. Call Warrant Officer John Nomdoe on 044 5011 900 or 072 2393 289 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
In the other incident last week, Grade 9 learner Songezo Joseph, 17, was stabbed once in the chest by another pupil during a fight outside the staff room at Murray High. He re...

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Author: Neil Oelofse