Friday 5 March - DAILY NEWS SUMMARY
Pretoria News (www.pretorianews.co.za)
Page 1 – THREE GANGS ‘TERRORISE’ MAMELODI
The Star (www.iol.co.za)
Page 1 – Chief Justice told to apologise for pro-Israel comments
Citizen (www.citizen.co.za)
Page 3 – Doctors warn of third wave
Mail & Guardian(www.mg.co.za)
Page 8 – Vodacom duped out of 8 700 phones
Business Day (www.businesslive.co.za)
Biden urged to pursue realistic goals with North Korea
News24 (www.news24.co.za)
Fans frustrated as Spotify removes hundreds of K-Pop songs amid licensing dispute with Kakao M
연합뉴스 (www.yonhapnews.co.kr) 남아공서사육악어들강으로탈출 '비상'
"남아공코로나19 변이바이러스, 다른변이에면역 '순기능'도"
THREE GANGS ‘TERRORISE’
MAMELODI
A community leader said not one but three armed gangs -Boko Haram, Farasai and Al Qaeda - were responsible for terror in the Tshwane township.
• Pretoria News
• 5 Mar 2021
• LIAM NGOBENI liam.ngobeni@inl.co.za
RESIDENTS of Mamelodi say not one but three (groups of) bandits, including the notorious gang “Boko Haram”, are responsible for the reign of terror in the Tshwane township which involves murder, drug dealing, extortion, car and business hijackings.
According to a community leader, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, apart from Boko Haram, criminal groups such as Farasai and Al Qaeda were also terrorising residents of the township east of Gauteng.
This was in addition to another gang led by taxi boss Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela, known as the City’s Number 1 Tsotsi.
Pretoria News previously reported that Mamelodi was under siege from criminal gangs who specialised in banditry, extortion, drug dealing, contract killing and car hijacking.
Farasai is said to deal in murder for hire, according to locals.
“We know of cases where they are sent to deal with people. For instance, aggrieved lovers pay a sum of R5 000 for the services,” said a community leader.
Al-Qaeda apparently focuses on drugs and is behind most car hijackings, while Boko Haram is known for extortion of all kinds and contract hijacking in Mamelodi and surrounding areas.
The resident said victims were so fearstricken they hardly dared open a case with the police, and those who did were threatened until they withdrew them.
Crime statistics released by Police Minister Bheki Cele last week also painted a grim picture about the township, which featured in the top 30 stations for contact crimes.
Yesterday, DA members held a picket outside the Mamelodi West Police Station, which has been thrust into the spotlight for failing to deal with the lawlessness brought on by the gangs.
They called for action in the murder of party activist Daniel Sello, who was vocal when Boko Haram allegedly invaded the Kingston hostels.
MPL Fred Nel, handing over a memorandum, said they were concerned about the lack of progress in solving this case and the disturbing reports of police officials being complicit in the crimes.
“We are concerned that no significant progress was made in his case and that no arrests have been made. The case will not go away. We will not let it go until justice is served.”
A close friend of Sello said it was still painful to recount. He was sad that it seemed nothing was being done to bring justice.
“Daniel was marked for being vocal when they wanted to take over the Kingston hostels and they tracked him down and murdered him in his room for standing up for the true
beneficiaries meant to stay there."
Tshwane member of mayoral community (MMC) for Community Safety and Emergency Services, Karen Meyer, said the gang members were known to the community, and their existence for so long was a problem.
Last week, Gauteng provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela visited the township and vowed gang activity would be dealt with as they had enough intelligence from various stakeholders.
These included community members, who were informing them of the groups’ modus
operandi, including its hierarchy, where they lived and what projects they were taking over in Tshwane.
He said they had also recruited detectives who were supported by police intelligence and forensic investigators assisted by prosecutors.
“We are busy, and once the time is ready we are going to pounce on them and we won't lose our grip on them.”
Last week, the police raided the Sun Valley Hostels in Mamelodi, which were said to be one of the many turfs the group had hijacked. The multidisciplinary team included the SANDF and the police’s Tactical Response Team, previously known as Amaberete.
Boko Haram is said to hijack buildings, kick service providers out, and threaten – and kill, those who stand in their way.
“Boko Haram hijacks vehicles and changes the vehicle identity numbers, and from spaza shops they collect R2 000 a month in exchange for not taking them over through violence.
They collect on the 25th, 26th and 27th of every month,” said a source.
When Pretoria News visited the township, terrified residents said talking about the gang was not an option as it meant death.
But one living near the Heatherley landfill site said that area was also under the gang’s rule.
Chief Justice told to apologise for pro-Israel comments
Mogoeng Mogoeng found to have contravened Code of Judicial Conduct
• The Star Early Edition
• 5 Mar 2021
• LOYISO SIDIMBA loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za
CHIEF Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng | SIPHIWE SIBEKO Reuters
OUTGOING Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has been ordered to apologise and withdraw his pro-Israel comments, which have now been found to have contravened the Code of Judicial Conduct.
The Judicial Conduct Committee yesterday informed the complainants in the matter –
#Africa4Palestine, the South African BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Coalition and the Women’s Cultural Group – that Mogoeng had been found to have breached the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Mogoeng made the comments in June last year during a webinar organised by The Jerusalem Post, where he claimed to be under an obligation as a Christian to love Israel and pray for Jerusalem’s peace, which means that country’s peace.
”If I curse Abraham and Israel, the almighty God will curse me too,” he said.
Mogoeng added: “I cannot do anything, as a Christian, other than love and pray for Israel because I know hatred for Israel by me and for my nation can only attract unprecedented curses.”
Retired Gauteng Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo, who is a member of the Judicial Conduct Committee, directed Mogoeng to issue an apology and a retraction for his
comments.
Judge Mojapelo, who was designated to investigate Mogoeng’s comments, decided that some of the complaints against the Chief Justice had been established.
Mogoeng, who is due to retire at the end of the year, was widely condemned for his comments, with the ANC expressing its concern about his statements and demanding high- level talks with him, and for National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise to talk to the country’s top judge.
His former colleague, retired Constitutional Court Justice Zak Yacoob, called for an investigation by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).
Yacoob also called on the JSC to censure Mogoeng for breaching the Code of Judicial Conduct by appearing in public in his capacity as Chief Justice and making comments that were in contradiction with South African foreign policy.
At the time, the EFF condemned Mogoeng, saying he was trying to delegitimise the
international human rights campaign against Israel, which it described as an “apartheid state”.
The EFF said Mogoeng would never have been Chief Justice without the BDS movement against apartheid, and demanded that he retract his comments on Israel, which it blamed for oppressing Palestinians.
Mogoeng received some backing from the South African Friends of Israel (Safi), which claimed those denouncing him were mischievously misinterpreting his statement towards their hateful agenda.
”Attacking the chief justice for expressing his Christian views is a direct attack on freedom of religion and expression in this country. Safi objects to this fundamental right being
undermined,” the organisation said, adding that Christians in South Africa would not be silenced, and applauded him for standing up for his convictions.
Doctors warn of third wave
WORRY: SOUTH AFRICANS DROPPING GUARD SINCE INTRODUCTION OF LOCKDOWN LEVEL 1
• The Citizen (Gauteng)
• 5 Mar 2021
• Brian Sokutu
Picture: Neil McCartneyOPEN WIDE.
Health workers conduct tests for the coronavirus in Stjwetla, Alexandra, after a case of Covid-19 was found there soon after the outbreak in South Africa.
Vaccines prevent severe Covid-19 cases and death, says specialist physician.
As South Africa today marks a year since the first case of coronavirus was detected, doctors at the coalface of the pandemic have urged people not to be complacent.
On 5 March, 2020, a coronavirus-free South Africa was plunged into a state of panic when a 38-year-old man from Hilton, near Pietermaritzburg, returning from a holiday in Italy with his wife, tested positive.
At the time, over 2 500 cases and 79 deaths were reported in Italy, where the man and his party – among a group of 10 tourists – had spent their holiday.
Urging South Africans not to drop their guard under lockdown level 1, Dr Gilles van Cutsem of Doctors Without Borders and Steve Biko Academic Hospital specialist emergency
physician Dr Vidya Laloo said the pandemic was far from being defeated.
Van Cutsem warned that the country could experience more waves of Covid-19 outbreaks “as long as the majority of the population is not vaccinated”.
“We can delay and prevent outbreaks with relatively simple prevention measures: physical distancing, facial mask wearing, avoiding gatherings, hand washing and early testing in case of symptoms.
“The health system can maintain rigorous symptom screening – triage and infection control in health facilities; and a sufficient oxygen capacity plan.
“We also need to introduce training of existing staff in the management of Covid-19, including higher care.
“There is also an urgent need to focus on recovering pre-coronavirus levels of care for other major diseases, such as HIV and TB [tuberculosis] testing and treatment; diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” said Van Cutsem.
Asked whether there were any lessons learnt from the country’s experience in dealing with the virus, Laloo said: “I have learnt that it’s not rocket science avoiding this disease.
“Simple measures that we have been preaching, actually work.
“It has also been made very clear that, as South Africans, we struggle to be responsible with our alcohol use.
“The impact that the restrictions on alcohol have made to a number of trauma cases is impressive.”
While vaccinating, people should remember that “one can get mild Covid-19, even when vaccinated”.
“The vaccine prevents severe Covid-19 cases and death,” said Laloo. – brians@citizen.co.za
Vodacom duped out of 8 700 phones
A flashy married couple have been implicated in a scheme involving iphones worth R24-million
• Mail & Guardian
• 5 Mar 2021
• Khaya Koko
Details of how mobile giant Vodacom was allegedly swindled out of R24.6-million through the “theft” of more than 8 700 Apple iphones by a Midrand couple and their colleagues have been revealed in an intricate trial.
Peter Poonsammy, who was stationed at Vodacom’s corporate offices in Midrand as a business analyst, is facing more than 70 theft and money laundering charges for allegedly stealing more than 8 700 iphone devices from April 2012 to July 2014.
Upmarket Mercedes Benz vehicles also form part of the state’s case as Poonsammy is accused of buying and selling the luxury cars as a means to allegedly “clean” the money prosecutors believe the former business analyst received from Vodacom.
The company told the Mail & Guardian that its systems had been fortified, preventing further breaches such as the one Poonsammy is accused of committing.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) charge sheet, Poonsammy was the sole director of Blaze Technology. The state alleges that Poonsammy fraudulently registered two accounts for his company as a Vodacom dealer to enable Blaze Technology to place cell phone device orders.
Poonsammy is accused of ordering and generating invoices for the phones, receiving them at his company’s warehouse, but not paying Vodacom for the so-called sales.
The trial is being prosecuted by the Investigating Directorate (ID) stationed in NPA head Shamila Batohi’s office.
The documents detail an elaborate scheme in which Poonsammy roped in his wife, Khemie Poonsammy, to launder the supposedly illicit gains through her Nedbank account. Khemie is the second accused in the case and is facing one count of money laundering.
The M&G recently reported on another high-profile case of an alleged family-run scam being probed by the ID, with Kishane and Krishna Chetty and their co-accused expected back in court this month for, the NPA said, capturing the South African Police Service to the tune of R100-million. Investigators in the case believe the amounts involved could total R1-billion.
The alleged Poonsammy scam, according to the NPA, began in April 2012, when 20 devices were ordered and delivered to Blaze Technology’s Halfway House address at a combined cost of R54 323.
In the seven months of 2014 before his 25 July arrest, Poonsammy is accused of stealing 5 100 iphones.
According to a breakdown of when the alleged fraudulent transactions occurred, Poonsammy began slowly by only purchasing not more than 70 devices per order.
From August 2013, the state claims that he upped his tempo and started procuring more than 100 phones at a time, with the biggest monthly buy for 2 300 iphones in June 2014, a month before his arrest.
“The devices were then sold to persons whose identities are currently to the state unknown, and the proceeds of the sales were paid into the [Standard Bank account of Poonsammy],”
reads the NPA’S charge sheet.
Khemie Poonsammy, Rajeen Gokulpersad (accused number three) and Rajesh Rawchand (accused four) are the other accused facing trial.
Their legal representative, Rajen Naidoo, indicated in court that his clients were not guilty and that the state had no case against them. The trial was postponed during the last court appearance last month when Naidoo revealed that Gokulpersad could not attend due to unspecified medical reasons. When the trial resumes, Naidoo is expected to crossexamine Jabu Mogale, Vodacom’s forensic investigator.
Mogale, the state’s first witness, testified in his evidence-inchief how Vodacom had foiled the alleged scam, including providing the court with all 71 order numbers Poonsammy is accused of having generated for the alleged bogus sales of iphones.
In a statement this week, Vodacom’s spokesperson Byron Kennedy confirmed that it was aware of the theft and money-laundering case against its former employee.
Kennedy said the alleged breaches of Vodacom’s systems were not a cause for concern.
“We have put additional measures in place to prevent similar exploits from occurring,”
Kennedy added.
Meanwhile, the state said Poonsammy and his wife were so brazen that, between 23 July and 25 July 2014, when they suspected that the net was closing in on them, the couple made transactions worth R650 000 to prepare for the legal defence, according to the charge sheet.
Poonsammy purchased a Mercedes Benz C63 Coupe and a Mercedes Benz W176 for a combined sum of almost R2-million, as a way to allegedly launder the money.
In August 2014, a month after his arrest, Poonsammy allegedly transferred the C63 to Dawchand’s name and the W176 to Gokulpersad’s.
The NPA stated that the buying and transferring of the cars was to enable and assist “any person who has committed … an offence to avoid prosecution and/or remove or diminish any property acquired directly as a result of the commission of the offence”.
The four accused, who are all out on bail, are expected back in court next month.
Biden urged to pursue
realistic goals with North Korea
Seoul — With US policy towards North Korea in limbo as the new administration in Washington conducts a months-long policy review, former officials and experts are sparring over whether to shift focus from seeking the North’s full denuclearisation.
The administration of President Joe Biden says its review of North Korea policy will be finished in coming months, before announcing its plans for handling a rolling crisis that has bedevilled generations of US presidents.
In his first major speech outlining Biden’s top foreign policy priorities, secretary of state Antony Blinken on Wednesday focused on China, only mentioning North Korea as one of several countries that present “serious challenges”.
The administration’s interim national security strategic guidance released later that day said Biden would “empower our diplomats to work to reduce the threat posed by North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile programs” while standing shoulder to shoulder with allies such as South Korea and Japan, but did not elaborate.
The strategy’s talk of threat reduction is notable and potentially positive if the
administration embraces that as a short-term focus while retaining denuclearisation as a longer-term aspirational goal, said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Threat reduction suggests a realistic appraisal of the situation on the Korean Peninsula
— namely, that North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities need to be addressed short of total disarmament,” he said.
Regardless of the approach taken, analysts and former officials say it would be a mistake to wait for North Korea to make the first move, such as a long-range missile or nuclear test, and that Biden stands the best chance of making some progress by being proactive.
“One key lesson we’ve learned over time is the longer we kick this can down the road, the more limited our options become,” the US-based 38 North think-tank said in a recent report.
Among the proposals being raised by experts are limited arms control arrangements in exchange for easing sanctions on Pyongyang, establishing better diplomatic ties,
conducting exchanges, and declaring an official end to the state of war that has technically existed since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Several former members of Donald Trump’s administration, however, have called for Biden to double down on sanctions and the threat of military action to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear weapons, arguing that his “maximum pressure” campaign was never fully enforced or given time to work.
Many of these ideas were debated prominently when Trump’s historic meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un raised the prospect that relations between the two old enemies could change.
But no significant breakthroughs were made and a growing number of observers say it is time the US tries something new.
Arms contol vs denuclearisation
Earlier this week, analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) said commercial satellite imagery showed North Korea recently built a structure over a pair of underground tunnels near Yongdoktong, where it is believed to store nuclear weapons, highlighting potential progress in expanding the North’s arsenal.
In February, Blinken told the UN-backed Conference on Disarmament that the US
“remains focused on the denuclearisation of North Korea”.
38 North argued smaller steps could help reduce tensions and risks of conflict. Measures could include arms control agreements, scaling back military exercises with South Korea, building diplomatic ties, and declaring an end to the Korean War, while also working closely with allies and strengthening deterrence.
“The goal of denuclearisation should be maintained but reframed in a more realistic way that seeks to secure achievable limits on North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities in the near term,” the report concluded.
Trump’s former national security chief, John Bolton, blasted those ideas in a recent op-ed for Bloomberg Opinion, arguing the US needs to keep military options on the table. He feared Biden would adopt “weak arms control and non-proliferation diplomacy”.
Another of Trump’s former national security advisers, HR McMaster, told a US
congressional committee on Tuesday Biden should not accede to initial agreements and payoffs just to get to the negotiating table.
“Acknowledging North Korea as a limited nuclear power and pursuing a strategy of containment is not acceptable,” he said.
A former adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in argued the goal of
denuclearisation does not need to be dropped, but the US needs to be more flexible in making initial deals with Pyongyang.
“There’s unlikely to be any progress if they adopt a cognitive frame of ‘crime and punishment’, Moon Chung-in wrote in an op-ed for the Hankyoreh newspaper.
Reuters
Fans frustrated as Spotify removes
hundreds of K-Pop songs amid licensing dispute with Kakao M
국가기간뉴스 통신사 연합뉴스
인쇄닫기
남아공서 사육 악어들 강으로 탈출 '비상'
(요하네스버그=연합뉴스) 김성진 특파원 = 남아프리카공화국 웨스턴케이프 주에서 3 일(현지시간) 농장에 사육 중이던 악어들이 강으로 탈출해 비상이 걸렸다고 로이터통신 등이 전했다.
정확한 수를 알 수 없는 나일 악어들은 이날 보니베일 상업용 사육 농장에서 인근 브리 강으로 탈출했다.
이에 따라 경찰, 토지주, 자연보전 관리들이 악어 사냥에 나서 이튿날 4 일 현재 26 마리를 생포했다. 아직 얼마나 많은 악어가 안 잡히고 남아있는지는 분명하지 않다.
탈출한 악어들은 아프리카에 널리 서식하는 식인 악어로 길이는 1.2∼1.5ｍ라고 당국은 밝혔다.
민물 악어는 주로 악어 가죽 제품을 위해 사육되며 평균 5ｍ까지 자라고 성숙한 수컷은 0.5t 이상이 나간다.
웨스턴케이프 주정부 대변인인 제임스-브렌트 스티언은 "그것들은 농장 동물로 정기적 먹이 주기에 익숙하고 먹잇감 사냥에 나서지 않았기 때문에 중급 정도의 위험이 있다. 하지만 그들은 야생이고 본능적인 동물이다"라면서 사람들에게 강에서 떨어지라고 촉구했다.
인쇄닫기
"남아공 코로나 19 변이 바이러스, 다른 변이에 면역 '순기능'도"
(요하네스버그=연합뉴스) 김성진 특파원 = 남아프리카공화국에서 생겨난 신종 코로나바이러스 감염증(코로나 19) 변이가 다른 코로나 19 변이 바이러스로부터는 더 잘 보호해주는 순기능을 가진 것으로 나타났다고 남아공 연구진이 3 일(현지시간) 밝혔다.
AFP 통신에 따르면 남아공발 변이 501Y.V2 에 앞서 감염된 사람은 다른 변이에 대해 더 나은 면역을 가졌다는 내용의 새 연구 결과가 나왔다.
이로써 남아공 변이에 기초한 백신을 만들면 미래의 변이에 대해 보호할 수 있을 것이라는 희망이 생겼다.
지난해 말 확인된 남아공발 변이는 현지에서 2 차감염 파동을 주도하고 올 2 월 백신 접종도 지연시켰다.
과학자들은 그러나 3 일 변이에 감염된 사람에게서 추출한 혈장이 "좋은 중성화 (항체) 활동"을 가졌다면서 그 대상에는 '1 차 감염 파동' 바이러스와 잠재적으로 다른 우려되는 변이들도 포함된다고 말했다.
항체를 원래의 변이와 다른 브라질발 변이 등에 테스트했을 때 "분명한 방향 감각을 보여주는 결과가 나왔다"고 바이러스 학자 툴리오 드 올리베이라가 화상 콘퍼런스에서 말했다.
즈웰리 음키제 남아공 보건부 장관도 같은 모임에서 이번 발견은 "모두에게 좋은 소식"이라면서 그것이 팬데믹(전염병의 세계적 대유행)을 제어하는 데 큰 힘이 된다고 설명했다.
코로나 변이 중 일부는 좀 더 강한 전염성을 보이면서 글로벌 백신 접종 활동에 찬물을 끼얹었다. 기존 백신이 이들에 대해 효능이 덜한 것으로 발견됐기 때문이다.
제약업자들은 최근 수 주간 새로운 변이 확산에 대항해 백신 제조 공식을 경쟁적으로 변경하고 나섰다.
