Pretoria

The man accused of murdering missing constable Frances Rasuge laid a charge of conspiracy to commit murder against her after he was told she wanted him dead, Mmabatho Circuit Court heard on Monday. In previous testimony, William Nkuna told the court he had believed Rasuge was incapable of ordering his death.

The need for the Scorpions no longer existed and they should be transferred to the police, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) told the Khampepe Commission in Pretoria on Monday. The commission is deciding whether the Scorpions should be incorporated into the police service or remain part of the National Prosecuting Authority.

Pretoria advocate Dirk Prinsloo asked on Monday for his sex-crimes trial to be split from that of his former girlfriend and co-accused Cezanne Visser. The application was based on Visser’s failure on Friday to challenge evidence that she had admitted to committing sexual deeds with Prinsloo in front of two children.

Two organisations came out against a merger of the Scorpions and the police in oral submissions at the Khampepe commission in Pretoria on Friday. The Foundation for Human Rights held that incorporating the Scorpions into the police service would be detrimental to South Africa’s ability to combat crime.

Evidence is being prepared by William Nkuna’s defence in his trial for the murder of missing police constable Frances Rasuge, after an application for his acquittal was refused on Friday. Judge Ronnie Hendricks ruled against the defence’s application to acquit Nkuna on the grounds that the state had no prima facie evidence linking him to Rasuge’s murder.

Pretoria advocate Cezanne Visser had admitted to committing sexually explicit deeds with her then lover Dirk Prinsloo in front of two girls in 2002, the Pretoria High Court heard on Friday. Children’s home manager Martie Booyse told the court Visser had admitted to allegations levelled by the two girls.

Problems between the Scorpions and the police are among the inevitable challenges of managing a society’s law enforcement, the Institute of Security Studies told the Khampepe Commission on Friday. The commission entered its fifth day of public hearings into the future of the Scorpions, which operates as an elite crime-busting unit.

An 11-year-old girl was allegedly made to watch acts of oral and simulated sex while spending a weekend with two Pretoria advocates in 2002, the city’s high court heard on Thursday. The girl was allegedly taken into a bathroom by the pair, where Cezanne Visser undressed and told the child to touch her breasts, according to a caregiver at the children’s home the girl attended.

A black T-shirt helped identify William Nkuna as the man withdrawing money from missing constable Frances Rasuge’s account days after she disappeared, the Mmabatho Circuit Court heard on Thursday. The man captured on bank surveillance cameras withdrawing money from Rasuge’s account was Nkuna, investigating officer Captain Tsietsi Mmano said at Nkuna’s trial for her murder.

Claims by two girls of sexual abuse at the hands of two Pretoria advocates were brought into question in the city’s high court on Thursday. Defence counsel questioned a social worker on why certain serious allegations against the pair came to light only months after the girls’ initial complaints.

Scorpions detectives belonged in the police and prosecutors with the National Prosecuting Authority, a commission of inquiry heard on Wednesday. South African Police Service advocate Philip Jacobs said prosecutors should remain true to their role while investigators have to fall under the command and control of the police.

A witness in the sex-crimes trial of two Pretoria advocates was accused in the city’s high court on Wednesday of helping to ”build” a case against the pair. Social worker Marlene Malan was unable to explain why a claim that Cezanne Visser had asked an 11-year-old girl to touch her then-partner Dirk Prinsloo’s private parts came to light months after the initial complaint.

A man wearing a black top was captured on camera withdrawing money from missing Constable Frances Rasuge’s bank account days after she disappeared, the Mmabatho Circuit Court heard on Wednesday. In other testimony on Wednesday, Rasuge’s mother said accused William Nkuna had threatened to kill Rasuge and himself.

Judge Sisi Khampepe on Wednesday ruled that commission hearings into the Scorpion’s future will be open to the public. Police advocate Philip Jacobs earlier submitted that discussions around intelligence functions in relation to the Constitution and those about cases that are pending should be held in camera.

Murder accused William Nkuna had threatened to kill missing police Constable Frances Rasuge and himself, her mother told the circuit court sitting in Garankuwa on Wednesday. Answering questions from the state, Caroline Rasuge said she had called Nkuna on January 1, last year, asking him to leave her daughter alone.

A Pretoria advocate facing an array of sex charges along with his ex-girlfriend was denied leave in the city’s high court on Wednesday to question the integrity of two of the pair’s alleged child victims. Dirk Prinsloo sought permission to cross-examine a social worker on the backgrounds of the two girls.

South Africa’s two hockey teams in action at the Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday remained on course for places in Saturday’s finals, although the women had a much more satisfactory day than their male counterparts did. The women’s team took their Nigerian opponents apart at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria.

The closure of the Pretoria suburb where President Thabo Mbeki and Cabinet ministers live has nothing to do with the Presidency. The municipality said on Tuesday: ”The closure and rezoning of streets in Bryntirion has nothing to do with the erection of booms, as reported in some sections of the media.”

South Africa would put processes in motion to open a mission in Iraq, deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. The matter was raised in talks with his Iraqi counterpart Talib Hamid Al-Bayati in Pretoria on Tuesday afternoon. ”We will be looking at sending an advance team to Iraq sooner rather than later,” said Pahad.

Missing police constable Frances Rasuge laid and withdrew rape charges against murder accused William Nkuna three months before she disappeared, the Mmbatho Circuit Court heard on Tuesday. She subsequently filed a withdrawal statement on May 24 and the charges were withdrawn three days later.

The sex-crimes trial of Pretoria advocates Dirk Prinsloo and Cezanne Visser resumes in the city’s high court on Tuesday after a six-month break. The hearing is expected to kick off with evidence from officials of a children’s home from where the couple is alleged to have collected minor girls who were subsequently abused.

The state was in the dock on Monday for not seeking a prison sentence for convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni and other corrupt public officials. Pointing out that public corruption has become rife, two Pretoria High Court judges said it might be time to start imposing deterrent sentences.

The credibility of Tony Yengeni’s claim that former prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka promised him a R5 000 fine in exchange for pleading guilty to fraud was questioned in the Pretoria High Court on Monday. Had such an agreement existed, one would have expected Yengeni to protest immediately at his prison sentence, one of the judges stated.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) is to submit a list of issues that it would prefer to be discussed behind closed doors at the Khampepe commission into the future of the Scorpions. Judge Sisi Khampepe requested the list after hearing submissions on Monday on whether the commission’s proceedings should be held in camera.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) is due to reply to submissions made on Monday arguing for the Khampepe commission into the future of the Scorpions to be open to the public. The commission, headed by Judge Sisi Khampepe and appointed by President Thabo Mbeki in March, is sitting in Pretoria.

President Thabo Mbeki, a critic of boom gates, will soon be living in a gated community himself. The Tshwane metro council has approved an application for the closure of a number of streets in Bryntirion, the suburb that has been home to the president, members of the Cabinet and other important officials since the early 1900s.

The Blue Bulls secured their place in the semifinals of this year’s Currie Cup competition with a flawless 59-0 victory over Griqualand West at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night. The defending Currie Cup champions were ruthless in their execution and demolished a Griqua pack that almost upset the Lions a week ago in Kimberley.

Friday’s Constitutional Court judgement on medicine-pricing regulations should be interpreted as a victory for the Department of Health and citizens, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said. ”The judgement cannot be interpreted to say the department was wrong,” she told reporters in Pretoria. The court, she said, merely identified ”a few minor defects” in the regulations.

Former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni’s appeal against a fraud conviction and four-year sentence is to be heard in the Pretoria High Court on Monday. Yengeni is to contest the verdict on the grounds that he was deceived into pleading guilty by former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.

South Africa must handle its self-assessment in terms of the African Peer Review Mechanism in a way that will benefit the rest of the continent, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday. ”It is natural that the rest of the continent will watch this process very carefully,” Mbeki said in Midrand.