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November 28, 2014

Gauteng honours 22 Nigerian church collapse victims

NOTE: Article first appeared on The Citizen website on November 20, 2014.

Gauteng premier, David Makhura, said families who lost loved ones in the Nigerian collapse should be comforted by the fact that they died doing God’s will, at a mass memorial service held at Johannesburg City Hall this afternoon.

Bereaved families who lost loved ones in the Nigerian SCOAN church building collapse at a mass memorial service held at the Johannesburg City Hall, 20 November 2014. Picture: Valentina Nicol — Bereaved families who lost loved ones in the Nigerian SCOAN church building collapse at a mass memorial service held at the Johannesburg City Hall, 20 November 2014. Picture: *Valentina Nicol*

The memorial service comes two months after a guesthouse connected to prophet TB Joshua’s, Synagogue Church of all Nations collapsed and killed 116 people, eighty of which were South African.

Makhura said the nation is with the 22 families from Gauteng who lost loved ones. “They died in God’s name, they died serving him,” he added.

Seventy four bodies were successfully repatriated on Sunday, with a further 11 left behind. Earlier this week, Phumla Williams, spokesperson for the department of communications said the identification process for those left behind would have to start from scratch to “positively identify” the remains.

Sombre-faced family members made their way into the hall, some holding hands and others holding back tears.

The families have been asked to not view the mortal remains of their loved ones as the bodies were exposed for some time.

Makhura said government did their best in the repatriation process because “Jacob Zuma’s government is a government that cares.” The 22 families who will lay their loved ones to rest this week, need only ask if they need any assistance Makhura said.

September 17, 2014

5 arrested for Gauteng mall robberies

NOTE: Article first appeared on The Citizen website on Septemper 9, 2014.

On Tuesday morning Gauteng police made their first arrests in connection to a recent spate of mall robberies in the province.

Five men aged between 24 and 44 years of age were nabbed in a police raid in Brixton and Doornfontien at 4am this morning, . The five are suspected to be involved in at least two mall robberies in the province.

Provincial commissioner of police, Lesetja Mothiba told a media briefing in Parktown that so far 11 mall robberies have rocked Gauteng.

On 22 August, a gang of robbers struck an iStore at Centurion Mall, escaping with over R1 million worth of goods. A week before a group of men robbed an iStore at Cresta shopping mall , taking an undisclosed number of cellphones and iPads. As they fled the scene they started shooting randomly, injuring an elderly man in the parking lot.

That same week a group of men robbed an iStore at Glen Shopping Mall in Glenvista, Johannesburg, shooting and injuring a security guard before they fled the scene.

FILE PIC. Members of the police walk outside the jewellery store that was robbed on 14 November 2013 in Menlyn Park shopping centre. Picture: Christine Vermooten — FILE PIC. Members of the police walk outside the jewellery store that was robbed on 14 November 2013 in Menlyn Park shopping centre. Picture: *Christine Vermooten*

A man was killed last week at Black Chain Shopping Centre in Soweto when five suspects stole a cash box.

On Monday evening, a cellphone store at the Glen shopping centre in Ormonde, Johannesburg, was robbed with the suspects fleeing with cellphones.

Increased Security

Mothiba said lax mall security made the robberies easier for criminals, “some mall security is very relaxed. Some have CCTV camera’s that aren’t working or are of poor quality”.

Police are now offering a reward of R200 000 for people with information on those involved in mall robberies.

General Tebello Mosikili, deputy provincial commissioner for detective services. She revealed that police spend between R1 million and R1,5 million on rewards annually.

Police plan to work hand in hand with mall security, management and private security companies in the coming weeks to access various malls’ security.

Mothiba said police have identified at least 12 malls that they say are “high risk”. There will be increased visibility at these malls but he did not want to scare people by identifying them.

July 27, 2014

Household transport costs too high

NOTE: Article first appeared in The Citizen newspaper on July 19, 2014.

Even though government spends more than R5 billion a year subsidising public transport, 30% of all households use the bulk of their salaries on transport, according to Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters.

Peters said there was an urgent need to make transport accessible and affordable to vulnerable and marginalised groups who most need these services.

FILE PICTURE: Taxis use the Rea Vaya Lanes for parking to pick up passengers on Empire Road, Johannesburg, 13 October 2013. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark — FILE PICTURE: Taxis use the Rea Vaya Lanes for parking to pick up passengers on Empire Road, Johannesburg, 13 October 2013. Picture: *Tracy Lee Stark*

“Today public transport costs and the distances involved prevent the poor from taking full advantage of opportunities offered by cities and such exclusion contributes to high unemployment rates,” she said.

Peters was speaking in Hatfield, Pretoria yesterday where the National Household Travel Survey of 2013 was announced.

The survey, which was compiled by Stats SA, looked at the patterns of transport and travel nationally using data collected from a sample of 51 341 participants over the past 10 years.

The survey found that the number of children who walk to school every day had increased from 4.8% to 5.7% and a further 6.6 million children walk as their first mode of transport.

Peters said this meant pupil transport was an urgent problem that needed to be addressed .

Children should not be walking or hitchhiking long distances when there was so much violence against children, the minister said.

Peters cited the Bus Rapid Transit system and the Gautrain as successful projects.

However, Peters added that the Gautrain buses were not being used as effectively as they could be.

FILE PICTURE: A Rea Vaya bus passes its terminal. Picture: Alaister Russell. — FILE PICTURE: A Rea Vaya bus passes its terminal. Picture: *Alaister Russell*.

“Gautrain buses are becoming wasteful expenditure.

“People use private transport to get to stations and cause congestion. We need to start using them.”

The most popular form of public transport to go to work was taxis, with private vehicles coming a close second.

Peters said the taxi industry provided 300 000 direct jobs and contributed R40 billion to the economy annually.

Statistician-general Pali Lehohla noted that while taxis were popular because of their speed and relatively low prices, “people are unhappy”.

He attributed some of the discontent to the issues of safety, comfort, unreliability and increased fares.