Pretoria News Weekend Saturday, March 27, 2021

BOXING LEGEND ROARS AGAIN A victory celebration almost 30 years in the making for first SA WBF champion SAKHILE NDLAZI sakhile.ndlazi@inl.co.za OUPA MOKOENA African News Agency (ANA) JUST as the length and darkness of a lion’s mane is to signal information to other animals about the fighting ability of the “king of the jungle”, so is a championship belt to a boxer. South African boxing legend Ditau “Diarora” Molefyane was a great punisher and could put down his opponents with just one jab, but the now 56-year-old had nothing to show for it until this week. Molefyane, born in Tembisa and now a resident of Rosslyn in Pretoria, won the World Boxing Federation (WBF) junior lightweight title after beating Ricky Rayner in Australia in March 1993. He became…

ARBITRATION Excessive social media use costs worker her job ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za SPENDING too much time playing computer games and being on social media at work as well as peeking at her colleagues’ salary information had disastrous consequences for a Cape Town legal secretary. Following a warning, Eilleen Jacobs was dismissed from the law firm Lucas Dysel Crouse. The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) earlier found that her dismissal in 2018 was substantively unfair, but procedurally fair. The firm was ordered to pay her nine months’ salary. She had been working there for nine years. The law firm successfully turned to the Labour Court to set aside the arbitration ruling. The Labour Court has now found Jacobs was guilty of looking at a confidential folder containing the salary…

JUSTICE ON MENU Divided ANC begins NEC meeting LOYISO SIDIMBA Loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za THE ANC National Executive Committee began its three-day meeting yesterday with the party caught up in divisions. The meeting comes against the backdrop of former President Jacob Zuma launching an attack on the judiciary, with his supporters backing him and his detractors calling for action. Zuma’s staunchest allies, the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), backed the former head of state over his latest anti-judiciary comments. Zuma yesterday hit back at the country’s judiciary following the Constitutional Court’s hearing of an urgent application by the commission of inquiry into state capture to have him jailed for two years for contempt of court. MKMVA president and ANC MP Kebby Maphatsoe told Independent Media that Zuma’s position was informed by his…

SET TO SUE AFTER HAWKS DROP CHARGES Another victory for Gigaba’s wife GOITSEMANG TLHABYE goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za THOBILE MATHONSI African News Agency (ANA) NORMA Mngoma will be suing the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) after all charges against her were dropped in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Mngoma, the wife of former Cabinet minister Malusi Gigaba, was appearing in court yesterday on charges of malicious damage to property and crimen injuria. During her brief appearance, the state indicated that it was withdrawing all the charges against her. She was arrested by the Hawks in July for allegedly damaging a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon worth more than R3 million. She had also initially faced charges for domestic violence and assault for allegedly assaulting her husband. However, those charges were subsequently excluded. In…

TRIAL State grows impatient in case against Richard Mdluli ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za NPA ID Communications FORMER crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli eventually appeared in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria yesterday after he failed to do so on four previous occasions. His third failure to appear in court resulted in Judge Bert Bam issuing a warrant of arrest against him. Mdluli is already serving a five-year jail term for the assault and kidnapping of his former lover Tshidi Buthelezi and two others following an incident in 1998. He is now due to stand trial in the high court on charges of fraud, corruption and theft, related to the police’s secret slush fund. The investigative directorate said his constant failure to appear in court resulted in his co-accused, Heine Barnard and Solomon…

Net is tightening around Boko Haram POLICE have urged Mamelodi residents to continue assisting them if they want to see an end to the reign of terror of the notorious Boko Haram gang. The police announced that they were closing the net on the gang following the recent arrests of two more members believed to be part of Boko Haram. The arrests took place on March 18. According to the police, through a prosecutorial-led investigation, they were able to build a solid preliminary case on which the pair made their first appearance in court on Tuesday. The accused were arrested on charges of robbery, contravening of security legislation, and racketeering, after business people in and around Mamelodi alleged that they were forced to pay monies to the suspects in exchange…