Five men – including a daycare centre owner – have been arrested for allegedly being in possession of explicit child abuse images and videos, police said on Sunday. 

The men, aged between 30 and 62, were arrested between February 10 and Valentine’s Day following the execution of search warrants, police spokesperson Colonel Brenda Muridili said. 

‘Operation Moonlight’ was conducted by national and Gauteng members of a specialised section within the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, along with United States Department of Homeland Security officers – who assisted with their expertise in crime scene forensic analysis.

Murildili said teams acted on information from the Crime Intelligence Cyber Crime Unit.

“Several personal computers, hard drives, flash drives, tablets and cellphones which contain explicit child abuse material (child pornography) were seized during the operation for further investigation and as exhibits.”

Muridili said a 30-year-old living with his parents in Rietfontein was arrested first on February 10, while a 42-year-old married father of three was arrested in Claremont, Pretoria, on the same day. 

A 62-year-old pensioner who owns a daycare centre managed by his wife was arrested a day later and, on Thursday, a 42-year-old living with his parents was arrested in Daspoort, Pretoria.

The last man to be arrested, a 34-year-old from Kempton Park, had a previous conviction for rape and sexual assault – for which he received a five-year suspended sentence that will end on March 15. 

Muridili said another search warrant was executed in Garsfontein, Pretoria, but the suspect was not arrested. 

“The suspect was not arrested as there was no material found on his premises, but his electronic equipment was seized for further investigation.”

She said the man had a pending 2012 case of bestiality and possession of child pornography due for judgment on April 20. 

“All the accused that have already appeared in court have been granted bail of R5 000. They cannot be named as the police are still conducting thorough investigations and cannot rule out the possibility that some of the children on the material that has been confiscated might be South African, and therefore their identity has to be protected.”

Muridili appealed to parents to exercise strict measures to ensure their children do not fall prey to sexual predators lurking on the net. 

“It is recommended that parents supervise their children’s access to the internet and social media.”

She pointed out that no children under the age of 13 could use WhatsApp and Facebook in respect of their terms of service.

EFF leader Julius Malema believes that although former president Jacob Zuma must bring himself before a court of law on the charges he faces, he is too old to go to jail.

Speaking at the Cape Town Press Club on Friday, Malema, who was seen as a thorn on Zuma’s side in his last few years as head of state, said he didn’t necessarily believe the former leader should be jailed.

“If there are charges against him, he must go to court and answer to those charges,” said Malema.

Zuma faces 16 charges of fraud, money laundering, corruption and racketeering linked to 783 payments that French arms company Thales allegedly made to him in connection with the infamous arms deal in 1999. It saw Zuma’s former close associate Schabir Shaik sentenced to 15 years in jail for corruption.

READ | KwaZulu-Natal Bench defends judge in Jacob Zuma matter against ‘baseless’ public statements

Shaik was convicted of two counts of corruption and one of fraud, relating to his facilitation of a bribe, allegedly by the French arms company to Zuma.

After serving just over two years of his sentence, Shaik was released on medical parole on March 3, 2009.

“Jail time for an old person like that [referring Zuma] is not suitable. What kind of society have we become to jail such old people?” Malema asked.

On February 4, KwaZulu-Natal High Court Judge Dhaya Pillay acceded to a request from the State to issue an arrest warrant for Zuma over his non-attendance at his corruption trial.

Zuma’s legal team had submitted documents to the court, saying the former president was ill and had not been in the country since January 23.

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State prosecutor Billy Downer, however, requested information from the defence regarding Zuma’s ailments, which they were yet to receive. The State also raised questions over Zuma’s medical note submitted to the court.

The warrant has been suspended until his next court appearance in May.

“The purpose of jail is correctional, we correct you and send you back to society. What about Zuma is going to be corrected because he is an old man?” Malema asked, suggesting a different punishment might be more fitting.

During Zuma’s presidency, EFF MPs, including Malema himself, consistently challenged the former president in Parliament, calling for him to pay back money from his Nkandla homestead security upgrades and for him to be jailed for corruption.

Following a Constitutional Court judgment in 2016 which ruled that Zuma had failed to uphold the Constitution by not complying with then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s remedial action regarding payment for the upgrades to his Nkandla homestead, the EFF had went through great lengths to seeking parliament to take action against the him, News24 reported.

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Last year, however, speaking after a church service at the Apostolic Faith Mission River of Life in Soshanguve, Malema said the sermon, which was about forgiveness had moved him to forgive the former president. 

“I was even saying to the pastor that we’ve forgiven Zuma because of the sermon. So Zuma must thank the pastor, because we’ve got wisdom from the pastor,” Malema said then. 

– Additional reporting by Sesona Ngqakamba

A bakkie that was used as a getaway vehicle following a cash-in-transit robbery in June last year has linked five accused to robberies committed in KwaZulu-Natal last year.

Bheki Godfrey Sifiso Ndlovu, 42, Zenzele Gumede, 37, Bongani Madlala, 47, Mpumelelo Ntshangashe, 46, and Zwanani Goodman Cele, 31, appeared in the Port Shepstone Magistrate’s Court on Monday after they were arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit, Tactical Response Team and Dog Unit on charges of armed robbery which took place in the Southport area last year.

According to Hawks spokesperson Andrea Naicker, towards the end of August last year, the dockets were transferred to the Hawks for further investigation and, during intensive investigation, the accused were linked to the crimes and arrested on charges of armed robbery. 

“The accused had been in custody following their arrest for a cash-in-transit case and the possession of unlicensed firearms. The [owner] of a [stolen] bakkie, which was taken in June 2019, identified them upon their recent court appearance,” Naicker said. 

The case has been remanded to March 26 in the Pietermaritzburg High Court for a pre-trial conference where the accused will face charges of cash-in-transit robbery, possession of unlicensed firearms and armed robbery. 

The high rate of youth unemployment in South Africa is unacceptable, says President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa was speaking at the Pre-SONA Youth Dialogue hosted by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in Cape Town on Wednesday.

“Any country that is serious about its development, prosperity and its future cannot be complacent that such a large percentage of the population of working age is languishing in unemployment,” the president said.

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Statistics South Africa announced that the official unemployment numbers for the fourth quarter of 2019 remained unchanged at 29.1% – the highest rate since 2008 compared to the third quarter of 2019.

Fin24 reported that the number of employed persons increased by 45 000 to 16.4 million and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 8 000 to 6.7 million in the fourth quarter.

Speaking at the gathering, ahead of his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, Ramaphosa said addressing youth unemployment remained his priority.

He said that, after promising last year that he would develop a comprehensive plan that would be coordinated from the Presidency to create opportunities for youth, the implementation of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention had now got under way.

“What distinguishes this intervention is that it is being driven by a specialised Project Management Office in the Presidency. Its aim is to increase levels of alignment and focus across government and begin to tackle youth unemployment at scale,” he said.

Ramaphosa added that he would be announcing some of the immediate steps that the government would be taking to make the intervention a reality.

Accelerating the growth of competitive, export-oriented, labour-intensive industries and ensuring that the most marginalised youth had the support they need some of the things that needed to be tackled to create opportunities for youth, he said.

“Our first priority is to create a National Pathway Management Network for young work-seekers to view and access learning and work opportunities, to receive a basic package of support and work readiness training, and to be matched to employment and other economic opportunities.”

Another priority, according to Ramaphosa, is to ensure that young people have the skills that they need to access opportunities in key growth sectors, such as global business services, digital and technology, tourism, agriculture, and social services.

Touching on education, Ramaphosa announced funding for free higher education for poor and working class students had been expanded from R11.2bn in 2016 to R35bn in 2020.

Government had also instituted two years of compulsory early learning for all children before they enter Grade 1. The programme was to ensure that, within the next decade, every child would be able to read with meaning by the age of 10 he said.

Ramaphosa will deliver his much-anticipated SONA on Thursday at 19:00. 

The release of Nelson Mandela 30 years ago was a victory for the people, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.

“It was not [done] out of the kindness of FW de Klerk’s heart. It was not because he felt sorry for Nelson Mandela; it was not because he was a kind-hearted man,” Ramaphosa said on the balcony of City Hall in Cape Town alongside a statue of the first democratic president.

“It was because of the pressure and the struggles that the people of our country waged to enable Nelson Mandela to be released. It was your victory.”

In 1990, Ramaphosa held the microphone when Madiba delivered his first public address in Cape Town’s city centre.

“It was here where we received Nelson Mandela and celebrated his release from prison. February 11 will forever be remembered as one of the most memorable days in the history of the world, not only in the history of South Africa.”

‘Simply magic in the air’

There was “simply magic in the air” that day, Ramaphosa recalled.

“This icon, who in every sense is a legend, had endured the unimaginable: 27 years of incarceration, torn away from his family, his community, shut away from the outside world and taken away from his organisation, first on a forsaken island in the middle of the sea and then behind the high walls of a prison compound.

“He had been taken to prison in chains while still a young man in his prime and was now returning as a 72-year-old whose health had been ravaged by the harshness of prison life,” he said.

“Given all he had gone through, it would have been understandable if he used his first speech – right here at this point where I am standing – to denounce his captors, to gloat and to call for revenge. If anyone had the right to do so, it was Nelson Mandela.”

Instead, he had paid tribute to the people of South Africa, to the international community that had campaigned for his release and to the leaders of the liberation movement, Ramaphosa pointed out.

“He repeated demands for the release of political prisoners, for the lifting of the state of emergency and for the immediate end to violence so that negotiations could commence.

“He called on white compatriots to be a part of shaping a new SA, saying uniting the people of the country was the foremost priority. President Nelson Mandela’s words that day set the tone for a country that was in the throes of upheaval and uncertainty. It was a combination of strength and modesty. It was firm but it was also reassuring,” he said.

READ | Freed Nelson Mandela | 30 years on: The legend and his legacy

“His words were delivered with the gravity and humility of a man whose life forever stands as a testimony to the victory of reconciliation over retribution, of the olive branch over the gun, of coexistence over conflict.”

Ramaphosa said it was easy for those who decried what Madiba did to “sit back and be critical of the leadership that he provided as he sought to mash us into a nation”.

‘Winds of change’

“The winds of change were sweeping across the land. The ANC and other liberation movements had been unbanned and the leadership were making their way home from exile. The government was bankrupt, and the economy was in freefall, rendering the state the liberation movement stood to inherit hollow and weakened.

“The right wing was mobilising and marshalling their forces of intolerance to railroad the negotiation process. Many of the doomsday prophets said it would be impossible under these conditions to bring SA back from the brink.

“And yet coming together as a nation we did, under the leadership of Nelson Mandela who had vision and foresight, who had the strength of the organisation that he led.”

Hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Ramaphosa addressed a crowd of Mandela family members, MPs, pupils, dignitaries and passers-by during the 30th anniversary commemoration proceedings.