Pretoria’s homeless people targeted by ‘Serial killer’ – bodies of three victims found over period of twee weeks

A serial killer may be on the loose in Pretoria, targeting homeless people sleeping in parks in the city. According to eNCA, three homeless men have been murdered in the same manner in the past two weeks. The station reported that the latest body was found on Tuesday at the Magnolia Dell Park in Muckleneuk. Another body was reportedly found in the same park, while the body of a third victim was found close to the park two weeks ago, according to Pretoria News. All victims were reportedly killed in their sleep. They were stabbed and hit by a blunt object, according to eNCA. Around 6 000 people in Pretoria are reportedly considered homeless. According to a representative of an NGO who works closely with homeless people in the city, more homeless people have reported being attacked in a similar way, but managed to escape. Lucky escape "They've been reporting violence towards them. We spoke to a guy three weeks ago who was sleeping when he was stabbed. He w…
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Centurion residents taught how to avoid driveway hijackings by RICHARD BRUSSOW of the National Hijack Prevention Academy

Centurion residents were on Saturday taught about how to avoid becoming victims of hijackings in driveways. This was during a workshop at Laerskool Louis Leipoldt in Lyttelton, where former police officer Richard Brussow spoke to them about prevention of crimes such as hijacking and robbery. Brussow, who established the National Hijack Prevention Academy in 2001, said 68% of hijackings happened in driveways and could be avoided. He has more than 15 years of experience in motor vehicle crime investigation, organized crime, motor vehicle theft, metro police crime prevention, and vehicle tracking. Brussow educated his audience about tricks used by hijackers, their motivation, factors that lead to attacks and categories of hijacked vehicles. Robbers liked using service stations as a base to prey on unsuspecting victims, he said. Once they had identified their victims they drove behind them until they arrived home. Brussow advised motorists to always look at the ca…
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The City of Tshwane is pulling the plug on smart meters contract with Peu

The City of Tshwane’s daily payment to its erstwhile electricity smart meters contractor Peu Capital Partners has been drastically reduced from R4million to R1.8m. In addition, MMC for utility services Abel Tau said the municipality has covered ground towards the replacement of the almost 13 000 meters that had already been installed as part of the deal. The replacement of the meters comes after AfriBusiness succeeded in having the Peu irregular smart meter contract set aside in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. But Tau said the reduction of daily payments to Peu was the essence of what the City wanted residents to know about. “We have made a decision that would save the City a huge amount of money to ensure that we can take those savings and redirect them to service delivery,” he said. Regarding the sum of R4m previously paid to Peu, he said: “I checked last week and the amount has drastically dropped. I think we were at R1.8m” He said the City was making inr…
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It’s all systems go for Atteridgeville R1.2bn Capital Mall

The much-anticipated R1.2 billion Capital Mall in Atteridgeville will go ahead despite efforts to halt its construction on the basis that it would “cannibalize” smaller shopping centres in the vicinity. MMC for Economic Development and Spatial Planning Isak Pietersen said the City of Tshwane's Appeals Tribunal successfully intervened in the impasse, which threatened to block the development. The legal wrangling was between the developer, McCormick Property Development, and Safari Investments, over the threats posed by the new mall on the existing shopping centres. Pietersen said the complaint was overturned on the basis that it lacked substance and went against the spirit of competition permitted in business. He said the mall construction was an example of what the City wanted to do by creating a conducive economic environment for job creation. “The aim of the City is to make sure we create those jobs and this is going to make sure that we create jobs,” he said. …
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Tshwane city manager, Dr Moeketsi Mosola, reprimanded for aborted China trip

Tshwane city manager Dr. Moeketsi Mosola has received a serious talking-to from executive mayor Stevens Mokgalapa about the controversial authorization of a trip by officials to China. Mokgalapa called off the trip in April after it came to his attention that Mosola “erroneously” signed a document on his behalf. He then called for an investigation to determine how the anomaly in the documents occurred. On Monday he broke his silence in the wake of the probe, saying he had already given the implicated parties a tongue-lashing. “I did reprimand those who were involved. For me the fact that it was canceled and that the city never incurred any funds for it; it ended there,” he said. Asked who exactly he reprimanded, he said: “It was the city manager I reprimanded because that was his signature.” He said that his message to Mosola was that what happened with the China trip must not repeat itself. “What I have received was that it was done in hindsight and I request…
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Two more suspects arrested in connection with Mamelodi pre-school robbery

Gauteng police have arrested two more suspects in connection with the robbery of international students at a pre-school in Mamelodi East, Pretoria, earlier this month. According to police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters, one of the suspects was arrested in Limpopo on Friday while the other was caught in Mpumalanga on Saturday. Eighteen students and two professors from the US, who were on an outreach visit at the Viva Foundation School in Mamelodi East, were attacked and robbed by five armed suspects two weeks ago. Service Maimela, 30, was arrested a few days later at the Pienaarspoort informal settlement in Mamelodi East. He appeared in the Mamelodi Magistrate's Court last Monday on charges of robbery, attempted murder and assault. The matter was postponed to Monday, May 27 for further investigations, said Peters. Peters said the police were still processing the dockets of the two additional suspects, adding that they were most likely to appear in co…
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Tshwane Metro Police Department officers pounce on robbery suspects

Pretoria - Tshwane Metro Police Department officers on Sunday arrested three men for possession of a car that was taken during a house robbery in Limpopo about two weeks ago. The arrests were made in Barnett and Hilda streets in Hatfield at about 11am. The suspects had been on the run after committing another crime on Saturday. Metro Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said the vehicle's original number plate had been replaced. The suspects, aged 24, 32 and 37, are facing charges of house robbery, attempted murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, as well as possession of a hijacked motor vehicle. Mahamba said two charges were opened in Limpopo and the others yesterday in Pretoria. “Between May 18 and 19, three suspects went to a house in Limpopo and committed house robbery and took a VW bakkie, a firearm, R4000 and bank cards and went to withdraw R5000 from the victim's account. “On Saturday night they went to a pub in L…
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Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration in Pretoria forced roads to be closed for Saturday

President Cyril Ramaphosa's inauguration will bring some parts of the capital to a standstill. Dozens of roads will be closed and Pretoria residents will need permits to get in and out of certain areas. Many roads in Pretoria will be closed beginning on Friday. The street around Loftus Stadium will be closed around 3pm. TMPD spokesperson Isaac Mahamba said if you live in the area, you'd better get a permit. "Some main streets like Francis Baard will be open but many of the smaller streets like the intersection with Eastwood Street will be closed off to traffic," said Mahamba. University Road, which runs parallel to the highway, will also be closed. Residents in the area can use Walter Jameson Avenue to access Francis Baardt. Businesses operating close to the stadium won't be affected. "The business or the people that do business around the stadium are accredited, they have been given permits to come and occupy, to do their business as usual. "But if th…
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Jo’burg:- Plastic bags will be banned at some of SA’s biggest malls, including Sandton City

JSE-listed real estate giant Liberty Two Degrees (L2D), which owns some of South Africa's top shopping malls, says it will implement a "no plastic shopping bag" policy at its malls by 1 January 2020. Some 1,808 tenant shops may have to drop plastic bags by the end of the year. L2D’s shopping mall portfolio includes Sandton City, Melrose Arch, and the Eastgate complex. L2D decided to take the "bold step to implement a ‘no plastic shopping bags’ policy across our malls to ensure that change starts with us,” said Amelia Beattie, the company's chief executive, in a statement. “With rising levels of plastic pollution in our country and oceans, it is no longer a case of best practice to eradicate the use of plastic shopping bags but rather a commitment of paramount importance and necessity. We are committed to implementing this initiative to drive our sustainability imperative," said Beattie. It has already introduced recycling drop-off booths at Sandton City and a…
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