WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-02-28 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Botho Molosankwe, Thembisile Makgalemele and Noor-Jehan Yoro Badat
Five of Winnie Madikizela- Mandela’s close relatives, arrested this week on suspicion of stealing jewellery worth R4-million from her, have claimed that investigating officers tortured them.
They claim too that officers at the Germiston police station told them the assaults would continue until they confessed.
Lawyer Owen Khumalo asked that Paul Githuka, 46, Githuka’s wife Nolwazi, 44, their son Mpumelelo, 21, daughter Jerry, 19, and brother-in-law Mbuso Vutela, 47, be moved to prison from the Orlando West police station.
| ‘Believed to be Madikizela-Mandela’s nephew’ |
Khumalo told Orlando magistrate Mohamed Gooma that Gauteng Police Commissioner Perumal Naidoo had appointed a special team to investigate the case.
The lawyer said his clients were taken to the Germiston police station where, he claimed, they were assaulted. “Cases are going to be opened against these police officers.”
Jerry Githuka, Khumalo said, was “bruised, limping and her body is swollen”. He asked that she be examined by a doctor.
The five accused sat silently in the dock and spoke to Khumalo only when he approached them.
Khumalo said his clients were told that the assaults would not stop until the jewellery was found.
State prosecutor Thomas Mathebula said he was unaware of the alleged assaults or forced confessions.
He called for the accused to be detained further while investigations continue, but Khumalo maintained that the detention would be used for further assaults.
“My clients’ wish is to be detained in (Joburg) prison as they will be safer (there) because prison is not accessible to every police officer. I need to indicate that if the court allows the accused to be detained at police cells, further assaults will (occur).
“My clients said they were told that the torture won’t end until the stolen goods are found.”
Magistrate Gooma, however, told Khumalo that statements taken by the police were always taken in the presence of an attorney. “With regards to the request to be detained at Johannesburg Prison, the court cannot inform the police on how to conduct an investigation; fingerprints and statements still need to be taken,” he said before recommending that Githuka see a doctor.
The five will remain in custody until their next appearance on Friday March 2.
Nolwazi Githuka earlier told a reporter that Madikizela-Mandela was her aunt. Githuka’s father is believed to be the late Siphiwo Vutela, whose first wife was Madikizela-Mandela’s sister, Nolanti – Nolwazi’s mother.
The fifth accused, Mbuso Vutela, is believed to be Madikizela-Mandela’s nephew.
The SABC reported that Madikizela-Mandela’s two domestic workers, who were also arrested this week in connection with the theft, have been released because of insufficient evidence.
Madikizela-Mandela returned from the United States last week to discover that two safes at her Orlando West home had been stolen and a third tampered with.
It is not the first time that family members have been accused of crimes against Madikizela-Mandela.
Her nephew and former bodyguard, Mzontsundu Madikizela was once charged in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court with 97 counts of theft, to which he pleaded not guilty but offered no plea explanation.
At the time, the state alleged that Madikizela, while employed as her bodyguard, had access to his aunt’s ATM card and PIN code, and withdrew R123 000.
Flanked by a rocky hill and surrounded by trees, a high face-brick wall with metal spokes and CCTV cameras, Madikizela-Mandela’s fortress-like home has always had tight security, say neighbours.
However, it appears that two more security guards, who watch the property during the day, have been called in for questioning since the theft. Another four security guards patrol the house at night.
Some of the neighbours told the Saturday Star they first heard of the alleged theft on TV news.
“I don’t see much of her [Madikizela-Mandela], it’s a quiet neighbourhood, and I saw it on TV,” said an elderly woman.
Another woman neighbour said: “She is very private although she does come out to the community sometimes. People are quiet here and they don’t go out much. But the security is so tight over there.
“It’s always been like that and I don’t see any changes. She also has her bodyguards. We didn’t suspect anything, it’s the first time I heard of it.”
Lulama Dindo, however, said: “If I’m not wrong, it’s the third time she [Madikizela-Mandela] has had things stolen from her by her family.”
Dindo used to be a casual worker in Madikizela-Mandela’s shop opposite the Mandela Museum.
“Winnie is a good woman, but she has bad luck whenever she employs someone.
“At the shop she employs family because she wants to help. But the one time they stole and broke her computer and ran away. She gets people who manage the shop and Satan gets into them and they steal the money. She was good to me and she paid me right.
“I like her, she helped me.”
The five accused are to lay charges of assault against the police. – Additional reporting by
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>