KUTLWANO OLIFANT kutlwano.olifant@inl.co.za

GAUTENG police are hunt-ing for five awaiting-trialprisoners who escaped

through the roof of a truck whilebeing driven to ModderbeePrison. The incident happenednear Putfontein in Ekurhulenion Monday afternoon while theywere being transported from theTembisa Magistrate’s Court.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini askedanyone with information on thefive to report their whereabouts.

They are Muzi Sambula, AlexMaake, Sipho Edwin Mzimba,Sipho Mpostoli Mthethwa andMkhulu Ndlovu.

Sambula, Maake and Mzimbawere arrested in Ivory Park onvarious matters. Sambula andMaake were arrested for armedrobbery, and Mzimba for murder,armed robbery and possession ofan unlicensed firearm.

Mthethwa was arrested forbusiness robbery and Ndlovufor a hijacking, both in Tembisa.

Dlamini warned the publicnot to confront the men as theyare considered to be armed anddangerous. “Police transportingthem were alerted by a memberof the public who indicated thatthere was a problem at the backof the truck. On inspection, one

of the prisoners was found onthe roof. It is unknown whatobject was used to open the roof.An investigation is continuing.”

Last month, The Star re-ported on how the departmentsof Correctional Services andof Justice and ConstitutionalDevelopment have introducedaudio video remand (AVR) sys-tems which ensure thatdetainees do not leave prison forcourt unless they have to.

It is similar to those used incases involving child victims,who testify through a video linkfed live to the courtroom so theydon’t have to face the accused.

It is conducted in a prisonroom-cum-makeshift court, fur-nished with a miniature dockand microphones. Warders mon-itoring the procedure writedown remand dates and bring indetainees for their hearings.

A network link is establishedbetween the courtroom with themagistrate, interpreter, prosecu-tor and lawyers, and the prisonroom.

Only accused who are olderthan age 18 and whose mattersare pending trial are eligible touse the AVR.

Yesterday, Gauteng Correc-tional Services spokesmanOfentse Morwane said not allcorrectional facilities have thesystem; Modderbee does not.

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The Star subscribes to the SouthAfrican Press Code that prescribesnews that is truthful, accurate, fairand balanced. If we don’t live upto the Code, please contact thePress Ombudsman at 011 4843612/8, fax: 011 4843619Website: www.presscouncil.org.za

University hit by protestsTHE TSHWANE University of Technology has been hit by protestsonce again as students from the institution’s Soshanguve campusdisrupted classes yesterday. TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruytersaid a small group of students had embarked on illegal protestaction despite a court interdict prohibiting such action oncampus. “The majority of students have indicated that they arepreparing for examinations currently and are not in favour ofsuch action,” she said. The SABC reported that lecturers werebeing denied access to the premises. De Ruyter said the situationwas being monitored closely. – Sapa

Appeal to help trace killerPOLICE in Port Elizabeth yesterday called on members of thepublic to assist in their search for a man who shot dead threepeople in New Brighton. The shooting left four others criticallywounded. A man apparently entered a tavern in Nibe Street atabout 7.30pm on Monday and started shooting randomly. “Atthe moment, the suspect and the motive for the attack areunknown,” provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General CeliweBinta said. A multi-disciplinary SA Police Service task team hadbeen established to investigate the shooting. – Sapa

SAA adds two A320s to its fleetTWO AIRBUS A320s are being completed in France and will bedelivered to SA Airways in the next few weeks, Airbus Sub-Sahara Africa said yesterday. “Our reliable, fuel-efficient andcomfortable A320s give SAA a competitive edge and help itachieve sustainable profitability,” Airbus vice-president for Africaand Indian Ocean sales Hadi Akoum said. According to thecompany, the aircraft are the latest in an order of 20 of thetwin-engined jetliners by SAA and are being customised to theairline’s specifications. SAA started receiving its new A320s fromAirbus last year. Four have been delivered so far. – Sapa

Life terms for teens’ murdererFORMER motor mechanic Johannes Christiaan de Jager wassentenced to life in jail yesterday for the “brutal and savage”murder of two teenagers. Western Cape High Court ActingJudge Chuma Cossie handed down three life sentences to runconcurrently, finding there were no substantial and compellingcircumstances allowing her to deviate from prescribed minimumsentences. De Jager, 49, was last month convicted of killing andraping 18-year-old prostitute Hiltina Alexander in 2008 and killing16-year-old Charmaine Mare last year. – Sapa

Fake account in Jim’s nameNUMSA yesterday warned of a fake account on Twitter, whichclaimed to belong to its general secretary Irvin Jim. “It is a fakeaccount and has nothing to do with either comrade Irvin Jim orNumsa, and therefore the views expressed in it do not come fromcomrade Jim or Numsa,” National Union of Metalworkers of SAspokesman Castro Ngobese said. “Comrade Irvin Jim shall takeno responsibility for any postings made in his name on any otherTwitter account other than the one he created with the handle@IrvinJimSA.” The fake Twitter account @IrvinJim_NUMSA hadbeen removed. – Sapa

‘Miners put down their weapons’POLICE had a 100 percent success rate when they asked strikingmineworkers to put down their weapons at Marikana, theFarlam Commission of Inquiry heard yesterday. The strikingLonmin mineworkers were more interested in reaching asettlement and going home, said Dali Mpofu SC, for thewounded and arrested miners. He was cross-examining CaptainWayne Peter Kidd, who was part of a reserve group deployed atMarikana, near Rustenburg in North West, on August 16, 2012to protect an informal settlement near the hill where the strikershad gathered. – Sapa

12 years for rape of young girlA MAN has been sentenced in the Butterworth Regional Court to12 years in jail for raping a 12-year-old girl, Eastern Cape policesaid yesterday. Goodman Simphiwe Balelo, 43, was convicted ofraping the girl on October 31, 2012 at Ntlambonkulu location atMgomanzi village in Butterworth, said Captain Jackson Manatha.Balelo was sentenced and convicted on Monday. – Sapa

Worry at rise in anti-SemitismTHE GROWTH of anti-Jewish hate crimes in Europe is a concernfor local Jewish authorities, the SA Zionist Federation (CapeCouncil) said yesterday. “The SA Zionist Federation stronglycondemns the death of four people at the Jewish museum inBrussels,” it said. The federation said its complacency had beenshaken by two incidents in Europe. The incidents followed therelease of a survey, which confirmed that a quarter of the world’speople harboured anti-Jewish views. “The first event occurred inSpain following the victory of Maccabi Tel Aviv over Real Madrid inthe Basketball Euro League.” Within days, over 25 000 anti-Semitic messages were posted on Facebook and Twitter. – Sapa

Illegal miners the new targetWITH the increasing levels of illegal miners in the country, criminalshave found alternative ways of seeking and finding victims. Theyare Illegal miners who have just surfaced from the bowels of theearth. They steal their loot – gold dust, cash, cellphones andanything else of value they find on them. But on Mondayafternoon, two alleged robbers were not that lucky. Two patrollingpolice officers arrested them in the Grootvlei squatter camp, justoutside Dersley Park, Springs. – Zizipho Mandonda

Krejcir trial delayed againTHE KIDNAPPING and attempted murder trial against Czechfugitive Radovan Krejcir and five others was postponed againyesterday. The trial was first postponed on Monday becauseKrejcir’s advocate, Annelene van den Heever, was too ill to attendproceedings. She was present yesterday but had lost her voiceand requested the postponement because she said it would notbe picked up on the court’s recorder and would therefore notform part of the record. Judge Colin Lamont postponed the trialto today. – Brendan Roane

Arson probe at Rhodes UniversityA FIRE broke out in a building at Rhodes University in Grahamstownyesterday. Spokesman Zamuxolo Matiwana said part of the SteveBiko student union building was set alight in the early hours ofyesterday. “The damaged building has been cordoned off, and willbe inspected by structural engineers,” he said. Police said a case ofarson was being investigated. – Sapa

JOYCE LEE, BRENDAN ROANEAND BOTHO MOLOSANKWEjoyce.lee@inl.co.zabrendan.roane@inl.co.zabotho.molosankwe@inl.co.za

POLICE are searching for an

eastern European man in

connection with the

hundreds of weapons found

in a Norwood home.

Last Thursday, police

raided the Woodlands Road

home, located behind

Norwood police station,

where they uncovered an

arms cache of R1, R4 and

AK-47 rifles, ATM bombs,

packaged dagga, detonators

and about 300 handguns

hidden in blue containers

inside a storage room.

Police arrested the owners

of the home, a Ukrainian

couple, Emma Shmukler-

Tishko, 62, and Mark

Shmukler-Tishko, 59, and

their Malawian domestic

worker, Endi Nkhoma.

The Shmukler-Tishkos

claimed in the Johannesburg

Magistrate’s Court on

Monday that they had rented

out the room where the

weapons were found to an

eastern European man. The

couple said they had no idea

the weapons were in their

home, according to Hawks

spokesman Captain Paul

Ramaloko.

The police were still

searching for the eastern

European man, said

Ramaloko.

“We are not sure if he is

operating with other people.

We must find this man to get

more information as to why

those assets were in the

house,” Ramaloko said.

The police didn’t know

whether this man was a

crime syndicate boss, he

added.

The raid took place

during a larger investigation

into South Africa’s top crime

syndicate bosses, led by the

Hawks and the crime

intelligence office.

But neighbours are

standing by the elderly

couple in a “tragic”

situation, said an

anonymous neighbour.

Mark Shmukler-Tishko, a

universally loved man, was

struggling to provide for his

desperately ill wife, she said.

Emma has been released

because of her health.

Mark Shmukler-Tishkos

is scheduled to make

another appearance on

Tuesday for a bail

application.

“The couple will face

cases of possession of

unlicensed firearms and

ammunition, contravention

of the Explosives Act and

dealing in dagga,” said

Lieutenant-General

Solomon Makgale,

spokesman for SAPS

national commissioner

General Riah Phiyega,

earlier this week.

The Star previously

reported that the owner’s

daughter had been arrested,

not the wife, which was

incorrect; this was taken

from a statement given by

Phiyega.

Police seeking eastern European man in weapons case

PRESSING PLAY: Children in Kliptown play a game of chess using stones on a board they made. Play is key and leads to learning, experts say. PICTURE: NOKUTHULA MBATHA

ON LOOSE: Awaiting-trial prisoners who escaped from a truck en route toModderbee Prison from Tembisa Magistrate’s Court. PICTURE: SAPS

JOYCE LEEjoyce.lee@inl.co.za

IN THOKOZA Park, Soweto,young kids played in the riverformed by Moroka Dam afterschool, skipping lightly over therocks and gingerly dipping theirhands into the polluted stream tocheck for crabs underneath therocks.

Inside the crabs are R1, R2coins, they believe. It’s either anurban myth or truth – though thedifference doesn’t matter much inthe children’s imaginations.

In Zoo Lake, Saxonwold, pupilszipped up slides and climbed downsteps to their waiting teachers.

“While they’re here in the open

space, they’re free to socialise,even the shy ones,” said GladysNxasana, a teacher at WinnieMandela Primary. She brought thepupils to Zoo Lake to let loose afteran exhausting field trip.

While these may sound likenatural, common scenes,children’s right to play should notbe overlooked, experts say,especially with generation Z – theextraordinarily tech-savvychildren born after 2000.

And with the celebration ofWorld Play Day today, earlychildhood development experts

and organisations are using theday to reiterate the human right,recognised by the UN.

“People must understand thatlearning comes from theunstructured, uninterruptedopportunity to explore. Play islearning. It’s something thathappens inside of you. It’s notanything that anyone can teachyou,” said Wilma Tindall, an earlychildhood specialist for the Centrefor Early Childhood Development,based in Cape Town.

Play lets children feel outtextures and shapes, learn to

socialise with others and developkey physical skills, she said.

For example, in Kliptown,Soweto, a group of young boyssaid they often played in thebridge over the train tracks thatcourse through the area. Theychased each other, climbed therailings, and jumped from onesloped walkway to another.

“Climbing in any kind of formdevelops shoulder girdle muscles,and in order to write you need verywell-developed shoulder girdlemuscles,” Tindall said, adding thatdeveloping those muscles is just as

necessary as learning to write.Tindall believes all children go

through different stages of play –the lessons learnt at each stageare the same though the gamesthey play across rural, urban orsuburban areas may be different.

But in poorer or less-developedareas, children have less access toplay because of the lack of cleanand safe terrain. “But they mightactually have superior learningmaterials in things that just liearound,” she added.

Just down the street from theboys playing on the bridge, two

girls played house on a streetacross from a dump site. They hadlaid down bricks in place of walls,an old box in place of a television,and tattered mats in place of abed. With limited resources, theyhad played the familiar game ofhouse – a universal game, Tindallsaid. “They want to do what isclosest – understanding food andfamily,” she said.

On the flipside, children inmore privileged circumstancesmay have their access to playrestricted by parents who thinkthat children need to learn, learn,learn. But, like people have to eatto understand what food is,children have to play tounderstand the world, Tindall said.

Armed, dangerous men on run in GautengPrisoners escape on way to jail

‘Children have to play to know the world’

Court asked to investigate riddle of babies swopped at birth four years agoZELDA VENTER

TWO GAUTENG families arebeing ripped apart after two babieswere apparently swopped at birthat a hospital nearly four years ago.

The mistake came to lightonly recently when one of thefathers insisted on a paternity

test when sued for maintenance,and blood tests revealed that nei-ther he nor the mother were thebiological parents of the child.Both children are girls.

Boksburg Hospital, in themeantime, conceded the babieswere swopped. This allegedlyoccurred in 2010. The mother

who first discovered the mistakenow wants her biological childback, while the other does notwant to give her child up.

This tale was revealed thisweek in the chambers of theNorth Gauteng High Court toDeputy Judge President AubreyLedwaba. The judge was

approached by the Centre forChild Law, asking for an order toinvestigate the facts and decidewhat was in the best interests ofthe children.

The head of the centre, Profes-sor Ann Skelton, was appointedas the curator ad litem for thechildren. She has to investigate

the case, including how the chil-dren were allegedly swopped atbirth, issues surrounding theircare at present, and interview allthe relevant parties.

The centre cited the two moth-ers as respondents in the applica-tion and said the identities of thebiological fathers were still

unknown. The children havesince been in the care of theirnon-biological mothers.

The court has ruled the par-ties may not be identified as thiswas a sensitive and traumaticcase for the parties and identifi-cation would have a negativeimpact on the children.