A JUDGE has dismissed an application by a Port Elizabeth mother who dragged her late daughter’s husband to court so she could oversee the burial.

Police constable Nomathamsanqa Ivy Tsitsi, 36, was shot inside her vehicle at about 6am on November 12, shortly after finishing night shift at the Zwide police station.

In dismissing the Port Elizabeth High Court application yesterday, Judge Belinda Hartle said she saw no basis why Tsitsi could not bury his wife.

“Grief and stress is magnified if you are in conflict with one another,” she said.

Nomathamsanqa’s mother, Nofikile Mtwesi, launched the application against her son-in-law, Mlungisi Tsitsi, 36, who is also a policeman and stationed in Motherwell.

Nomathamsanqa married Tsitsi in December 2007 but did not leave a will.

Mtwesi alleged in her court affidavit that the marriage was characterised by violence. Tsitsi has denied assaulting his wife.

A funeral date has not yet been set, but Tsitsi said his wife’s family was more than welcome to attend.

No arrests for her murder have yet been made.

In December, Judge Judith Roberson ordered the department to permanently appoint 144 vacant posts at 90 schools that had opted in to a class action brought by another 32 schools against the department.

The department agreed to the court order, which also required it to refund R82-million to the 122 schools which had forked out money for teachers’ salaries over four years that the department should have been paying.

It was also ordered to advertise open bulletins of vacant teaching posts at schools by the end of April, July and September this year.

But the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), which is acting for the 122 schools, said the department had failed to do so, leaving them no choice but to have the department declared in breach of the order.

LRC attorney Cameron McConnachie said in an affidavit that the department had, in fact, not published a single post-level 1 open teacher bulletin this year. As a result, it had also failed to make any appointments to fill these vital posts.

McConnachie said the department had failed dismally in its statutory obligation to advertise vacancies and it had not produced a post-level 1 teacher vacancy bulletin since 2012.

“The result is devastating for pupils and educators across the Eastern Cape as many schools are currently experiencing a shortage of educators,” he said.

The only bulletin produced had been in June, advertising vacant posts for subject department heads, principals and deputy principals.

He said there were more than 1 700 other vacant teacher posts at schools in the province.

He wants the court to order the department to produce a bulletin by no later than the end of January.

The department has belatedly applied to the court for a variation on Roberson’s order. It wants the order to be changed to direct it to publish only two open post bulletins a year.

Human resources chief director in the department, Welile Payi, confirmed that the department had not strictly complied with the order in that it had not published open post bulletins.

He said the department had to deal with moving teachers who were not needed at their current schools – so-called teachers in excess – to schools with vacancies.

Payi claimed that Roberson’s order to meet their statutory obligations to publish open bulletins disregarded this requirement and would have the effect of enlarging the “already swollen post establishment”.

He said it was simply not feasible to publish four open bulletins a year.

McConnachie dismissed this, saying almost every other province managed to do so without difficulty.

The matter will be argued next week.

FAMED Ghanaian evangelist and author Dr Dag HewardMills will visit Port Elizabeth early next month for “a time of healing”.

More than 200 churches in Port Elizabeth have endorsed the Heward-Mills event, taking place at the Dan Qeqe Stadium in Zwide from December 1 to 3.

Organisers said they were expecting no fewer than 1 000 people each night and that the evangelist would be praying for healing for the sick.

Mayor Danny Jordaan’s office will welcome Heward-Mills at the City Hall at 1pm today.

The non-denominational Healing Jesus Campaign was founded by Heward-Mills, who will be the main preacher for the three-day event.

An international speaker who has given talks at more than 1 700 churches across the world, he will also conduct a two-day workshop in Algoa Park with the aim of empowering local leaders.

Pastor Neville Goldman of the Ebenezer Centre, who is also the campaign chairman, applauded the fact that leaders from different denominations would be at the same venue during the crusade to demonstrate a unified body of Christ.

“We believe this is only the beginning of great things to come in our city,” he said.

“Many people think the body of Christ is divided. We are standing together.”

Goldman also commended work being done by the Mount Road community policing forum cluster in their initiative to take back the city from drug dealers.

“Police can arrest criminals and drug dealers but it is the role of the church to transform people with the message of Christ,” he said.

“Last weekend, the Healing Jesus Campaign in Mitchells Plain drew more than 10 000 people, and an estimated 1 000 leaders from various churches attended the workshops.”

Healing Jesus Campaign spokesman Alfred Mzizi said the purpose of the crusade was to partner with denominations, ministers, Christian organisations and Christians across the metro

“The sole purpose of this campaign is to unify the body of Christ in Nelson Mandela Bay and promote moral regeneration in our city,” Mzizi said

The full programme will see workshops taking place from 8am to 1pm on December 2 and 3 at the Ebenezer Centre, and a church service at Dan Qeqe Stadium at 5pm nightly from December 1 to 3.

She was speaking at the launch of the newly revamped clinic, which came about as a result of a R1.6- million partnership between clothing chain store Truworths, the South African Medical and Education Foundation and the Eastern Cape Department of Health.

Both the reception area of Livingstone Hospital and the hospital’s formerly dilapidated outpatient clinics were renovated and upgraded.

Dyantyi yesterday opened the newly renovated outpatient clinics at Livingstone Hospital amid great celebrations from staff and patients alike.

The upgrade includes more than 200 new, comfortable seats in the reception and outpatient waiting area, as well as new admin furniture and equipment.

The project also included the creation of two new medical dressing rooms with a separate waiting area.The outpatients department was originally opened in 1986.

Doctors and nurses see, on average, 72 000 patients a year there, and deliver specialist services to the public including spinal, diabetic and respiratory medical care.

“This is a very exciting day for us,” Eastern Cape Department of Health director of clinical governance Dr Litha Matiwane said.

“We hope that this will be the start of an ongoing partnership, not only for today but for years to come,” he said.

Dyantyi said she viewed the renovations as a lifelong gift to the community.

“I am proud to say today that working together we can indeed do more,” she said.

“Livingstone Hospital is a very old hospital and we are struggling to address all its infrastructure problems with only government funding,” she said.

Dyantyi said to staff members that staff attitudes remained the most critical factor in changing public perceptions of the hospital.

“I know patients also have an attitude sometimes, but let us try to be patient,” she said.

Department of Health superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbengashe said that the department needed partnerships with the private sector.

“We also need to have some urgency in making hospitals better for our communities. I think thirdly it is also important for us to realise that we all have a social responsibility.

“Patients who are now coming to Livingstone Hospital will find a very different hospital,” he said.

Dianne Pols, of the SA Medical and Education Foundation, said the renovations at Livingstone Hospital were the foundation’s first project in the Eastern Cape.

The Livingstone Tertiary Hospital is the fifth social investment project by the foundation and Truworths.

The national campaign started in 2010 to focus specifically on patient comfort and the restructuring of ageing hospitals, allowing them to treat patients quickly and effectively.

The foundation is a donorfunded national NGO which focuses on high-impact social investment projects in health and education.

“It is not going to be the last project we do at Livingstone,” Pols said.

“Livingstone Hospital is a very important hospital in Port Elizabeth.”

Brian Tate, from the Truworths Foundation, said it was a privilege to have been involved in the project.

“I was delighted when Port Elizabeth was selected as the recipient of the foundation’s money,” he said.

He said in the past eight years they had spent R11-million at hospitals around South Africa through the SA Medical and Education Foundation.

“I think another important factor for us is that we have 18 stores in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

“We have more than 73 000 loyal account customers at these stores,” he said. personnel by gangs was also of major concern to her.

“We are very sympathetic towards the SAPS because we know they also have staff shortages, but we want to ask them to remain committed to helping us.”

In the past 22 months, ambulances in the Bay were attacked 20 times, with most attacks occurring in New Brighton.

The situation has become so bad that ambulances may no longer go into New Brighton without a police escort.

Often referred to as “Oom Dries”, Marais, 75, is facing charges of forgery, theft, fraud, attempting to defeat the ends of justice, perjury and uttering.

It is alleged that between July and September 2008, he stole railway tracks and sleepers in the Steynsburg area worth about R2.7-million.

He allegedly forged a letter from Transnet stating he had permission to remove the goods and then hired companies to transport the material to the Western Cape.

Marais is accused alongside Transnet security guard Bhuyekiso Damane, 52.

It is alleged Dumane, who was stationed in Queenstown at the time, helped forge the letter.

Dumane pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud.

Yesterday, state advocate Lionel Kroon called Hendrik Stefanus Coetzee, a lawyer who handled the incident on behalf of Transnet, to testify.

After the incident came to light in August 2008, Coetzee exchanged several e-mails and faxes with Marais’s attorney regarding Marais’s alleged removal of the items.

In October that year, Coetzee proceeded to obtain a permanent interdict preventing Marais from lifting or moving the rails and sleepers.

Marais – who is conducting his own defence – asked yesterday to see those documents.

After adjusting his glasses and glancing at the document, he said: “I have no knowledge of that document, but I acknowledge that my signature is on the docket.”

Coetzee then read out a signed letter from the sheriff of the court.

The letter stated that the sheriff had personally explained the implications of the interdict to Marais.

Marais responded: “I acknowledge that [I signed], but I didn’t have anything to do with the papers.”

With a confused look on his face, Coetzee later told The Herald: “I don’t understand why he said that.

“Initially, we applied for a temporary interdict from the Grahamstown Court because we were under the impression he lived in Steynsburg.

“We were then granted the interdict and given two months to act on it.

“Marais then filed his defence to the interdict and we found out that he in fact lived in Cape Town, so we then applied for a summons in Cape Town.

“The sheriff acknowledges giving it to him, he admits to signing it, but now says he has no knowledge of it.”

Marais was brought to Port Elizabeth on Monday from a prison in Bellville, where he is serving an eight-year sentence for selling fixed property that did not belong to him.

His run-ins with the law date back almost 40 years.

A SUSPECTED gang leader was wounded and another suspected gangster was killed during a shooting in Schauderville on Tuesday evening.

Alleged Dustlifes co-head Wendell Petersen, 28, of Holland Park, was shot in the arm. Suspected senior gang member Ryan “Baas” Stafford, 28, was killed.

Police believe the shooting was was a failed assassination attempt on Petersen by rival gangs.

The incident brings the gangrelated death toll since last week to eight.

According to police, the shooting happened at about 7.30pm in Glendinning Street in Schauderville, when a BMW with five occupants drove down the street.

Spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said: “According to witness reports, as the car drove down the street, a lone gunman appeared on the side of the road and opened fire.

“Several shots were fired at the vehicle and the occupants jumped out in an attempt to flee.

“The driver [Stafford] managed to run a few metres from the car, where he then collapsed and died, while the passenger [Petersen] was shot in the arm.

“The three occupants in the back seat escaped unscathed.”

Police insiders said Stafford had been a senior member of the gang and Petersen’s right-hand man.

In a separate incident two hours later, the body of Nathan Robile, 20, was found in bushes behind a house in Mpuko Street, Bloemendal.

“It appears he was shot in the head and died on the scene. The police were alerted after a tipoff,” Janse van Rensburg said.

“At this stage, all avenues are being investigated.”

Police insiders have said the latest attempt on Petersen’s life and the murder of Stafford could possibly lead to a spike in gang retaliation attacks.

Petersen, who has been arrested several times for gang-related shootings, is well known to both police and prosecutors.

Earlier this year, rival gangsters shot at his house in a botched assassination attempt.

He and suspected Fat Cats member Graven Greeff were arrested after they allegedly fired shots at each other in Stanford Road on March 22 last year.

Petersen was shot, also in the arm, on August 13 2011 in Stag Street, Gelvandale.

Since Grey High adopted Hillside High School through its ATKV-Handevat project in 2013, it has donated nearly R20 000 and assisted the school in making various revamps and refurbishments.

Of the R20 000 donated, R5 000 came from the Grey High boy in charge of community projects, Grade 10 pupil Keegan Hull.

He donated the money to Hillside after he received a maths and science bursary in September.

“I just thought it was necessary to give this money to the school. Why should I keep it when they deserve it more?” Keegan, 16, of Walmer, said.

He said the school’s community service team had organised a range of fundraising initiatives to assist Hillside through the Handevat project.

Hillside teacher Debbie Labans said the money had been used to sustain and maintain the school.

“We have revamped our women’s teacher toilets and painted the school,” she said.

The hall where matriculants write their exams was also fixed and revamped.

“The roof was broken and leaking and it needed to be fixed but we did not have the funds. We are a no-fees school so we do not have any money coming in for this kind of maintenance,” Labans said.

The funds from Grey had also been used for electrical repairs at the school.

“They have really created an environment to help the school to provide better quality education.”

Yesterday, Hillside High pupils Buhle Mangcangaza, 17, and Gideonna Boateng, 18, attended Grey’s final assembly to thank the pupils for their contributions.

“The most important thing they have done for our school is their donation of library books,” Gideonna, who is the Hillside library monitor, said.

“Hillside High is in an area which is mostly Afrikaans-speaking and before we did not have a fully functional library.

“Because we have so many English books now, more pupils are coming to read and we have seen an improvement in their English marks and speaking.”

Grey High teacher in charge of community service Amore Kember said ATKV-Handevat was a competition and a team would be visiting Hillside High in January to check how Grey had assisted the school.

THE former Kingfisher FM presenter accused of stalking a woman online with threats to rape her, appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The 36-year-old faces a charge of sexual assault. He cannot be named until he pleads to the charge.

He was arrested at his former workplace in August after a 22-year-old NMMU student accused him of intentionally inspiring the belief in her – via several phone calls between July 26 and August 24 – that she would be sexually violated.

The matter was postponed to January 20 for further investigation.

He is out on bail.

Provincial Finance MEC Sakhumzi Somyo allocated R18.3-million to finance students at higher learning institutions across the province.

And the Department of Public Works has called on disadvantaged pupils to apply for funding totalling R3-million in bursaries.

This follows President Jacob Zuma’s declaration that fees would not increase next year.

Higher Education directorgeneral Gwebinkundla Qonde has announced that the national shortfall would amount to R2.3-billion, based on figures from universities for tuition and residence fees.

“After consultations with all parties, it was agreed that the shortfall for next year will be shared between universities and government,” Qonde said.

Universities are expected to contribute R394.7-million of the amount.

Qonde said the department was in consultation with national Treasury to secure the remaining R1.9-billion.

Education spokesman Khaye Nkwanyana said the department did not have details of how much each university would have to contribute towards the total amount.

“It’s only those universities sitting on reserves, not your historically disadvantaged institutions [that are expected to contribute].”

Two Eastern Cape universities – Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu – said they would not be able to contribute at all.

Walter Sisulu University acting spokesman Thando Cezula said: “WSU can confirm that the university does not have any reserves and will not be able to make any contribution towards the shortfall.”

Cezula said the no-fee-increase would have a negative impact on the university’s financial status, as fees were a source of income.

University of Fort Hare spokeswoman Zintle Filtane said the university did not have the required resources.

Rhodes University’s Catherine Deiner said: “The university has been informed that the department will make an assessment of each university’s financial strength and will determine the levels of ‘own contribution’ to be made by each institution.

“We are waiting to hear from the department in this regard.”

NMMU communication and stakeholder liaison senior director Lebogang Hashatse said: “The NMMU shortfall is R52-million. Of this the government will pay 70% (R36.4-million) and NMMU 30% (R15.6-million).

“It is going to be a battle making up the shortfall as we have to implement cuts in the operational budgets and use income from investments.

“This will mean sacrificing some projects and normal activities, and reviewing our plans for future programmes.”

Somyo said provincial treasury would allocate the R18.3-million to students through premier Phumulo Masualle’s office.

The finance MEC was speaking at the Bhisho legislature, where he tabled his department’s medium-term budget policy and the 2015-16 adjustment appropriation bill.