Police Scandal

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Police clerk gun-sale shock Probe into whether weapons were used in shopping mall attacks ALEX ELISEEV

A

‘REGULAR GUY’: Police clerk Aubrey Tshamana, 26, appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court yesterday for allegedly selling rifles and handguns.

PICTURE: JENNIFER BRUCE

Golden girl Semenya stuns Gauteng second in 800m field at world champs school expulsions KEVIN MCCALLUM SOUTH AFRICA’S Caster Semenya shrugged off the controversy surrounding her gender and obliterated the field in the women’s 800m final in Berlin last night. Semenya cruised to victory in 1:55.46sec to claim South Africa’s first gold medal at the world championships. It was the ultimate riposte to the debate raging over Semenya’s gender. South African sports officials rallied around the embattled 18year-old 800m runner last night after it was confirmed that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had asked for tests to determine the gender of the athlete. After much speculation over the past few days, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said they had requested the gender testing be done about three weeks ago, but had no plans to withdraw Semenya from the final. The test, said Davies, was “extremely complex and difficult”, and would involve several experts. “The situation today is that we do not have any conclusive evidence that she should not be allowed to run,” said Davies. “It would be wrong today to take a decision to withdraw an athlete.” However, South African sports officials, including Semenya’s team bosses in Berlin, Sports and Recreation South Africa, and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), jumped to her defence last night. “We’ve heard nothing about these tests, so it’s very difficult for us to comment on them now,” Team

UNDER PRESSURE: Caster Semenya’s coach, Michael Seme, has condemned the call for her to undergo a gender test. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES South Africa chief Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said last night. “The IAAF are the people to talk to, because they are the ones who have come out with the statement. ASA (Athletics South Africa) would not take an athlete if there was some doubt about them.” Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said they had been protecting Semenya from the massive media hype that had blown up around the issue ahead of last night’s final. “We’re making sure it doesn’t bother her

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and we’re keeping her away from the internet.” It is likely that she is aware of what is going on. Michael Seme, her coach at the University of Pretoria, where Semenya is a first-year sports science student, described the timing of the speculation as “suspicious”. “I have been working with Caster since January and I can tell you now that I have been training a girl, not a boy. “I have just got off the phone to her and she sounded cheerful. I told her to do as the IAAF says and remain focused,” Seme said. Sascoc president Gideon Sam condemned the speculation that had surrounded Semenya. “With Caster on the brink of something special, we condemn the way she has been linked with such media speculation and allegation,” he said. “Sascoc are behind her and in support of her every step of the way. If the IAAF feel they need to give her a gender test, then they must also release the results to allow her to continue her development and put any malicious comment to bed,” said Sam. Semenya’s mother Dorcas, speaking from the family home in Masehlong Village in Moletji, about 80km north-west of Polokwane in Limpopo, said Caster was obsessed with soccer. “Often, I would ask her why she kept playing soccer and with boys. All she said was ‘it’s because I like it,’” said Semenya. Semenya said Caster, like all her five siblings, did all household chores like washing dishes, cooking and fetching water from the communal tap.  See Page 3

hardly ever expelled. “The DA believes that the South THIRTY children in Gauteng have African Schools Act creates too been expelled from school in the much room for provincial educapast 18 months. tion officials, who have no direct The province is second to the experience of conditions in Western Cape, with a whopping schools, to refuse requests for 145 expulsions. learners to be expelled,” KloppersOther provinces lag behind, Lourens said. with 11 in KwaZulu-Natal and She based this on the Centre for Limpopo, six in North West and Justice and Crime Prevention Mpumalanga, two in the Free State study into violence in schools, and one in the Eastern Cape. which revealed that between 83 and The reasons for the expulsion 90 percent of all pupils have been range from theft, disrupting classes exposed to some sexual assault, and assault, to sexual harassment, and that alcohol and drugs are possessing a dangerous weapon, easily obtainable. stabbing another pupil and She said pupils may appeal attempting to stab a teacher. against an expulsion, but a school The provinces can’t do the same if that have the least it is not upheld. expulsions appear “This question FEEDBACK to have the most indicates that serious misconduct schools are either SMS your views to charges. not bothering to go 32546 In Gauteng, the through the proEach SMS costs R1 majority of the cesses for expelling expulsions are for problematic learntheft and assault, ers, because they while a 17-year-old in the Eastern know they won’t succeed, or Cape who was expelled assaulted provincial officials are almost autoanother pupil and attempted to stab matically turning down requests,” a teacher. Kloppers-Lourens said. Possession of drugs appears to Lee Loynes, the CEO of Girls be as big a problem, with most and Boys Town, is used to dealing provinces stating this as a reason with problem children and believes for expulsion. In North West, pupils expelling a child does not address were expelled for bullying. the real problem. This was revealed by Minister of She said the core problem was Basic Education Angie Motshekga usually a lack of family support, in reply to questions asked by DA not having any morals and values, shadow education minister Junita or not having appropriate social Kloppers-Lourens in Parliament skills. this week. Her organisation works with Kloppers-Lourens said she felt schools and parents to teach them the figures showed that pupils how to address problem children in who commit serious crimes are order to change their behaviour.

ANGELIQUE SERRAO

SMS

COUSCOUS THE GRAIN WITHOUT THE STRAIN PAGE 13

CLERK working inside the Alexandra police station has been arrested for selling high-calibre R-5 rifles and handguns from police safes to the criminal underworld. Detectives from the Joburg Organised Crime Unit are investigating whether the weapons sold were used by syndicates in the recent spate of violent robberies at shopping malls. The administrative clerk from the station’s logistics unit may have sold as many as six R-5 rifles and 16 handguns that should have been used by officers at his station and the Sandton police station. Police sources close to the investigation say the guns have not been recovered and may have been sold for as little as R3 500 for a rifle and R1 000 for a handgun. A police weapons expert said this was roughly one-third of their worth. It’s suspected the sales could have been going on since March. “We’re fighting these guys on the streets and our own is arming them,” one angry police officer from an affected station said yesterday. A lot of questions about how the weapons were allowed to vanish from the safes, and why it took several months before the crime was spotted, now need answering. Aubrey Tshamana was arrested on Monday after it was discovered that the weapons were missing. The 26-year-old appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court (previously Wynberg Magistrate’s Court), where State prosecutor Adele Barnard charged him with theft and possession of

unlicensed firearms. His case was postponed to the week after next and he will be kept at high-risk holding cells. During questioning, he allegedly gave police several leads that led to two further arrests. The pair, who are civilians, were likely to appear in court today. They are suspected of either buying the weapons or helping to sell them. When asked why police had brought the docket to court after 11am, an unidentified police officer from the Organised Crime Unit – who escorted Tshamana – said the delay was because he was ordered to report first at the police’s provincial head office. “It’s a massive thing,” he told the court. Magistrate Renier Boshoff then said: “He can probably tell you who he sold the guns to. He can probably solve a few cases if you investigate properly.” A police source at the Alexandra police station said Tshamana worked in the logistics department, which sources and distributes firearms, vehicles and other equipment. He allegedly managed to order weapons from the Sandton police station for the purpose of selling them. “He had access,” the source said. “And that’s why he managed to get away with it.” Tshamana is a civilian working at the police station. He has allegedly been there for more than five years. Detectives are trying to trace the recipients of the weapons in a bid to get them back. If their efforts to link the weapons to armed robberies at malls pay off, they could be in a position to charge Tshamana with much more serious crimes.