Image 1 of 3 JOAN HOMAN (nee Booysen) 20 years after the ordeal.

THE only girl who escaped from notorious paedophile Gert van Rooyen almost 20 years ago says the second she looked into his eyes she saw “pure evil”. Two months away from the 20th anniversary of her escape, Joan Homan (nee Booysen) told about the day she was abducted and drugged by Van Rooyen and his lover and accomplice, Francina Johanna Hermina (Joey) Haarhoff.

Speaking at a luncheon in Uitenhage, Homan told the story of her abduction and escape.

The story of Van Rooyen and his six missing victims has baffled police and the public alike for two decades. Despite countless investigations, rumours, forensic testing and the finding of bones, the six girls have never been found.

The disappearances of Tracy-Lee Scott-Crossley, 14, Fiona Harvey, 12, Joan Horn, 12, Odette Boucher, 11, Anne-Mari Wapenaar, 12, and Yolanda Wessels, 13, have all been linked to Van Rooyen after they were abducted in Gauteng between 1988 and ’90.

Homan, then 16 and in Std 9 (Grade 11), was kidnapped for a few hours on January 11, 1990. It was Homan’s abduction and subsequent escape that gave police the evidence they needed to close in on Van Rooyen, who police suspected had been involved in the disappearances for quite some time.

Homan said she did not consider herself a hero, even after providing police with the information they needed to move in on Van Rooyen and Haarhoff.

Using Homan’s information and descriptions of the couple, police placed their Pretoria home under surveillance.

Van Rooyen shot himself and Haarhoff as police were giving chase, also killing all chances of ever finding the six missing girls.

Homan said she had missed her usual bus to school that morning, when a blonde woman approached her on Church Square, Pretoria, where she was waiting for the next available bus to take to school.

“People always warn you not to speak to strangers. I knew I should never speak to strange men but no one ever warns you never to speak to friendly old ladies. She was friendly and very kind. I never suspected a thing,” Homan said.

Haarhoff, in the now infamous blonde wig with which she disguised herself, approached Homan at the bus stop and offered her a job.

“I told her I was still at school, but we started talking. She said she could give me information which I could give to friends. She then asked me where I was going and I told her. She said she was going in that direction and offered me a lift. I did not suspect a thing,” Homan said.

On the way to school, Homan said, Haarhoff told her she needed to stop off at her home. After entering the Malherbe Street, Capital Park, house Haarhoff then said there was no one at home. They would have to wait. She offered Homan a cooldrink inside and she accepted.

“We walked through the house. She told me she worked at a nursery. As we walked past the main bedroom I saw a man behind me. It was Gert van Rooyen. He slapped me and I fell down. When I looked up I was staring into a revolver,” she said.

Haarhoff produced a handful of pills. Van Rooyen forced Homan to drink them at gunpoint.

“When I looked at him all I saw was evil. He had beady eyes. All I thought was that this man is the villain. They told me they would demand a ransom. They then locked me in a cupboard.” Homan said she said a quick prayer and then looked at how she could get out of the cupboard.

“There was a polystyrene cooler box in the cupboard. I used the lid to open the hook on the other side which was keeping both doors closed,” said Joan, who at the time was a big fan of the TV show MacGyver.

She made her way to the lounge and looked outside. Haarhoff was in the garden but there was no sign of Van Rooyen. She phoned her cousin, telling her what had happened and where the house was.

“I ran outside. There was a man driving down the street. I stopped him and told him I had been kidnapped. I got into the car and the man drove away. “I passed out in the car from the pills they gave me,” she said.

That evening the police placed Van Rooyen’s home under surveillance.

Homan said her heart went out to the mothers of the six girls who had never received closure on their daughters’ fate.

Now a manager in Centurion, Homan said she had moved on with her life. Although her children knew what she had live through, they hardly ever talked about it. She is very close to her sisters, Elsenette Cronje, now of Despatch, and Lizelle Booysen, of Durban.

source: The Weekend Post

Popularity: 79% [?]

Thieves mourn the Citi Golf, It was number one on hijackers’ wanted list’.

Even car thieves have been left with lumps in their throat as the last Volkswagen Citi Golf to be produced goes into retirement at a museum at the manufacturer’s plant in the Eastern Cape town of Uitenhage.

I don’t know how many I stole, but the car is a legend 

MULTIMEDIA

• Citi Golf farewell

Volkswagen punted the Citi Golf as South Africa’s best-selling car, but didn’t mention that it occupied poll position on the “wanted” lists of criminal networks.

Some criminals said the Citi Golf ranked as one of the vehicles most likely to be taken away from its owner – either through theft or by force.

As the curtain comes down on a made-in-South-Africa motoring legend, convicted car thieves shed some light on why Citi Golfs are in high demand by criminals.

“The demand for the Citi Golf is always there in the townships,” said a 35-year-old convicted car thief and hijacker, who asked not to be named, and who is now serving a 15-year term at Durban’s Westville prison.

“I don’t know how many I stole, but that car is a legend. You can customise and do anything you want with it; I think that is why people like it so much.”

His cellmate, a 37-year-old serving 20 years for the same crimes, said: “I stole many cars . BMW 325s, Jumbos [VW Golf mark 2] and VR6s [Golf mark 3]. But the Citi Golf was always the easiest to sell.”

Both men claim that they never shot their hijacking victims.

The 37-year-old said they would go to various Durban suburbs or to the inner city looking for a specific car to steal, but would hijack a driver only if they couldn’t find one parked.

“Hijacking is a more serious crime than theft,” said the 37-year-old.

When hot, a new Citi Golf would be sold for between R6,000 and R8,000.

“Hot” refers to the period shortly after the car was stolen or hijacked and before its identity was changed, he said.

Once the car “cooled down,” thanks to an expert who removed and re-stamped vehicle identity tags and engine numbers – and in some cases re-sprayed it – its value would increase.

“When it had been completely done, we would sell a new Citi Golf for between R10,000 and R15,000, depending on the condition and skill of the person doing it. If you trust that person, and he has worked on cars before that never had problems with the police, then you could charge a good price,” said the 37-year-old.

New Citi owners were outraged in 2007 when a major insurance company refused to insure Citi Golfs assembled between 2004 and 2006 because of the rate at which they were being stolen.

The move affected about 2000 policyholders though the insurance company, Hollard, has since changed its stance and now provides cover for the car.

But not even the threat of parting with the vehicle unceremoniously would deter those who loved the Citi from buying it.

Bank employee Sibusiso Goba, a confessed VW fan, who bought his VeloCiti in 2005, said: “My philosophy is that I will never deprive myself of something that I love because of another person.”

First introduced as the VW Golf mark 1 in 1978, the car was later given a face-lift and re-introduced as the Citi Golf in 1984.

Volkswagen intended to produce it for only five years – but ended up making it for the next 25.

In 1984, available in yellow, blue and red – thanks to some creative input from fashion designer Jenni Button – it proved a hit.

And for decades South Africans were sold on its stylish looks, reliability and economy. Some have even confessed to having had some hanky-panky in a Citi. More than 600,000 of them were sold in South Africa, despite their lack of safety features. But some have wondered what the fuss is all about.

Jeanne Fochessati, owner of a black Citi Rox, said on the car’s farewell website www.goodbyeciti.co.za : “True what they say – if you’ve never owned one, you’ll never understand.”

source: Time Live

Popularity: 39% [?]

DIE-HARD Citi Golf fans are at war over who will win the bid for the last available VW Citi – rated as a highly collectible piece of history.

The website bidding on the iconic car started on November 3 at just R1, but by yesterday had reached R160100.

The bidorbuy website offering has received about 7000 visits, and managing director Andy Higgs said the bidding had gone much higher than expected.

The Citi’s market price is R113500.

“There are passionate fans out there – and whoever wins it will own a highly collectible piece of history,” Higgs said of the “puzzling” mathematics.

He said the bidding war was between 24 individuals, who are anonymous and can only be identified by the public by their user names. “They can use an automatic bid (to up their offer) depending on their limit.”

What made this particular car so special, said Higgs, was that it was the third-last to roll off the production line. The last two Citis produced, numbered 001 and 002, would be preserved for posterity in the Autostadt museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, and at the AutoPavilion museum in Uitenhage.

This car is one of the 1000 numbered limited-edition models. “The closing date is November 23 at 9pm. We don’t think (the bidding) will get much higher – but we might be surprised,” Higgs said.

source: The Weekend Post

Popularity: 28% [?]

background) and the rubbish dumped on the ground is causing concern for Redhouse residents, who say the municipality doesn’t listen to their appeals for the area to be cleaned up.

IN The Herald on Thursday I saw the municipal dumpsite eyesore in Rosedale (“Separate Uitenhage from Mandela Bay!”), so I took some pictures of the Redhouse dumpsite which has the same problem. The Redhouse residents also blame the municipality for poor service delivery.

Phoning them does not help. Hopefully they will see this in The Herald and clear all the rubbish. – D Robertson, Redhouse, Port Elizabeth

source: The Weekend Post

Popularity: 32% [?]

Benteler Automotive, the multinational automotive component manufacturer, will invest R178 million in the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park to supply parts to Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA).

The investment will create 250 jobs and increases the investment by the nine companies in the park and 25 investors in the Coega industrial development zone to R40 billion.

Founded in 1876 and based in Germany, the family-owned Benteler Group today employs almost 25 000 people at 150 locations in 35 countries. It will produce and supply dashboard carrier panels and body parts, front and rear bumpers and chassis parts directly to VWSA’s production plant located adjacent to the park.

VWSA managing director David Powels said this formed part of the company’s plan to increase the local content of vehicles built for the domestic and export markets.

“The company’s all-out initiative is to achieve 70 percent local content in its South African-produced vehicles.

“In addition to the local content benefits the company’s investment brings to VWSA, it is also beneficial to the region due to the skills transfer that will take place,” he said.

Construction started this month and production is expected to commence by mid-June next year. A total of 450 people will be employed during the construction phase.

Luis Madaleno, the managing director of Benteler Automotive South Africa, said it chose to establish itself in the logistics park in Uitenhage to be close to VWSA while the newly opened Port of Ngqura would provide the ideal base from which to export.

“Locating to this area not only benefits the company, as we can tap into the skilled workforce in the area, but we’ll also contribute to the development of Nelson Mandela Bay and the province,” he said.

Pepi Silinga, the chief executive of the Coega Development Corporation, said the investment was a massive boost for Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape.

“The number of jobs it will create will have a very positive impact on the lives of the people in the region,” he said.

Benteler SA is the ninth investor in the logistics park.

VWSA announced a year ago it had attracted several key national and international component manufacturers to set up operations in Uitenhage. It said about R1bn would be invested in new facilities by the middle of this year, which would create 1 000 jobs.

VWSA spokesman Bill Stephens said on Friday that facilities established by interior plastic component manufacturer Faurecia Interior Systems, side mirror and cable manufacturer Flextech, bumper manufacturer Rehau Polymer and headliner and door panel manufacturer Grupo Antolin were already operational.

Stephens said metal pressing parts manufacturer Bloxwich, which had planned to invest in the park, had been a casualty of the global financial crisis.

Bell-Essex Corporation’s factory, situated next to the VWSA plant but outside the park, would be completed shortly, he added.

Other park investors are plastic fuel tank manufacturer Inergy and logistics companies Mediterranean Shipping Company and Schnellecke.

By Roy Cokayne

source: Business Report

Popularity: 50% [?]

DISGRUNTLED Uitenhage residents called for Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Nondumiso Maphazi to step down and for Uitenhage to become independent of the Bay municipality.

Councillor Mike Kwenaite said residents had called Maphazi and Deputy Mayor Bicks Ndoni to a meeting at Babs Madlakane Hall in KwaNobuhle “to come and explain what is happening in the municipality”.

Issues discussed included budget allocation, poor housing infrastructure and municipal manager Graham Richards who is currently on special leave.

Addressing the almost full hall, Maphazi said she had to attend the meeting because of “pressure”.

“But mainly I came because people sent letters questioning whether there’s still a municipality or not.”

She spoke at great length about the Richards issue, which culminated in him taking “forced special leave” with full pay .

She said no one had taken over Richards’s position on an acting basis, but that “by Monday next week there’ll be someone who’ll lead the Nelson Mandela Metro”.

Kwenaite made it clear they had been “unhappy” with Richards’s appointment, “but we had to accept the order of the ANC”.

He said Richards’s contract was due to expire in 2011.

During questions, a resident told Maphazi, to loud applause: “You are not helpful to us in Uitenhage, for that you should step down and give others a chance… We never see you around in Uitenhage.”

Another called for Uitenhage to not be “part of the Bay municipality”.

Also to loud applause, Maphazi said: “I said it clearly to the comrades that if I must be redeployed, I must be redeployed.

“They must hire someone they think is able to do the job in the Nelson Mandela metro.”

Meanwhile, three high schools in KwaNobuhle; Thanduxolo, Nkululeko and Mlungisi, in the area called Gunguluza (Ward 45), were closed on Tuesday after a mob of protesting residents stormed onto premises, ordered the principals and staff to stop teaching and allow children to join a service delivery protest.

This happened at about 9am. The main roads in the area were barricaded by stones and burning tyres to prevent the police from entering.

Those leading the delivery protest claimed that pupils were also affected by the lack of delivery.

Teachers said ANC officials who visited the schools had dissociated themselves from the mob action.

Ward councillor and DA leader Franay van der Linde confirmed there had been a housing delivery protest, which started on Tuesday.

“I got a call from someone that two people had been killed by the police while holding a protest and I was being held responsible for these deaths,” she said.

The ward councillor claimed that three months ago she had been held hostage for two days in the Gunguluza informal settlement area by a mob of angry protesters who demanded answers for the lack of service delivery.

She said she was afraid to go and address the residents and had asked housing director Seth Maqetuka to talk to them.

Van der Linde also said it appeared the protest was just a strategy by anti- DA elements to make the area ungovernable and to remove her as councillor in order to install an ANC councillor.

“They say no delivery will take place there until I have been removed as ward councillor,” Van der Linde said.

Police spokesman Inspector Marianette Olivier said a 50-year-old man from Gunguluza was rushed to Uitenhage Provincial Hospital after being hit by a police car.

The incident took place at about 9.30am, she said. “The residents were unhappy about housing delivery.

“They were toyi-toying and blockading the road. We fired rubber bullets but no one was injured.”

Popularity: 40% [?]

South African Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Thursday launched the first 2010 Visitor Information Centres (VICs) in Port Elizabeth.

The three centres, developed at a cost of R6,7-million, would form part of the legacy project for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“The model for these centers is based on the best international practice and they will assist our tourism authorities in providing outstanding service to tourists as well as other stakeholders,” said Van Schalkwyk.

The Department of Tourism noted that with just 315 days until the start of the World Cup, the centers were aimed at improving the South African tourism offering with a view to enhancing service excellence, growing tourism and creating opportunities for local economic development.

As part of the national VIC project, centers were being rolled out in five host cities, namely Port Elizabeth, Polokwane, Nelspruit, Rustenburg and Bloemfontein. These less-visited provinces were earmarked for the VIC’s in preparation for the World Cup, but also to grow their tourism arrivals from both local and international visitors.

Van Schalkwyk stated that the primary objective of the VIC project was to effectively address the tourism and information needs of the visitors expected to converge in the five host cities in 2010 and beyond.

“The centers, funded by our department, create easy access and awareness of tourism-related facilities and attractions within an area. VICs are a key element of the visitor industry and play an integral part in the marketing chain and information distribution system,” he said.

“The centers provide tourists with a one-stop service and will be able to assist with information on a wide range of tourism products including tourism information enquiries, reservations, accommodation, tours, vehicle hire, entertainment, dining, sports, adventure, shopping and travel tips.”

Van Schalkwyk added that the information and reservation system used in the centers was developed in South Africa and is designed to cater specifically for the South African market. It has the same functionality as much more expensive international systems. The local system would allow for more participation by the members of tourism authorities, smaller establishments and small-, medium-sized and macro enterprises (SMMEs).

“These members will for the first time also have access to a centralised, standardised and affordable reservation system and advertising at a fraction of the price it would cost as a member an international organisation. The system provides SMMEs with the opportunity to become members of a tourism organisation and be integrated into the tourism value chain. It will also allow members to update and control their reservation system, in turn providing up to the minute information to tourists.”

Van Schalkwyk further explained that the rationale behind the information technology system was to integrate and standardise the technology component throughout South Africa to allow the visitor to have a seamless travel experience. It would also afford the visitor the ability to access information from any location in one of the five host cities.

In Port Elizabeth, the three VICs are located within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, which incorporates Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Despatch and Colchester. The existing lighthouse facility located at the Donkin Reserve was upgraded to serve as the flagship VIC, with the satellite facilities located at the Port Elizabeth airport and Boardwalk Casino and Entertainment World.

The three centers make use of touch screens linked to a central database to cater for any tourist information requirements. In addition, plasma screens display the tourism products on offer and the advertisements of local businesses. The centers, furthermore, provide information officers at the main desk, brochure displays on assorted tourist attractions, free Internet access and an online booking system.

All three VICs are fully operational and offer a seven-day a week service, in line with international standards.

source: Engineering News

Popularity: 35% [?]

LEADING Afrikaans rock band Van Coke Kartel hits the Eastern Cape next week with a series of very different gigs around the province.

The group, which has just released its new album Waaksaam en Wakker containing the hit Wat Het Van Ons Geword, consists of Francois van Coke on guitar and vocals, Wynand Myburgh on bass and Justin Kruger on drums.

The group is one of several acts to emerge from the popular punk rock act Fokofpolisiekar – Myburgh and Van Coke were both founding members and Kruger toured with the band but didn‘t record with them.

Myburgh said that there was no animosity or issues between the bands which often liked to play together.

“At the moment there‘s Van Coke Kartel and some members are involved in aKing and some other members are involved in Die Heuwels Fantasties,” Myburgh said.

“And then our guitarist from Fokofpolisiekar is also involved in Jax Panik.

“So it‘s pretty much like a family of bands all hanging out and all with the same sort of mindset around music.”

He said Van Coke Kartel and aKing often played together, and would be doing so again on July 10 at Pool City, Walmer. That show will be a full rock show and will also feature up-and-coming Port Elizabeth band The Merchant of Menace. But before getting to Port Elizabeth, Van Coke Kartel will first appear at the Barkly Street Theatre in Uitenhage on July 8.

“We started rehearsing an acoustic show in February this year,” Myburgh said.

“It was something we always wanted to do.”

He said with a limited number of rock venues, it gave the band more opportunity to get on the road and visit smaller towns which might not be able to stage a rock gig. Then after the Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth shows, the group heads off to the Bilabong Pro surfing festival in Jeffreys Bay on July 11. Myburgh said with this being an outdoor venue and a festival vibe, that once again the feel and set list would change from the other two shows. Looking back at the rise of the group, Myburgh said he started playing bass guitar at the age of 16 and formed a band with Van Coke at high school.

“Our careers started together and we initially played in a Christian band called 7th Breed, which became quite popular in Cape Town,” he said.

But Myburgh‘s path to stardom wasn‘t straight forward. He got involved in the music industry, particularly in sound engineering and worked for a while in television broadcasting for e.tv.

“I eventually decided on music as a full-time thing when we formed Fokofpolisiekar in 2003,” he said.

Asked about what he does when not performing in the two bands, Myburgh said that music had become a full-time 24 hour job.

“Even when we‘re not playing live, we‘re rehearsing, writing, recording, doing interviews, working on the business side of the band, producing flyers, organising bookings or other logistical elements.

“Even when you go out for the evening to relax, you still find that you are ‘working‘ because you‘ll meet someone who recognises you and end up posing for photos and signing autographs.”

source: Weekend Post

Popularity: 42% [?]

ORGANISERS of the Kirkwood Wildlife Festival hope it will generate more than the R18-million in turnover it achieved last year.

Event organiser Jenni Honsbein said the fact that the festival was profitable last year was an achievement, because “most big festivals barely break even”.

Profits for the festival, now in its eighth year, were down last year due to increased overheads and the larger scale of the enterprise. Last year‘s headline game auction brought in R11-million of the festival‘s turnover.

A small portion of the event‘s profits are retained to pay for emergencies and the salaries of the two permanent staffers on the festival team (the others are all volunteers) and the rest goes to social improvement projects.

The projects, which have together received R80000 to R150000 a year in cash or in kind from the festival, each revolve around “centres of hope” focusing on Aids, children, the aged, the disabled, poverty– and the World Cup.

One of these is the Isipho (“gift” in Xhosa) Aids Project in Paterson, run by David Banesi, 38, and his wife Sindiswa, 44, who is HIV-positive.

The couple met and first talked about their project while both in prison in Grahamstown. He wrote a play about Aids and she performed it with other women inmates. Operating from an abandoned municipal building, the two Aids activists now take care of 23 Aids orphans and run a creche.

Working with a state social worker and a team of care-workers, they ensure the orphans are fed, clothed, accommodated and schooled. Isipho gives them uniforms and stationery and pays their school fees. Eight of them sleep at the Isipho building and the rest have been placed with families.

The Kirkwood festival‘s funding was used to help Isipho feed and clothe the children, Honsbein explained.

“Isipho is a centre of hope. It has killed the stigma of Aids and encouraged people to come forward to be tested.”

The festival also sponsors the Bergsig Aged in Action project. Initiated as a franchise by the national Council for the Aged, Bergsig co-ordinator Ouma Evie and her team work out of an industrial container, providing food for indigent elderly and increasingly jobless youth.

The festival also funds the Tape Aids Mini Wheely Library Project, which allows blind or illiterate residents to book out audio-tapes.

It had operated in the Moses Mabida and Valencia townships and had been hugely popular, Honsbein said.

“It is a wonderful form of upliftment.

“Our librarian has been struggling to keep up with the demand.”

Another project, initiated in conjunction with the Sundays River Municipality, was aimed at training local people to become traffic officers.

“The thinking behind this and similar projects that we support is to retain and empower the locals rather than have them drift away to the city.”

In celebration of 2010, the festival has also been sponsoring Bush Pirates from Nomatamsanqa near Addo. The festival management team hopes to target a mega-project to clear alien vegetation in the valley.

The project, which was launched in 2006, promises to create hundreds of jobs, benefit biodiversity and free up precious water. The cost of maintaining the project is about R100000 a year and it is now being run by the Sundays River Citrus Co-operative. But festival organisers are hoping this year‘s festival will generate enough revenue to launch a second inspirational eco-project, possibly to clear the Sundays River of suffocating Spanish reed.

source: Weekend Post

Popularity: 31% [?]

by Khanyi Ndabeni HERALD REPORTER

IT took nine years, but Adriaan Lombard, 9, of Uitenhage finally has a new kidney – donated by his dad, Bokkie.

Grade 4 pupil Adriaan received the kidney from his father at the Donald Gordon Medical Centre at Wits University and arrived back home at the weekend, ending nine years of family misery.

“My child was diagnosed with kidney failure a few months after he was born,” said his mother Lindy.

Bokkie was identified by the doctor as a compatible donor for his son, but the family had to wait before the transplant could be performed.

“All these years, I‘ve watched my son not growing like the other kids at his age,” said Lindy.

“He was small and was on a low-protein diet almost every day.”

The father and son were admitted to the hospital last Tuesday and the father was discharged on Saturday.

Adriaan was discharged yesterday.

“I‘m so looking forward to my child growing like the other children,” said Bokkie proudly. “He is now in Grade 4. As soon as he recovers from this, he will be able to play like the other boys of his age,” he said.

Organ Donor Foundation project manager Samantha Volschenk said 27 children under the age of 12 had been waiting for kidney transplants last year, and 25 under the age of 17.

“Only five children under the age of 12 and two adolescents received a kidney last year,” she said.

At the medical centre where Adriaan and Bokkie were admitted, about 10 children aged from six months to 12 years are on the active call- up list, waiting for kidneys. Eight are waiting for livers.

Transplant co-ordinator Kim Crymble said: “Last year we performed eight transplants on children and so far this year we have performed five – three combined liver/kidney transplants and two liver transplants.

source: The Herald Online

Popularity: 29% [?]