New evidence in Joshlin Smith case brought to light, says NPA:
The case against the four accused in the disappearance of Joshlin Smith has again been postponed after the state said new evidence had come to light.
“Some new evidence has emerged and we are duty-bound to investigate that evidence and in terms of the policy directives the matter will only be enrolled in the high court when it is certified that all investigations have been complete,” state prosecutor Aradhana Heeramun said during Monday’s court sitting.
Joshlin’s mother Kelly Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen “Boeta” Appolis, Stevano van Rhyn, and Lourentia Lombaard appeared in the Vredenburg magistrate’s court on charges of trafficking for the purpose of exploitation and kidnapping.
Joshlin vanished from her home in the Middelpos informal settlement in Saldanha Bay on 19 February. At the time of her daughter’s disappearance, Smith told the police that she could not find the child when she had returned home after being out for the day.
The matter was supposed to be transferred to the Western Cape high court but has been halted.
Outside the courthouse on Monday, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila refused to share details of the new evidence.
“We can’t speak about it. We’ve asked the court for a remand so we can continue the investigations,” he said.
The case was postponed to 21 October and the accused were remanded in custody until then. The magistrate has marked the postponement as the final round of investigations.
The attorney representing the accused told the court on Monday that the defence would object to any further postponements made by the state.
This is the third time the state has requested a postponement to give it time to conclude its investigation into the girl’s disappearance.
In March, state prosecutor Jacques van Wyk said the fourth suspect in the case, Lombaard, had confessed, without saying what she had confessed to. Van Wyk said he could give no further details. Lombaard was allegedly the last person to see Joshlin before she disappeared.
Since the girl’s disappearance, residents of Saldanha Bay have been following leads that they believe could help locate her.
In April, then police minister Bheki Cele said that according to a tip-off Joshlin had been spotted on a ship headed for international waters. Cele said officials had connected with the International Human Trafficking Hotline Web Chat, which led to the search of the Panamanian ship, Frontier Asuka.
A two-day search of the ship docked at Port Talbot in Wales however yielded no sign of the child.
In another moment suggesting a breakthrough, residents of Saldanha Bay reported a blocked drain at the back of Diazville High School where police found blood-stained clothing items.
But police said the DNA found at the scene did not match that of Joshlin.
Environmental activist who feared for his life killed in Honduras:
An anti-mining activist was shot and killed in Honduras, President Xiomara Castro said, vowing justice for the latest such murder in one of the world’s most dangerous countries for environmentalists.
Juan Lopez, 46, was gunned down as he left church on Saturday in the northeastern town of Tocoa, his widow Thelma Pena told AFP.
Castro condemned the “vile murder” in a post on the social media platform X late on Saturday and said she had ordered an investigation.
“Justice for Juan Lopez,” Castro wrote.
Lopez, who belonged to the ruling Libre party, campaigned against open-pit iron ore mining in a forest reserve in the vicinity of Tocoa, where he worked in the town hall.
In an interview with AFP in 2021, Lopez discussed the risks that he said environmental activists face in this poor and violent Central American country.
“If you start defending common interests in this country,” he said, “you clash with major interests.”
“If you leave home, you always have in mind that you do not know what might happen, if you are going to return,” said Lopez.
At a recent news conference, the activist called for the resignation of Libre officials caught on video negotiating bribes with drug traffickers in 2013.
That video recently ensnared Carlos Zelaya, a brother-in-law of the president. He resigned his seat in congress after admitting he took part in that meeting with drug gangsters.
The UN country representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Isabel Albaladejo, urged investigators to consider “possible reprisals” against Lopez for his demand for a local mayor to resign for alleged links to organised crime.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had ordered protective measures for Lopez due to threats against him and other environmentalists from Tocoa.
Fellow rights defender Joaquin Mejia paid tribute to the environmentalist, calling him “a comrade committed to social change.”
Mejia accused authorities of failing to “fulfil their obligation” to protect Lopez.
Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya said the “reprehensible” murder would not go unpunished, and paid tribute to Lopez’s activism.
“His life was an example of struggle. He never gave up in his incessant battle, hand-in-hand with the people to preserve natural resources,” Zelaya said on X.
The NGO Global Witness says Honduras is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for environmental activists.
In 2023 it was ranked third in the world for the number of killings of such activists at 18, tied with Mexico. The top two were Colombia and Brazil.
The organisation said that from 2012 to 2023, 148 environmental campaigners were killed in Honduras.
They include Berta Caceres, a high-profile opponent of a controversial hydroelectric dam who was murdered in 2016.
A council of Indigenous organizations co-founded by Caceres said that the Honduran state and Castro’s government were “responsible for this new murder by not guaranteeing Juan’s life.”
© Agence France-Presse
South Africa’s economy: Talk is not enough to drive real change:
As the Money Summit unfolds at the Sandton Convention Centre, a plethora of people are offering “insightful conversations” aimed at moving the economy forward. The question is: are these conversations translating into real change, or are we merely rehashing the same old talking points while the economy flounders?
South Africa’s economic reality remains dire. The country’s GDP growth rate for the second quarter of 2024 was a dismal 0.4%, far from the robust growth we need to address our deep-seated socio-economic problems. Gulam Bim, the chief economist at Standard Bank, acknowledged during the summit that “the economy has not come through as it should”, while expressing cautious optimism about a potential easing of the interest rate. Bim noted that we could see a rate cut by the end of the month, with further cuts extending into 2025. Yet, will a few interest rate reductions be enough to spur meaningful growth?
The data suggests otherwise. As of the second quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate among South Africans aged 15 to 34 has soared to 46.1%, starkly overshadowing the national unemployment rate of 33.5%. This is not a problem that can be solved by minor adjustments in the interest rate or vague talk of “unleashing the animal spirits of entrepreneurs”. Even if businesses begin to invest again, who will benefit from this investment? Without targeted policies to ensure that marginalised groups, particularly the unemployed youth, are integrated into the formal economy, any economic growth is likely to exacerbate the inequalities entrenched in our society.
Moreover, while Bim expressed hope that the political centre could hold, the country remains politically volatile. The government’s continued failure to implement long-term, coherent economic policies undermines business confidence. South Africa’s history of stop-start economic interventions leaves much to be desired. A critical question arises: can a government plagued by corruption scandals and internal divisions truly push forward the bold reforms needed to reignite the economy?
The summit’s discussions have also spotlighted personal finance, particularly that many South Africans, even in the middle class, are drowning in debt. This is not surprising, given that the average debt-to-income ratio is more than 72% as of 2023. Bim argued that despite these problems, “we’ve not seen a very substantial surge in non-performing loans”, thanks in part to South Africa’s social safety net. But this statement downplays the severity of the situation. The reality is that many households are barely keeping their heads above water, and relying on government transfers is hardly a sustainable long-term strategy. As of 2024, more than 20 million South Africans rely on social grants. While these grants provide critical relief, they do little to promote financial independence or long-term wealth creation.
The larger issue here is not just about the financial literacy of individuals, which Bim believes has been democratised through access to social media. Although it’s true that more people have access to financial advice today, this is no substitute for structural changes that would allow for real financial empowerment. A well-functioning economy requires people to have jobs, higher wages and opportunities to generate wealth — not just better financial advice on how to manage their mounting debt. If anything, this emphasis on financial literacy serves as a convenient distraction from the real, systemic failures of the economy.
Furthermore, Bim’s optimism that load-shedding is largely behind us and that we’re seeing early momentum in logistics also deserves scrutiny. Although Eskom has made progress in reducing power cuts, the country’s energy infrastructure remains fragile, and long-term solutions are still not in place. In fact, a 2023 report by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research showed that load-shedding cost South Africa R60 billion to R120 billion in that year alone. Can we really say that power rationing is a thing of the past when infrastructure upgrades remain woefully underfunded?
What’s most alarming is the continued disconnection between the summit’s discussions and the lived realities of most South Africans. When we speak of “economic growth” in these settings, whose growth are we really talking about? The elite, who attend these summits in luxury, or the millions of South Africans left behind? South Africa has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world, with a Gini coefficient of 0.67. Without addressing this, no amount of dialogue will fix the economy’s core structural issues.
It is easy to be hopeful about small signs of recovery, such as improvements in the logistics sector or the promise of rate cuts, but these are Band-Aids on a festering wound. What South Africa needs is bold, decisive leadership that can tackle corruption, invest in education and skills development, and create an inclusive economy that benefits everyone — not just the wealthy few.
As the Money Summit concludes, we must ask ourselves: are we willing to confront the uncomfortable truths about our economy, or will we continue to hold “insightful conversations” that lead nowhere? Real change will require more than just dialogue; it demands action, accountability and a commitment to building an economy that works for all South Africans. Without this, we are doomed to repeat the same cycle of stagnation, no matter how many summits we hold.
Thabo Motshweni is a PhD student in the department of sociology at the University of Johannesburg and a research fellow at the Centre for Sociological Research and Practice.
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