Senzo Meyiwa: Drama as state witness claims defence disclosed confidential document to the accused:
Tension rose in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial on Wednesday when police officer Vusimuzi Mogane testified that the defence had disclosed confidential information to the five accused men, endangering witnesses.
Pretoria high court judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng had on Tuesday ordered Mogane to disclose all the cases he was working on the day he drove around with accused number two Bongani Ntanzi for 17 hours. He said the police officer must make the disclosure in a note to be shared with all the counsel, who must, however, not disclose the information.
When Mogane returned to the stand on Wednesday he claimed to have seen the five accused reading the confidential list of investigations, which he had been ordered to bring to court.
“This is something bothering me, my lord. I brought the documents, as asked by the court, and I detailed all the cases and the names of the accused people in those listed cases.
“I gave it to [state prosecutor] advocate [George] Baloyi in an envelope clearly marked that it is confidential information. During the break, I saw the document roaming around in court,” Mogane said.
“I saw Muzi [accused number one, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya] and all the accused reading it,” he added, saying he was worried about the safety of the witnesses listed in the document.
“In some of those cases, some of the accused I will not mention are involved and, in all those cases, firearms are involved — people were shot, kidnapped and others were threatened — so I am worried if my witnesses will still be alive tomorrow.”
Mogane said he had seen defence advocate Thulani Mngomezulu, who represents Sibiya and Ntanzi, with a document detailing case details extracted from the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) online system.
“It is possible to get into the SAPS system and get the details of our witnesses. The document I saw from Mngomezulu was from our system and it showed that it was retrieved by Sergeant Mngomezulu. I am not sure if they are related and now I am afraid that some people will be able to get the same information and put our witnesses in danger,” he said.
Mokgoatlheng said he was dismayed that a document supposed to be seen by just himself and the lawyers allegedly had been viewed by other people.
“I have dealt with such cases before and those documents should have been seen by me only first,” he said.
“I allowed transparency in court and said it should be seen by me and the counsels as I am trying to avoid a situation where judges are said to be bought or corrupt and, after seeing the document, I would have decided on which sections would be given to the counsels.
“I am shocked that senior counsel like these ones are behaving like this. This witness is right because we are not sure if his witnesses will be alive tomorrow because in a case like this people do get killed.”
Mngomezulu denied consulting his client about the document.
Advocate Charles Mnisi, representing accused number three Mthobisi Mncube, said he was uncomfortable with the statement made by the judge, because he felt that how the document got to the accused should have been determined first.
Advocate Zandile Mshololo, representing accused number five Fisokuhle Ntuli, said she had not seen the document and that her client had told her that the document he and the other men were seen reading was their indictment.
“My lord, I have not personally seen or consulted with my client on that document.
“My client has informed me that, when they were grouped with accused one Sibiya, accused two Ntanzi and accused number four Mthokoziseni Maphisa, they were looking at the indictment document.
“It is not the one produced by Mogane, it is the charge sheet and they were discussing witnesses one and four,” Mshololo said.
Advocate Zithulele Nxumalo, representing Maphisa, said he did not understand why Mogane was worried about the contents of the document being disclosed because he had referred to one of the cases listed on it.
“In his statement read in court, he referred to one of the cases, he detailed everything. I am failing to understand why he is bringing all of this,” Nxumalo said.
Mokgoatlheng did not respond to the defence lawyers’ submissions.
The five men on trial have pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition.
Mogane has previously said the National Cold Case Unit, to which he is attached, was told by an informant that Ntanzi had been involved in the murder of Bafana Bafana captain Meyiwa, who was shot dead on 26 October 2014 in the home of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo in Vosloorus, Gauteng.
The post Senzo Meyiwa: Drama as state witness claims defence disclosed confidential document to the accused appeared first on The Mail & Guardian.
Matric students need mental health support to handle exam stress, Sadag says:
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) is urging students and their families to prioritise their mental well-being as they grapple with the stress of sitting for their high school-ending examinations.
This comes after a survey of young people and children by the South African chapter of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) found that more than two-thirds of respondents felt they needed mental health support over the past year.
Matric students are currently writing their National Senior Certificate exams which commenced on 30 October and will run until 6 December. Results for the exams, which will help determine whether students can enrol into tertiary institutions, are expected to be released in early January.
“It’s important that students take care of their mental health during this time because it can have long-term effects — take breaks and breathe,” Sadag spokesperson Vanishaa Gordhan told the Mail & Guardian.
External factors like the influence of loved ones or worries about future prospects can affect how students approach the final examinations. Gordhan said.
“External factors play a big role — it is important for the learner to feel that he has support from those around him or her, for them to follow a schedule that can ease their timeframe and to make sure they get enough rest during this time,” she said.
A matric student who declined to be named told the M&G he felt overwhelmed with the pressure from his family.
“I am aware that this is very important for me and I do know that I am trying my best, but it feels like a show where everyone is just waiting for the results and it is kind of just all on me to bring back a positive or negative outcome,” he said.
Another student admitted to being anxious but said she made an effort to be present in other moments and give her mind a rest.
“I have been treating it like every other exam that I have written to this point to make sure that I don’t overwhelm myself and then spiral which will just take my mental health down a hill,” she said.
Last week, Unicef South Africa released its latest U-Report poll which found that 73% of children and youth had required mental health support over the past year and more than 38% actively sought help for mental health challenges.
“The feedback from youth is clear in that they are aware of their need for mental health support,” Unicef representative Christine Muhigana said.
“Encouragingly an increasing number of children and young people are engaging with their friends on mental well-being. We must ensure that national policy and community-based mental health support services put youth at the centre.”
Unicef urged the South African government to increase its investment in mental health and psychosocial support services, integrated within the primary health care and child protection systems, including community services and structures.
In commemoration of mental health month in October, the Gauteng health department opened the first-of-its-kind Mental Health Museum in Gauteng — located at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in Tshwane — to raise awareness of mental health and illness.
“Beyond its educational role, the museum serves as a symbol of hope. For those who may have felt isolated or marginalised in their struggle with mental health, it offers a reminder that they are not alone, that their experiences are part of a broader wall-hanging of humanity,” Gauteng member of the executive council for health and wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
Meanwhile, Sadag has urged students who are feeling overwhelmed during the exams to call its helpline 0800 567 567.
The post Matric students need mental health support to handle exam stress, Sadag says appeared first on The Mail & Guardian.
‘Climate change and health must be high on the African agenda’:
Health and policy experts in Africa believe health must be on the agenda during discussions about climate change.
Shifts in temperatures and weather patterns caused by human activities have resulted in increased risk of deaths, noncommunicable diseases, the emergence and spread of infectious diseases and health emergencies.
Climate change can provide temperature-sensitive vectors and pathogens with ideal environmental conditions for mutations, optimal development and survival, hence increasing their spread and transmission.
Climate change is undermining the rights of vulnerable and disadvantaged people especially in developing countries, where poor infrastructure results in them being unable to have access to good health care and other social support structures.
In March, Tanzania’s health ministry reported the first Marburg virus disease outbreak in Bukoba. The ministry reported nine cases. Six people died, including a healthcare worker. The virus that is passed on to people from fruit bats. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said timely intervention by its local office and government efforts helped prevent the disease from spreading.
“From one of the events which happened in Tanzania, just the other day there was the Marburg virus outbreak, and using such a model Marburg disease was controlled,” says Martin Muchangi, director population health and environment at the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref).
Marburg’s symptoms included fever, headache, fatigue and blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea. Although there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for Marburg, the outbreak was declared over in June.
A 2023 report by the WHO shows that 3.6 billion people live in areas highly susceptible to climate change, which directly contributes to humanitarian emergencies from heatwaves, wildfires, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes that are increasing in scale, frequency and intensity.
It further states that from 2030 to 2050, climate change is expected to cause about 250 000 additional deaths a year from water- and vector-borne diseases, as well as mental health issues.
As the world prepares to gather in Dubai for COP 28, African countries have come together to develop a common position on climate change and health.
The global health community is using the “one health approach” to address issues regarding the environment, animal health, human health and climate change. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a body of the African Union, has developed a strategy that gives direction to member states on how to implement the one health approach.
South Africa, Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana, Mali, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ethiopia are among African countries implementing the one health approach, said the Africa CDC.
“One salient initiative is the development of early warning systems where communities themselves are collecting data on climatic issues like dying of an animal and reporting that,” says Muchangi.
Amref is implementing the one health approach in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia by bringing together the ministries of health, livestock and environment, where the health clinicians, environment officials and veterinary officers are able to interpret and make sense of the data so that they can respond accordingly.
About 60% of communicable diseases are zoonotic — they are transmitted naturally from vertebrate animals to humans or from humans to vertebrate animals.
Professor Omu Anzala, of the Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative (KAVI) Institute of Clinical Research at the University of Nairobi, points out the need to advance primary health of populations by addressing how the entire ecosystem works. KAVI, which initially did HIV clinical trials, has now branched to other infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and the mpox, ebola, dengue, Marburg and Zika viruses and antimicrobial resistant bacteria.
Climate change is becoming a major driver of infectious diseases because water, sanitation and hygiene is affected by droughts and floods. “We need to understand disease ecology and focus on cross-species transmission,” Anzala says. “There is a need to work with environment officers, the veterinary department and health officials.”
Angelo Kaggwa Katumba, of the international nonprofit AVAC, says decolonisation of the research agenda will help Africa best address climate change and health emergencies.
He says the decolonisation agenda is about centering local priorities. African countries have been challenged to invest in research that focuses on its citizens and their needs.
Wakio Mbogho is a multimedia journalist based in Kenya.
The post ‘Climate change and health must be high on the African agenda’ appeared first on The Mail & Guardian.
Submit and get free exposure here: Showcase Your Business | Advertise Your Special Offers.
