The document contains several news stories from a daily newspaper: 1) A Sherwood businessman had his electricity disconnected by the eThekwini Municipality for alleged unpaid property rates arrears of R100,000, despite disputing the bill. He took the municipality to court and the judge refused to order reconnection until a payment agreement was reached. 2) A Pinetown doctor was convicted of 14 counts of fraud for falsely submitting medical claims to a medical aid scheme, amounting to around R46,320. 3) Two Wentworth men, aged 22 and 21, applied for bail for a third time for the murder of a 19-year-old and attempted murder of a 20-

1. DAILY NEWS PAGE 5
MONDAY APRIL 27 2015NEWS
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Health, safety dangers raised
Power cut
over rates
arrears bill
NOELENE BARBEAU
D
ESPITE lodging a dis-
pute with the eThek-
wini Municipality
over his utilities bill
and alleged R100 000 property
rates arrears, a Sherwood busi-
nessman said the electricity to
his home had been discon-
nected on Thursday – for a
second time.
This led to his urgent appli-
cation on Friday before Durban
High Court Judge Fikile Mok-
gohloa to compel the muni-
cipality to re-connect his elec-
tricity.
The municipality argued in
court that non-payment of
rates was sufficient reason to
disconnect an account.
In court papers, Mohamed
Essa said he purchased the
Sherwood property in May
2012, but did not take transfer
of it because there were de-
fects.
He and the sellers were in-
volved in a legal wrangle over a
reduction of the purchase price
of the property and payment of
the purchase price with inter-
est, respectively.
Essa currently lives on the
property with his wife and two
minor children, whom he said
were both diabetic and re-
quired insulin, which is refrig-
erated.
He said the electricity dis-
connection was putting his
children’s health and his
family’s safety at risk, as the
electric fencing and his alarm
system were now not func-
tional.
According to his affidavit,
he tried to transfer the utilities
account into his name, but the
municipality refused because
he had not taken transfer of the
property.
Paid
Essa claimed he had faith-
fully paid the account since
taking occupation, but noticed
in September last year that the
accounts were “incorrect”,
with reflected estimates and
excessively high amounts with-
out any increase in usage of
the electricity and water.
He said he raised a dispute
and was told it would be inves-
tigated.
In March this year, he said
his electricity was discon-
nected and when he queried
this, he was told to continue to
pay the estimates on the ac-
count until the dispute had
been resolved.
He subsequently learnt
from the municipality that
there was a R100 000 rates ar-
rears on the property.
He said he contacted the
sellers and that all attempts to
resolve this matter were re-
jected by them.
On Thursday, their electri-
city was again disconnected
despite, Essa said, the dispute
raised.
In court on Friday, the mu-
nicipality argued it was being
prejudiced for services ren-
dered over a fight between Essa
and the sellers.
Mokgohloa said she was not
prepared to grant an order to
re-connect the electricity when
a debt was owed on the prop-
erty. “I’m not going to set that
precedent,” she told both par-
ties.
She requested both sides to
speak and come to an agree-
ment that perhaps Essa pays a
certain amount towards the
arrears so the electricity could
be re-connected.
noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za
Action movie raking in the rands
IN CASE there was any doubt, the lat-
est box office figures confirm that
South Africans like to see car chases
and plenty of skop, skiet en donner
when they go to the bioscope.
Universal Pictures and UIP South
Africa has announced that with the
weekend’s takings, Fast & Furious 7
was expected to overtake Avatar to
become the all-time highest-grossing
film in the country.
It would surpass the R56 179 423-
record Avatar achieved in 2010, and do
so in a record 23 days, said UIP.
To put that in perspective, the SA-
made movie with the highest gross is
2010’s Schuks Tshabalala’s Survival
Guide to South Africa at R38 million,
according to the National Film and
Video Foundation.
Internationally, Fast & Furious 7
had grossed $1.2 billion at the world-
wide box office more than a week ago.
The action film, the seventh instal-
ment in a franchise, has been the No 1
film at the worldwide box office for
three consecutive weeks, and opened
No 1 in all 67 markets where it was
released, including North America. –
Daily News Reporter
Rocket car builder pupils have a blast
MPHATHI NXUMALO
KEARSNEY College pupils had
a blast building and racing
model rocket cars in a competi-
tion designed to fire up interest
in science, technology, engin-
eering and mathematics.
The competition, at the
Botha’s Hill school on Friday,
was part of an education pro-
gramme run by the Blood-
hound Super Sonic Car (SSC)
Project.
Bloodhound, a British com-
pany, is designing and building
a car with the aim of breaking
the current land speed record
of 1 228km/h, which was set in
1997 by the Thrust SSC.
Five teams of four, compris-
ing top achieving Grade 11 and
12 Kearsney schoolboys and a
sixth team representing the
teachers, were pitted against
each other.
Amid plenty of smoke and
excitement, Team Pocket
Rocket eventually won with a
top speed of 171km/h – a bit off
the pace if you consider that
the Guinness world record for
the world’s fastest model rocket
car is about 400km/h.
But, to be fair to the budding
Kearsney rocket scientists,
they only had an hour-and-a-
half to complete the building of
their cars, after a three-hour
how-to tutorial.
Also, unlike the car that
broke the Guinness record,
which had three rockets, the
schoolboys’ cars each had only
one rocket.
The rockets used potassium
nitrate or “sugar rocket fuel”.
Gianluca Pauselli, spokes-
man for Team Pocket Rocket,
said he was ecstatic about the
win. He said his adrenalin had
been rushing when he pushed
the launch button that blasted
off his team’s car.
The 16-year-old Grade 11
pupil revealed the glue they
had used in the car only set an
hour-and-a-half before the race,
and he joked that the “lucky
number 13” on their car may
have contributed to victory.
“I am definitely going to tell
my parents,” Pauselli said
about the win, and said he
planned to study engineering at
Stellenbosch when he finished
school.
Education ambassador for
Bloodhound, Christopher
Maxwell, said the race at
Kearsney was intended to
spark an interest in engineer-
ing and science, much like the
Apollo moon landing had done
in 1969.
Bloodhound aims to break
the land speed record by
achieving a top speed of 1 690
km/h – faster than a bullet
fired from a Magnum 357.
The 7.5 ton, 13.5m long car
packs a combined 135 000
horsepower punch from its
three engines: a prototype Eu-
rojet EJ200 jet engine, a hybrid
rocket power plant and an aux-
iliary Jaguar Land Rover V8
unit. This total has six times
more power than all the cars on
a Formula One grid… put to-
gether.
A 20km racetrack which has
been created in Hakskeenpan
in the Northern Cape was
deemed by Bloodhound SSC to
be the best place to hold the
world record attempt.
The car will be driven by
British Royal Air Force pilot
Andy Green, who achieved the
current land speed record in
the ThrustSSC between
September and November this
year.
Car wrecked in S Coast toll plaza accident
NONHLANHLA MKHABELA
AN N2 TOLL plaza cashier got
the fright of her life when a car,
travelling at “flying speed”,
slammed into a crash barrier
just metres from her booth on
the South Coast at the week-
end.
KZN Emergency Medical
Services spokesman, Robert
McKenzie, said although there
was massive damage to the car,
the five occupants, all men,
escape unscathed.
“Much of the force of the
crash was absorbed by the
crash protection (a barrier and
plastic containers filled with
water) placed in front of the
barrier wall at the toll gate,” he
said.
The Oribi Toll Plaza chief
manager, Carol Ndlanzi, who
was on duty at the time of the
incident, at about 8am on Sat-
urday, said staff had never been
so frightened.
“Out of all the 10 years that
I have worked here, I have
never seen such an incident.
The car just kept on coming at
flying speed with no intention
of slowing down. We have no
idea what was going on in
there, but we suspect the driver
hit the wall because he was
avoiding crashing into the car
that was before him. We are
just thankful no one was hurt,”
she said.
She said the occupants of
the car appeared dazed and
disoriented.
The cashier who was on
duty in the booth was
unavailable to speak to the
Daily News yesterday.
Police spokesman, Major
Thulani Zwane, said the driver,
a 30-year-old, had been arrested
and was to appear in the Port
Shepstone Magistrate’s Court
tomorrow.
He said Port Shepstone
police were investigating a case
of negligent driving and driv-
ing under the influence of
alcohol.
A car crashed into a barrier at the Oribi Toll Plaza near Port Shepstone at the weekend.
Gun, drugs
found in raids
A FIREARM belonging to a
Lamontville policeman has
been seized during a drug raid
in Sydenham.
Police searched a flat in
Sydenham Heights A-Block for
drugs when they found a 9mm
parabellum Vektor pistol and
15 rounds of ammunition. A 19-
year-old was held.
The pistol was alleged to
have been taken from the po-
liceman in Mobeni Heights
Shopping Centre last year.
The policeman was al-
legedly held up by three men.
Police spokesman, Major
Thulani Zwane, said a second
flat was raided where police re-
covered 655 ecstasy tablets, 10
mandrax tablets, 68 whoonga
straws, 29 pieces of crack co-
caine and four bags of cocaine
powder. They arrested a man,
aged 28, for drug possession
estimated at a street value of
R46 320.
The two suspects are ex-
pected to appear in the Durban
Magistrate’s Court tomorrow. –
Daily News Reporter
Doctor defrauded medical aids
NOELENE BARBEAU
A PINETOWN doctor has been
convicted on 14 counts of fraud
for submitting false claims to
the Government Employees
Medical Scheme (GEMS).
Dr Kalpesh Ramcharan
pleaded not guilty in the Dur-
ban Regional Court to 18 counts
of fraud relating to the periods
2011 and 2012.
According to the charge
sheet, he submitted various
claims, ranging from about
R100 to just over R1 000, for
patients he claimed to have
treated at his Chatsworth prac-
tice.
However, the complainants,
many of them nurses, said the
doctor had never treated them.
Many had said their medical
aid was already exhausted
when the claims were submit-
ted. They had alerted GEMS,
who investigated the matter.
Handing down her judg-
ment on Thursday, magistrate
Delia Turner said she found
the State witnesses to be credi-
ble and Ramcharan’s version to
be weak. She said Ramcharan
had told the court he had
treated a lot of the people for
whom he had made claims.
The magistrate found this to
be improbable, saying that as
soon as the allegations arose,
he had refunded the medical
aid scheme. This, she said, in
fact strengthened the State’s
case.
Turner acquitted him on
four of the 18 fraud counts.
Arguments for sentencing
are expected to be made next
month by the prosecutor,
Surekha Marimuthu, and de-
fence attorney, Siven Samuel.
Samuel requested a report
from the Department of Cor-
rectional Services.
In 2012, it was reported that
Ramcharan was found guilty
by the Health Professions
Council of SA (HPCSA) of un-
professional conduct relating
to the submission of accounts.
The doctor was fined R30 000
with R20 000 suspended for five
years on condition he was not
again found guilty of a similar
offence.
According to a report in the
Daily News’s sister paper, The
Independent on Saturday, Ram-
charan had pleaded guilty to
that charge, which he des-
cribed as an honest mistake.
He had told the HPCSA com-
mittee that a well-known pa-
tient, whose extended family he
treated, had brought a man to
his surgery in April 2009 and
introduced him as a brother.
He was treated and a claim
was thereafter submitted. How-
ever, a week later he learnt the
person he treated was not who
he claimed to be.
The doctor said he immedi-
ately contacted the medical aid
scheme and asked for the claim
to be reversed. The money was
repaid to the medical scheme,
which then filed a complaint
with the council.
The HPCSA committee
chairman said at the time that
while the doctor had shown re-
morse, it was this conduct that
depleted medical aids and un-
suspecting consumers of mil-
lions of rand.
noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za
Murder pair’s new bail bid
NOELENE BARBEAU
AFTER two failed attempts,
two Wentworth youngsters on
Friday made another court bid
for bail.
Durban High Court Judge
Esther Steyn, however, called
for further submissions from
their legal counsel and was ex-
pected to hear the matter later
this week.
Tevin Davis, 22, and Bruce
Meth, 21, are accused of fatally
shooting Tevin Rivers, 19, and
shooting at Kyle Cornellison,
20, who had both been standing
on a street corner in Went-
worth in June last year.
A witness said she over-
heard the two accused
discussing shooting whoever
would be on that street corner.
Other witnesses are said to
have identified the two men at
an identity parade.
During their first bail appli-
cation in August, Durban
magistrate Vanitha Armu said
murders of this nature had
reached epidemic proportions
in the Wentworth area.
She felt the interest of jus-
tice far outweighed the inter-
ests of Davis and Meth.
Community activists have
also been vocal about the num-
ber of shootings in the area,
and fear a turf war over drug
trading.
The investigating officer,
Warrant Officer Mandla Zondi,
from the provincial task team,
said he was assigned the case
after complaints had been
received that the original inves-
tigating officer, from the Went-
worth SAPS, was not investi-
gating the matter.
Common
In his affidavit opposing
bail, Zondi said: “Shootings
and killings in the Wentworth
area have become so common,
to the extent that the commu-
nity have lost faith in the police
and courts as they allege that
suspects are sometimes arrest-
ed and a few days thereafter,
released on bail.”
He said there were three
witnesses, but others were
afraid of coming forward.
He said the accused were
flight risks and had only
handed themselves in because
they now had CCTV footage
that purported to place them
elsewhere during the shoot-
ings.
He said the video footage
was unclear and had to be sent
to Pretoria for forensic analy-
sis.
The pair then made another
bail application based on new
facts, and both testified.
Davis had told the court he
had CCTV footage and five alibi
witnesses. These witnesses’
confirmatory affidavits were
read out to the court at the
time.
Meth had testified that he
was with his girlfriend at the
time of the shootings, and her
affidavit was also read out to
the court.
Magistrate Armu found that
no new facts were presented,
saying the alibi witnesses were
mentioned at the initial appli-
cation and the CCTV footage
was of no value at that stage as
no faces could be seen.
She also said the State had a
strong case.
noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za
A little hill
climbing
fun at
last!
Independent Newspapers Group
Sports Editor, Tim Whitfield,
is riding 900km from Heidelberg
to Scottburgh to raise funds for
the Daily News Milk Fund.
THREE days done with 331km
of the 2015 Old Mutual
joBerg2C completed. Six days
to go until we reach Scottburgh
on Saturday, and today the fun
starts as we drop over the es-
carpment that separates Kwa-
Zulu-Natal from the Free State.
Day one was a neutral stage
from Heidelberg to Frankfort
on Friday that was 113km of
very boring, flat riding on the
district back roads. Day two to
Reitz was a little more exciting,
but still relatively flat. The Free
State is known for its flat, undu-
lating landscapes and moun-
tain biking without mountains
is, well, just biking.
But the joBerg2C organisers
are nothing if not sadistic, and
yesterday they found what
could be the only mountain
between Reitz and last night’s
overnight stop at Sterkfontein
Dam.
Mount Paul is a chunk of
rock that towers over the dam
and the surrounding land-
scape. The race organisers de-
cided it was fun to put the
mountain back into biking, and
took us around and up it. The
fast descent down the other
side was the highlight of the
first three days, but after 105km
of undulations my tired, wob-
bly legs did not appreciate the
effort needed to get to the fun.
As much as my legs and bot-
tom are feeling the after-effects
of 300km spent sitting on a
hard, small piece of leather the
size of my hand propelling a
bicycle, my mind will not allow
me to complain.
My hero of this event has to
be Kenyan Douglas Sidialo,
who completed the third day
yesterday about an hour be-
hind me. Nothing exceptional
in that – except he is blind and
riding on a tandem with com-
patriot John Mwangi.
To complete this event on a
tandem is a phenomenal effort
in itself, but with one rider
having to rely completely on
his partner for all the informa-
tion needed is simply unbeliev-
able, and their effort makes me
very guilty about whingeing
about my aches and pains.
It does make me feel slightly
better that I am riding for the
Daily News
Milk Fund, a
worthwhile
cause if ever
there was
one.
Do you have any news? Call us at 031 308 2124
or e-mail us at dnnews@inl.co.zaCALL US
Team Pocket Rocket, from left, Cuan Crocker, Gianluca Pauselli, Brendan Stead and Dan van Zyl are interviewed by education
ambassador for the Bloodhound Super Sonic car project, Christopher Maxwell, on their win at Kearsney College in Botha’s Hill.
PICTURE: SIBUSISO NDLOVU