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IOL News
4 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Court denies couple's bid for legal funds in illegal coal mining case
Jacobus and Elza Jordaan, who are facing multiple charges involving alleged illegal coal mining, lost their legal bid to have preserved funds released for living and legal expenses. Image: Supplied A couple said to be part of a Mpumalanga illegal coal mining case and who earlier had multi-millions in assets frozen by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), launched a failed legal bid for the release of R6.2 million of these funds for their legal costs as well as R149,000 a month for their living expenses. Jabobus and Elsa Jordaan turned to the Mpumalanga High Court, sitting in Mbombela, as they claimed they urgently need this money to survive and to be able to pay for their defence in their criminal trial. The Jordaans, together with thirteen others, were allegedly part of a syndicate charged with multiple serious offences of illegal coal mining and theft of coal from the State. Their assets were earlier preserved in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. The Jordaans hold dual citizenship in both South Africa and Namibia. They are also directors of various companies, including GNJ Mining. The AFU in Mpumalanga, in collaboration with South Africa's Financial Intelligence Centre, the Namibian Financial Intelligence Centre, and the Namibian Prosecutor-General's office, at the end of last year seized money in eight Namibian bank accounts to the value of about R52.5 million allegedly linked to the Jordaans. According to the authorities, this amount represents the proceeds of massive illegal coal mining in the Carolina area in Mpumalanga. The Jordaans now told the court applicants contend that the effect of these preservation orders is that they currently have no access to any funds or any unrestrained realisable property, whether movable, immovable, or cash. The National Prosecuting Authority, in opposing the application, said the Jordaans are not being frank with the court. It was argued that the applicants have on several occasions failed to or refused to disclose assets and to repatriate R50 million which was transferred to Namibia shortly before the granting of the preservation orders. It was also said that the couple failed to disclose all property interests and submit a sworn and full statement of all their assets and liabilities, which include assets held in trusts. The applicants, however, stated that they never made or received any income without disclosing it to the curator who was appointed to manage their preserved assets. But the curator said this is incorrect, as live game was removed by the couple and income to the value of R524,752,50, generated therefrom, was not disclosed and remains unaccounted for. The applicants, meanwhile, failed to give an explanation regarding this sum of money to the court. The prosecuting authority also pointed out to the court that the couple last year in another application asked that R3 million be released for their legal costs, as well as R293,349 per month for their living expenses. They had subsequently withdrawn that application. It questioned how the applicants' historical and future legal expenses have increased by R1.2 million and their living expenses have been reduced by R144,582 per month.
The Herald
13-06-2025
- The Herald
Vehicles worth R1m used to commit offences forfeited to state
In another order, a silver Hyundai Sonata vehicle valued at R110,000 and R7,500 in cash were forfeited after a significant drug seizure in Upington. Police recovered: 9,315 Mandrax pills valued at R931,500; eight packets of tik valued at R603,600; and four packets of cocaine valued at R554,400. The drugs were found in the presence of the driver and a passenger. In the third matter, a bronze Toyota Corolla 1.3 Prestige, valued at R132,000 and held at the Philipstown SAPS, was forfeited to the state after being used to transport narcotics. The vehicle concealed drugs inside a tyre, including Mandrax valued at R30,000 and dagga valued at R631,800. A white Mercedes-Benz valued at R306,300 which was seized in Springbok was forfeited after being used to transport dagga mixed with hydroponic cannabis. The drugs were valued at R80,000. An Isuzu truck valued at R275,000 was seized and forfeited after it was found transporting illegal gambling machines in Kuruman. Six foreign nationals were arrested, including three Chinese and three Tanzanians. All six were found to be in the country illegally without valid travel documentation. 'These forfeitures mark a decisive and strategic intervention by the NPA and its AFU in disrupting the economic infrastructure that sustains criminal enterprises.' He said by targeting the vehicles, cash and other assets used in or acquired through criminal activity, the AFU was not only weakening the operational capabilities of organised crime networks but also removing the financial incentives that fuelled repeat offending. TimesLIVE
IOL News
07-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Kursk Under Fire, Truth Under Siege
By Gillian Schutte On 5 June 2025, I attended the Russian-hosted international online press symposium titled 'Liberation of Kursk Region', a teleconference convened to present first-hand accounts, evidence, and legal testimony on the attacks carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and foreign mercenaries during incursions into the Kursk Region. It was a sobering exercise in counter-memory — one that exposed the ideological filters through which Western media interprets war, and how it strategically erases certain kinds of suffering. The event brought together a panel of experts, eyewitnesses, and officials to report on the nature of these violations. Each presentation revealed both the physical damage inflicted on the Russian civilian population, as well as the deeper injury of denial — a refusal by the Western bloc to recognise the legitimacy of Russian civilian grief. The eyewitness accounts shared by three Kurskites were harrowing. One described watching elderly neighbours die when their home was shelled. Another spoke of civilians being shot at close range. A third, fighting tears, recounted the rape of women during the brief occupation of their village. These testimonies were the lived memories of war and trauma, delivered with quiet devastation. Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, provided a comprehensive briefing on what Russia identifies as crimes committed by the Kiev regime. He detailed the shelling of border villages, destruction of non-military infrastructure, use of foreign mercenaries, and the discovery of banned Western-supplied munitions, including cluster bombs and white phosphorus, in civilian zones. Miroshnik cited ongoing investigations by the Russian Investigative Committee into violations of international humanitarian law — all allegedly ignored by the institutions tasked with upholding these laws. According to Miroshnik, several communities in the Kursk Region suffered not only bombardment but were also subject to brief occupations by AFU-aligned forces. During these episodes, civilians were reportedly displaced, forcibly taken into Ukrainian territory, and subjected to psychological trauma. Families returning to liberated areas faced destroyed homes, contaminated land, and unexploded ordnance, with little to no humanitarian intervention from the international community. Igor Kashin, Head of the Special Projects Department in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, presented a legal analysis of these findings. His tone was forensic. He itemised the breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other international protocols, explaining how evidence had been submitted to various global institutions — including the UN and the ICC — yet no meaningful action had followed. Olga Kiriy, a Russian filmmaker and documentarian, delivered a visual account of the devastation. Her footage showed razed schools, burning residential blocks, and civilians returning to ghost towns, still wearing the shock of war on their faces. In one of her documentaries she shows a Ukranian soldier admitting to the rape of women by himself and his unit. Her presentation conveyed what words could not: the raw aftermath of military violence on people who remain unseen and unspoken in the official Western narrative of the conflict. Ivan Konovalov, military analyst and historian, contextualised the attacks on Kursk within a broader framework. He explained that the AFU operations were tactical provocations — designed to destabilise border regions and provoke retaliation, which could then be framed by NATO-aligned media as further proof of Russian aggression. He pointed out that these attacks coincided with deliveries of new Western weaponry to Ukraine, raising serious questions about the complicity of foreign governments and arms manufacturers. The testimonies shared during the teleconference dismantled the binary framework imposed by Western media, where Ukraine is valorised as a struggling democracy and Russia is reduced to a caricature. The reality conveyed by the speakers was more complex and far more disturbing. Russia, too, has civilians. Its towns and villages are not abstract zones on a geopolitical map but home to people who have suffered death, displacement, and the terror of war. Yet these accounts are absent from global headlines. They are not debated in parliaments, nor dissected on primetime panels. Instead, they are swiftly relegated to the realm of 'disinformation' — a catch-all term used by liberal institutions to shut down inconvenient truths. This is the machinery of narrative warfare — where facts are not weighed for their truth, but for their utility to power. The West's information order sustains itself through omission, selective moral outrage, and the assumption that some lives matter more than others. As a South African journalist who has long documented structural injustice, I recognise this silencing. It follows a pattern familiar to the Global South — where international law is invoked as a weapon rather than a principle; where invasions by Western powers are called interventions, but defensive operations by others are framed as crimes; and where victims must pass ideological litmus tests before they are deemed worthy of empathy. The suffering in the Kursk Region demands recognition. The use of banned munitions against civilians, the forced displacement of families, and the destruction of non-military infrastructure all constitute grave breaches of international law. That these acts are committed using Western weapons, under the cover of Western media silence, reveals a moral crisis at the heart of the liberal order. The conference was more than a forum for Russian voices. It was a reminder that truth is not owned by the powerful. It must be spoken even when it is buried. The people of Kursk have lived through war. They have returned to broken homes and haunted fields. Their testimonies exist. Their pain is real. And their silence is manufactured by design. If the term 'liberation' is to have meaning, it must include liberation from the monopolies that determine whose pain is legitimate. It must disrupt the asymmetry of grief that defines the West's geopolitical posture. We owe that to the people of Kursk. We owe it to all communities whose trauma is edited out of history to suit imperial narratives. And we owe it to ourselves, if we are to resist becoming complicit in the global machinery of selective justice. *Gillian Schutte is a South African writer, filmmaker, and critical-race scholar known for her radical critiques of neoliberalism, whiteness, and donor-driven media. Her work centres African liberation, social justice, and revolutionary thought. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
TimesLIVE
06-06-2025
- TimesLIVE
AFU obtains confiscation order against ex-rangers who killed two rhinos
The Skukuza regional court has granted a confiscation order in favour of the National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in Mpumalanga against two convicted former field rangers who killed two rhinos in December 2018. 'The order, made on Thursday, compels Lucky Mkanzi and Nzima Joel Sihlangu to pay R836,600, plus 11% interest accruing from the date of the poaching of two rhinos,' NPA spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said. The court further directed that R41,820 being held in the SAPS Absa suspense bank account be paid to SANParks to support anti-rhino poaching efforts. Mkanzi and Sihlangu were each sentenced to 20 years' direct imprisonment last year for offences committed between December 25 and 30 2018 in the Skukuza section of the Kruger National Park. At the time of the offences, both were on day shift and had no authorisation to work during the night. During their trial, the prosecution presented evidence showing that the vehicle used in the poaching incident was stationary at the location where the rhinos were killed. Their supervisor testified that neither of the accused had permission to be on night duty. A tracking expert confirmed the movements of the vehicle, placing them at the crime scene, and a police officer testified about a raid on Sihlangu's residence where cash from the sale of rhino horns was found. Both accused were convicted of conspiracy to commit an offence and the illegal killing of two rhinos. 'The AFU plays a vital role in ensuring that criminals do not benefit from their unlawful actions. Through the AFU, the NPA continues to reinforce accountability, uphold the rule of law, and demonstrate that crime has serious financial and legal consequences,' Nyuswa said.
Russia Today
02-06-2025
- General
- Russia Today
Russian memorandum on settlement of Ukraine conflict (FULL TEXT)
The Russian delegation presented its peace proposal to the Ukrainian side during the talks in Istanbul on Monday. Among the main points, Moscow's memorandum calls on Kiev to withdraw its troops from the former Ukrainian territories that have joined Russia and confirm its neutral and non-nuclear as of June 1, 2025 Key Parameters for a Definitive Settlement Commencement of complete withdrawal of the AFU and other Ukrainian paramilitary formations from the territory of the Russian Federation, including the DPR, LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, and their pullback from the borders of the Russian Federation to a distance agreed upon by the Parties, in accordance with Provisions to be approved.
