Latest news with #R88.9
The South African
09-06-2025
- The South African
Father sentenced to 35 years for exploiting his children
A Cape Winelands father created child pornography using his minor daughters and infant son for financial gain. The court sentenced him to 35 years in prison. The court found the 27-year-old man guilty of multiple charges. These include trafficking in persons, rape, creating and benefiting from child pornography, possessing and distributing pornographic material, and child abuse. The state withheld the man's name to protect the identity of his daughters aged six and four and son aged one. The man married the mother of his children in March 2018. He stayed home and cared for them because he was unemployed. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said 'He subscribed to a social media application with instant messaging where one can transmit and receive messages, photos, and videos. Users can communicate privately with other users or in groups. The social media platform users can send photographs taken within the application. Which indicates to other users a picture was taken in real time and not imported from a camera roll.' 'He decided to create child pornography for financial gain. As the conversion rate at the time was R18 to the dollar. He connected with the group after the administrative user approved his access to the group, and he started to communicate with the administrative user.' Ntabazalila said he made pornographic content of his biological children and admitted to selling an 'unknown amount of child pornography to unknown users for $5 (R88.9) to $10 (R177.8).' An undercover FBI task force officer from the Washington field office was part of the FBI child exploitation and human trafficking task force. The officer shared information about the man's activities with South African police. Police then arrested him on 30 May 2023 and confiscated his cellphone. Senior state advocate Evadne Kortje finalised the plea and sentencing agreement. She said the accused sexually exploited children whose innocence should have been protected and preserved at all costs. 'He communicated and joined the social media application to connect with individuals interested in child pornography. He downloaded child pornography from other unknown collectors and other hands-on child sexual abuse offenders. Then he abused his parental privilege and the trust relationship he had towards his three small children. Regional court magistrate Gangadu emphasised the inescapable reality of the increasing prevalence of the abuse of modern technology to exploit our children,' said Ntabazalila. The Paarl Regional Court sentenced the man to 35 years of direct imprisonment and ordered him to serve two-thirds of the sentence before he becomes eligible for parole. The court will enter his name into the national register for sexual offenders. The court declared him unfit to work with children or to possess a firearm. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
16-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
R279 million budgeted for National Treasury's building rentals and parking spaces
More than R300 million over the next three years has been budgeted for rental and maintenance costs for National Treasury infrastructure. Roughly R90 million per year is to be spent on housing National Treasury over the next three years. The amounts to be spent on building rentals, parking spaces, communications technology and maintenance was recently revealed by the Ministry of Finance. The R279 million tabled for rentals for the next three financial years excludes the other items, which all have separate budgets. National Treasury infrastructure A written question on National Treasury's budget was posed by the ANC's Helen Neale-May. The finance ministry's written reply explained that infrastructure was a broad term that encompassed multiple support systems. Treasury disclosed the amounts to be spent on four buildings occupied by Treasury, as well as its communications technologies. For the rentals of their offices, the ministry stated that R279 million has been budgeted for building rentals and parking spaces for the next three financial years. This was broken down as R88.9 million for the 2026/26 financial year, as well as R93.1 million and R97.3 million for the next two financial years. The allocation for communications infrastructure is R26.5 R26.5Million, with R2.7 million allocated set aside for maintenance. Oversight mechanisms Neale-May also queried what was being done to maintain infrastructure operation and maintenance standards within Treasury. The ministry stated that regular audits and inspections of its systems were conducted to ensure they were managed effectively and sustainably. 'Compliance frameworks have been implemented to provide clear guidance on standards, procedures, and occupational health and safety compliance, with a special emphasis on infrastructure maintenance and ICT governance,' the ministry replied. 'By adopting these measures, the National Treasury demonstrates a proactive commitment to sustainable infrastructure management. 'The integrated approach, covering both physical and ICT systems, ensures functionality, safety, and accessibility for public use, highlighting a forward-thinking stance in governance and operational excellence,' the ministry concluded. NOW READ: Lesufi to call in forensic firm to scrutinise R34 million office rentals
