KARISHMA DIPAkarishma.dipa@inl.co.za

A DRIVE-BY shooting outside the Sangweni taxi rankin Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, yesterday left a taxi boss deadand two others, including a police officer, wounded.

Police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel KatlegoMogale said a group in a white bakkie stopped behindthe taxi boss and shot him. He was confirmed dead atthe scene.

The group then turned on a police officer who waspatrolling the area and shot him in the leg.

“A woman who was driving past was also shot,” saidMogale.

The officer and thewoman were taken tohospital and are in astable condition.

A man who runs astall opposite the ranksaid the taxi boss hadstopped outside theentrance to buy fruit

from a vendor. “A group of men drove behind him andfired a round of shots,” said the man, who did not wantto be named.

“One of the shots hit him in the head and theothers hit his body,” he said.

Chaos ensued as people scattered in fear.“I was waiting in the line for a taxi when I heard the

shots. I turned around and saw a man falling,” saidTembisa resident Sipho Mfumeni. “I ran and hidbehind a car until it was quiet.”

The crime scene was abuzz with activity, with sev-eral residents standing behind a cordoned-off policeline to catch a glimpse of the forensic officials clearingthe spot.

The taxi boss’s family were holding each other asthey sobbed. His young son, wearing his school uni-form, was dropped off outside the rank and screamedas he ran to his family.

RUTH HOPKINS

AN ATTORNEY representinginmates who have allegedlybeen tortured was preventedfrom accessing his clientsincarcerated in Mangaungprison, run by controversialBritish security company G4S.

Both G4S and the Depart-ment for Correctional Services(DCS) deny responsibility forthe decision.

Although this happened inNovember, the attorney, EgonOswald, brought it to the atten-

tion of the Wits Justice Projectrecently.

Two lawyers with Britishlaw firm Leigh Day, whichserved an urgent “letter ofclaim” on behalf of 43 inmatesto G4S’s headquarters in Craw-ley, England, last week, werealso denied access.

The inmates who are suingG4S were incarcerated at Man-gaung prison, but have since

been transferred to other pris-ons or released.

They were electroshocked,forcibly injected with anti-psy-chotic drugs and held in isola-tion cells for up to three yearswhile in the care of G4S, theyclaim.

“We were informed that thedirector of the prison had con-sulted a DCS official and that adecision had been made not to

grant access,” Oswald said. G4S claims it is DCS’s con-

tractual responsibility todecide who has access to theprison. But DCS disagrees.

“Mr Oswald was not deniedaccess by DCS as it is G4S thatallows or denies access,” aspokesperson for the depart-ment said.

In July last year, attorneyswith the Centre for Applied

Legal Studies were also deniedaccess to inmates who allegethey were abused in the prison.

In October 2013, the WitsJustice Project revealed thatthe emergency security team –warders who are called toemergency situations – alle-gedly assaulted inmates rou-tinely. Inmates, warders andother sources have claimedthat the team would kick,

punch and electroshock in-mates with their shields afterdousing them with water.

Leaked video footage shotinside the prison showed aninmate, who had no record ofmental illness, being injectedagainst his will, seeminglywith anti-psychotic drugs.

Day has 12 clients who claimthat they were forcibly med-icated.

G4S dismissed about 330warders in September 2013 fol-lowing a prolonged strike.

This caused a descent intochaos in the prison, and DCSstepped in and took control.

But by August last year, G4Swas handed back control.

A government investigationinto the alleged abuse has beenfinalised, but not yet released.

The case is expected to go tothe high court in London laterthis year.● Ruth Hopkins is a journalist

with the Wits Justice Project

SHAIN GERMANERshain.germaner@inl.co.za

ALBERT Justice Morakewould rape his targets– often in front of their

helpless, bound partners – andthen give them advice on hownot to be raped again.

Despite being forensicallylinked to most of his 29 rapesand found guilty of 144 seriouscriminal charges, he deniesany wrongdoing.

It was this arrogance andlack of remorse that forced the hand of Judge Rean Stry-dom, who sentenced Morakeyesterday in the high court inJoburg sitting at Palm Ridge tomore than 1 500 years inprison.

While he will serve only alife sentence of 25 years beforehe can apply for parole, therewas a cutting message fromthe soft-spoken judge.

Morake’s rape and kidnap-ping spree began in 2007 andcontinued for five years.

He would take womenhostage at gunpoint, some-times while they were withtheir partners, who would bebound and forced to watch.

During some of the about30 rape incidents, he wouldallow an accomplice to join inand violate his targets.

In one incident, he shot one of the people he had kid-napped and left them for dead,prompting Judge Strydom tobelieve that Morake wascapable of murder if he facedresistance.

During Morake’s lengthytrial, many victims explainedhow the rape had affected theirlives, from an inability to trustmen to marital problems andbeing afraid to walk anywhereat night.

“The victims are unable tolive normal lives,” said Judge

Strydom, who occasionallyshot a piercing gaze at Morake– who failed to react through-out the sentencing.

Judge Strydom said Mo-rake’s lack of remorse and

continuous denial of what hehad done was an indicationthe serial rapist could never berehabilitated.

Morake’s lawyer asked thecourt for leave to appeal, but

Judge Strydom said it wasunlikely another court wouldrule differently.

The application was denied. After the proceedings, one

of Morake’s young victims

told The Star she was pleasedhe would not be bothering anyother women for a long timeand labelled him a “patheticliar” for never admitting to the crimes.

National Prosecuting Au-thority spokeswoman PhindiLouw said the NPA was satis-fied with the sentence handeddown because it had success-fully fulfilled its obligation to

the victims of such violentcrimes.

She said the NPA wouldcontinue to push for lengthysentences for such heinousoffenders.

6 NEWS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20 2015 The Star

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UNREPENTANT: Albert Morake will effectively serve only a life sentence of 25 years before he will be considered for parole. His rape spree began in 2007 and continued forfive years. PICTURE: DUMISANI SIBEKO

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Serial rapist gets more than 1 500 years in jail

1) 30 life sentences for the 30 rapes.

2) 10 years for each of the three charges

for enabling his accomplice to rape.

3) 15 years each on the 24 robbery

counts.

4) Five years for each of the

41 kidnapping charges.

5) Five years for each of the 28 illegal

possession of a firearm charges.

6) One year for each of the six illegal

possession of ammunition charges.

7) Three years for each of three theft

charges.

8) Six months each for two counts

of assault.

9) Five years each for three attempted

robbery charges.

10) Three years for an attempted

murder charge

Morakeshowed no remorseduring trial

MORAKE’S SENTENCE

Lawyer refused prison access to tortured inmates

Povertydata ‘nota correctportrayal’AMY MUSGRAVE

MORE people may be living inpoverty in South Africa.This follows allegations that thegovernment has fiddled the figuresto determine the poverty line.

The Alternative Information andDevelopment Centre (AIDC) saidStatistics SA, which released areport last month on the rebasedpoverty lines, was directed by theHealth Department not to usefigures from its usual source.

The move would reduce thenumber of people deemed to beliving in poverty and may reducethe state’s financial commitmenttowards the poor, it said.

In the past, Stats SA has usedthe Medical Research Council’scalculation that an individual needsto consume 2 261 kilocalories a dayto lead a healthy life. But for thethree new poverty lines, the WorldHealth Organisation’s suggested2 100 kilocalories is used.

If the MRC’s figures had beenused, the percentage of peopleliving in poverty would be morethan 55 percent, instead of the53.8 percent yielded by the WHOcalculation.

The AIDC said the HealthDepartment had directed Stats SAto go with the WHO due to budgetausterity measures.

“A seemingly political cut in thebiological starvation limit set haslowered each of the three newofficial poverty lines by R25 (amonth). This is an unacceptablechange of the government’s anti-poverty objectives and of normsthat already are very questionable.It is a bad omen before the Budgetspeech,” the centre said yesterday.

It said that if the MRC’sstarvation limit were used tobenchmark the food poverty line in monetary terms, the figurewould be R360 a month, insteadof R335.

The lower bound poverty line,which measures how many peoplehave to sacrifice food for othernecessary spending such as soap,would have been R526 insteadof R501.

“How many lived below thelower bound poverty line in 2011 ifthe limit is corrected from R501 toR526? Already moving the old foodpoverty line by R14 to R335classified 758 000 more individualsas starving. A further necessarymove by R25 would place another 1.3 to 1.4 million South Africansbelow the boundary of starvation,”the AIDC said.

Through the simple changeof using the WHO’s figures, thegovernment was also closer tomeeting its goal of ensuring thatno South African lived below thelower bound poverty line by 2030.

Health Department spokesmanPopo Maja was not able to say whythe change had been made.

MURDER SITE: Police officers gather around the Tembisa taxi rank where a taxi owner was murderedyesterday morning during a drive-by shooting. PICTURE: BHEKIKHAYA MABASO

Taxi boss slainand two others hurt in shooting

I saw a man fallingand I ran and hiduntil it was quiet