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Police clerk gun-sale shock

Probe into whether weapons were used in shopping mall attacks
ALEX ELISEEV unlicensed firearms.
His case was postponed to the

A
CLERK working inside
the Alexandra police
station has been
arrested for selling
high-calibre R-5 rifles and hand-
guns from police safes to the crim-
inal underworld.
Detectives from the Joburg
Organised Crime Unit are investi-
gating whether the weapons sold
were used by syndicates in the
recent spate of violent robberies
at shopping malls.
The administrative clerk from
the station’s logistics unit may
have sold as many as six R-5 rifles
and 16 handguns that should have
been used by officers at his station
and the Sandton police station.
Police sources close to the investi-
gation say the guns have not been
recovered and may have been sold
for as little as R3 500 for a rifle and
R1 000 for a handgun.
A police weapons expert said
this was roughly one-third of
their worth.
It’s suspected the sales could
have been going on since March.
“We’re fighting these guys on
the streets and our own is arming
them,” one angry police officer
from an affected station said
yesterday.
A lot of questions about how
the weapons were allowed to van-
ish from the safes, and why it took
several months before the crime
was spotted, now need answering.
Aubrey Tshamana was arrest-
ed on Monday after it was dis-
covered that the weapons were
missing.
The 26-year-old appeared in the
Alexandra Magistrate’s Court
(previously Wynberg Magistrate’s
Court), where State prosecutor
Adele Barnard charged him
‘REGULAR GUY’: Police clerk Aubrey Tshamana, 26, appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court yesterday for allegedly selling rifles and handguns. PICTURE: JENNIFER BRUCE with theft and possession of
week after next and he will be
kept at high-risk holding cells.
During questioning, he alle-
gedly gave police several leads
that led to two further arrests.
The pair, who are civilians,
were likely to appear in court
today. They are suspected of
either buying the weapons or
helping to sell them.
When asked why police had
brought the docket to court after
11am, an unidentified police offi-
cer from the Organised Crime
Unit – who escorted Tshamana –
said the delay was because he was
ordered to report first at the
police’s provincial head office.
“It’s a massive thing,” he told
the court.
Magistrate Renier Boshoff
then said: “He can probably tell
you who he sold the guns to. He
can probably solve a few cases if
you investigate properly.”
A police source at the Alexan-
dra police station said Tshamana
worked in the logistics depart-
ment, which sources and distrib-
utes firearms, vehicles and other
equipment. He allegedly managed
to order weapons from the Sand-
ton police station for the purpose
of selling them.
“He had access,” the source
said. “And that’s why he managed
to get away with it.”
Tshamana is a civilian work-
ing at the police station. He has
allegedly been there for more than
five years.
Detectives are trying to trace
the recipients of the weapons in
a bid to get them back. If their
efforts to link the weapons to
armed robberies at malls pay off,
they could be in a position to
charge Tshamana with much
more serious crimes.

Golden girl Semenya stuns Gauteng second in

800m field at world champs school expulsions
KEVIN MCCALLUM
SOUTH AFRICA’S Caster Semenya
shrugged off the controversy
surrounding her gender and oblit-
erated the field in the women’s
800m final in Berlin last night.
Semenya cruised to victory in
1:55.46sec to claim South Africa’s
first gold medal at the world cham-
pionships.
It was the ultimate riposte to the
debate raging over Semenya’s
gender.
South African sports officials
rallied around the embattled 18-
year-old 800m runner last night
after it was confirmed that the
International Association of Ath-
letics Federations (IAAF) had
asked for tests to determine the
gender of the athlete.
After much speculation over the
past few days, IAAF spokesman
Nick Davies said they had requested
the gender testing be done about
three weeks ago, but had no plans to
withdraw Semenya from the final.
The test, said Davies, was
“extremely complex and difficult”,
and would involve several experts.
“The situation today is that we
do not have any conclusive evi-
dence that she should not be
allowed to run,” said Davies. “It
would be wrong today to take a
decision to withdraw an athlete.”
However, South African sports
officials, including Semenya’s team
bosses in Berlin, Sports and Recre-
ation South Africa, and the South
African Sports Confederation and
Olympic Committee (Sascoc),
jumped to her defence last night.
“We’ve heard nothing about
these tests, so it’s very difficult for
us to comment on them now,” Team
UNDER PRESSURE: Caster Semenya’s
coach, Michael Seme, has condemned
the call for her to undergo a gender
test. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES
South Africa chief Phiwe Mlan-
geni-Tsholetsane said last night.
“The IAAF are the people to talk
to, because they are the ones who
have come out with the statement.
ASA (Athletics South Africa) would
not take an athlete if there was
some doubt about them.”
Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said they
had been protecting Semenya
from the massive media hype that
had blown up around the issue
ahead of last night’s final. “We’re
making sure it doesn’t bother her
and we’re keeping her away from
the internet.”
It is likely that she is aware of
what is going on. Michael Seme,
her coach at the University of Pre-
toria, where Semenya is a first-year
sports science student, described
the timing of the speculation as
“suspicious”. “I have been working
with Caster since January and I
can tell you now that I have been
training a girl, not a boy.
“I have just got off the phone to
her and she sounded cheerful. I told
her to do as the IAAF says and
remain focused,” Seme said.
Sascoc president Gideon Sam
condemned the speculation that had
surrounded Semenya. “With Caster
on the brink of something special,
we condemn the way she has been
linked with such media speculation
and allegation,” he said.
“Sascoc are behind her and in
support of her every step of the
way. If the IAAF feel they need to
give her a gender test, then they
must also release the results to
allow her to continue her develop-
ment and put any malicious com-
ment to bed,” said Sam.
Semenya’s mother Dorcas,
speaking from the family home in
Masehlong Village in Moletji, about
80km north-west of Polokwane in
Limpopo, said Caster was obsessed
with soccer.
“Often, I would ask her why she
kept playing soccer and with boys.
All she said was ‘it’s because I like
it,’” said Semenya.
Semenya said Caster, like all her
five siblings, did all household
chores like washing dishes, cook-
ing and fetching water from the
communal tap.
 See Page 3
ANGELIQUE SERRAO hardly ever expelled.
“The DA believes that the South
THIRTY children in Gauteng have African Schools Act creates too
been expelled from school in the much room for provincial educa-
past 18 months. tion officials, who have no direct
The province is second to the experience of conditions in
Western Cape, with a whopping schools, to refuse requests for
145 expulsions. learners to be expelled,” Kloppers-
Other provinces lag behind, Lourens said.
with 11 in KwaZulu-Natal and She based this on the Centre for
Limpopo, six in North West and Justice and Crime Prevention
Mpumalanga, two in the Free State study into violence in schools,
and one in the Eastern Cape. which revealed that between 83 and
The reasons for the expulsion 90 percent of all pupils have been
range from theft, disrupting classes exposed to some sexual assault,
and assault, to sexual harassment, and that alcohol and drugs are
possessing a dangerous weapon, easily obtainable.
stabbing another pupil and She said pupils may appeal
attempting to stab a teacher. against an expulsion, but a school
The provinces can’t do the same if
that have the least
expulsions appear SMS it is not upheld.
“This question
to have the most FEEDBACK indicates that
serious misconduct SMS your views to schools are either
charges. not bothering to go
In Gauteng, the 32546 through the pro-
majority of the Each SMS costs R1 cesses for expelling
expulsions are for problematic learn-
theft and assault, ers, because they
while a 17-year-old in the Eastern know they won’t succeed, or
Cape who was expelled assaulted provincial officials are almost auto-
another pupil and attempted to stab matically turning down requests,”
a teacher. Kloppers-Lourens said.
Possession of drugs appears to Lee Loynes, the CEO of Girls
be as big a problem, with most and Boys Town, is used to dealing
provinces stating this as a reason with problem children and believes
for expulsion. In North West, pupils expelling a child does not address
were expelled for bullying. the real problem.
This was revealed by Minister of She said the core problem was
Basic Education Angie Motshekga usually a lack of family support,
in reply to questions asked by DA not having any morals and values,
shadow education minister Junita or not having appropriate social
Kloppers-Lourens in Parliament skills.
this week. Her organisation works with
Kloppers-Lourens said she felt schools and parents to teach them
the figures showed that pupils how to address problem children in
who commit serious crimes are order to change their behaviour.

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