The top performer at a special needs school in Limpopo, Tiyani Mbendzani, lost his sight in Grade 5.

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A man has been arrested after the body of missing 12-year-old Michaela Williams was found in Philippi, Cape Town, in the early hours of Thursday morning, Western Cape police have said.

Williams was last seen at her Crane Street residence in New Horizon, Grassy Park, on Tuesday afternoon and was reported missing in the early hours of Wednesday morning.She was in the company of a man who lived in the same street.

Brigadier Novela Potelwa said various people searched for her and a 48-year-old man was interviewed after vital information was received.

“The interview led to him pointing out where the body was in Schaapkraal, Philippi.”

He has been charged with murder and is expected to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

“A post mortem will soon be conducted to determine how she died and whether any more charges could be added,” said Potelwa.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Yolisa Matakata expressed her shock at the death of another child in such a horrific manner.

She thanked those who searched for Williams and said the perpetrator deserved a harsh sentence.

“While this will not bring back the life lost… the lengthy incarceration of the perpetrator will ensure the communities of Cape Town are much safer.”

KwaZulu-Natal’s top-performing Correctional Services inmate has called on young people to refrain from drugs and negative influences, saying education has given him a second chance at life.

“I was a drug addict before, and I got out of school. There’s no future in drugs. It is either they kill you or you go to prison,” Westville Prison inmate Sandile Stangoni told News24 on Wednesday.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the KZN leg of the 2019 matric top achievers event.

Stangoni, who managed a whopping four As, said there were many challenges with studying in prison. He has been imprisoned since June 2018.

“It has been a difficult year. It is not easy studying in prison. There are a lot of things that you cannot do in prison. Many things are happening around you.”He however persevered, refusing to give up.

“But I told myself that nothing is more important than education. So, I went all out and studied – sleepless nights. I’d like to thank the effort my teachers made, who helped me to get where I am today.”

Stangoni said sometimes it was not easy to get information for assignments.

“We also don’t have some study notes, so you have to share. But again, through the excellent job of our teachers, I made it.”

He said his strategy was consistency and getting help from others.

“During my exams I formed study groups, studied hard, gave myself time to sleep and had lots of water.”

While he still has at least another year to serve, Stangoni said he hoped to study architecture in 2021.

“I have parole next year.”

Poor results

Meanwhile, KZN saw a marked improvement in the pass rate with a 5% increase to 81.3%, up from 2018’s 76.2%.

Of the 116 937 pupils who sat for examinations, 44 189 achieved a bachelors pass. This is up from 2018, when 38 573 managed the pass.

Statistics also revealed that 201 schools in the province obtained a 100% pass in 2019 compared to 121 schools in 2018.

However, three schools had a dismal 0% pass rate.

Reacting to the poor results, MEC for Education Kwazi Mshengu said remedial measures at the schools were the key focus.

“As we review our academic improvement plan, we will be paying attention to them.”

The country has been hit, yet again, by a round of rolling blackouts, despite promises from Ramaphosa that there would be no load shedding throughout the festive season.

While out interacting with people during a walkabout in Diamond Pavilion Mall in Kimberley, where the ANC is hosting its annual January 8 celebrations, Mabuza was asked about government’s response to the latest wave of power cuts.

“They’ve misled the president, but right from the day we went there with the president I insisted on maintenance. Maintenance of these power stations is very important,” Mabuza told journalists when asked if Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and the Eskom board had misled the Mabuza said he was concerned about promising there would be no load shedding due to Eskom’s “aging” power stations.

“You can’t say there won’t be any load shedding if there is no effective maintenance of these power stations, some are old of course and we must rebuild these power stations of course we must also get the new ones running to full capacity,” he said

The deputy president added that the Eskom board had been “struggling to get things right”, noting that there was the added challenge of operating without a full-time chief executive at one stage.

Board chairman Jabu Mabuza was appointed acting CEO in July after Phakamani Hadebe resigned as the utility’s executive head.Andre de Ruyter took over the helm of the ailing parastatal on Monday.

The deputy president described the fact that Jabu Mabuza served both as board chairperson and acting CEO as “unfortunate”.

David Mabuza said government wanted to give de Ruyter time to do his own assessment of the state of Eskom.

“Soon I am going to meet with him in order for him to tell us exactly where can we assist him.”

In a “case of mistaken identity”, a Cape Town law enforcement officer shot at a plainclothes police officer after seeing him struggle with a suspect while armed, the Hawks said on Thursday.

Constable Thando Sigcu, 38, was shot dead after apprehending a robbery suspect near a fast food outlet on the Foreshore at around 21:00 on Tuesday.

“It is reported that the constable was on patrol in plain clothes with his crew near one of the hotspots in the Cape Town CBD when they saw two suspicious males walking in Adderley Street and approached them, but the two fled in different directions,” Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego “Whilst the scuffle between the constable and the suspect was under way, two law enforcement officers in uniform drove past and observed what appeared to be an armed male attacking another person,” said Mogale.

The officers apparently reversed and stopped the vehicle in the road to intervene.

“One of the armed law enforcement officer[s] confronted the two men and ordered the unbeknown to him constable in plainclothes to drop his firearm. He then fired two shots, fatally striking the SAPS (SA Police Service] member in the chest and wounding the suspect in the face.”

Sigcu died on the scene. The 30-year-old suspect was taken to a nearby hospital under police guard.

Mogale said that packets of tik [methamphetamine] and mandrax tablets were found in his possession in hospitalNo arrests yet

No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting, said Mogale.

The City’s safety and security director, Richard Bosman, confirmed that a “law enforcement officer was involved in a shooting incident in the central business district”.

Independent Police Investigative Directorate spokesperson Sontaga Seisa told News24 that the incident was not within their mandate “as the official who discharged the firearm is not a SAPS or Metro Police Department member.”

News of Sigcu’s death was met with outrage and sadness.

Ronel Stander, public sector organiser for trade union Solidarity said it was shocking that he was allegedly shot by a law enforcement officer.

She hoped that the investigation would urgently establish the reason for the shooting and that steps would be taken if negligence was found.

“[If so], a criminal case should be opened and he needs to be charged in terms of the discipline regulations,” she said.

“[At] the end of the day, SAPS, law enforcement, Metro Police etc, all share the same goal, to prevent and combat crime. They have to work together, not against each other and they should be able to trust each other’s judgement and be able to rely on each other.”

Sigcu was attached to the Cape Town Central police station and had been in the police force for five years.