THE

Draw & payouts: Page 2

Weddingof theirdreams

Bollywoodstars forDurban

Plea for drugmule prisonpardon

MARCH 2 2013www.iol.co.za/ios x

SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL 0800 20 47 11. DELIVERY PROBLEMS? 031 308 2022

22/26°CSEE PAGES 3 & 31

For more information call 0800 22 66 22 or visit www.shavathon.org.za

cancer survivor!

Shave it, spray it,stencil it or gel it for a

a

O

Join as a

Shav thon

nline

Champion

Over 80 years of supportingcancer survivorsin South Africa

REEVA WAS ‘THE ONE’STAFF REPORTERS and SAPA

AS OSCAR Pistorius at-tempts to quietly resolve alawsuit against a womanneighbour, friends have re-

vealed that his marriage to ReevaSteenkamp was very much on thecards.

Pistorius, who is charged withmurdering model girlfriend Steen-kamp in his home on Valentine’s Day,is apparently conducting “confiden-tial” talks to resolve a lawsuit againstthe woman, who had accused him ofassault, according to his lawyer, GaryPritchard, who confirmed yesterday:“There are confidential settlementnegotiations under way.”

Pistorius continued to make head-lines around the world this week,making the front cover of Time mag-azine which carried a comprehensivereport on the case and the country’sculture of violence.

The Paralympic and Olympicsprinter is suing his former neigh-bour, Cassidy Taylor-Memmory, whoin 2009 said he slammed a door onher during a party at his house.

Meanwhile, according to TNTmagazine, a friend of Steenkamp,Sam Greyvenstein, said that shethought the couple, who only met lastyear, were in love and that Reevawanted to marry Oscar. “I can’t getmy head around it,” she said. “Reevawas happy with Oscar. Everyone willsay the same thing. I know him well– we all travel in the same circles.And nobody suspected that anythingwas out of order.”

“I introduced Oscar and Reeva,”said Pistorius’s friend, Justin Di-varis. “It was obvious that they wereimmediately attracted to each other.Oscar said Reeva was a fantasticperson who really understood him.He told me she could be the one he’dmarry.”

Meanwhile, in a ghastly twist offate exactly a week after Pretoriachief magistrate Desmond Nairgranted bail to Pistorius, he wasattending a funeral for murder-suicide victims in his own family.

It was announced on Tuesday thatthe magistrate who had been in theinternational spotlight, was now inmourning after his first cousin,

Anusha Maharaj, 44, killed herselfand her two sons, Ashveer, 12, andmatric pupil Ashiel, 17, two daysearlier.

After the door-slamming incident,Pistorius spent a night in the generalpolice holding cells of the Boschkoppolice station, the same one near hisPretoria home where he was held af-ter the Steenkamp shooting. Hefaced a charge of assault with intentto do grievous bodily harm, but thiswas subsequently downgraded tocommon assault, and ultimately didnot go to court. The police apologisedfor holding him, saying that it hadbeen an administrative mistake.

After the incident, Pistorius is-sued a statement saying that Taylor-Memmory had used alcohol, beendisruptive and that he had evictedher. Pistorius later instituted a dam-ages claim for more than R2.2m, say-ing he had to cancel speaking engage-ments worth R40 000 each, and hadmissed out on sponsorships by,among others, Nedbank, as a result ofthe bad publicity surrounding theincident. Now Pritchard has toldAFP that in respect of the lawsuit, “it

was a couple of years back. Heclaimed damages to his reputationfrom her.” Reports yesterday werethat the case was finally due to comebefore a regional court in Pretoria,but that the athlete was working toresolve it quietly.

“We are trying to settle outside ofcourt,” Pritchard confirmed.

Pistorius is on R1 million bail af-ter defending Steenkamp’s shootingby saying he had mistaken her for anintruder in the dead of night.

The Taylor-Memmory assaultcharge was brought up in Pistorius’sbail hearing on the murder charge,and the same police officer, WarrantOfficer Hilton Botha, investigatedboth cases. In 2009, Botha rejected

TO PAGE 3

● Couple ‘would have married’● Magistrate’s family tragedy ● Athlete in talks to settle lawsuit

Eatery customers ‘stilltucking into red meat’ARTHI SANPATH and SIHLE MTHEMBU

IT SEEMS Durbanites still lovetheir red meat – despite concernsthat their favourite food may con-tain donkey, goat or water buffalo.

Customers at restaurants aresaid to be mostly unfazed about aStellenbosch University studywhich has found that a large pro-portion of meat products have beenfraudulently labelled, and mostcases were found in KwaZulu-Nataland the Eastern Cape.

Several Durban butcheries,though, have reported that cus-tomers have queried where themeat they sell has come from.

Minced meats, burger patties,deli meats, sausages and driedmeats from retail outlets andbutcheries in South Africa weresampled in the study. It was con-ducted by Dr Donna-MareeCawthorn and Professor LouwHoffman of the Stellenbosch Uni-versity Department of Animal Sci-ences, with Harris Steinman of theFood and Allergy Consulting andTesting Services in Milnerton,Cape Town.

Meanwhile, a separate study byUniversity of the Western Cape re-searchers has revealed nearly80 percent of game biltong is misla-belled.

“Ostrich” or “springbok” islikely to be beef biltong but it couldalso be horse, impala, eland, giraffe,kangaroo, lamb or pork.

The red meat results revealedthat 95 of the 139 samples con-tained species that were not de-clared on the product labelling.This affected consumer confidencein the product, and went against re-ligious beliefs which prohibitedpeople from eating certain animals.

Undeclared beef was detected intwo samples from KZN labelled“mutton mince”.

Goat was detected in one sample,labelled “mutton mince”, collectedfrom a prominent supermarketchain in KZN, stated the report.One sausage sample labelled“quality beef sausage”, collectedfrom a KZN butchery, tested posi-tive for donkey as well as beef.

While this was surprising, Hoff-man said he didn’t believe that

TO PAGE 2

Rugby fans in for night of super actionCRAIG LEWIS

FOR The Sharks’ first home gameof the new Super Rugby season,Durban fans could hardly haveasked for a more mouth-wateringfixture than tonight’s coastal derbyagainst the Stormers.

It has been 18 weeks since theSharks’ last match at King’s Park,but recollections of that fatefulCurrie Cup final against WesternProvince can be banished to the

back of the memory bank now thatSuper Rugby is in full swing.

The weather is expected to playits part. Lucky Makhwedzha, of theDurban Weather office, said most ofthe rain would fall this morning.

In recent encounters betweenthe Sharks and Stormers, it hasbeen the battle among the forwardsthat has proved decisive to the out-come. Both packs are missing keyplayers, but there is more thanenough firepower upfront to justify

the entry fee. The Sharks haveadded brawn to their back-row withJean Deysel, and the loose-forwardbattle is sure to be compelling.

A lot of talk has revolvedaround the lineout contest, withFranco van der Merwe having in-fluenced this set-piece since joiningthe Sharks on loan from the Lions,although Andries Bekker willspearhead a challenge.

Let the games begin…

SEE PAGE 2 AND 32

Missing uMlazi schoolgirl, 8, found deadBARBARA COLE

AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Durban,schoolgirl, Nonjabulo Sabelo, whodisappeared on her way home fromschool last Friday, has been founddead in a school field.

“But the field was searched aftershe disappeared, so it seems shewas murdered somewhere else and(that) her body was brought back tothe school,” said Eureka Olivier,the administrative director ofBobbi Bear, which fights for therights of abused children.

A detective task team, consist-

ing of members of the Fam-ily Violence, Child Protec-tion and Sexual offencesUnit, has been assembled inuMlazi to investigate themurder, police spokesmanColonel Jay Naicker saidlast night.

A post mortem will beconducted on Tuesday andwill help indicate how Non-jabulo was killed or whether shewas raped.

No arrests have been made yet,but the police say they are confi-dent the detectives will be able to

make a breakthrough soon.Now, Bobbi Bear has is-

sued a “desperate plea” touMlazi children to be ontheir guard that a killer isin their midst.

“They should not walkalone or get into a cardriven by a stranger. Chil-dren should be a lot morecareful and vigilant,” said

Olivier, who printed 4 000 leafletsand distributed them around uM-lazi in a bid to find the Grade 3schoolgirl.

“After being alerted that Nonjab-

ulo was missing, we never stoppedlooking for her. But then we re-ceived a phone call from a relativeto say that her body had been foundon Thursday night.

Nonjabulo walked part of theway home from Umzwilili PrimarySchool in uMlazi’s “D” section withfriends, but when the friends left,she continued on her own.

President Jacob Zuma said onThursday that South Africa faced aproblem of ongoing abuse ofwomen and children and that thecountry needed to build a more car-ing society.

Page 4

The Spurof themoment

INDEPENDENTon Saturday R6.50 incl VAT

Annual subscribers R5.10

Page 4

ONE FOR THE RECORD: Sharkette Juliette Dawnes, mascot Sharkie and Sharks player Tera Mtembudidn’t let yesterday’s rain stop them from practising the The Sharkie Harlem Shake. Fans are invitedto get their dancing shoes on at the half-time break during Sharks’ first Vodacom Super Rugby homegame against the Stormers tonight. They will be part of a world-record breaking attempt to be thelargest group to tackle the latest dance craze sweeping the world. Gates open at 4.30pm and thegame starts at 7.10pm. Tickets are still available at the stadium. PICTURE: MARILYN BERNARD

NONJABULOSABELO

TOGETHER: Reeva Steenkampand Oscar Pistorius.

SHAKE IT UP,SHARKS

YOUR WEEKEND STARTS HERE

Page 5

Page 25