A nightclub in Pretoria turned down the music on Saturday morning to reflect on the death of a rock star. About 40 fans gathered on the porch of Arcade Empire to remember Chester Bennington, singer from Linkin Park, who hanged himself on July 20 at his house in California.
Fans had damp eyes as they raised a glass, lit candles, put up posters and laid down flowers. Some wrote messages in a book and on a South African flag and spoke on an open microphone.
“This guy went to his grave with every one of my secrets,” said Stephan Swanepoel, 17, from Hartbeespoortdam. “He was just there for me. Not that my mother was not there for me. Some things I cannot say.”
Mari Buitendag from Pretoria said Bennington’s death felt similar to that of her brother two years ago: “Where do you get that strength back if you looked up to someone and they were that strong person for you? Even if it is only music?”
Johan van der Westhuizen, 30, from Pretoria said he still remembers every lyric from Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park’s first album, released in 2000.
“I realised I remembered every single word. That proved to me how important they were to us, not just Chester, but the whole band.”
The event was organised by Shaun Muthaya and Tessa Anderson, Linkin Park ambassadors in South Africa.
“Unfortunately our first meeting with the fans was through the loss of a loved one,” said Muthaya.
Memorial services for Bennington are planned for Cape Town and Durban. A South African flag and messages from fans will be sent to the band.
A support group leader from the SA Depression and Anxiety Group, Jané Combrinck, said depression “doesn’t care if you are religious, black, white, female, the most phenomenal rock star in the world. It will get you.”
She said one in three people will suffer from mental disease in their lifetime. One in 10 of these will have depression.
KammaFrans Guesthouse is located in Pretoria, 3.2 km from Pick ‘n Pay and 4.7 km from Pretoria Boardwalk.
Some rooms have a sitting area to relax in after a busy day. A terrace or patio are featured in certain rooms. The rooms come with a private bathroom. A flat-screen TV is featured.
You will find a shared kitchen at the property.
You can play ping-pong at this guesthouse, and the area is popular for golfing. Mooikloof bowls club house is 4.8 km from KammaFrans Guesthouse, and Wapadrand Shopping Centre is 5 km from the property. The nearest airport is O.R. Tambo International Airport, 38.6 km from KammaFrans Guesthouse.
Free public parking is available on site (reservation is not needed).
425 on Wisteria is located in the Faerie Glen neighborhood in Pretoria, 1 km from Faerie Glen Shopping Centre and 1 km from Pic n Pay (Faerie Glen – Pretoria). Free WiFi is available and free private parking is available on site.
The rooms are fitted with a flat-screen TV. Some units have a sitting area for your convenience. You will find a kettle in the room.
Decor Shopping Centre is 1.1 km from 425 on Wisteria, and NG Church Valleisig is 1.1 km from the property. The nearest airport is O.R. Tambo International Airport, 40.2 km from the property.
Free private parking is available on site (reservation is not needed).
Facilities available:
Flat-screen TV
To view more facilities at this venue, please click on the link below…..
Pretoria – Residents of Faerie Glen in Pretoria East have threatened to take matters into their own hands to deal with an increase in crime in the area if police did not intervene.
They said the community was being held hostage by criminals after a surge in housebreakings and muggings over the past few months.
Reports of crime from the suburb and nearby Faerie Glen Nature Reserve have emerged, with the first crime inside the reserve taking place two weeks ago after a 10-year record of safety and security.
A woman was attacked while running on the trail in the reserve and all her gear, including shoes, cellphone, hydration backpack and sunglasses were taken.
Warnings began going up on social media, where trail runners were asked to be cautious and not to run on their own, as criminals, often wielding knives and wearing balaclavas, were on the prowl.
The criminals are said to gain entry into the nature reserve through Atterbury Bridge and using the Manitoba Bridge to gain access to the rest of the nature reserve and into the homes along its periphery.
20/07/2017. Manitoba bridge inside the Faerie Glen Nature Reserve which criminals use to gain accessto houses on the perifery. Picture: Bongani Shilulbanen
Homes hit are those located on the eastern side and last week residents said they were fed up with what they perceived as a lack of police action.
“We are going to be using maximum force to protect ourselves from these thugs.”
“Extreme situations require extreme measures,” said a resident who lives opposite the nature reserve in Glenwood Street.
He said on two occasions he had spotted burglars in his yard.
“They have stolen my hose pipe and rake,” he said.
Kefentse Mompei who lives adjacent to the reserve, said criminals were now becoming arrogant and doing as they pleased. Her clothes were stolen off her washing line, she said.
She said Faerie Glen Nature Reserve opposite her residential complex provided a hiding place for criminals.
“What is sad is that a resident will end up shooting and killing the perpetrators and they will be jailed for protecting their family,” said Mompei.
Community members said they were fed up and wanted a public meeting with police as soon as possible to discuss the setting-up of foot patrols.
Other residents said despite a police station being close to their homes they no longer felt safe.
Resident Maralise Louw said they wanted to call on all men in the community to come out and assist people going to work to protect them from being attacked.
“And also for men to go to the gates of the schools to make sure children going to school do so safely,” she said.
The chairperson of the Friends of the Faerie Glen Nature Reserve, Louise Kritzinger, said the fences along January Masilela, Glenwood and Manitoba roads needed maintenance.
The opening under the Atterbury Bridge which criminals use to gain access to Faerie Glen Nature Reserve. Picture: Bongani Shilulbanen
She said the makeshift fence, made of thin wooden poles, under the Atterbury Bridge needed to be reinforced properly if it was to keep criminals out.
A bushy area situated close to the Atterbury Bridge is where the criminals lived, the Pretoria News was told.
“We are going to suggest that the metro police remove the vagrants,” Kritzinger said.
The reserve was fenced off over a period of about five years from 2002, said Kritzinger.
Residents attributed the increase in crime in the area to development on the northern side of the reserve, adjacent to Lynnwood Road.
They said builders and job seekers had flooded into the area, leading to squatting on the mountain.
According to Kritzinger, after those developments were finished some people continued to live in the bushes, but they were removed from the reserve by mounted police patrols in 2006 and 2007.
Councillor Ernst Botha from Ward 44 said he had been in constant contact with Lieutenant Colonel Kervin Solomon of Garsfontein police, requesting intervention.
A meeting had yet to be set up, he said.
“As you may have become aware, Faerie Glen Nature Reserve has recently become a hot spot for criminal elements; myself and Councillor Pieter van Heerden from Ward 46, adjacent to Ward 44, have collectively been in discussions with various stakeholders to try to curb crime in the area,” said Botha.
They have also taken it up with the top structures within the city, including the departments of Community Safety, Emergency Services and the chairperson of Community Safety.
The city and police had not responded on the soaring crime rate by late on Sunday afternoon.
Located 201 m from MG Design Box, La Apartmente offers accommodations in Pretoria. The property is 201 m from Plaaswinkel and free private parking is available.
The kitchen is equipped with an oven and a microwave. A flat-screen TV is featured. Other facilities at La Apartmente include a barbecue.
University of Pretoria – Conference Centre is 0.6 km from La Apartmente, and Hatfield Plaza (Rear parking entrance) is 0.6 km away. The nearest airport is Lanseria (Johannesburg) Airport, 37 km from La Apartmente.
Free private parking is available on site (reservation is not needed).
So vroeg as reeds April 2002 is van die Boeremagbeskuldigdes gearresteer. Op 19 Mei 2002 het die rekord-hofsaak begin, wat vir die volgende meer as elf jaar sou voortduur in die Hooggeregshof te Pretoria. Die hoofaanklag waarvan 24 manne beskuldig was, is hoogverraad. Terwyl sommiges borg gekry het, onder uitermatig streng borgvoorwaardes, het elf van die aangeklaagdes vir 11 jaar lank in aanhouding gebly en is borg eenvoudig geweier.
Almal (behalwe twee wat oorlede is in die tyd van die maraton-hofsaak) is skuldig bevind aan hoogverraad en is verskeie vonnisse opgelê op 28 Oktober 2013. Die opmerking van regter Eben Jordaan dat hy die 11 jaar wat hulle in aanhouding as deel van hulle vonnisse in berekening gebring het, het bloot lippediens geblyk, nadat hy sommige van die veroordeeldes tot nóg 25 jaar effektiewe tronkstraf opgelê het. Die uitermatige streng borgvoorwaardes waaronder sommiges gebuk gegaan het, blyk ook nie deur Jordaan in berekening gebring te wees, as deel van hul vonnisse, nie.
Die wet vereis dat verlof tot appèl gevra word binne 21 dae nadat vonnisse opgelê is. Die Boeremaglede bevind hulleself die afgelope sowat 4 jaar sedert vonnisoplegging, in ’n sisteem wat effektief hulle grondwetlike reg op appèl ontneem. Van die manne kon nog nie eers daarin slaag om aansoeke te bring om verlof tot appèl te vra nie. Almal wat wel daarin kon slaag om verlof tot appèl te vra, moes hul aansoeke weer bring voor regter Jordaan, wat al die aansoeke summier van die hand gewys het. Die manne wie se aansoeke om verlof tot appèl deur regter Jordaan afgekeur is, beywer hulle intussen om ’n petisie aan die appèlhof te rig, ten einde verlof te verkry om te mag appèlleer, maar slaag nie daarin om so ʼn aansoek te bring nie. Sommiges se regsverteenwoordigers kom nie uit die blokke uit nie.
Dr. Lets Pretorius en twee van sy seuns, drs. Johan en Wilhelm Pretorius, het ná nagenoeg vier jaar se gesukkel, sonder sukses, besluit om direk ’n petisie aan die regter-president van die Grondwethof, regter Mogoeng-Mogoeng, te rig. In die petisie voer hulle aan hoe die sisteem hulle reg tot appèl effektief ontneem.
Dit sluit in: hulle aanhoudingsomstandighede wat deur die Departement van Korrektiewe Dienste veroorsaak word, die vertragings en sloerings as gevolg van die wan-administrasie van die Regshulpraad en die howe sélf wat daartoe bydra om die proses onregverdig en onwettig te maak.
In hul petisie vra die drie drs. Pretorius dat regter Mogoeng-Mogoeng ’n bevel moet maak dat prof. Hercules Booysen as hul advokaat en mnr. Julian Knight as hul prokureur deur die Regshulpraad as hul regsverteenwoordigers aangestel moet word ten einde die grondwetlikheid van hulle aanhouding aan te veg. Hulle voer aan dat hulle die grondwetlike reg het om te appèlleer en dat hulle die reg het dat die juridiese proses begin en afgehandel word sonder onredelike en onregverdige vertragings. Die vertragings van die sisteem ontneem hulle effektief van daardie regte en daarom is hulle verhoor onregverdig. Om aangehou te word op grond van ’n onregverdige verhoor, maak die aanhouding ongrondwetlik en per se onwettig. Om by te voeg, is die die internasionale standaard vir enige hofsaak 10 jaar vanaf arrestasie totdat alle vorme van appèl uitgeput is. Die Boeremagsaak is reeds 15 jaar in aanvang.
Die drs. Pretorius het reeds (Mei 2017) hierdie petisie gerig en wag tans op die antwoord van die regter-president van die Grondwethof.
Ons vra ook dat u sal help om om hierdie onreg wat steeds teen die Boerevolk Politieke Gevangenes voortwoed, nasionaal en internasionaal bekend maak, sodat daar na 15 jaar ’n einde kan kom aan die onreg.
