SHERLISSA PETERS

TWO shattered families sat on oppo-site ends of the public gallery at thePietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Courtwhere the teenager accused of stab-bing his girlfriend to death at a Fur-ther Education and Training collegeappeared briefly yesterday.

Claudius Chetty, 18, is chargedwith the murder of 17-year-old Rash-mika Janthielayal. He was expected toapply for bail yesterday.

However, his attorney, Anand Pil-lay, confirmed to the court that theywere abandoning the bail applicationdue to certain developments.

Pillay said the defence was only in-formed yesterday morning that thegrounds of the State’s opposition tobail was that the murder was pre-meditated.

“There are certain aspects of theinvestigation, which are pertinent tothis bail application, still outstanding.We will therefore abandon the appli-cation now and bring it at a later, ap-propriate date, once all investigationshave been finalised,” Pillay said.

The matter was adjourned provi-sionally to July 10.

Chetty appeared calm as he stoodin the dock waiting to be taken backinto custody. His family left the courtimmediately after the adjournment,while Rashmika’s family stood out-side, comforting each other.

Rashmika, who was studying hair-dressing at Umgungundlovu FETNorthdale campus, was allegedlykilled by Chetty, who is believed to

have been her boyfriend, after an argument.

Rashmika was stabbed severaltimes in the face, neck and chest onthe stairway at the college, and diedon the scene on June 3.

Chetty fled the campus after thestabbing, but was arrested by policelater that day when he returned to thescene.

Rashmika’s family have denied thetwo were in a relationship.

Her mother Shireen said that shehad warned Chetty on numerous oc-casions to stay away from Rashmika,and had received threatening phonecalls and text messages from him.

She said the family was still strug-gling to accept what had happened.

“We just want justice to be done,”she said.

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The commemoration of Youth Day this year marks the

37th anniversary of the 16 June Soweto uprising who

were willing to lay down their lives in a fight against

the apartheid government for freedom and the creation of a

democratic state. The focus on youth development is still very

much on the government’s and NYDA’s agenda. Since inception,

the NYDA has initiated several programmes, with a focus on

entrepreneurship support, skills development, career guidance

and information dissemination. NYDA has managed to create

more than 28 000 jobs in the last three years, provided career

guidance services to more than 1 million young people, provided

over 110 bursaries and issued more than 33 000 loans to micro,

small and medium enterprises. But the harsh reality is that these

figures are but a drop in the ocean. Much more needs to be done.

NYDA also recognises that the youth of today have a completely

different struggle which is that of substance abuse over and above

the fight for economic emancipation, access to quality education,

unemployment and HIV/AIDS. It is therefore fitting to have the

Youth Month theme for this year as: “Working Together for

Youth Development and a Drug Free South Africa.”

Alcohol and Substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking is a

global phenomenon, and South Africa is no exception. This

has serious implications for millions of South Africans because

alcohol and substance abuse contributes to crime, gangsterism,

domestic violence, family dysfunction and other social problems.

Moreover, it has been reported that drug abuse in South Africa

is twice the world norm in most cases. In particular, youth have

borne the brunt of abuse with the emergence of local drugs such

as Nyaope and Kubar.

A drug free generation is everyone’s responsibility. Government

is committed to rid our society of substance abuse which is the

cause of numerous social problems; however help is needed

from parents, civil society and faith-based organisations and

communities in tackling this scourge. We urge parents, relatives

and other community structures to play a role in raising awareness

and to provide support to those affected. Communities are called

on to report those involved in the trade of illegal substances so

that we can fight and beat the scourge together. Already there

are 215 Local Drug Action Committees around the country that

are assisting communities manage their own preventative work

at grassroots level.

The theme for Youth Month is a call for society and communities to

mobilise in support of youth development but also working with

youth and various organisations in fighting substance abuse.

Let us work together against substance abuse in our country.

#YouthMonth2013

VENUE: PHELANDABA SPORTS GROUND

EMADADENI SECTION 3, NEWCASTLE

DATE: 16 JUNE 2013

TIME: 09H00

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA

YOUTH DAY COMMEMORATION 2013

CLAUDIUS Chetty, who is accused ofstabbing his girlfriend to death.

PICTURE SHAN PILLAY

Murder accusedabandons bail bid

Stats show it’s easier to get women on ARVs

People living longerwith HIV: researchMPUME MADLALA

HIV PREVALENCE in thecountry has increased,while condom use has de-clined, according to the

summary of a major survey madepublic yesterday.

The 2012 National HIV House-hold Survey found HIV prevalencewas 12.3 percent in 2012, up from10.6 percent of the population whenthe survey was previously con-ducted in 2008.

Professor Thomas Rehle, direc-tor of the Human Sciences Re-search Council (HSRC), told a ses-sion at the 6th SA Aids Conferencein Durban yesterday that the

survey also showed that while theprevalence in women aged 30 to 34was at 36.7 percent, the figure formen of the same age group was23.1 percent.

In almost all the age groups, in-cluding 55 and above, HIV wasmore prevalent among women.

Rehle said there had been a “sig-nificant” drop in HIV prevalenceamong males aged between 15 and24 – from 10.3 percent in 2008 to7.3 percent last year.

Of the 6.4 million people livingwith HIV in the country, Rehle said2 006 593 were receiving antiretrovi-ral treatment. Some 33.7 percent ofwomen and 27.3 percent of menwere getting treatment.

Rehle said the statistics sug-gested it was harder to get men ontreatment than women.

Speaking on the behaviouralfindings of the survey, Professor Le-ickness Simbayi of the Human Sci-ences Research Council said theyhad found a significant decline incondom use in the 15-24 age group.

Simbayi said across all agegroups they had found an increasein people who had two or more sex-ual partners in one year.

Simbayi, however, said the num-ber of people who were aware theyhad HIV had increased, which hesaid was good news.

“We are on our way, but we arenot quite there yet,” he said.

In response to the survey, YoganPillay, of the national Departmentof Health, said he was happy tohear that more than 2 million peo-ple were on treatment and morepeople were aware of their status.

Pillay said men were still a chal-lenge and “we need to figure outhow to do better”.

Dr Olive Shisana, chief execu-tive of the HSRC, said they werestill working on the full report.

She said the research they didshowed that one of the main rea-sons for the increase in HIV preva-lence (people living with HIV) wasthe successes of antiretroviraltreatment.

mpume.madlala@inl.co.za

Driving force for city’sWorld TransplantGames dies at 53BARBARA COLE

FOR years, athlete and kidney trans-plant patient Ganasen “Gunston” Pa-dayachee was passionate about bring-ing the World Transplant Games toDurban. But on Tuesday, just weeksbefore the global event was due to beheld in the city, Padaychee died.

The Allendale, Pietermaritzburg,man, who had a kidney transplant 21years ago, was admitted to hospitalwith cellulitis and died of a heartattack.

Padayachee, who earlier thismonth celebrated his 53rd birthday,was part of the local organising com-mittee of the World TransplantGames 2013, which will attract com-petitors from 50 countries and will bestaged around Durban from July 28 toAugust 4. He had been looking for-ward to representing South Africa atthe games for the eighth consecutivetime.

“It is very sad. Since 2005, Gunstondreamt of bringing the World Trans-plant Games to South Africa and hewas over the moon when Durban wonthe bid in 2010,” said Willie Uys, thenational chairman of the WorldTransplant Games in South Africa.

“We should now all be worthy ofhis efforts and help make the WorldTransplant Games in Durban a hugesuccess,” Uys said last night.

“Gunston was doing very well. Hekept himself fit and was so active. Be-fore his kidney transplant, he was atthe point of dying. His transplantgave him 21 years’ quality of life andhe was able to see his two sons growup.”

Padayachee was chairman of theKZN Transplant Sports Association, alife member of the South AfricanTransplant Sports Association(Satsa), a member of the managementcommittee and vice-chairman until2010.

He had competed in the WorldTransplant Games since 1999, win-ning silver and bronze medals, mainlyfor race-walking. The games are heldevery two years, and Padayachee wasthe South African team captain in2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

He was looking forward to compet-ing in the discus, petanque and tenpinbowling events in Durban.

He founded the PietermaritzburgKidney Association as well as the as-sociation’s youth group and helped tocounsel patients suffering with renaldisease. He was instrumental in help-ing Grey’s Hospital buy a blood pres-sure machine and helped secure spon-sorship for a dialysis machine.

Padayachee was the head of the de-partment of social sciences at Kha-rina Secondary School, Pietermar-itzburg. In charge of athletics at wardlevel, he was an executive member ofthe Cumberwood High School SportsAssociation.

His work was recognised with thepremier’s sports award for outstand-ing contribution in athletics, as wellas the meritorious achievementaward for dedicated contribution tosport promotion from the Pietermar-itzburg Sports Veterans’ Association.He was further honoured by the SADemocratic Teachers Union.

He leaves his wife, Thavapushani,and two sons. The funeral is today.

GANASEN ‘GUNSTON’ PADAYACHEE

Land bill ‘mustbenefit women’WOMEN must benefit from thepassing of the new land reform bill,the Progressive Women’s Move-ment of SA says.

“We anticipate that the bill willserve women’s rights and interestsin all respects, including the rightto land,” national convener ProfHlengiwe Mkhize said yesterday.

The 1992 land policy documentcalled for special procedures to en-sure women gained equal access toland. However, this has not yet beenachieved due to the slow pace of thewilling buyer, willing seller system.

“Women are still the face ofpoverty, inequality and unemploy-ment,” said Mkhize.

The movement urged the gov-ernment to ensure land reform pro-grammes were monitored to guar-antee women could be official landowners.

It asked that proactive steps betaken to ensure women took part inland reform programmes. It alsoasked that “women-only” agricul-tural and other income-generatingactivities were encouraged to ad-dress the food security issue. – Sapa

LIE OF THE LAND: PAGE 16