BARNARD AMNESTY?
FERDIE BARNARD, charged with the murder of David Webster, has had a change of heart about amnesty. Barnard, who has repeatedly said he will not apply for amnesty, now says he is considering it. He added that everything he had done, had been on behalf of his country, and carried out under orders.
The gun that could sink Ferdie
IBA HEAD FACES HEARING
The suspended head of the Independent Broadcasting Authority appears before a disciplinary hearing today after failing to come to an agreement to settle last week. Harris Gxaweni will be charged with maladministration at a hearing scheduled to last four days, and chaired by an independent judge.
COCAINE BELLY
A JOHANNESBURG woman arrested at Cape Town airport at the weekend had swallowed 39 cocaine-filled condoms before embarking on a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. She was taken to hospital where she excreted all 39 condoms over a two day period. The condoms contained 900 grams of cocaine.
BIKO HOUSE
The notorious former headquarters of the security police in Port Elizabeth was renamed on Saturday in honour of its most famous victim. Steve Biko House has been turned into a student residence, and Room 621, where Biko was tortured, will be made into a memorial library.
RACE COURSE CROOK
A MYSTERY punter manipulated betting on the tote at Scotsville, Pietermatzburg on Sunday, by placing huge bets on one horse in each race, then cancelling them at the last moment, distorting the odds. Police were called in after the sixth race to be “rigged”, but the unidentified punter had vanished.
LIBYAN AL FAYEDS
THE Libyan relatives of Dodi Al Fayed, killed in a car crash along with Princess Dianna, have demanded that he be buried in the family cemetery at Alfaydia, eastern Libya. Al Fayed was buried in a simple Islamic ceremony in Britain a day after his death. The Libyan family are said to have taken up claims by Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi that the deaths were a racist, anti-Arab, and anti-Islamic crime carried out by the French and British Secret Services, and have threatened to avenge his death.
AFRICA MONTH AT UN
THE United Nations has declared September the “month of Africa”, Security Council President Bill Richardson has announced. A ministerial-level meeting will be held on September 25 to “focus attention and stimulate new thinking” on Africa.