MEMORIALS FOR PRINCESS DIANA
AT least two SA churches will hold memorial services for the late Princess Diana on Saturday, the day of her funeral. A memorial service will be held at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, starting at 9.30am. And Pretoria’s St Martin de Porres Catholic Church will hold a Mass of Peace starting at 8.15am to pray for Diana’s peaceful repose. Parish priest Father Kevin Reynolds said: “The collection taken at the mass will be donated to the Poor Sisters of Nazareth for their work in South Africa among the HIV-infected babies — the type of charity favoured by the late Princess Diana.”
TRC CHARGES CCB MEN
THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Tuesday asked Western Cape attorney-general Frank Kahn to press criminal charges against three former members of the Civil Co-operation Bureau, former CCB managing director Joe Verster and regional co-ordinator Wouter Basson, also known as Christo Brits, and CCB operative “Slang” van Zyl. The three men refused to answer questions on the CCB’s foreign operations, on the grounds they could incriminate and expose themselves to prosecution in foreign countries. TRC investigations head Dumisa Ntsebeza has asked Kahn to charge the three in terms of Section 39 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, which compels subpoenaed witnesses to answer questions “fully and satisfactorily to the best of his or her knowledge”. If found guilty the three could be fined or face a jail sentence of up to two years.
HEALTH MINISTERS TO SUN CITY
AFRICAN health ministers on Tuesday began their annual meeting to review the work of the World Health Organisation on the continent. More than 40 health ministers are attending the meeting, which is the 47th session of the WHO regional committee on Africa. The ministers will discuss programmes and projects executed in the past year by the organisation’s regional office for Africa, based in Brazzaville, Congo.
MANDELA TO CHAIR SADC SUMMIT
TWELVE Southern African heads of state will gather in the Malawian city of Blantyre next week for the annual Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit, chaired by President Nelson Mandela, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. Mandela assumed the three-year chairmanship of the SADC in September last year. Items on the agenda include a declaration on gender equality and a proposed process of review and rationalisation of the SADC programme of action. Protocols on education, training and mining will be considered for adoption and a declaration on productivity in SADC will be made. The issue of the ban on the use, production and distribution of landmines will also be deliberated.