Ann Eveleth
The Wildlife Society of Southern Africa has called for the creation of an environmental court to hear cases involving environmental disputes.
Wildlife Society representative Jeremy Ridl, who made the submission to the first public hearing of
the KwaZulu/Natal Constitutional Committee in Durban this week, said the multi-faceted nature of
environmental disputes requires people with specialised knowledge to help judges digest all the submissions.
Ridl argued in his submission to the committee that the complex nature of environmental issues warranted “an environmental court which could be structured so as to enable the appointment of experts in the relevant environmental field to assist the judicial officer hearing the matter”.
Fifth hit-squad suspect held Ann Eveleth
THE 1987 KwaMakhutha massacre is fast becoming a Waterloo for the shady network of hit-squads which sought to crush the United Democratic Front resistence in the 1980s.
The Investigation Task Unit this week arrested another suspect in connection with the massacre — former Umlazi-based KwaZulu Police Internal Stability Unit member Celukwanda Ndlovu (32). He appeared in court on Tuesday and was released on bail of R2 000.
Ndlovu is the fifth man to be arrested in connection with the killings following the arrests of two Inkatha Freedom Party members: deputy secretary-general Zakhele “MZ” Khumalo and Caprivi trainee Peter Msane, and two members of the apartheid security establishment — former Durban security policeman Colonel Louis Botha and former Military Intelligence officer Brigadier John More of Pretoria.