MALAYSIA TO BUY COPTERS VISITING Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad said on Wednesday that “chances are good” that his country buy South Africa’s Rooivalk military helicopters. Defence Minister Joe Modise will visit Malaysia in November to finalise the deal. Earlier, Mahathir received South Africa’s highest award, the Order of Good Hope, from President Nelson Mandela.
IRAQIS IN SUDAN A UGANDAN newspaper, New Vision, claims that Iraqi and Iranian soldiers were sent to southern Sudan on March 16 to help beat back an offensive by Christian rebels. The newspaper also claims that Zaire goverment soldiers and Rwandan Hutus are also fighting for the government. The report is based on interviews with rebels who claim to have captured the foreign soldiers.
RED-HOT SANDY WINS CALL-GIRL “Red-Hot” Sandy van der Toorn yesterday won R15 000 damages against the police for infringing her dignity when she was made to stand naked for 15 minutes while several male cops searched her room during a trap. She was last month found guilty of prostitution and fined R1 000 or six months’ jail, half suspended. Her lawyer told the court yesterday she intends to appeal the conviction. East London magistrate Henry Hannan said the reasons given by police for making Van der Toorn stand naked during the search did not outweigh a naked woman’s right to get dressed. “It is very clear that Sanab [SA Alcohol and Narcotics Bureau] were at fault here.”
DOP MERCHANTS PROTEST TAVERNERS and liquor store owners demonstrated outside the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein yesterday against an application by a Cape-based group of small grocery stores for the right to sell liquor after hours and on weekends. The Cape group, 7-Eleven stores, has asked the court to find the definition of a “closed day” in the Liquor Act unconstitutional.